EdrawMind vs Xmind (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Xmind: it is second in our ranking of whiteboard and mind map tools, and it grades higher too, 3.0 against 2.6.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
EdrawMind grades higher on features. Xmind grades higher on the free plan, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
EdrawMind
Mind mapping and diagram software with AI tools
Xmind
Mind mapping app with AI, Gantt charts and a presentation mode
Which one is for you
Pick EdrawMind if
- Fits if you want mind maps on your computer and phone with an option to pay once
- Works for people who want AI to draft a map from text or a PDF
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as none is shown
- Watch out: subscriptions auto-renew and the page shows a crossed-out higher price with no end date
- Watch out: the perpetual licence covers desktop V14 only, and mobile and online access runs for 3 years
- Watch out: an optional Edraw Creative Assets trial renews at $15.90 a month
- Tight if you want cloud storage: subscriptions include 1 GB
Pick Xmind if
- Fits if you think in branches and want the same kind of map on your laptop, your phone and Linux
- Works for plans that have to become a presentation, since Pitch mode turns a map into slides
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want an open whiteboard with sticky notes, as Xmind sticks to structured maps
- Pricey if your team wants to edit together, since live collaboration starts at Premium, $99 a year
- Tight if you never pay: 10 online maps, watermarked exports, 3 days of version history and 50 AI credits that never refill
- Not for you if you'd rather pay by the month: Pro is $10 a month against $59 a year, and monthly plans get no trial or refund
- Watch out: desktop maps save as local files by default, so picking up an iPad map at your desk can mean going through Dropbox
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAEdrawMindGood | 3.0GPAXmindVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$53.10 a year is about $4.43 a month, inside the cheaper quarter of $5. A perpetual licence at $100.30 is under two years of the category's middle price. | BPro is $59 a year, $4.92 a month, which puts it inside the lowest-priced quarter of this category, where the line is $5.00. Premium is $99. Pay by the month and the App Store lists Pro at $10, about double. The free trial and the refund only cover yearly plans. |
| Free plan and trial | DThe desktop app is a free download, but the pricing page lists no free plan or trial terms, only a 30-day money-back guarantee. | CFree gives you up to 10 manually created online maps, basic themes and 5 Pitch slides. Those are caps you'll hit on a real project, exports carry a watermark, version history is 3 days, and the 50 AI credits are a single grant that never refills. |
| Features | BMind, concept and bubble maps, Gantt and Kanban views, AI generation and slide export, with no gap named in the listing. | CMaps, timelines and matrices, Zones, an Outliner view, Pitch mode slides, imports from other mappers and AI that drafts from text, a file or a link. That's the narrower job here: no open board with sticky notes, and live editing and editable Gantt charts start at Premium. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, but it installs and opens with nothing to set up. | A4.8 on the App Store from 6,973 ratings, nine in ten of them five stars. Reviewers say it's quick to pick up. A few got stuck on details, like slotting a new topic in above old ones, and desktop maps save as local files by default. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWindows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and web. No API or integrations are listed. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android, and one subscription covers 5 computers and 5 mobile devices. It ties into Slack, Zoom, Notion and ChatGPT, though not a lot else. |
| Best for | mind maps with AI on every device, bought yearly or once | mind maps on almost any device |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: EdrawMind and Xmind. How we grade
Price against what you get
EdrawMind starts at $4.43 a month when paid by the year and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Xmind starts at $4.92 a month and scores 3.3.
Xmind scores higher, and starts $0.49 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, none scores higher than EdrawMind for less, and none scores higher than Xmind for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- EdrawMind can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- EdrawMind also covers diagrams.
- Xmind also covers Gantt & timelines.
At a glance
| EdrawMind | Xmind | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $35.10 per 6 months (semi-annual), $53.10 per year | $4.92 per month, billed yearly ($59 a year) |
| Free plan | None | Up to 10 manually created online maps, basic themes and stickers, 3-day version history, 5 Pitch slides and 50 Xmind AI credits. Exports carry a watermark. |
| Free trial | Free download of the desktop app; the store page also advertises a 30-day money-back guarantee | 7-day free trial, offered on yearly subscriptions only |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Wondershare | Xmind Ltd. / Supermind Pte. Limited |
| Price read from | edrawmind.wondershare.com | xmind.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
EdrawMind
- Subscriptions auto-renew, and the store page shows a crossed-out higher price that the page gives no end date for.
- A perpetual license covers the desktop V14 only; mobile and online access on those plans runs for 3 years.
- The listing mentions an optional trial of Edraw Creative Assets that renews at $15.90 a month.
- No free plan is shown on the pricing page; the desktop app is a free download.
Xmind
- Free and Pro cap manually created online maps at 10 and 50; unlimited collaborative maps need Premium or the Business team plan.
- Real-time collaboration, editable Gantt charts and a monthly AI credit allowance start at Premium; Free and Pro get a single grant of 50 AI credits.
- Free exports carry a watermark, and export to Word, Excel, SVG and Markdown starts at Pro.
- The free trial and the 7-day money-back guarantee cover yearly subscriptions only; monthly subscriptions and AI credit add-ons are not refunded.
Key features
EdrawMind
- Mind and concept maps
- Mind map, concept map, bubble map, brace map and spider diagram makers, plus a Gantt chart, timeline and Kanban tool.
- AI generation
- AI features listed include AI mind maps, org charts and timelines, a text-to-mind-map and PDF-to-mind-map option, and slide generation from a mind map.
- Templates
- Business, personal and study template categories, with unlimited access to community templates on paid plans.
- Every platform
- The store page lists Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and web availability.
- Slides and export
- A mind map can be turned into slides, and the AI page also lists Word, PDF and image conversion into slides.
- Cloud storage
- Subscriptions include 1 GB of cloud storage; the perpetual plans include 10 GB or 20 GB for three years.
Xmind
- Mind maps and other structures
- Ideas can be laid out as mind maps, timelines or matrices, grouped into Zones, and edited as a linear list in the Outliner view.
- Xmind AI
- Generates a map from text, a document or a link, expands and reorganizes branches, and breaks a project into tasks. Free and Pro get 50 credits; Premium gets 500 a month.
- Pitch mode
- Turns a map into a slide presentation: up to 5 slides on the Free plan and unlimited from Pro, where a pitch can also be exported to PowerPoint.
- Gantt charts and tasks
- Premium turns topics into tasks with assignees, plots them on a Gantt chart and exports tasks to a calendar file or Excel. Free and Pro can only view Gantt charts.
- Real-time collaboration
- On Premium and the Business team plan, several people can edit a map at once and follow one another's view, backed by 30 days of version history.
- Import and export
- Imports Markdown, OPML and TextBundle files and maps from other mind mapping tools. From Pro, maps export to SVG, PDF, Markdown, Word and Excel as well as PNG.
Plans
EdrawMind
Semi-Annual$35.10
per 6 months, auto-renews
Shown at 10% off a crossed-out $45. Access on 3 PCs, 3 mobiles and online, 1 GB cloud storage, AI features and community templates.
Annual$53.10
per year, auto-renews
Shown at 10% off a crossed-out $69. Same access and features as Semi-Annual, with 1 year of free upgrades and priority support.
Perpetual$100.30
one-time, perpetual desktop license
Shown against a crossed-out $145. Perpetual access to EdrawMind V14 on desktop, plus 3 years of mobile and online access and 3 years of 10 GB cloud storage.
Perpetual Bundle$182.75
one-time, perpetual desktop license
Shown against a crossed-out $390. Perpetual EdrawMind V14 and EdrawMax V16 on desktop, with 3 years of mobile and online access and 20 GB cloud storage.
Xmind
Free$0
Up to 10 manually created online maps, basic themes and stickers, 3-day version history, 5 slides in Pitch mode and 50 AI credits.
Pro$4.92
per month, billed yearly ($59 a year)
Up to 50 online maps with basic collaboration, custom themes, topic links and attachments, unlimited Pitch slides, and export without a watermark.
Premium$8.25
per month, billed yearly ($99 a year)
Unlimited collaborative maps, real-time collaboration, 30-day version history, editable Gantt charts, tasks with assignees and 500 AI credits a month.
Business$10
per seat / month, billed yearly
Team plan with unlimited collaborative maps, real-time collaboration, 30-day version history, Gantt charts and 800 AI credits per seat a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds SAML single sign-on, unlimited version history, custom AI credits, a dedicated success advisor and team onboarding sessions.
Ways to pay less
EdrawMind
- Lifetime license
Perpetual plans
One-time purchases of EdrawMind V14 at $100.30, or $182.75 with EdrawMax in a bundle.
Xmind
- Annual discount
Up to 50% off with yearly billing
The pricing page advertises up to 50% off individual plans on yearly billing. The US App Store lists Pro at $59 a year or $10 a month, and Premium at $99 a year or $15 a month.
- Education
Reduced prices for students and educators
The education pricing tab lists Pro at $3.42 a month and Premium at $5.75 a month for students and educators, plus a custom-priced Campus plan for institutions.
- Nonprofit
Discounted plans for nonprofits and government
Eligible non-profits, NGOs and government organizations can get discounted plans after verifying eligibility; the offers page shows a price of $79 a year.
- Lifetime license
SME Lifetime License for organizations
Organizations can buy a one-time, perpetual license with volume pricing. The price is not published and is quoted by Xmind's sales team.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, EdrawMind or Xmind?
As of Nov 12, 2026, EdrawMind is cheaper to start with: $4.43 a month when paid by the year, against $4.92 a month for Xmind. EdrawMind starts at $35.10 per 6 months (semi-annual), $53.10 per year, and Xmind starts at $4.92 per month, billed yearly ($59 a year).
Which has a free plan, EdrawMind or Xmind?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Xmind has a free plan. EdrawMind does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.