The best tool for brainstorming is, of course, your brain. But, there are tools that can help you with this difficult task. These tools are the brainchild of some dedicated developers who wanted to help people remember more ideas. There are lots of brainstorming tools online –
In this article, I present to you the best I’ve found so far.
IdeaBoardz
Price: Free
IdeaBoardz is a web-based tool that allows you to set up a virtual board and invite collaborators. Create sections for the different areas you want to collect ideas for. Then have everyone add “stickies” with their ideas.
The vote function allows participants to give a thumbs up to the stickies they support. This can help with deciding which ideas to pursue or prioritizing next steps. Sort stickies by the highest number of votes, view different sections or filter ideas using the keyword search. At the end, export the board to easily store the ideas for later.
Google Documents
Price: Free
You can use Google Documents for more than file sharing and version control. They also make a simple brainstorming tool. The more familiar your team is with Google Documents, the easier it is to get started.
Simply create a new document, share it with the members of your team, and give them permission to edit. Start building a list of ideas as a group. Everyone can either capture their ideas separately and then add them to the document or add them in real time to inspire each other. You can see who’s writing what and leave comments on each other’s ideas.
Realtime Board
Price: Free
Realtime Board is similarly a collaborative, online whiteboard space utilizing virtual post-it notes. You can start with a blank page or use a template to structure your project. Add files, images, and documents from Google Drive or upload them from your computer to share information. Then you can turn it into a presentation or export it to a PDF.
The free version is good for up to three team members and three boards, but guests can also view boards. You can also integrate Slack. Upgrading to the $40 per month version adds on two more team members, unlimited boards, video chat, and more.
Solo Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a technique for visually organizing information. It’s especially useful for getting ideas out of your head and onto paper because it’s based on intuitive connections. Organizing your thoughts can help you get out of your own head, spot gaps in your thinking, and prepare to share your idea with others. The following brainstorming tools are perfect for independent mind mapping.
Bubbl.us
Price: Free for up to three mind maps.For $4.91 per month, you can get unlimited mind maps and invite others to collaborate.
A web-based tool, Bubbl.us makes it easy to lay down a concept and start connecting subtopics. When you’re done you can turn it into an image to share with others. Collapse and expand branches of your mind map, add hyperlinks to bubbles, and customize the color and font as you wish.
Freeplane
Price: Free
Freeplane is mind mapping and knowledge management software that offers sophisticated structuring tools. Intuitively add ideas without having to connect them. Then organize them using nodes, lines, metadata, and styles. You can also set up filters to make it easier to view relevant content.
From there, you can set tasks and reminders and present your mind map in a Prezi-style format. A Wiki guides you through getting the most out of Freeplane, an extensive community forum provides further support. If you’re advanced enough, you can even extend the functionality of Freeplane with add-ons and scripts.
MindMap
Price: Free
While free, open source, and available offline, MindMap offers robust mind map editing tools. You can change fonts, add images and rich text, embed videos, and add URLs. Need to sketch out an idea? No problem, you can hand draw in your mind maps as well.
MindMap is a Google Chrome extension, so you only need to open a web browser to start mind mapping. It also connects to your Google Drive, making it easy to save your work. Alternatively, you can print or export your mind maps or share them through social media.
Popplet
Price: Free for up to 10 Popplets on the online version. $3 per month or $30 per year for unlimited popplets. $4.99 to download the app.
Popplet allows users to customize the color of each “popple,” aka the bubbles that house ideas. You can also include sketches, images, and links in your popples. It’s easy to edit the size of popples and disconnect and connect them as needed.
When your Popplet is done, you can share it on social media, send a link to others, email it, or embed it on your website. It’s available online, for iPad, and iPhone.
TheBrain
Price: Free
TheBrain positions itself as “the ultimate digital memory”. It’s nonlinear, and its functionality mimics the fluid movement of your thoughts. When you pull up a topic, the rest of the network shifts as well and shows you other concepts connected to it. The result is a comprehensive, robust, and searchable record of your thoughts.
The free version of TheBrain is available to download; it works on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android; and it syncs across your devices. It allows for unlimited usage, and you can use it organize and store files as well.
Collaborative Mind Mapping
The collective power of a team is being able to have many thoughts at once. However, a group of people can’t talk all at once, so some ideas may not get shared. Collaborative mind mapping circumvents that issue.
It can happen remotely or during a working session. Everyone accesses a shared mind map and builds on the central idea in real-time. At the end, you have a collective visualization of the concept, project, or challenge.
Coggle
Price: Free
If you love neural networks, you’ll love Coggle. The tool helps you capture the nuances of a concept in intricate visual networks. Browse a gallery of public diagrams to see what others have done for inspiration and invite members to collaborate on your diagram with you. Add images, customize the colors of branches, easily “transplant” branches to a different branch, and draw links between unconnected branches.
The free version allows for up to three private diagrams and unlimited public diagrams. When it’s done, export your mind map as a PDF or PNG or share it on social media.
MindMeister
Price: Free for sharing and collaborating on up to three mind maps. $4.99 per month for unlimited mind maps and to export and print.
Create, share, and present mind maps inside your web browser with MindMeister. You can choose from mind map or organization chart layouts and upload your own image to customize the background. Invite others by email to edit or view your map in real time.
The collaboration feature includes an integrated chat function, and you can see who contributed what and when. Collaborators can also comment and vote on ideas.
WiseMapping
Price: Free
An open source project, WiseMapping can be used online or installed on your server. It allows you to collaborate on mind maps, customize font and colors, add icons, and export mind maps when finished. You can also embed mind maps from WiseMapping on your blog.
This is a good option for teams. It’s free for businesses, unlike other tools that primarily support free use by individuals or small groups. It can also be configured to your server for increased security.
Mobile Apps
If you were boarding a plane, and inspiration stuck, you could still capture your thoughts in that moment with a mobile brainstorming tool. The following brainstorming tools for use on your smartphone help you build an outline or mind map to help you capture, organize, and later present your idea.
Ideament
Price: Free
Ideament helps you draw mind maps, concept maps, or flow charts. You can then flip them into a text outline, or you can start by creating a text outline and turn it into an outline. If you have an email or text you want to copy from online as a starting point, you can also plug that into Ideament to get started.
If you want to show your idea to others, share it by email or upload it to Google Drive, Dropbox or other cloud storage platforms. You can also save it as a photo to text or share or upload your mind map or outline directly to Facebook.
MindGenius
Price: Free
MindGenius is perfect when you need to collect ideas, take nonlinear notes, or create project tasks quickly and intuitively. Start with a diagram or output tree. Then, a quick keyboard shortcut adds branches for you as you type, so you can lay down several ideas in short order. If you realize an idea needs to connect to a different branch, you can easily move it over.
The explorer feature also helps you search for, find and hone in on one area. While you’re reviewing that portion, it hides the rest of the map. This feature makes mind maps more accessible on a tablet device.
Trello (Manage projects)
Students often work on multiple projects simultaneously and it can be easy to lose track of the endless list of tasks that have to be completed. Fortunately, project management applications such as Trello can help with that!
Users can create a Trello board for each of their projects before inviting their group mates to collaborate on the board. Our advice is for students to create different sections to categorise each task under. Some examples of section headers can be: ‘ideation,’ ‘work in progress,’ and ‘awaiting review.’ As each task moves up the stages of development, students will be able to drag and drop these tasks under the relevant category.
With Trello, students can track the group’s progress on different aspects of their project and thus devote more attention to weak areas that need more pushing.
Alternatives to Trello:
Slack (Communicate for work)
Slack is a virtual workspace that brings individuals together for work purposes. Within Slack, you can create different channels to segregate departments and different work processes.
If you are a student managing a group project, you may consider designating channels for announcements, idea generation, writing, designing, and even a coffee talk channel for some downtime between work!
If you are a teacher, you could create private channels to manage and weigh in on conversations within each project group. That way, Slack serves as a centralised platform to stay up to date on each group’s progress.
Slack also allows you to set office timings such that notifications will be turned off beyond your preset hours. When we are working from home, it is important to set boundaries and to balance work and relaxation.
Alternatives to Slack:
Conclusion
There are so many brainstorming tools you can choose from. One tool is not perfect for everyone. Therefore, I have created a list of the best brainstorming tools with pros and cons to help you decide which one is most suitable for yourself.