XMind vs Mind Vector
When comparing XMind vs Mind Vector, the Slant community recommends XMind for most people. In the question“What are the best mind mapping tools?” XMind is ranked 2nd while Mind Vector is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose XMind is:
XMind, except for Plus and Pro features, is open source with code available on [GitHub](https://github.com/xmindltd).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Free and open source
XMind, except for Plus and Pro features, is open source with code available on GitHub.
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.
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.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on Windows, OS X and Linux.
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.
Pro Built-in Gantt view
XMind has a build-in Gantt chart view and with the pro version, XMind allows synchronizing it.
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.
Pro Local Network Sharing
Pro XMind Plus & Pro adds more export options
XMind Plus & Pro can export to Word, PowerPoint, PDF, SVG & MindManager.
Pro Task management (pro)
Pro Audio recording (pro)
Pro Very good performance
The app is incredible complete, flexible, and fast.
Pro Web and cloud based App
It is available on the web, and can be used for free online.
Pro Available on Mac, iOS and Android devices
Mind Vector is available on Mobile devices (iPhone, iPad and Android) and also for Mac.
Pro Export maps as image(.png), PDF and CSV
It enables to export maps as an image, PDF and CSV format.
Pro Cost effective
Available for trial and pro version is available only for $10.
Pro Share maps
You can share your maps with friends and colleagues across platforms.
Cons
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.
Con Mobile support for iOS devices only
There is a native app for iPhones/iPads, no Android version though.
Con Used to offer their NOT-free products
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.