Mind mapping is a great way to quickly take notes, brainstorm, plan, prioritize tasks and to-do lists. There are several mind mapping software available on the market which will enable you to develop better internal thinking and clarity with the help of diagrams and images. Using such tools will also substantially increase your productivity by allowing you to see what is really important in your business.
Mind mapping is a great way to brainstorm, prioritize tasks or create study guides. It can also help you to organize your thoughts and ideas. Mind mapping software allows you to take that process to the next level by creating visual representations of problems, processes, relationships and more. This article looks at some of the best mind mapping software available via the web today.
Coggle
Coggle is an online tool for creating mind maps. The app lets you and your team collaborate on notes, brainstorm ideas, and create project plans. Every mind map starts with a single central topic. Click the Plus (+) button to add a branch and enter your text in the box.
You can format text, insert links, add images, and icons to elaborate the key points. From here onwards, continue adding branches as per your needs. You can even create a cross-link to other items in a mindmap. Open the context menu, press the Shift key to bring the cross-link icon. Then, drag the cross-link line.
You can create three private diagrams with a free account, collaborate in real-time, and upload unlimited images. The export options include .MM, TXT, Microsoft Visio, PDF, and JPEG. Check out the pricing page to explore premium features.
Unique Features
- Add multiple central nodes in a single workspace. Then, create loops and branches to connect other mind maps and see relationships.
- It supports keyboard shortcuts and has a vast collection of templates in Coggle Gallery to quickly start your projects.
- View the version history of the mind map. Check who last edited the map along with the date and make a copy of it at a particular time.
- Message team members, leave notes, and even chat in real-time to brainstorm ideas. You can auto-arrange branches to associate the content of each branch with the things around it.
Milanote
One of the most easy-to-use mind mapping apps you’ll find, Milanote helps you give a face to your thought process through text, images, graphics, and even videos. There are many pre-made templates to get you start with and the simple drag and drop interface makes it simple enough for anyone to use.
On the aspect of collaboration, you can work with any number of team members on a single board and it’s totally up to you to let your team edit, comment or only view the mind maps. Also, Milanote being a multi-platform app, you can sync it between different devices. There is, however, no option for having a free trial.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Milanote Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
GitMind
GitMind is an easy-to-use online mind map tool. With it, you can visualize complicated concepts, generate new ideas, make lists with task priorities, and prepare for the presentation. Type in the topic name, and click Insert Node.
Choose Insert subnode to create sub-branches. And click the Relation line to show any relationship between ideas. You can assign a task priority, progress meter, flag, and more with the built-in symbols. To add a symbol, select the target node and click Icon from the toolbar.
At each node, click the Attachment button to insert links, images, and comments. There are many export options available, including TXT, PNG, PDF, DOCX, and SVG.
Unique Features
- Variety of themes, including classic, colorful, and business templates. Click the Style button to customize node spacing, background color, line, border shape, and more.
- Arrange the mind map in seven different layouts and reset them at any time. Click the Layout button and change it to mind map, logic chart, tree chart, and fishbone.
- View, edit, and export the mind map in outline mode. And share the mind map you created with a link or collaborate in real-time.
Miro
Miro is an online whiteboard that brings different team members together for sharing ideas from anywhere. You can brainstorm ideas, do visual mapping, plan and discuss, collaborate in real-time, and even arrange webinars and remote workshops.
Ease-of-use is perhaps one of Miro’s most prominent feature. You don’t need to learn too much to get started and even the collaboration takes only a few minutes. There are a few minor hiccups in the functioning of the app but the developers are working on its improvement so we can look forward to a more prefect tool with time.
- Desktop Compatibility: Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Miro Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
MindManager
Another professional mind-mapping tool that you can use is MindManager. This is also one of the easiest brainstorming app that supports both Windows and Mac OS devices. The interactive charts here helps your colleagues understand the relationship between ideas better. The appealing visuals in this tool promotes clear information dissemination and lets your team-mates add their own ideas. Additionally, it lets you add videos, hyperlinks and attachments to your charts. Aside from the visuals, it can save your mind maps as Word document files.
Advantages
- It is especially well-suited for Business and Corporate Mapping.
- Users can graphically map out data and information.
Disadvantages
- Lack of a comprehensive image library compared to other brainstorming app.
- Integrating branches on a map might be difficult sometimes.
Price: Windows Version – $349, Mac version – $199
Canva
Canva is a web-based graphic design app that makes it easy to create mind maps. Equipped with ready-to-use templates and toolset, you can use this app for educational presentations, business pitches, corporate proposals, and project planning.
Enter the term ‘mind map’ in the search field, and within a few seconds, you’ll see a variety of templates. The built-in tools let you insert elements like shapes, frames, arrows, gradients, and more. You can even modify the text, photos, and background. The export options include PNG, JPEG, GIF, and PDF.
The free account gives you 5GB of free storage space, access to 2,50,000 templates, image uploads, and collaboration with team members in real-time. Check out the pricing page for more details.
Unique Features
- Embed the mind map in any file. Then, share it on social media or email right from the app.
- Insert pictures, embed videos, links from the web or Twitter, and GIF to make the mind map informative and catchy. Use symbols, color codes, speech bubbles, and icons for informative presentations.
- Manage your design pages from inside the editor. You can add pages, rearrange them, and add notes for the presentation.
- Present your reports, discuss brainstorm sessions, pitch decks, and more. Click the Present button to get started.
SketchBoard
An intuitive virtual whiteboard, Sketchboard gives you the ability to develop and share your ideas and discussions though visual and textual mind mapping. It’s a great tool to work individually or with a team online. You can choose from over 400 freehand drawings with connections appearing automatically and add text where necessary.
Sketchboard gives you an infinite drawing broad so you can drag the canvas and add as many ideas as you want. Though you can do all kinds of mind mapping through this tool, but being based on coding and modeling theme, I think it would be ideal for technical projects like mobile app development.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser
- Mobile Compatibility: No
- SketchBoard Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
Bubbl.us
Bubbl.us is a brainstorming tool that simplifies mind mapping. It will help you organize your ideas, stay on task, collaborate and share your work with others. The good thing about this brainstorming app is that it allows you to create a tree by starting a central topic and then add new ideas at the same level or a sub-level.
Also, you can customize the tree the way you like it so. It’s an ideal program for almost anyone, from students and teachers to creatives and business owners—it creates visuals of connected learning.
But, probably the main reason why may want to opt for Bubbl.us, especially if you are looking for a basic platform for beginners is that you don’t have to install anything into your mobile devices or computers. While this great tool is not really packed with some super-cool features, it still offers some core capabilities you’ll definitely find useful in the long run.
Key Features
- Easy Sharing
- Save as Image and Print
- One-Click Presentation
- Teamwork
- Distraction-Free Editing
- Web-based with nothing to download
- Share and collaborate with others
- One-click presentation
- Colorful and engaging
- Teamwork
Pricing
Bubbl.us comes with three plans: free, premium and team. A free plan lets you create up to three mind maps, premium starts at $4.91 a month when paid annually. Team package starts at $59 per user for up to 3 team members.
InfoRapid KnowledgeBase Builder
Traditional mind mapping tools are hierarchical. When you start creating complex linkages, they quickly get confusing and unusable. But with this app, you can join multiple ideas, and yet it adjusts your map dynamically to an elegant layout. You click a topic, and everything rearranges around it automatically.
You can build a mind map from scratch, import notes, links, images, and attach them to any item or a relation. There is also an option to integrate it with a data source to create a mind map from text files, Wikipedia articles, and tweets.
To get started, type in the topic name and click New Item. For each topic, type a name and add a description. You can add descriptive linking phrases on relationship lines and select colors, dotted or solid lines. Or even customize the style of the ends, with or without arrows.
Unique Features
- Insert multiple items, edit or delete them, and use drag-and-drop for moving relations.
- Toggle between a 2D and 3D displaying mode and show or hide cross-connections. You can export 3D mind maps with hyperlinks and embed them on your website.
- Build a map from MediaWiki, including all the sister Wikipedia sites. And import outlines from CSV, RDF, XSD, and more.
- Generate flashcards to memorize items and practice the quiz sessions.
Conclusion:
Mind maps are great for brainstorming. They allow you to see the big picture and work out how all the pieces fit together. Many people love mind maps, but aren’t sure how they can create one for free online. There is plenty of software available, but with so many programs to choose from, it can be hard to know what you should use.