17 best alternatives to GitMind as of 2019 - Slant

XMind

Top Pro

Free and open source

XMind, except for Plus and Pro features, is open source with code available on GitHub. See More

Top Con

No offline capability

If the Internet goes down, you cannot use this XMind. This is painful on the iOS phone where data link must be online before you can use it. See More

Top Pro

Clean, easy to use UI

XMind's interface is uncluttered and easy to overview. It allows for quick, intuitive navigation and use. For example, Enter adds more items to a node, Tab adds a child node, all commonly used shortcuts works as expected, etc. See More

Top Con

Newer versions become heavyweight and bloated

Even though there are more features, starting with version 8 application is very unstable. A lot of users still prefer version 7.5 or 6.5. See More

Top Pro

Extremely flexible

XMind is capable of displaying information in a multitude of ways (classic mindmaps, charts, timelines, decision trees, etc), it can add labels, clip-art, notes, files, audio recordings, it can then take the project and export it in a variety of ways including an synced gantt chart. See More

Top Con

Used to offer their NOT-free products

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Works on Windows, OS X and Linux. See More

Top Con

FreeMind files sometimes don't work

XMind claims it can read FreeMind files, but certain .mm file saves from Freeplane or MindMup generate an error on open. See More

Top Pro

A wide variety of templates available

XMind has preset templates available that allow getting started quickly. There are templates for project planning, status reports, dashboards, organizational charts, swot analysis, timelines, decision trees, weekly plans, among others. See More

Top Pro

Built-in Gantt view

XMind has a build-in Gantt chart view and with the pro version, XMind allows synchronizing it. See More

Top Pro

Can copy entire hierarchy to/from Word with a simple copy/paste action

XMind allows quickly copying over structure of the mindmap as a tab-indented list starting at the node selected. It can also take a tab-indented list and create a mindmap from it. See More

Top Pro

Local Network Sharing

Top Pro

XMind Plus & Pro adds more export options

XMind Plus & Pro can export to Word, PowerPoint, PDF, SVG & MindManager. See More

Top Pro

Task management (pro)

Top Pro

Audio recording (pro)

Top Pro

Very good performance

The app is incredible complete, flexible, and fast. See More

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199 26

Freemind

Top Pro

Free and open source

Top Con

Boring visual appearance

Top Pro

Intuitive UI with drag and drop support

For the most part, navigating the editor is pretty intuitive - moving around is done by clicking and dragging the background, clicking on nodes will expand/collapse them, dragging and dropping in files will add them, etc. It also offers shortcuts for power users. For example, ctrl + up/down will rearrange ideas up/down, alt +up/down will zoom in/out, etc. See More

Top Pro

Lots of export options, including html with folding

Freemind offers many choices when exporting. It allows exporting the project as Java Applet, Flash file, Open Office Writer document, picture (png, jpg), PDF, SVG, multiple variants of (x)html, among other options. See More

Top Pro

Good documentation

Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

Works on Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS and Android. See More

Top Pro

Fullscreen mode available with a patch

A user-contributed patch is available that adds fullscreen mode to FreeMind. See More

Top Pro

Can copy entire hierarchy to/from Word with a simple copy/paste action

Freemind allows quickly copying over structure of the mindmap as a bulleted, tab-indented list starting at the node selected. It can also take a bulleted, tab-indented list and create a mindmap from it. See More

Top Pro

Multi-user support

Top Pro

Supports media files, recognizes URLs and commands

Freemind accepts drag-and-drop for any kind of file, URL or command as part of the mindmap. Files it recognizes, like images, will be displayed. Other files will open in a separate, appropriate application. URLs, links to folders, and executable commands pasted in will be recognized and turned in to clickable links. See More

Top Pro

Supports node and map encryption

Top Pro

Revision control

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

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127 20

Coggle

Top Pro

Supports Markdown (their own variant)

Markdown is a plain text formatting syntax designed so that it can optionally be converted to HTML using a tool by the same name. See More

Top Con

Tree relations only; no non-parent links

Coggle's model allows a node to have multiple children, but only one parent, and no other connections of any sort. See More

Top Pro

Collaborative

Coggle allows inviting friends and colleagues to work collaboratively on notes and diagrams in real-time. See More

Top Con

Unconventional note taking style

Coggle is a mind mapping application, not a traditional text based note storage platform. See More

Top Pro

Pretty diagrams

No effort to create beautiful diagrams. See More

Top Pro

Supports LaTeX

LaTeX is a document preparation system and document markup language. It is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents. See More

Top Pro

Allows easy color-coding of paths

Top Pro

Versioning support

Enter history mode to view all changes to a diagram over time, and make a copy from that point. See More

Top Pro

Optional Chrome store App

Top Pro

Free

Top Pro

Lots of export options

Exports to PDF, image, plaintext and .mm files. See More

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34 13

MindMup

Top Pro

Frictionless interface

MindMup allows focusing on thoughts and productively capture them without getting in the way. See More

Top Con

Note capacity is limited

MindMup is good for mapping out thoughts that could be summarized in bullet points, but longer notes aren't as practical for this service. See More

Top Pro

Browser-based

Don't need to install anything, just open the website and you are set. See More

Top Con

Unconventional note taking style

It's a mind mapping application, not a traditional text based note storage platform. See More

Top Pro

Just works

Top Pro

Compatible with Google Drive and Github

Top Pro

Easy sharing & presenting

After taking notes, it only takes seconds to share and/or prepare them for presentations. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

MindMup is free with source code available on GitHub. See More

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50 2

MindMeister

Top Pro

Notes can be shared and collaborated on in real-time

MindMeister allows sharing maps with an unlimited number of collaborators so it's possible to take notes and brainstorm together. Mind maps can be shared by inviting people either directly via email or by sending them a link to the map. Even people without a MindMeister account can access the maps and even edit them. See More

Top Con

No good offline mode

You can only work completely offline when using an iOS or Android device. For your browser there's only a clumsy 'offline mode' available. If you didn't hit the switch before you have the need for working offline (for instance: in a meeting, at a customer's location, in a plane, etc.) than your out of luck... no tool for note taking. Especially with all those HTML5-capable browsers and the Chrome App store (including Desktop apps), this limits the usage of this commercial product. See More

Top Pro

Comments and votes

Users can create polls and have collaborators vote individual topics up or down, or comment on them. See More

Top Con

Expensive compared to the competition

A basic monthly subscription ($92 USD) gives you no more than XMind FREE except PDF exporting. XMind paid with PDF export is $79. $20 less for lifetime use of an app with more features as of writing. See More

Top Pro

Various layouts

User can switch between classical mind map layout, a layout where all topics are aligned on the left or the right, and org chart layout. See More

Top Con

Free option limited to 3 mind maps

A free XMind app/online account or MindMup account both provide unlimited mind maps. See More

Top Pro

Web and mobile versions available

In addition to web software, MindMeister is available on iOS and Android mobile platforms as well. See More

Top Con

MindMeister has very poor Evernote integration

Evernote is the number one 'store-everything-archive' when it comes to unstructured data or information. MindMeister markets there Evernote integration as a very cool feature. But this integration is very basic and buggy: only the last 50 (?) notes from Evernote's default notebook are shown in the list, and it takes about 30 seconds to one full minute to generate that list. After that it takes about the same amount of time to add a copy of the selected note as an attachment to a topic. MindMeister support is well aware of this poor implementation, but doesn't put any effort in fixing it. See More

Top Pro

Clear overview without losing any details

The mind mapping format provides with a clear overview of connections, hierarchies and relationships of notes. At the same time, it's possible to add more detailed notes, links, pictures and even whole files to the keywords, so that no important information gets lost. See More

Top Con

Very basic

Top Pro

One node can have marks, emoticons and comments

Top Con

The interface has only very basic features

For example, it lacks the possibility to define a long text under the node title showing it in a permanent way. The software is 1000 less powerful than Microsoft Visio. Meanwhile it should just be more specific. See More

Top Pro

Adding a Table or Matrix

Xmind is one of the few mind maps that allows you to add a table or matrix to your mind map. Very useful when you have content that works better in a table. See More

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88 14

Scapple

Top Pro

Customizable

You can customize your styles, background and font as you wish. See More

Top Con

It looks abandoned

Despite being a great software as it is, theres no update for more than a year : either to fix minor bugs, or implement new functions. See More

Top Pro

Flexible

It gives you the freedom to use visual thinking without the hierarchical rigidity of a mind map. See More

20 5

MindManager

Top Pro

Integrates with a good variety of tools

MindManager integrates with MS Office applications (Excel, Outlook, Word, SharePoint), Box.net and many other tools. See More

Top Con

Odd UI interaction conventions

Some conventions used to interact with the software are either questionable or simply going against what's commonly accepted. For example, right-click + drag will move around, holding down the right-click will open up the context-menu and left-click in an open space will start a new unconnected node. What this results in is constant accidental opening of context-menu then accidental creation of a new node trying to get out of the context-menu. See More

Top Pro

Real-time Gantt charts

Data can be represented as a map and as an outline simultaneously. See More

7 0

Mindjet MindManager

Top Con

Lacks elegant ability to be able to connect ideas in the reverse order or different direction

This isn't uncommon, but there are mind mapping software that will let you connect a number of ideas that branched off from one idea, back to one idea again. Usually the branching analogy of the details getting more as you go further away from the main branch works, but occasionally it is nice to map multiple ideas back to a single idea or loop back to a previous idea. This can be done with connections, but if you want to see something that gives true freedom, look at the examples of the application Coggle. See More

Top Pro

Business oriented

Business oriented, mind maps look professional. See More

Top Con

Very expensive compared to all other alternatives

Not really viable for personal mind mapping, as the high cost clearly targets the business market. See More

Top Pro

MS Outlook strong integration

Top Con

No free/personal version

It is has so many great features, but this comes with the pricetag of the only version of this software. A lighter version, with many advanced business features removed would be ideal for a free/freemium version See More

Top Pro

Integrates with multiple web services

Top Con

Odd UI interaction conventions

Some conventions used to interact with the software are either questionable or simply going against what's commonly accepted. For example, right-click + drag will move around, holding down the right-click will open up the context-menu and left-click in an open space will start a new unconnected node. What this results in is constant accidental opening of context-menu then accidental creation of a new node trying to get out of the context-menu. See More

Top Pro

Real-time Gantt charts

Top Con

Mac version has severely limited functionality

Top Pro

MS Projects and Sharepoint integration

Top Pro

Excellent team collaboration support

Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile, and web versions available

Works on Windows, OS X, iOS, Android and Web. See More

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42 5

Visual Understanding Environment (VUE)

Top Pro

Presentation Mode

Parts of a map can be used for a presentation by drawing a rectangle selection around the nodes to be presented. Different presentation nodes can be used to build a presentation for, e.g. a quick discussion. Just don't expect highly polished presentations as from specialized presentation software. See More

Top Con

UI is not the most fancy one

The UI seems a little bit dated needs a bit of an adaptation phase. See More

Top Pro

Maps can be nested

Top Pro

Maps can have layers

You can use different layers for different aspects of a concept (map). See More

Top Pro

Concept Mapping Tool

VUE is not only a hierarchical mindmap but a concept mapping tool, thus giving more freedom when exploring ideas and concepts. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux

Exports:HTML, JPEG, PDF, SVG

1 0

Zim

Top Pro

Allows for organized, wiki-style navigation

Notes can contain links to other notes, allowing you to reference important information when needed. This way the user can connect and reference many different pages in the app, keeping things clean and structured, unlike Evernote, which makes this a good Evernote alternative. See More

Top Con

No native sync support

Zim notes don't automatically synchronize with other devices or offer built-in cloud sync support. Of course the user can add the files to Dropbox, or something similar, to then open them on another device with the app installed. But this is more of a work-around than a built-in solution. See More

Top Pro

Plain text data format rather than proprietary

If/when the app is no longer developed (or if the user simply decides to no longer use the application or view/edit it on a non-supported platform), this can still be done with any plain-text editor. See More

Top Con

No mobile app support

This is a desktop app and there are no mobile versions available. This can make it more difficult to use on-the-go if using cloud storage to store files from the app, as there is no mobile app version to access those files. See More

Top Pro

Automatically manages files and folders

Zim will automatically create a folder structure that fits your page hierarchy and adds/removes files such as images to/from appropriate folders. See More

Top Con

Looks ancient

Zim has a very plain and outdated interface. See More

Top Pro

Good export options

Zim supports HTML, LaTeX, Pandoc Markdown, and RST. This allows ones documents to be easily used in a wide selection of other apps. See More

Top Pro

Support for multiple platforms

Windows, Linux, and BSD are supported with their own clients. This is nice for those that use multiple operating systems but still want to use the same app on each. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

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61 16

Creately

Top Con

Watermark on export for free users

If you are free users, exporting document will create watermark See More

Top Pro

Professionally designed templates

The templates are well thought-out and actually helps you get started. Not like many other sites where the details are already filled in. See More

Top Con

Web version requires FLASH

Flash is known to have security flaws and use high resources See More

Top Pro

Intuitive UI

Easy to use drag and drop interface and a contextual toolbar that shows you all the important actions when you select an object. The automatic creation and connecting of next object alone saves tons of time. See More

Top Con

Dekstop version is commercial

If you want to use dekstop version, you need to pay $75.00/ user See More

Top Pro

Real time collaboration

You can invite anyone by their email addresses to collaborate with your diagram. You can see others' changes to the diagram real time with the Creately Online and Desktop app. See More

Top Pro

Visio Import

Top Pro

iSO and Android apps to view diagrams

You can't edit diagram using the apps but provides a nice clean interface to view, share and comment on them. See More

Top Pro

SVG import and export

Creately supports SVG (Scalar Vector Graphics) import and export to make your diagrams more attractive. It allows you to re-size your diagram as much as you want without getting it messed up. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux

Real-time collaboration:Yes

Exports:JPEG, PNG, PDF, SVG

Imports:JPEG, PNG, SVG

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6 3

Mindly

Top Pro

Intuitive

Very easy to learn with common sense navigation and clear relationships. See More

Top Con

No Windows desktop or web version

If you are a Windows user, you are out of luck. There is no Windows, no web version, and no plans to bring Mindly to those formats. See More

Top Pro

Infinite hierarchy of elements

Means you can keep building maps, linking ideas, and collecting information forever. Make nodes as large or small as you like. The map remains visually clean and easy to navigate. See More

Top Con

Free version limits

Free version limits the number of elements you can add. It is a very generous amount, but if you are a heavy user, you will eventually need to upgrade to paid version. See More

Top Pro

Supports many different formats of information

You can attach notes, images or assign icons to any element without cluttering the map. See More

Top Pro

Own your data

Great export options including export mindmap as PDF, OPML or Text as well as support for Dropbox backup/sync. See More

Top Pro

Great FREE version

The free version is fully functional with generous limits on mind map elements. See More

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9 7

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