BOUML vs UMLet

BOUML is a free UML 2 toolbox for modeling systems and generating code, available as desktop software for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It supports use case, sequence, communication, class, composite class, activity, state, object, composite object, component, and deployment diagrams. Built-in generators cover C++, C, Java, PHP, Python, IDL, and MySQL; reverse-engineering tools are listed for C++, Java, PHP, and MySQL, and round-trip tools for C++, Java, and PHP. Plug-outs provide XMI 1.2 and 2.1 generation, XMI 2.1 import, and Rational Rose model import. External plug-outs can be written in C++ or Java and run separately from BOUML. An HTML documentation generator can output diagrams as PNG or SVG. Project control and synchronization tools support work by several people. The maker says it can handle several thousand classes while using little memory. Version 7.11 is identified as the final release, with patch 4 listed for some distributions. Releases since version 7.0 are free to use; the maker states they come without warranty.

UMLet is a free, open-source tool for quickly sketching UML diagrams, including class, use case, sequence, state, deployment, and activity diagrams. Users edit diagram elements by changing text in a small markup dialect rather than configuring pop-up dialogs. UMLet is available as a stand-alone desktop application, an Eclipse plugin, the browser app UMLetino, and a Visual Studio Code extension. The desktop application exports to BMP, EPS, GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, and SVG, can copy diagrams to the clipboard, and supports command-line batch conversion of UXF files. UMLetino runs in a browser without installation, stores diagrams in browser storage, and exports PNG. Custom elements can be made with Java code that UMLet compiles on the fly, but only in the stand-alone version. The desktop application requires Java and runs on Java platforms such as Windows, Linux, and macOS. UMLet identifies its license as GNU GPL 3.0. It does not generate code from models or reverse-generate models from code; round-trip engineering is not planned.