Mind42 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 2.8.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Mind42 grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Xmind grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Xmind
Mind mapping app with AI, Gantt charts and a presentation mode
Which one is for you
Pick Mind42 if
- Fits if you want a free browser mind map and can live with ads
- Works for plain hierarchical outlines shared with a classmate or colleague
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want branches linked across the map, as none are supported
- Skip it if you want a phone app, since the FAQ says the editor is not built for touch screens
- Watch out: the blog says no new features are planned, only maintenance
- Watch out: ads are shown, and the ad-free account has no price on the pages read
- Watch out: images can only be added by web address, not uploaded
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
| 2.8GPAMind42Good | 3.0GPAXmindVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree to use with ads and no stated limit on the number of maps. An ad-free account exists, but no price is shown. | 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 | AFree outright, with no cap on the number of mind maps on the page. | 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 | CMind maps with shared editing and PDF export. The listing shows gaps: no free node placement, no links between branches and no second main topic. | 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 | CNo store rating on record. You build each map by hand, and the editor is not made for touch screens. | 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 | CWeb only, with no apps and no integrations 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 | free browser mind maps with a fixed layout | 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: Mind42 and Xmind. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mind42 has no paid plan and scores 2.0 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 $4.92 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 Mind42 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
- Xmind also covers templates, Gantt & timelines and presentations.
At a glance
| Mind42 | Xmind | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $4.92 per month, billed yearly ($59 a year) |
| Free plan | Free to use with advertising, with no stated limit on the number of mind maps. | 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 | None listed | 7-day free trial, offered on yearly subscriptions only |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Stefan Schuster | Xmind Ltd. / Supermind Pte. Limited |
| Price read from | mind42.com | xmind.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Mind42
- No mobile apps, and the FAQ says the editor is not built for touch screens or small phone screens.
- The layout is strictly hierarchical: no free positioning of nodes, no connections between branches and no second main topic.
- The blog archive says no new features are planned for the current version, only maintenance.
- The site shows advertisements and offers a paid ad-free account, but no price for it appears on the pages we read.
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
Mind42
- Automatic hierarchical layout
- Maps use a strictly hierarchical layout, and the lines and positions are drawn automatically. Nodes cannot be placed freely.
- Joint editing and publishing
- Signed-in users can be invited to edit a map together, and a published map can be viewed by anyone with the link.
- Export and import
- Maps export to PDF for printing, and the Mind42 format can be exported and imported again, which is also the way to copy a map.
- Images by web address
- Images are added from a public web address. There is no upload from the computer.
- Emoji as symbols
- The FAQ points to emoji as the way to add symbols that the editor does not provide.
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
Mind42
Free$0
Full editor and sharing, supported by advertisements.
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
Mind42
No public discounts listed.
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, Mind42 or Xmind?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Mind42 is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $4.92 a month for Xmind. Mind42 is free, and Xmind starts at $4.92 per month, billed yearly ($59 a year).
Which has a free plan, Mind42 or Xmind?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Mind42 and Xmind have a free plan.
Which platforms do Mind42 and Xmind run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Xmind lists macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.