Mind mapping allows you to visualize and structure your ideas and strategies using an endless canvas. It’s a great way to get your thoughts in order or map out a strategy. It can come in handy when working on a team project, with contributions coming in from all directions, or when laying out a growth strategy for stakeholders. It can even do wonders if you are a freelance copywriter writing a new article.
Now, you can do it with a pen-and-paper approach but there are problems:
Entre, mind mapping software. Sensing an opportunity to help people keep track of their ideas, numerous developers created apps to help them out. And then the concept shifted to helping groups of people work on joint ideas. We sometimes call these people colleagues.
When relying on a pan and paper, it might be hard to add new ideas; deleting irrelevant ideas is impossible; editing current ones is messy. Software tools make it all much easier.
Most tools allow you to work on the same mind map at the same time regardless of your team members’ location (handy in today’s remote-work-dominated world). Most apps also allow you to export and share created files.
Cloud syncing, Gantt charts, map templates and Scrum-specific features are among those you might need at some point. And I’m just scratching the surface here in terms of functionality.
Not insignificant, if you already have a tech stack in place at your company. Miro, for example, integrates with tools like Slack, Jira, Zoom and even Figma. This allows the app to seamlessly slot into an existing structure.
It all depends on what goals you pursue when picking the “best” mind mapping software tool.
A project manager at KPMG will probably pick something vastly different from a freelance blogger sitting at home in his PJs (no hard feelings, freelance bloggers — I’m one myself). Here are the most important questions you should answer when deciding which tool to pick.
It’s easy to get a pen and paper and start drawing, so it’s only reasonable to expect mind mapping software to follow suit. Remember it’s just a tool for your team/project at hand, a means to channel creativity and brainstorm ideas. An app should not be slowing the process down.
In short, you should decide which features are essential for the work you are doing, and which are nice-to-haves but ultimately expendable. Budget is also a consideration here. Depending on how much you can spend, going for a free version and upgrading it later on might be the way to go.
While some whiteboard and visualization tools might boast a wider set of features, they’ll be of little use if you can’t properly use the app within your company’s existing ecosystem.
If, for example, you use Asana and Teams in your day-to-day, then you’ll need something like Miro or Mural as your mind-mapping friend — because Mind Meister, for example, won’t work with Asana.
I’ve looked up the most popular mind mapping software on Capterra and added a sprinkle of my own judgment. Below are the tools that made our cut.
Miro offer a wide set of features which can help with brainstorming, map creation, diagramming, organizing meetings, workshops & scrums — and even project planning. 99% of the Fortune 100 trust it, while teams at HP, Upwork and Cisco use it day-to-day.
Key features:
Pros | Cons |
Unlimited canvas | Visitors & guests can only contribute on paid plans |
Built-in communication features | Only 3 boards provided on free accounts |
Free plan available | Can’t export to PDF in HQ on free plans |
Intuitive setup |
Capterra rating (number of reviews): 4.7 (914)
Pricing: there’s a free forever plan (limited to 3 boards and no collaboration options). Paid plans start at $8 per user per month.
Another popular whiteboard solution, labeled “an intelligent diagramming application” by the creators themselves. Team collaboration management is quite easy with Lucidspark, and it also goes along with project and workflow planning.
Here’s the rundown of Lucidspark’s key features:
Pros | Cons |
Cloud-based solution, accessible from every device | Doesn’t work offline |
Allows easy import from other apps (like Excel and Salesforce) | Offers limited template options |
Integrates with some major apps: Zoom, Slack, Jira, Notion and Google Workspace | Some users complain collaboration features are lacking |
Capterra rating (number of reviews): 4.7 (338)
Pricing: there’s a free plan with 3 boards and free-hand drawing, while team plans start at $9 for a user per month. There’s an individual plan for $7.95 too, if you only need the tool for yourself.
Simply put, with 25 million users all over the world, it’s another hugely popular mind mapping tool. Before you ask, Miro boasts to have 45 million clients, and Lucidspark over 8 million.
What makes MindMeister stand out are rich style customization options, the Outline feature (which converts maps into bulleted lists and back again) and the Focus Mode (which removes distractions by hiding menus, icons and everything else but the mind map itself).
Here are the key features MindMeister does offer though:
Pros | Cons |
Intuitive interface | Very few integrations: only Teams and Google Workspace |
Allows to add attachments and comments/reactions to maps | If you go a step back on your mind map, formatting will get lost |
Cheap plans compared to Miro and LucidSpark |
Capterra rating (number of reviews): 4.7 (231)
Pricing: the free plan comes with customary 3 maps, but allows for team collaboration straight away. $4.19 per user per month gives you the full package to work as a team; $2.49 is an exciting option for individuals.
There are several things which make Ayoa an interesting choice from a functional point of view.
Firstly, they claim to use AI to power their mind maps. This enables the app to basically expand mind maps with little input from you: once you click on a block, a drop-down menu offers you 3 options: ideas, questions and explanations. All 3 are sourced from the Internet and help you quickly grow your mind map. The AI can even brainstorm ideas this way.
Secondly, Ayoa allows you to purchase not only mind maps, but tasks and to-do lists as part of one bundle, empowering you to use it as a workflow and management tool as well.
Finally, Aoya’s mind maps can come in several interesting shapes: speed maps (which allow you to quickly create maps from scratch), radial maps (think pie charts), capture maps, and organic maps.
But there’s a trade-off: very few integrations, no free plan, more expensive subscriptions than on Miro, Lucidspark and most definitely MindMeister. However, let’s focus on what Ayoa does offer first.
Key features:
Pros | Cons |
The only tool that features AI | No free plan, just a 7-day trial |
Mind mapping and project management rolled into one | Few integrations (Evernote, Dropbox and Zoom are the most prominent available) |
Interesting map options, such as radial and speed maps | Limited collaboration functionality despite some fun options (e.g. video calls and public sharing) |
You can only export mind maps as PDFs | |
Pretty expensive for a quite limited app |
Capterra rating (number of reviews): 4.5 (203)
Pricing: mind maps and tasks can be purchased as standalone options (you won’t get AI in this case though), at $10 per user per month. A bundle at $13 per month would make much more sense, but I’d probably give this one a wide berth in lieu of better and cheaper alternatives.
Another interesting collab tool which offers mind mapping and whiteboards. Aside from the fact it’s trusted by some of the biggest players on the field (IBM and GitHub to name a few), Mural has some interesting perks.
Firstly, it works together with the LUMA Institute — an organization whose main aim is to improve how teams work together. So when you are opting for Mural, you are also getting access to a platform which can actually pump up your coworkers’ expertise with courses, certificates and other digital resources.
And secondly, Mural’s free version allows full visual work collaboration for your team members — and allows you to use all of the tool’s templates. Not too shabby.
Here’s what else Mural has under the hood:
Pros | Cons |
Good collab options (although seemingly no way to attach files) | In-app chat only comes in a paid plan |
LUMA Institute training as part of the package | There is no mention Mural can be used as a presentation tool: exporting as PowerPoint is limited only to Outlines but not Mind Maps |
Access to all templates and visual collab features on free plan | Some users complain is app is not very intuitive |
Brilliant facilitation options, such as private mode | |
Loads of integrations |
Capterra rating (number of reviews): 4.5 (102)
Pricing: it’s definitely the best option for teams to do collaborative work without paying the price of subscription. Sure, it’s limited to 3 templates (murals) and no chat is a bummer — but no other app comes close to offering such a rich collab for free. If you decide you need unlimited murals, unrestricted user access and the in-app chat for colleagues, you’ll have to cough up $9.99 per user month.
XMind reminds us of Ayoa to an extent, in that they offer some pretty cool ways to visualize your mind mapping efforts. Their interface looks slick, they offer some cool features, like Pitch Mode (for easily switching to presentation mode) and Zen Mode (which allows to hide all side panels) and they are trusted by a bunch of big companies, such as Amazon, Barclays and Visa. However, the collaboration features seem to be lacking entirely.
Pros | Cons |
Works on all major platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android) | There are paid plans for teams, but I found no mention collaboration in real-time is possible |
Feature some cool ways to visualize ideas (tree chart, timeline, fish bone, etc.) | XMind seemingly doesn’t have any integrations with other apps either |
Zen Mode and Pitch Mode help remove distractions and make presentations easier | |
The free plan supports unlimited maps, including all the cool ones | |
Mind maps can easily be exported |
Capterra rating (number of reviews): 4.5 (89)
Pricing: there is a free plan, and a Pro plan which will cost $5,99 per month or $59,99 annually, with a discount. Plus there are separate pricing plans for students and organizations.
Creately position themselves as the “world’s first work management platform that runs on a smart visual canvas”. Their main focus is on organizing data into visually-appealing and structured forms. Creately are used by 8M+ people, and some serious companies (like Intel, Netflix and Facebook) trust it.
Pros | Cons |
Aside from mind maps, there are flowcharts, org charts and different diagrams you can use | No discernable presentation capabilities |
There are integrations available with Microsoft and Google apps, Slack and GitHub too on more expensive plans | List of integrations is not particularly impressive |
Real-time collaboration (including commenting) even on a free plan | In-app video conferencing is only available on Enterprise plan |
Export in PDF, SVG, PPT |
Capterra rating (number of reviews): 4.3 (158)
Pricing: there’s a free plan with 3 unlimited canvas (and 60 objects combined), a starter plan for $5 per user per month, a business plan for $89 per month (regardless of the number of users) and an enterprise plan that can be suited for your company’s needs.
Mind mapping tools allow your ideas to run free without fear of losing them. They allow you to visualize these ideas, branch them out and create connections you might not have thought of before. And dump your brain in the process: it’s an important consideration and one of the main reasons we revert to mind mapping.
Mind mapping software makes ideation easier, allows to work jointly on projects, and can come with a handful of other features, such as workflow organization and useful integrations.
Picking one option among the sea of alternatives is not simple, there are literally dozens of apps, but I hope the in-depth analysis above will make things easier for you.