The 6 Best Free Mind Map Tools (And How to Best Use Them)

Mind maps are one of the best-known logical organization tools. It’s a graphic representation of connections between concepts and ideas. The idea starts from a central topic, and we gradually connect them with different branches and label them with notes, symbols, pictures, links, and more.

When you create a map, you elaborate on existing knowledge structure and their relationship to new concepts. Gradually, you’ll start learning new things and recall information quickly. Let’s look at some free or inexpensive mind map tools that give you great value.

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How to Pick a Mind Map Tool

There are different ways to use mind mapping to unlock your productivity potential. However, when it comes to deciding on an app, it’s not easy and depends on many factors.

1. 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 on the key points. From here onwards, continue adding branches. You can even create a cross-link to other items in a mindmap. Open the context menu, and press the Shift key to bring the cross-link icon. Then, drag the cross-link line.

The app supports keyboard shortcuts and has a vast collection of templates in Coggle Gallery to quickly start your projects. The export options include .MM, TXT, Microsoft Visio, PDF, and JPEG.

Unique Features

• Add multiple central nodes in a single workspace. Then, create loops and branches to connect other mind maps and see relationships.
• View the version history of the mind map. Check who last edited (with date and time) the map and make a duplicate copy.
• Gradually reveal the mind map to not overwhelm the audience. Click the presentation mode button and click (+) or (-) icons as you hover over the branches.
• Message team members, leave notes, and chat in real-time to brainstorm ideas. You can auto-arrange branches to associate the content of each branch with the things around it.

Download: Coogle for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

2. GitMind

Gitmind is an online mind map tool to visualize complicated concepts, generate new ideas, and make lists with task priorities. 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, JPG, PDF, and DOCX.

Unique Features

• Variety of classic, colorful, and business templates. For each theme, you can beautify the branches with different colors and change the background.
• Customize the node shape, spacing, background color, line thickness, and border shape. Click Node > Style to get started.
• Arrange the mind map in different layouts like logic chart, vertical/horizontal timeline, 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.

Download: GitMind for Android | iOS (Free, subscriptions available)

3. 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.

Once you’re done with the mind map, you can share the design with specific people (via email, teams, or groups) and set view or edit permissions. 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.

Unique Features

• Embed your mind map in presentations and reports. Then, share it on social media or email right from the app.
• Insert pictures, embed videos, links from the web or Twitter, and GIFs to make the mind map more instructive. 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.

Download: Canva for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

4. InfoRapid KnowledgeBase Builder

Traditional mind mapping tools are hierarchical. When you start creating complex linkages, they quickly get confusing and unusable. With this app, you can join multiple ideas, and yet it adjusts your map dynamically to an elegant layout. You click on 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.

Download: KnowledgeBase Builder for Windows ($10) | Mac ($9) | iOS ($9) | Android ($11)

5. Scapple

When you draft an outline, you can work out if the ideas connect, what order works best, identify gaps in your thinking, and confirm your thoughts with proven facts. Scapple is an intuitive app for jotting your ideas down by developing connections between them. It’s the software equivalent of pen and paper.

Unlike a typical mind-mapping software, Scapple doesn’t force you to make connections, nor do you have to begin with a central idea. It’s a freeform writing app with an expandable canvas to fit all your notes. You can move notes around to make room for new connections, edit and resize them, and export them to PNG or PDF.

Unique Features

• Stack notes on top of one another to create lists or columns of text. They’re useful for maintaining a list of related ideas that don’t belong in a single note.
• Add links to the text within notes or even files. You can even draw a background shape around a group of links and concepts.
• Incrementally search through the document and replace text. It is useful for quickly jumping from one cluster to the next on a large canvas.
• Freely connect your ideas through dotted lines, lines with arrows at one or both ends. You can even label a connection line to explain further explain the connection.

Download: Scapple ($18)

6. Wondershare EdrawMind

EdrawMind is a cross-platform mind mapping software. The user interface matches the familiar Office UI. To begin, use the commands on the Home tab and insert different topics under the central idea. While working on the topic, you can insert relationship lines, callout, picture, link, attachment, note, and tags.

The left panel is your canvas. You’ll find options to adjust the content in the right sidebar, change the appearance of your diagrams, add a background, view, and export outlines. There’s a handy color strip below the canvas to set the line and fill color.

Unique Features

• Twelve different mind map layouts along with dozens of ready-made templates to infuse creativity.
• Automatically create slides by disassembling your mind map into separate branches. Add notes, background, design to the slides, and export them as PPT or PDF.
• Store files in Edraw cloud storage for access and collaboration in real-time. You can run group brainstorming sessions and collect ideas.
• Handy Gantt Chart mode to visualize and track progress on any project.

Download: Wondershare EdrawMind MindMap for Desktop | Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

Make a Mind Map in Microsoft Word

Picking the right mind map tool for your workflow is not easy. The apps discussed above cover a wide range of features, needs, and budgets. If you’re just getting started with a mind map, try out these free or inexpensive tools and see if it fits your needs.

Do you know that you can use Microsoft Word to draw quick mind maps? There are some simple rules to follow to make a basic mind map. Read our guide on building a mind map with Microsoft Word.