12 Best Mind Mapping Apps To Organise Your Thoughts Efficiently

Have you ever been in a situation where you had a great idea for a project, and it really excited you to work on it? But when you actually sat down to work, all your ideas jumbled up, and now you were confused about where to start. Unless you are an absolute genius, this happens to all of us. This is where mind mapping apps come in handy. Such mind mapping software for mobile fits in your pocket and helps you bring your ideas to life.

Before getting down on the deets, let’s understand what mind mapping apps are and why you should have one on your smartphone.

Importance of Mind Mapping Apps

Imagine having an idea that’s difficult to explain but is the most brilliant one if it works out correctly. In that situation, how would you explain to your fellow classmates or teammates to go along with you? By using mind mapping apps. They offer features like collaboration and cross-platform accessibility that can help you get your idea across easily. There are many other benefits that these apps offer you. Some of the best mind mapping apps offer the following benefits for students.

• Organises your thoughts.
• Helps you visualise them to simplify complex patterns.
• Brainstorm more ideas & concepts.
• Amplifies note-taking to capture the interconnectedness of ideas.
• Allows you to collaborate with others to gain multiple perspectives on the problem.
• Enables you to visually present your ideas and conclusion, showing exactly how you reached them.
• Enhances your memory to help you retain more information through visual aids.
• Allows you to work on different devices with cloud sync so that you can pick up your ideas right where you left them.

These benefits often make mind mapping apps the best tools for students with outstanding ideas. So, without further ado, let’s jump into our list of the 12 best mind mapping apps for students.

1. MindMeister

Platforms: Web, Android, iOS

Key feature: Real-time collaboration and Google Drive Integration

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to paid plans

App Link: www.mindmeister.com

MindMeister is one of the best mind mapping apps in the market. Apart from its key features, it also offers multiple templates for students to work on or even customise them as they like it. However, the features of the MindMeister app are limited to the free version. For example, it does not allow you to export your mind maps unless you are using the paid version of the tool.

2. XMind

Platforms: Web, MacOS, Windows, Android, iOS

Key feature: Stickers and illustration support

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to Pro plan

App Link: xmind.app

Unlike the MindMeister app, XMind is one of the best feature-full mind mapping apps students can download on their smartphones. The app is available to install on multiple platforms, making cross-platform access easy. The user interface of the XMind app is aesthetically pleasing, and it ensures you would want to flaunt it among your peers. It offers multiple customisation options to make your mind map reflect your idea.

3. Coggle

Platforms: Web

Key feature: Saves and tracks every change

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to “Awesome” plan

App Link: coggle.it

The best thing about Coggle is that it is a mind mapping app that offers more features even in its free plan. You get unlimited diagrams, visually beautiful icons, file export options, and much more in the free plan itself. Coggle is a web-based application, which means that you don’t download any app to your mobile device. Simply sign up and start using it. However, this also means that it lacks the ease and user experience of an app environment. 

4. SimpleMind

Platforms: MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Key feature: 15+ template options

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to a paid plan

App Link: simplemind.eu

SimpleMind mind mapping app works on a cloud platform, allowing its users to create one account and access it across multiple devices. This means that you can create your mind map on your laptop and make changes to it on your phone. SimpleMind is often seen as an alternative to XMind as its interface is quite similar. That said, you can use the free version only on your mobile devices. So, if you prefer working on your smartphone, this app is for you.

5. Lucidchart

Platforms: Web, Android, iOS

Key feature: Presentation mode

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to a paid plan

App Link: lucid.app

Lucidchart is one of the mind mapping apps that offer you easy collaboration and presentation mode in the free version. That said, it also limits you to creating only 3 editable mind maps unless you upgrade to a paid version. To make things easy, the Lucidchart mind mapping app offers you 100 free templates to choose from.

6. Mindomo

Platforms: Windows, Linux, Android, iOS

Key feature: Concept maps and Gantt charts

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to a paid plan

App Link: www.mindomo.com

Mindomo is again a mind mapping app that offers limited document creation in the free version. However, even on the free version, you can still share, collaborate, and publish your work. Furthermore, it also offers Mindomo AI. With this feature, you can create artificially intelligent mind maps on your topics.

7. Ayoa

Platforms: Windows, Linux, Android, iOS

Key features: Collaboration and cross-platform access

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to a paid plan

App Link: www.ayoa.com

If you like visually bright and colourful mind maps, then Ayoa is the best mind mapping software for you. It allows you to create unlimited mind maps, even on the free version. This powerful brainstorming app allows you to focus on organising your thoughts with beautiful visuals to aid memory retention.

8. Scapple

Platforms: Windows, MacOS

Key features: Works offline

Pricing: 30-Day Free trial 

App Link: www.literatureandlatte.com/scapple/overview

Scapple is a widely known offline mind mapping software. It is one of those study apps for students that helps them work without distractions. If you prefer working alone and need mind mapping apps to organise your thoughts, then Scapple is the one for you. This no-nonsense tool ensures higher productivity with fewer to no distractions.

9. FreeMind

Platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux, ChromeOS

Key features: Open-source software

Pricing: Free

App Link: sourceforge.net/projects/freemind

FreeMind is an open-source mind mapping software created in Java by Christian Foltin and Daniel Polansky. If you are looking for a completely free mind mapping program, then this is it for you. The platform uses simple shapes and nodes to help users create mind maps of their thoughts. If you are looking for a free app for mind mapping, then this is one of the must-have apps for students.

10. MindMup

Platforms: Windows, MacOS

Key features: Storyboard creation

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to a paid plan

App Link: mindmup.com

Talking about FreeMind, MindMup is a mind mapping app that supports the FreeMind mind mapping documents. So, if you have created a mind map on FreeMind and want to edit it with more features, you can simply import it to MindMup. This mind map application also supports integration with Google Drive to keep your documents safe in your drive.

11. ConceptDraw MINDMAP

Platforms: Windows, MacOS

Key features: Integration with Microsoft Office

Pricing: 21-Day Free Trial

App Link: www.conceptdraw.com/products/mind-map-software

If you ever want mind mapping software that you can use alongside your MS PowerPoint, then ConceptDraw MINDMAP is the tool for you. This powerful tool enables you to create detailed mind maps with professional-level features. You can export the created mind maps to Microsoft PowerPoint presentations or even web pages.

12. MindNode

Platforms: MacOS, iOS

Key features: Focus Mode

Pricing: Free with an option to upgrade to a paid plan

App Link: www.mindnode.com

MindNode is one of the best mind mapping apps for Apple users. The app was created solely for the Apple environment. This minimalist mind mapping app offers a range of features that make this app a truly powerful tool to organise your thought process. The app offers a focus mode which allows you to concentrate on a single thread on the mind map and block all other distractions.

Organising your thoughts and ideas into understandable categories helps you explain them to others more comprehensively. Mind mapping apps can help with this. In the comments, tell us which of these apps you have already tried and which ones you would like to try.