Introduction

If you have ever spent a late night wrestling with a messy schema, you know the feeling.
Multiple services, half documented tables, a few outdated screenshots, and you are stuck redrawing the same ERD for the third time just to understand what is going on.

Hi, I am Jonathan, founder of ChartDB and a long time database and architecture practitioner. Over the years I have designed and maintained schemas for products that kept growing and changing. ERDs were always essential for clarity and communication, but creating them by hand was slow, repetitive, and very easy to get wrong.

In 2026, that is finally changing. AI tools can now generate ER diagrams from SQL, text prompts, or existing databases, then help you refine and keep them in sync.

In this article, I will walk through:

• What to look for in an AI ERD tool

• The 5 best AI tools to generate ERDs in 2026

• How to choose the one that fits your workflow

6 Key Criteria for Choosing an AI ERD Tool

Before you choose an AI tool for ERD generation, it helps to be clear about what you actually need.

You want a tool that fits your workflow, not the other way around. A good AI ERD tool should let you feed in different kinds of input, handle the right diagram types, and still give you full control once the AI has done its job.

Here are the main things to consider:

• Input flexibility: Can it work with SQL, schema dumps, or simple text prompts.

• Scope of diagrams: Does it support the kinds of models you use most, for example relational only or also more modern structures.

• Editing control: After generation, is it easy to move tables, rename things, color code, and group by domain.

• Collaboration: Can you share diagrams, comment, and bring product or analytics into the conversation.

• Export options: Does it export to SQL, images, or formats like DBML that you can plug into other tools.
  Pricing and scale: Are there limits on diagrams, team members, or project size that will block you later.

• Accuracy and feel: Do the AI suggestions feel sensible, and is the interface something your team actually enjoys using.

If a tool checks most of these boxes, it is worth trying with a real schema and seeing how well it fits your day to day work.

Top AI Tools for Generating ERDs in 2026

Here are 5 tools that stand out in 2026 if you want to generate ERDs with the help of AI.

1. ChartDB

ChartDB is the tool I built because I wanted ERDs that feel like a modern product, not an old desktop app.

ChartDB focuses on database visualization and schema design for developers. You can:

• Import a schema from SQL or connect to a database

• Let the AI Agent generate or refactor an ERD from a plain text prompt

• Ask the AI to add timestamps, soft deletes, or suggest foreign keys

• Color code tables by domain and group them into visual areas

• Share diagrams with your team for review and collaboration

The AI ERD Generator from ChartDB is there to remove the heavy lifting. It suggests sensible relationships and structures while still leaving you in control as the designer.

ChartDB AI Agent - The AI does the heavy lifting and gives you a solid first version of the ERD. You still stay in control and refine the layout, colors, and details visually.

Watch this quick demo video to see ChartDB’s AI agent build and refine an ERD from scratch:

ChartDB is a great fit if you care about:

• A clean developer friendly UI

• Open source foundations

• AI powered schema generation that you can refine visually

2. Lucidchart

Lucidchart is a popular general purpose diagramming tool that also supports ERDs. In recent years it has started to add AI driven features that help with diagram generation and automation.

For ERDs, Lucidchart works well if:

• Your team already uses it for other diagrams

• You want a polished interface with templates

• You value enterprise level collaboration and SSO options

Lucidchart is not focused only on databases, so you may need to do more manual work to get a perfect schema. But for teams that live inside Lucid already, AI generated ERDs can be a useful starting point.

3. Eraser

Eraser is a lightweight tool that feels like a cross between a whiteboard and an editor. It is popular among engineers who want to sketch ideas quickly.

On the AI side, Eraser:

• Accepts text descriptions to generate simple diagrams

• Helps you rough out entities and relationships fast

• Works well for architecture sessions or early stage schema planning

It is not a full blown database modeling suite, but it is a nice option for quick experiments before you move into a more specialized tool like ChartDB.

4. Miro ERD Diagram Generator

Miro is widely used for collaborative whiteboarding. It now has decent support for database diagrams as part of its template library and app ecosystem.

You can use AI in Miro to:

• Generate basic tables and connections from prompts

• Combine ERDs with user flows, system maps, or workshop boards

• Collaborate with product managers and designers in the same space

Miro’s ERD features are still relatively simple compared to dedicated database tools. The trade off is that it is fantastic for cross functional workshops where everyone is already comfortable in Miro.

5. iWeaver AI ER Diagram Generator

iWeaver’s AI ER Diagram Generator is part of a broader AI workspace, but the ERD agent is focused on turning unstructured inputs into structured database diagrams.

You can upload files like PDFs, Word docs, screenshots, or paste text descriptions, and iWeaver will:

• Detect entities, attributes, and relationships

• Identify primary and foreign keys

• Generate a clean ER diagram in a few seconds

It is especially useful if your “schema” currently lives inside product requirement documents, old slide decks, or scattered notes. Instead of rewriting everything as SQL, you can let the AI interpret the content and propose a relational model.

iWeaver also supports chatting with the AI to refine the diagram. You can ask for changes such as “add a weak entity for audit logs” or “turn this 1 to many into many to many” and see the diagram update.

It is not a traditional database modeling tool like ChartDB, but it is powerful when you want to jump from messy documentation to a first version of an ERD and then move into a more focused schema designer.

Conclusion

ERDs are still one of the best ways to understand a database. What has changed in 2026 is how quickly you can get to a clear diagram.

AI tools now help you:

• Generate ERDs from text or SQL in minutes

• Refactor legacy schemas into something readable

• Collaborate with your whole team, not just engineers

Use the criteria in this post to pick the AI ERD tool that fits how you and your team work. Start with the one that feels easiest to adopt, and iterate from there.

We built our AI features to remove as much friction as possible from schema design. I wanted a tool that helps you build databases faster, smarter, and cleaner, without losing control of the details.

If you want to see how this feels in practice, try ChartDB for free and generate your first AI powered ERD. You might be surprised how much time you save and how much clearer your database becomes.

👉 Try ChartDB AI Agent and let AI handle the heavy lifting while you focus on design.

Additional Resources

1. 10 Best ERD Tools in 2026 (non-AI)

2. 10 Mistakes To Avoid in Your Database Design

3. How To Embed A Live ER Diagram To Your Notion