Every European mind mapping software tool reviewed
Vaterstetten, Germany
Founded 2007
Free (3 maps); Personal €6, Pro €10, Business €15 per user per month as shown on its pricing page
Free plan with 3 maps
Best for: Teams and students who want a hosted mind map editor with a long track record and a free tier
MindMeister is the browser editor to start with when a group has to work on one map and nobody wants to buy a seat for each person. A free account holds 3 maps but allows unlimited collaborators, invitations go out by link, and the same screen handles comments, presentation and layout switches between mind map, org chart and list. Free also includes templates, focus mode, the MeisterTask integration, the mobile apps and AI generation from a prompt or file.
MeisterLabs GmbH of Vaterstetten, which also makes the task tool MeisterTask, is named in the imprint with the Munich register number HRB 161267, and the product has run since 2007. The homepage claims three things: ISO 27001 certified, fully GDPR compliant and hosted in Germany.
Personal, Pro and Business cost €6, €10 and €15 per user per month on the page we read, and Business adds IP restriction, SAML on request and a backup export to your own servers. The vendor does not list an installed desktop app, and the pricing page does not say whether the displayed rates are monthly or yearly.
What MindMeister does well
- Unlimited collaborators on the free plan
- Hosting in Germany stated on its homepage
- ISO 27001 certification claimed by the vendor
- Task conversion through MeisterTask
- Backup export to your own servers on Business
Where MindMeister falls short
- Free plan limited to 3 maps
- No desktop app listed
- Yearly or monthly basis of displayed prices unclear
- SAML SSO needs a sales conversation
Standout feature. A map becomes a set of tracked tasks in MeisterTask, built by the same German company that makes the editor.
Timisoara, Romania
Free (3 diagrams); Premium from €6 per month as shown on its pricing page
Free plan with 3 diagrams
Best for: Students, teachers and consultants who want mind maps, concept maps and outlines in one tool
Mindomo treats one diagram as several views: you can edit it as a map, as a linear outline or as a Gantt chart, and topics turn into tasks that appear on a timeline.
Concept maps with labelled links sit beside ordinary mind maps, which is why teachers pick it, and presentations are built from the map itself. An AI generator turns a prompt or a document into a diagram, using 50 credits a month on Premium, where one credit covers roughly 1,000 words according to the pricing page.
Expert Software Applications SRL, registered in Romania as J35/147/2002 with an office in Timisoara, owns the product, and its terms follow Romanian law with disputes heard in Timisoara.
The security page says data is encrypted at rest and in transit, hosted at Hetzner in Germany and backed up daily at AWS Frankfurt, and lists ISO/IEC 27001 and 27701, the latter issued by TUV Austria according to the page. The free plan holds 3 diagrams with unlimited collaborators. Terms were last updated in April 2024 and the privacy policy in October 2024, and the pricing grid shows several price points at once.
What Mindomo does well
- Mind map, concept map, outline and Gantt in one tool
- Hosting in Germany with EU backups, stated
- ISO/IEC 27001 and 27701 certification listed
- Offline desktop apps for three operating systems
- Unlimited collaborators on the free plan
Where Mindomo falls short
- Free plan limited to 3 diagrams
- AI use limited by monthly credits
- Legal pages last updated in 2024
- Pricing grid shows several price points at once
Standout feature. Concept maps with labelled links, offline desktop apps on Windows, macOS and Linux, and a named German data centre in a single product.
Vienna, Austria
Free MindNode app; MindNode Plus is a monthly or yearly subscription with a free trial (price shown in the App Store)
Free trial of MindNode Plus
Best for: Apple users who want a native mind mapping app with an outline mode
MindNode is built for people whose devices are all Apple: Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and Vision Pro. A map and an outline are two views of the same content, so a plan can be sketched freely and then read as a list. Layouts can be vertical, horizontal, compact or radial, with manual positioning, and Apple Shortcuts support lets recurring workflows run from the app. Nodes can link to other nodes across documents.
IdeasOnCanvas GmbH, at Mariannengasse 10/3 in Vienna and registered as FN 372333z at the Handelsgericht Wien, makes it, and its site says the company is owned by its founder and does not answer to investors.
According to the site, data is stored encrypted in the user's personal iCloud, so no MindNode database holds the maps. Exports cover PDF, SVG, FreeMind, OPML, PNG, Markdown, TextBundle and plain text. Collaboration, themes and the Watch app need the paid MindNode Plus subscription, whose price is shown only in the App Store.
What MindNode does well
- Mind map and outline as two views
- Data kept in your own iCloud
- Founder-owned, no investors
- Exports include FreeMind and OPML
- Apple Shortcuts support
Where MindNode falls short
- Apple devices only
- Collaboration requires MindNode Plus
- Prices visible only in the App Store
- No browser version
Standout feature. Maps live in your own iCloud account, so MindNode has no hosting location of its own to audit.
Velp and Delft, Netherlands
Single purchase per platform, no subscription; price shown in the store, not verified on the site
30 days (Mac, Windows)
Best for: Individuals who want to buy once and keep their maps as files
SimpleMind is sold as a single purchase per platform, and its site stresses that this is not a subscription.
Maps are files that the vendor says are never stored on its servers, so the company cannot see how many exist or what they contain, and you decide whether to sync them through Dropbox or not at all. Topics can sit anywhere in a free-form layout or follow one of seven additional auto-layouts, with more than 15 style sheets and room to build your own.
The privacy policy names ModelMaker Tools B.V. in Velp (KvK 09128625) and xpt Software & Consulting B.V. in Delft as the companies behind it, both Dutch.
A free edition for iPad, iPhone and Android has limited functionality, no ads and no registration, the Pro edition covers Mac, Windows, iPad, iPhone and Android, and a 30-day trial exists for Mac and Windows. There is no hosted team workspace, no built-in real-time editing and, by the vendor's own statement, no built-in AI. The store price could not be read on the pages we checked.
What SimpleMind does well
- No subscription
- Maps never stored on vendor servers
- Runs on four platforms
- Free edition without ads or registration
- Custom style sheets
Where SimpleMind falls short
- No team workspace or real-time editing
- Separate purchase per platform
- No built-in AI
- Price not shown on the pages we read
Standout feature. A one-time purchase across four platforms, with the vendor stating it never stores your maps.
Oxford, United Kingdom
Free (3 private diagrams); Awesome $5 per month; Organisation $8 per member per month
Free plan with 3 private diagrams
Best for: People who want a quick shareable map or flowchart without setting anything up
Coggle grows maps as branches from a central item, and branches can be joined or looped, so the same canvas also works as a flowchart. Several people edit a diagram at once and changes show up instantly. A diagram can be shared with a secret link that needs no login, by QR code or by email invitation, and every change is saved, so a copy can be made from any earlier point.
CoggleIt Limited, registered in England and Wales under number 9030487 with an office in Oxford, runs it, and its terms apply English courts. The terms also state that Coggle is hosted on AWS in Ireland with a backup in AWS London, which is a stronger statement than many competitors make.
The free plan has 3 private diagrams and unlimited public ones, Awesome costs $5 a month, and Organisation costs $8 per member a month and adds SAML, a separate personal workspace and bulk export. The price is in US dollars and the company is British, so EU customers rely on the UK adequacy decision.
What Coggle does well
- Hosting location stated in the terms
- Real-time editing on the free plan
- Share by link or QR code without login
- Full change history
- SAML on the Organisation plan
Where Coggle falls short
- Prices in US dollars
- UK entity, not EU
- Hosted on a US-owned cloud provider
- Free plan has 3 private diagrams
Standout feature. A map opens from a QR code or secret link with no account, and every earlier state of it can be copied back.
Truro, United Kingdom
Per-platform licence; price shown in the store and not verified
30 days of use
Best for: Writers and planners who want a blank page rather than a fixed tree
Scapple works like a virtual sheet of paper: notes go anywhere and lines connect whichever ones you choose. Most mind mapping tools force a central topic with branches, but Scapple does not, so related thoughts join in any direction and several clusters can live on one page. That suits rough outlining of a plot, an argument or a research question, and notes can be dragged straight into Scrivener to start a draft.
Literature & Latte Ltd, whose privacy page gives Lowin House in Truro, Cornwall as its address, makes Scapple together with Scrivener.
It runs on macOS 10.15 or later and 64-bit Windows 10 or later, keeps files on your computer, and offers a 30-day trial that counts days of use plus a 30-day refund policy. Licences are single-platform, so a macOS licence does not unlock Windows. There is no cloud workspace, no live collaboration and no web version, and the Windows build (1.4.2) is older than the macOS build (1.5.4) according to the downloads page.
What Scapple does well
- Free-form layout with no forced tree
- Connects with Scrivener
- 30-day trial
- Local files
- 30-day refund policy
Where Scapple falls short
- Desktop only, one user
- No live collaboration
- Separate licence per platform
- Windows version older than the Mac version
Standout feature. No tree and no central topic: Scapple is the one tool here where you draw only the lines you mean.
East Kilbride, United Kingdom
Founded 2007
£100 per seat per year (MindGenius Online), 14-day free trial
14 days, no card
Best for: Small project teams that plan in a mind map and then manage the tasks
MindGenius frames mind mapping as a project exercise: test the goal, the assumptions and the risks on a map, then turn branches into tasks. Each project opens as a mind map, a Taskboard or a Gantt-based Timeline, and a needs-attention view collects slipping work across projects, which the vendor labels as online only. Microsoft Teams integration and guest access let outsiders follow a project without a full licence.
The company says it is a Scottish software business spun out of Gael Ltd in 2007, and its privacy page gives an address at the Scottish Enterprise Technology Park in East Kilbride, with licence terms governed by Scots law.
MindGenius Online costs £100 per seat per year billed annually, with volume rates from £90 per seat at 11 seats down to £50 at 51 to 100 seats and larger organisations quoted. A 14-day trial needs no card, and an account that does not subscribe becomes a free single-project plan. The pages we read did not state where data is hosted, and the desktop product is separate and Windows-only.
What MindGenius does well
- Mind map, Taskboard and Timeline together
- Published per-seat price
- 14-day trial without a card
- Free single-project plan after the trial
- Microsoft Teams integration
Where MindGenius falls short
- Data location not stated on pages read
- Price in pounds
- Desktop product is separate and Windows-only
- More project-focused than note-focused
Standout feature. A published volume price ladder, from £100 per seat down to £50 at 51 to 100 seats.
Penarth, United Kingdom
7-day trial of Ayoa Ultimate, then a free plan; paid prices are loaded by script and were not readable
7 days, then free plan
Best for: Creative teams and neurodivergent users who want maps and tasks in one app
Ayoa combines mind maps with whiteboards, an outline view, a Kanban-inspired workflow board and a Gantt timeline, and its homepage frames the product around people with ADHD, dyslexia and autism. Whiteboards give a free-form space for sticky notes, images, flowcharts and links, and the mind map is tied to tasks so ideas become actions. The homepage says a free plan allows up to 10 mind maps, and the former iMindMap domain now serves the Ayoa site.
OpenGenius Limited, registered in England and Wales as company 05653541 with its office in Penarth, operates it. Its security page lists ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, GDPR and CCPA compliance and Stripe for payments, and says user data and generated content are not shared to train AI models.
The same page states plainly that servers are hosted in the US on AWS and Google Cloud, which cuts against the reason most people shop for a European tool. A 7-day trial of Ayoa Ultimate leads to a free plan, and paid prices are loaded by script, so they are not quoted here.
What Ayoa does well
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification stated
- Mind maps, whiteboards and tasks together
- Free plan after the trial
- States that user data is not used to train AI
- Gantt and workflow views
Where Ayoa falls short
- Servers hosted in the US
- UK entity, not EU
- Paid prices not readable on the page
- Broader scope than a pure mind map tool
Standout feature. Whiteboards, mind maps and a Gantt timeline in one product, with a design aimed at ADHD, dyslexia and autism.
Karlsruhe, Germany
Founded 2016
Free plan / From €9/user/month
Demo on request
Best for: Teams needing flexible project management with German data hosting
Zenkit is a project tool first and a mind mapping tool second: the same collection can be shown as Kanban, list, table, calendar, Gantt and as a mind map of tasks and subtasks. Hypernotes and Zenchat keep documentation and conversation inside the suite, so a map of next steps sits next to the notes behind it. You would not open it to draw a quick brainstorm.
Axonic Informationssysteme GmbH in Karlsruhe, founded in 2016, operates Zenkit, with German hosting and processing inside the EEA. A free plan exists for personal use and evaluation, and paid plans start at about €9 per user per month, the highest seat price in this list. SSO and admin controls arrive only on the Business plan, and flexibility means more setup before it pays off. Which plans include the mind map view was not verified on the tool page we used.
What Zenkit does well
- Kanban, list, table, calendar and mind map over the same data
- Hypernotes and Zenchat keep documentation and conversation in the suite
- German company, German hosting, intra-EEA processing
- Flexible enough to survive a changing process
- Free plan for personal use and evaluation
Where Zenkit falls short
- At around €9/user/month, the most expensive per-seat option here
- Not open source and no self-hosting
- Flexibility means more setup before it is useful
- SSO and admin controls only on the Business plan
Standout feature. Zenkit draws its mind map from existing tasks, so the map is a view of live work and not a separate drawing.
Vienna, Austria
Founded 2007
Free with advertising; price of the ad-free account not shown on the pages read
Free browser editor
Best for: Students and hobbyists who want a free browser mind map editor
Mind42 is a free mind map editor that runs in the browser. Maps can be shared as a view-only link, or other Mind42 account holders can be invited to edit a map together. The homepage describes the service as free, fast and simple, and there is no team plan, no desktop app and no stated SAML or admin control.
The provider named in the imprint and the terms is Stefan Schuster, Hutteldorfer Strasse 236/1/6 in Vienna, an individual rather than a company, with a copyright line that runs from 2007.
The site says Mind42 lives from advertising and asks visitors to switch off ad blockers or take an ad-free account, whose price was not visible on the pages read. The privacy policy states that data goes over HTTPS into a database hosted in Germany on encrypted disks with encrypted backups. A homepage banner warns of planned downtime for infrastructure updates, and one person providing the service makes long-term maintenance a fair question.
What Mind42 does well
- Free to use
- Database hosted in Germany, stated
- Encrypted disks and backups
- Share view-only link
- Austrian provider since 2007
Where Mind42 falls short
- Operated by an individual
- Funded by advertising
- Planned downtime announced on the homepage
- No team or admin features stated
Standout feature. The only tool here run by a single named person, with an ad-free account as the paid exit from advertising.
