Mind-mapping software for Mac OS X mini-reviews

(Written because all the Google Search results I could find were spam)

Desktop only, b/c I’m specifically looking at things you can use while not internet-connected.

How I evaluated: I mapped out my thinking on some simple project ideas, which meant a lot of entering new text, and then I tried taking notes on a presentation, which added more navigation and on-the-fly reorganization.

Mind-mapping tools I’d recommend

MindNode Pro

$20, free trial available

Pretty sweet, easy to use, pretty, simple look to it, surprising depth once you start to poke around in what you can attach and do with stuff. I dig it. The free trial is

The companion iOS apps look pretty good too, though I’m satisfied with iThoughts there.

I also don’t get why it’s MindNode Pro: wasn’t putting “Pro” on your app a thing you did when there were free and paid versions, like that phase where we named the paid versions “HD?”

Xmind

Free, Pro version available

I liked this a lot, seemed to drain battery like crazy. The Plus and Pro versions are targeted towards businesses (Gantt View, only $99 more for a limited time), with the only thing you might need being some of the export tools. But you’re probably fine.

Mind-mapping tools I wouldn’t recommend

Scapple

$15, free trial available

I love Scrivener, and I love how Literature & Latte runs their shop — my experiences with them over the years have been uniformly good.

Big difference between this and others is that Scapple defaults to a map without hierarchy: you’re not starting with a central topic and building out. Everything’s an island and then you like them up, toss a picture in, whatever. For that, it’s great, and the ease of use is good.

My problem is that for the stuff I most frequently use mind mapping for, I just could not seem to make it work fast enough: where I’m cruising along hitting tab/enter and typing as I go, Scapple never allowed me to get into that flow. I really wanted to like it more, and might return to it for doing writing brainstorming.

Mind Manager $350. Plus subscription stuff.

Targeted for the enterprise that can buy and negotiate licensing fees, I guess. I’ve played around with the free version, it seemed great and over-featured for personal use. But I don’t need another project management collaboration tool set, and I don’t have $350.

Freemind/Freeplane

Free. Built in Java. It looks like dated open-source software for Windows 3.11, but seems to work okay. Requires Java. Java kills batteries dead.

Bringing a tank to a water balloon fight: huge apps that can mind map

You can of course take any sufficiently advanced graphing program and use it, or a plug-in, or whatever. My experience is that they’re too heavy, and actually way harder to use than XMind or MindNode.

Of them, OmniGraffle seemed the least-horrible option for mind-mapping, and is also a pretty great diagramming application in general. It is, however, $99 for the standard version and $199 for the business-y version with Visio support and fancier export options. On the plus side, OmniGroup are a great bunch of people, with amazing customer support.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *