10 Best Free Mind Mapping Software In 2023
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The Best Free Mind Mapping Software
Here’s a shortlist of the best free mind mapping software:
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1.
Miro
— Free version with unlimited users and pre-made templates.
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2.
Lucidspark
— Best virtual whiteboard for mind mapping and collaboration
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3.
Canva
— Free design tool with over 250,000 templates included.
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4.
Invision
— Free forever plan with voting features and guest permissions.
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5.
Mindomo
— Limited free version with multiple diagram options.
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6.
Ayoa
— Best all-in-one mind mapping software
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7.
Mural
— Infinite canvas, unlimited users, and full template library available in the free version.
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8.
Venngage
— Infographics tool with mind mapping capabilities.
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9.
Coggle
— Mind mapping with full change history details in their free plan.
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10.
Gitmind
— Brainstorming tool for PC and mobile devices with a full-featured free plan.
Mind mapping is a way to visually represent concepts and a tool that we can use to make our projects run smoothly. Free mind mapping software can help you create these maps and collaborate with your team without having to break the bank.
That said, free software comes with limitations around user seats and features, so if none of the mind mapping software on this free list seems like a fit, here’s a list of the overall best mind mapping software.
Normally created around a single concept, mind maps have been around for A WHILE. It is a practice that started in Aristotle’s times but then got popularized by Tony Buzan in the 70s as a brainstorming tool. However, because of its way of gathering ideas using lots of visual aids, it is rarely conceived as a good tool for non-visual concepts. I wonder then, is mind mapping for projects different?
Mind mapping for projects isn’t about pictures and drawings, it is about how you can bring your team together during the planning phase of a project to pour ideas and build a visual knowledge database. When used properly, a mind map will provide a visual way of identifying the scope of a project, its limitations, resources required, and even potential bottlenecks.
How I picked the best free mind mapping software
To decide which tools to feature in this list, I evaluated and compared the details for a number of popular mind mapping tools. I weighed a variety of key factors and functions that I describe below.
- Ease of use + aesthetics: Since this is a collaboration tool that is normally based on visual elements, like multimedia objects, it needs to be good-looking. Having a simple user interface where every element to build the mind map is easy to find is important for its use and overall user experience.
- Available templates: Since the mind map is not a common deliverable for our client, we need to get through it as fast as possible, and that’s where templates come into play. I looked at the available templates, the option of creating your own or even sharing with the community.
- Security: The information that we put into these maps can sometimes be sensitive. Therefore, I looked into the security features that the tool has to prevent it from leaking. I will disclose if the security features are available in the free plans or if they are exclusive to higher-tier options.
- Integrations: I compared the number of available integrations for each tool as they represent ways in which we can expand functionality. Imagine how nice it would be to work on a mind map within your current project management tool or share it with another tool after you’re done.
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Overview Of The 10 Best Free Mind Mapping Software
1
Miro
Free version with unlimited users and pre-made templates.
Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard platform that stands out as one of the top tools in this space. Their free version has collaboration and interactive media features that other software options lack and is a very intuitive tool to use if you are new to mind mapping.
My experience with the free version was that all the basic features I needed to make an attractive mind map were there. I was able to build sub-topics, add images directly from Google search, icons, and post-its, and I can invite as many people as I want!
Expert tip: In the left navigation pane, enable quick access to mind maps by clicking on the “more tools” button at the bottom and dragging the “mind map” option to the main toolbar.
Features & Integrations
Features for this free version include bringing all collaborators to your position on the whiteboard with one click and a built-in chat and comment-based convo section so you can easily collaborate with your project team. Then, it has multimedia file attachments and icons so your map gets even more visually attractive. Finally, Miro lets you add notes to your mind map, so everyone can read the ground rules, agenda, to-do lists or whatever you wish to communicate.
Integrations are limited to the core ones. These include Slack, Zoom, Trello, Sketch, Google Drive, and a connector with Zapier so you can access thousands of other apps (you have to pay, though).
What’s free: free plan available for a single workspace with 3 editable boards
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.8
3414
Freemium plan available
Plans start at $10/member/month
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2
Lucidspark
Best virtual whiteboard for mind mapping and collaboration
Lucidspark provides real-time collaboration and facilitation features including sticky notes, freeform drawing, comments, tasks, automatic sorting, Breakout Boards, a laser pointer, a timer, and voting. Users can start with a blank canvas and easily add sticky notes and other shapes, or they can start with templates for brainstorming, mind maps, meetings and workshops, strategic analysis, project planning, and Agile development.
Users can quickly embed PDFs, PNGs, and other files onto the canvas, as well as create presentations and frame-by-frame paths to guide collaborators through content. Lucidspark has a simple and customizable UI that can be mastered in a few minutes. Users can access all features from the toolbars, as well as take an onboarding tutorial and view all keyboard shortcuts.
Lucidspark is ideal for individuals and teams looking to collaborate in ways that lead to decision-making and action. It’s a flexible application that allows you to brainstorm, plan, and make decisions in a way that’s best for your team.
Lucidspark offers integrations for leading apps like Zoom, Slack, Azure DevOps, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Smartsheet, Confluence, and others.
What’s free: a free plan for individual users with 3 editable Lucidspark boards and unlimited shapes per Lucidspark board.
Paid plans start at $7.95/month with a 7-day free trial.
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.5
2065
7-day free trial available
From 7.95/user/month
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Visit Website
3
Canva
Free design tool with over 250,000 templates included.
Canva is a design tool that has become one of the mainstream platforms for building marketing collateral. Despite this, not many people know it can be used to build great mind maps in a collaborative way.
One of the reasons Canva is so popular is because of the vast amount of templates and stock images it offers. The free version of this software is not the exception. Just to give you an idea, I got 292 template options for the keywords “mind map”, which is how I found the one you see in the image above. Other templates require you to upgrade to a paid plan.
Regarding security, Canva offers single sign-on and ISO 27001 compliance and certification as part of their security package. This, unfortunately is included in the Teams plan.
Features & Integrations
Features include a drag-and-drop editor, over 250K free templates, and collaboration through invites to design. The tool offers over a million stock photos and other services, like printing.
Integrations are available as a way to amplify the platform. Therefore, you will find common productivity apps like Slack, Mailchimp, Tumblr, Pardot, Gain, Hubspot, and many others.
What’s Free: Free plan available with over 250,000 templates, 5g storage, and 1 million photos and graphics.
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7
3987
Free to use
From $16.99 /person/month
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4
Invision
Free forever plan with voting features and guest permissions.
Freehand is a collaboration app by Invision that has a free version perfect for creating mind maps and collaborating with up to 30 active users.
The interface is simple, with a bottom navigation bar that has all the options you need to build your first mind map. The free-hand tool will let you create your own visual elements, the chat bubble will give you a view of all comments on the project, and the 3 dots display all other integrations and fun widgets you can add to your boards.
The thing I liked the most about this free version is that the only obvious difference compared to the paid plans is the security features available. Everything else is there. Great experience!
Features & Integrations
Features include custom templates, polling, exporting work as a .png file, version history, and guest permissions. Also, you can post reactions with emojis on any place in the canvas and insert gifs to make your maps more entertaining.
Integrations include Vimeo, Trello, Microsoft 365, Loom, Jira, Asana, Adobe XD, and more.
What’s free: Free forever plan with voting features and guest permissions.
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
744
Free plan available
From $7.95/user/month
Visit Website
Visit Website
5
Mindomo
Limited free version with multiple diagram options.
Mindomo is a mind mapping software with a free version that will let you work on your project planning in a fun way. Its interface is colorful & minimalistic, leaving most of the functionality hidden in keyboard shortcuts or right-click menus.
The free plan allows you to build a mind map, concept map, organigram, tree organigram, timeline, or Gantt chart with a limit of 3. However, this free version is very limited as uploading multimedia, exporting as a PDF, and collaborating with other people are limited to the paid plans. Therefore, with this software, you will have to go at it solo.
Features & Integrations
Features this free version offers are a playback diagram history that will show a video of all changes the diagram has gone through, a full-screen view if you want to present your map, keyboard shortcuts for anything you can think of (available in the top left menu), and a search feature where you can look for any word in your diagram, and it will be spotlighted.
Integrations mostly focus on your file uploads, so if you get a paid plan, you will be able to upload multimedia files from Dropbox, G Drive, and OneDrive.
What’s Free: the free plan is available with 3 diagrams.
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7
6
Free version available
From $6/user/month
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6
Ayoa
Best all-in-one mind mapping software
Ayoa is a next-generation mind-mapping tool that has a wide range of features. This mind mapping tool first and most users will subscribe to an Ayoa plan to use this functionality. The cheapest plan is the Ayoa Mind Map with easy-to-use features, including freehand organic mind maps, speed mind maps, radial maps, capture maps, and extensive image libraries. Subscribing to Ayoa Ultimate gives users access to AI-powered mind maps that can be tested using the 7-day free trial.
The Ayoa 7-day free trial gives users access to basic and advanced mind mapping tools, including multitudes of templates to choose from. Once the free plan is over, users will need to subscribe to either Ayoa Mind Map to get the basic mind map features or Ayoa Ultimate to continue using the AI-powered mind mapping features.
When looking for a feature-heavy mind mapping tool, it’s easy to see that the available paid plan features are extensive enough for most users to consider this as an ideal solution for many businesses. The Mind Map and Ayoa Ultimate are cheap enough plans for individual users to opt for these after they’ve evaluated the trial version.
Features & Integrations
Features Mind maps incl. organic maps, radial maps, speed maps & capture maps, freehand drawing to produce hand-drawn digital mind maps, unlimited sharing and collaboration, and extensive image libraries.
Integrations
What’s Free: a 7-day free trial is available.
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4
55
7-day free trial
From $10/user/month, billed annually
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Visit Website
7
Mural
Infinite canvas, unlimited users, and full template library available in the free version.
Mural is a digital whiteboard tool that offers over 300 different templates and collaboration tools, so you and your team can collaborate in real time or asynchronously, and get the most out of your experience.
The free forever plan is suggested for individuals as it limits the number of murals (3) that you can have, and visitors to your mural can only view your work. Despite that, the drag-and-drop intuitive interface helps you build in minutes and add loads of visual elements to your mind maps.
Features & Integrations
Features included in the free version are facilitator tools like a timer, voting sessions, and a laser pointer. Also, a bunch of collaboration features like sticky notes, drawings, content library, and reactions. Finally, Figma offers a resizable and infinite canvas option, plus a little map on the bottom right to keep you aware of your overall position on the whiteboard.
Integrations include the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Dropbox, Zapier, LUMA Workplace, Slack, Google Calendar, Webex, Jira Cloud and more.
What’s free: free plan available with 3 murals and unlimited members
From $9.99/user/month
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8
Venngage
Infographics tool with mind mapping capabilities.
Venngage is an infographics builder that can easily be used to create mind maps. Their free version allows you to create up to 5 designs and share them publicly once you are done. This infographic maker could be your best ally if you need to present your work to project stakeholders.
Creating your mind map is simple. Their drag-and-drop interface allows you to upload texts, icons, data, or images and collaborate with other users through comments. Once you are done, you can download your design in different formats, like PDF, PNG or Powerpoint.
Features & Integrations
Features included in the free version are the minimum needed for a mind-mapping tool. Therefore, you will only find the option to drag elements into the canvas (including images), and templates that you can choose from to get a quick start on your project.
Integrations are unfortunately only part of their Enterprise plan, at which point there are other software solutions with much more functionality.
What’s Free: a free plan with 5 Designs, Public Shares, Free Diverse Icons and Widgets, 6 Image Uploads
From $19/user/month
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Visit Website
9
Coggle
Mind mapping with full change history details in their free plan.
Coggle is an online software for creating and sharing mindmaps and flowcharts. As an online tool, they focus on ways to improve collaboration across teams, whether it’s in the same or different time zones.
The free plan gives you up to 3 private diagrams so you can safely test the tool. Honestly, this version is very limited and not as friendly as you would expect. Adding images or changing to bolded text will make the app display code that will turn into the real thing once you click outside of the element you’re editing.
The one thing I will say I enjoyed is the search feature on the chat window. It becomes very useful to find parts of your conversation as the interactions between your team increase.
Features & Integrations
Features included are an unlimited number of multimedia uploads, auto-arranged branches, a full change history log, and exports to PDF and image files.
Integrations have not been developed for this tool so far.
What’s Free: a free plan with 3 private diagrams.
From $5/user/month
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Visit Website
10
Gitmind
Brainstorming tool for PC and mobile devices with a full-featured free plan.
Gitmind is a mind mapping and brainstorming tool for PC and mobile devices that helps capture ideas in a single place. Their free software has 2 great things: one, it has all the features available and two, it has support for all platforms.
Using the tool was a unique experience because it looks like it’s an unrestricted tool when in reality, it’s a bit of the opposite. The interface is based on objects that serve as containers. Therefore, any element you want to add to the canvas has to be associated with a container. For example, an image or icon cannot be placed in an empty space, it has to be placed within a text box.
Features & Integrations
Features that I noticed are available include image uploads, a focus mode that hides all toolbars and leaves you to create everything with left and right clicks, an option to reverse the mouse click behavior for left-handed people, and a version history log.
Integrations have not been developed at this moment.
What’s Free: a free plan with 10 mind maps.
Free plan available
$2.19/Month
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Other Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- Figma
Free forever plan with mobile app functionality.
- MindMup
Free unlimited mind maps + Google Drive storage for your files.
- Lucidchart
Free version with a limit of 3 documents, 60 shapes per map, and 90+ templates.
- MindMeister
Free starter plan with real-time collaboration features.
- ClickUp
Project management platform with whiteboard capabilities for project collaboration.
- Mind42
Free online mind mapping software that allows you to share maps with a community.
- Bubbl.us
Mind mapping software with presentation mode for your team meetings.
- MindManager
Multi-platform mind mapping tool with a full-featured free trial.
- Visio
Powerful diagramming tool with a 30-day free trial.
Does Microsoft have a mind mapping tool?
Yes! Microsoft has software that, just like Microsoft Project, is a classic and known by most project managers. This software is called Microsoft Visio and can be purchased as an online solution based on a monthly subscription or a perpetual license.
How can I make a mind map for free?
Most of the tools on this list have a free version where you can make at least one mind map for free. However, if you do not want to download software or register for a free trial, you can try using the diagramming tools on Google Slides and Powerpoint.
Learn more about specific mind mapping techniques here.
What do you think about this list?
Now that I’ve covered some of the free options available for mind mapping, I’d love to hear from you. What are some of the tools you use to create mind maps? Do you find them useful in project management?
Read more about the benefits of mind mapping in project management here.
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