MindMeister has been my go-to mind mapping tool for quite some time – in fact it’s one of the longest lasting productivity tools in my lineup.
When I’ve got something that needs a “brain dump” so I can work with the results or share online, MindMeister is where I go.
Why?
Well, it’s incredibly easy to use – you can seriously be up and running in about 1 minute.
What that doesn’t mean is that it is overly simple or not flexible…there’s a lot of power hiding under the surface. Check out the video for more details:
Mindmeister pros
There’s a lot to like – MindMeister has stayed focused on mind mapping and it shows. Like I mentioned earlier you can get started very quickly and there’s really only a few keyboard shortcuts to remember:
Control, Tab, and Enter.
With those 3 down you can do just about everything you need – the rest is not needed for just getting ideas down in a hierarchy.
But when you want to style things, add videos, links, links to other mind maps, share with team members, share with the public, and present – MindMeister has you covered.
mindmeister cons
One of the downsides is also part of the upside – you can get started for free, with an account limited to 3 mind maps but it’s free forever. However, you cannot export if you’re using the free plan. Cue sad horn…
I don’t think this is a big deal as they’re providing a lot of value for the free tier and you’re still able to share your maps with the free plan.
mindmeister pricing
As I mentioned, there’s a free tier with some limits, and from there the pricing starts a just a few dollars per month for the personal plan.
If you’re going to grab a paid plan, you can save 10% by using my referral code: Adam-Mindmap
Going beyond the personal plans, they have business and enterprise accounts that scale based on the number of users. Find out more here.
summary
Overall, I really enjoy using Mindmeister and find myself keeping it in my lineup year after year.
It’s easy to use, fun, and looks good – for me, all the bells and whistles are just that, bells and whistles. I’m sure others use it for presentations and more, but I like the base functionality and find it valuable enough to have paid for the service for years.
Give it a shot – I think you’ll like it too.
To get started, you can visit MindMeister, or check out an example of a shared mind map here.
