I tried draw.io, but ended up liking LibreOffice Draw better for hand-drawing.

If you want to get a live map of the connections on your network you may want to check out netdisco.org or librenms.org. Both are open source network management tools that have mapping.

dia diagram editor (desktop application). I like that .dia diagrams can be exported to PNG by command-line so this fits well in my automated setup (edit diagram in dia, run make doc, PNG diagram updated and embedded in my projects README).

As others said, draw.io is also nice.

maybe cisco packet tracer or better look for an alternative that does not need an account
the software is made for emulationg networks and packet is annoying for even simulationg the powerbutton that have to be turned by EVERY SINGLE on connecting cables https://progsoft.net/de/software/cisco-packet-tracer

I've been diagramming/documenting my network at work using draw.io, it is a little clunky but it works well for me, has good features and preloaded art for different types of devices.

Best I was able to find was lucid chart, worked great, but I’ll have to check out diagrams.net based on all these comments.

I have tried the paint and gimp routes,

😱

Man, MS WORD features block diagrams, full of shapes that might be connected to one another with adjustable lines and it will be far superior tool to either of these abominations...

There are also countless tools that might help you, that are either dedicated to this task, or simply useful enough to get the job done.

• https://www.smartdraw.com/network-diagram/network-diagram-software.htm
• https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/examples/block-diagram-maker
• https://obsidian.md
• https://www.canva.com/graphs/block-diagrams/

Draw.io is pretty amazing.