What are the best mind mapping tools?

Question

20

Options
Considered

228

User
Recs.

2 hrs

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 2 of 18 OptionsWhy?

Best mind mapping tools	Price	Price	License
93 Mindjet MindManager	-	–	–
92 XMind	$0-99	free (normal version); ~90€ (Pro version)	LGPL v3 and Eclipse Public License v1.0 (normal version); proprietary (pro version)
72 MindMeister	$6 - $15 / mo	–	–
-- Freeplane	Free	–	–
-- MindMup	Free	–	–

See Full List

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

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

Specs

Price:free (normal version); ~90€ (Pro version)

License:LGPL v3 and Eclipse Public License v1.0 (normal version); proprietary (pro version)

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

Mobile support for iOS devices only

There is a native app for iPhones/iPads, no Android version though. 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

See All

16 Other Options Considered

MindMeister

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

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

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

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

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

See All

MindMup

Top Pro

Free and open source

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

Top Con

Node 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

Easy sharing & presenting

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

Top Pro

Frictionless interface

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

Top Pro

Browser-based

MindMup requires no installation. It only requires navigating to the website to use. See More

Top Pro

Compatible with Google Drive and GitHub

See All

Coggle

Top Pro

Collaborative with advanced sharing options

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

Top Con

Constant, endless nagging reminders of things you cannot do with the free version

If one would be reminded every now and then about a feature that is available for paying customers that would be okay, but by having the tools/features available, and every time it is used even accidentally, the warning will pop up. Disable those advanced features and remind occasionally - the constant annoyances of what I couldn't do with Coggle, was precisely why I stopped using Coggle. See More

Top Pro

Allows easy color-coding of paths

Top Con

Core features hidden behind paid model

Usually freemium is reasonable, but these so-called "advanced" features should really be standard, and truly advanced/business features should be reserved for the paid version. See More

Top Pro

Pretty

No effort to create beautiful diagrams. 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

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

Free

Top Pro

Optional Chrome store App

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

Lots of export options

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

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

See All

iThoughts

Top Pro

Exports to everything

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

See All

Creately

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

Mobile

If you are looking to drawn diagrams in Android or IOS this is not for you. However they've got a diagram viewer just to view diagrams See More

Shalin Siriwaradhana's Experience

I'm using creately for my project work and I found few things interesting in the product. I'm quite happy with the easiness of the app and what I like the most is their library of pre-drawn diagrams that's allowed to use for free. That is See More

Specs

Price:Free, $5/personal, $25+ for teams

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux

Exports:JPEG, PNG, PDF, SVG

Imports:JPEG, PNG, SVG

See All Specs

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 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

See All

Edraw MindMaster

Add Video or Image

MindmapMaker

Top Pro

Free and web based

Top Con

The interface is not fully-featured

BigHairyGoal

Big Hairy Goal

See flagged products

Request recommendations from the community

I Recommend...

Help millions of people make better decisions.

Each month, over 2.8 million people use Slant to find the best products and share their knowledge. Pick the tags you’re passionate about to get a personalized feed and begin contributing your knowledge.