Mind Mapping software changed the entire way we visualize the relationships and concepts of an entire system. Rather than relying on sticky notes to understand things, mind mapping apps provide collaborative brainstorming between people.
Moreover, they help you break down the subtopics of a particular idea section very easily. Additionally, they allow you to test multiple ideas simultaneously with each other with precise minute detail breakdowns.
Whether you are a marketer, designer, engineer, or business owner, mind mapping software will help you collaborate with team members. However, how to know that which mind mapping tool suits your business requirements and criteria can be a little confusing.
So in this guide, I have ranked and reviewed the best mind mapping software based on their mind mapping solutions, pricing, integrations, ease of use, and more.
So let’s get started.
What is the Best Mind Mapping Software?
Here is my list of the best mind mapping software to use this year.
1. Milanote
Milanote is a mind mapping software where you can jot down all your ideas and thoughts easily. Their interface is so easy to use that it feels like you are noting your idea in your book. You can add text, images, links, draw, and can even add colors to it.
Using Milanote you can have a clear picture and shape your ideas better by organizing everything into a visual board. This can give you more clarity about the idea and what should be done next to implement it. Furthermore, you can even add to-do lists for better management.
Milanote is not only for you, you can share your notes and even use it as a whiteboard while collaborating with your team to brainstorm ideas. Being such an easy-to-use and versatile mind mapping software, Milanote is used by a lot of professionals like designers, marketers, writers, agencies, and more.
Key Features
- Drag & Drop interface: The flexible drag and drop interface of Milanote makes it extremely easy to use for everyone. Moreover, through it, you can organize things in any manner that works for you.
- To-do lists: A to-do list brings more clarity to what should be the next steps and results in better task management. In Milanote, you can create one easily.
- Upload documents & images: You can add JPGs, PNGs, PDFs Word, Excel, and many more documents. Milanote supports all the common file formats.
- Mobile app: You can save photos and other things in Milanote’s mobile application and it will be ready to organize on your desktop’s browser.
- Collaboration: You can brainstorm your ideas with your team remotely by using Milanote as an online whiteboard in your discussion.
Pros
- They provide sample templates and guides which are very much useful to get started.
- The mobile application is quite handy to save ideas on the go and organize them later.
- There are lots of new features coming in the new version like stickers, card templates, export zip files, tags, and more.
Pricing Plan
Milanote provides a free version without any time limit. It free lifetime with few restrictions like the number of notes, uploads, and others. Other plans are as listed below:
- Pay per person: $12.50/month billed monthly
- Team: $49/month billed annually
2. Cacoo
Cacoo is software used for drawing digital diagrams including flowcharts, wireframes, presentations, and more. It is a great tool to present your idea along with the workflow required to execute it. It is an all-in-one tool for mind mapping through diagrams.
Whether you are presenting physically or virtually, Cacoo has got your back. Virtual collaborations are quite smooth and easy in Cacoo. Your teammates can not only view your designs but also edit them along with you. Furthermore, it also provides team features like comments, chat, screen sharing, video chat, and more.
Cacoo can be used by your entire team including your designer and developers. Everyone can add their own idea to build the required product. It makes communication smoother. Furthermore, you can also integrate your favorite apps on Cacoo seamlessly.
Key Features
- Track Changes: Cacoo preserves all the versions of your diagram. Therefore, you can track all the changes easily or even revert back to the required version in case of unwanted changes.
- Communication: There are multiple ways available on Cacoo to connect with your team including video calls and chat. Plus, you can even share your screen to show your work.
- Templates: There are hundreds of ready-made templates available for any kind of diagram. Therefore, you can either start from scratch or use a template.
- Integrate applications: You can integrate your favorite applications including drive, AWS, dropbox, and more seamlessly.
Pros
- The comments feature is really helpful to provide feedback for a particular block of design.
- Cacoo is not only limited to diagrams, you can even create presentations, project timelines, sitemaps, and many more
- The diagrams and other content can be easily shared with a link. Plus, you can even export them as SVG, PDF, and more.
- You can import your AWS architecture directly into Cacoo and organize stuff accordingly.
Pricing Plan
Cacoo has a variety of plans available for different types of organizations as per their requirements. Plus, they also have a forever free plan. The details about other plans are as below:
- Pro: $6/month per user
- Education: $9/month for 3 users
- Enterprise: $1500/year for 10 users
3. XMind
XMind is your digital notebook wherein you can creatively organize and brainstorm all your ideas. Visualization of information matters and it can be generated through mind mapping. XMind understands this and provides all the features required to record your ideas and build them from level zero.
You might be clumsy at jotting down ideas but XMind got your back. XMind helps you to organize your ideas through mind maps and has ready-themed templates which you can use to start noting down. Furthermore, you can also convert from one templet to another at any point in time as per your requirements.
XMind is a versatile product that can be used by professionals from any industry including startups to Fortune 500 companies. Therefore, XMind has subscription plans suitable for everyone.
Key Features
- Cross-platform: XMind is available for all your devices including all the different operating systems including Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Formats: XMind offers Matrix, Logic Chart, Brace Map, Fishbone, Timeline, and many more including a combination of all formats to visually organize your thoughts.
- Exports: You can export your mind map into formats like SCG, PNG, PDF, Word, Excel, Markdown, and many other formats.
- Themes: You can create a new theme or customize any theme as per your choice.
- Attachments: You can attach images, pdfs, audio notes, and LaTeX equations to your mind maps.
Pros
- It works perfectly fine on all devices and systems. Therefore, you can use XMind on any of your devices including phones, tablets, etc.
- XMind allows you to search between all your files.
- Exporting mind maps into formats like PNG, Excel, and many other formats as per requirements is very much useful.
- A mindmap gallery is present wherein you can take inspiration from various ready-made mind maps.
Pricing Plan
XMind provides a variety of subscription plans suitable for everyone. Furthermore, they also have special offers NPOs, NGOs, and governments. Below are the details about all the plans.
- One Plan: $39.99/6 Months, $59.99/Year
- Academic Plan: $22.49/6 Months, $34.99/ Year
- Team Plan: Available on request
- Enterprise Plan: Available on request
4. Padlet
Padlet is a very easy and intuitive mind mapping software. There are no prerequisites for any design skills. You can note down, copy-paste, add attachments and create a beautiful mind map just the way you want.
Moreover, you get a personal profile in Padlet which can be seen by your collaborators and followers to know a bit more about you. You can use it as a portfolio of your best creations. Furthermore, you can also get into the community by following people with common interests like yours.
Padlet can be used by everyone irrespective of their lack of exposure to productivity software. You can search for pallets from a wide community or any specific topic inside your content. Furthermore, it also provides a variety of community features.
Key Features
- Multi-lingual: It is universal and widely accessible by anyone around the globe as it is available in 42 languages.
- Cross-platform: Padlet is available for most devices including phones, tablets, and Kindle devices.
- Collaboration: You can invite your entire team to contribute to your idea with various restrictions as per your requirements.
- Imports: You can import almost any type of file including spreadsheets, selfies, Spotify music, links, files from Autocad, Illustrator, and more.
- Content Protection: There are five protection options available to protect your content. They are Public, Secret, Password Protected, Totally Private, and Organization-Wide.
Pros
- You can never lose anything due to network issues as all the changes are auto-saved.
- There is a community of pallets on Padlet. Therefore, you can follow anyone, view their content, and get inspiration on anything you want.
- Padlet provides excellent support with personalized assistance at any point in time.
- Padlet has a few amazing privacy options that allow you to preserve your content. Furthermore, they also provide collaborators restrictions wherein you can give permissions to your collaborators as per your requirements.
Pricing Plan
Padlet provides three types of subscription plans for individuals, schools, and businesses. All of these plans come with a free 30-day trial. Below are the plan details:
- Backpack Plan: starting at $1000
- Briefcase Plan: $12 per user / month
- Pro Plan: starting at $95
So now let’s cover some basics.
What is Mind Mapping Software?
Mind mapping software is a tool that allows you to view complex ideas and concepts in simple graphical visualization. It basically allows you to understand an idea by generating, formulating, synthesizing, structuring, recalling, and re-formulating, it repeatedly.
Moreover, it allows you to make changes very easily compared to a paper-and-pencil-based environment. Also, modern mind map templates, allow you to add special effects, symbols and links to the pages to make them more interactive.
What are the Benefits of using Mind Mapping Software?
Here are some of the key benefits that mind mapping software can provide to your business.
1. Idea Retention
The mind mapping tool increases your efficiency and retention rate by providing easy to use interactive platform. Moreover, it deploys active methods of learning and reading a particular context to help stakeholders grasp it more easily.
Also, it facilitates group discussion, practicing examples, and teaching others the context to bring significant expected results.
2. Improve Productivity
Any organization strives to keep productivity high for the success of the business. Mind mapping software is one of the team collaboration tools you can rely on to increase productivity.
It is said that it increases roughly 20% the productivity of beginners and 50% the case of experts. Therefore, investing in the tool will provide compounding returns in the future for your business.
3. Saves Time
Multiple global surveys suggest that 41% of professionals saved 1 to 3 hours every week using mind maps. This is an increase of 48% of the productivity we just talked about. Therefore, the time that you save using a mind mapping tool can be used in other areas that require prior attention.
4. Quick Learning
Since 90% of what the human brain remembers is visual, it allows people to recall information quickly and find data points quickly. Moreover, it eliminates rote learning which cannot establish a connection between things that they know and things that they don’t know.
Best Mind Mapping Software – Final Summary
This wraps up my list of the best mind mapping software to use this year. I will keep updating the list with other good mind mapping software available in the market.
Remember that mind map tools help in smooth collaboration across stakeholders and help quick learning. Moreover, it allows your team to finalize more quickly and figure out the issues precisely.
However, choosing the right software again remains challenging as it’s based on your business requirements. Therefore, you should research all the products on the list before purchasing any software.
More from Smashitbuck: Do check out my other articles on the photo organizing software, ecommerce web, and CDP marketing platform to read this year.
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