MindMap AI 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 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
MindMap AI 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.
MindMap AI
AI mind map generator from text, PDFs, audio and video
Xmind
Mind mapping app with AI, Gantt charts and a presentation mode
Which one is for you
Pick MindMap AI if
- Fits if you build maps by hand and want AI help now and then
- Works for students turning reading material into an outline
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you lean on the AI: 50 credits a month on Free, and top-ups cost $5 per 1,000
- Skip it if you need watermark-free downloads, SVG or CSV export on a free account
- Watch out: audio, video and bigger file summaries are on Basic and Pro only
- Watch out: lifetime plans are credit packs with updates, not unlimited AI use
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
| 2.8GPAMindMap AIGood | 3.0GPAXmindVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AManual mapping is free and unlimited, and paid starts at $4.99 a month on yearly billing, under the category's $5 cheaper-quarter start. AI credits are what you pay for. | 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 | BUnlimited manual maps and storage with all layouts, plus 50 AI credits a month. Extra credits cost $5 per 1,000. | 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 | CMaps from files and prompts, chat, import and export. But downloads carry a watermark on Free, and SVG and CSV export, audio, video and larger file summaries are paid. | 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 still build and refine each map, by hand or by chat. | 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 | BWeb, iPhone, Android and browser extensions, plus Claude and ChatGPT. No desktop app is 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 | turning documents and recordings into mind maps | 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: MindMap AI and Xmind. How we grade
Price against what you get
MindMap AI starts at $4.99 a month and scores 2.3 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 $0.07 a month lower. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, 8 score higher than MindMap AI 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
- MindMap AI also covers chat assistant.
- Xmind also covers templates, Gantt & timelines and presentations.
At a glance
| MindMap AI | Xmind | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4.99 per month, billed annually at $59.88 ($9.99 billed monthly) | $4.92 per month, billed yearly ($59 a year) |
| Free plan | Unlimited manual mind maps and storage, all layouts and themes, plus 50 AI credits a month. | 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 | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | 3axislabs, Inc. | Xmind Ltd. / Supermind Pte. Limited |
| Price read from | mindmapai.app | xmind.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
MindMap AI
- AI work is metered in credits: the free plan has 50 a month and extra credits cost $5 per 1,000.
- Watermark-free downloads, SVG and CSV export and file summaries need a paid plan.
- A cheaper Go plan appears in the page for launch countries only and is not listed here.
- Lifetime plans (Lite, Plus, Ultimate) are credit packs with updates, not unlimited AI use.
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
MindMap AI
- Maps from files and prompts
- Start from a typed idea, a PDF, an image, audio, video or a web page and get a map back, with every node editable afterward.
- Chat with the map
- Ask the AI to expand a branch, summarize a section or reorganize nodes; the map updates in place. 29+ languages are supported.
- Works inside other assistants
- The AI toolkit runs inside Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants that support MCP, with no API key needed.
- Import and export
- Import maps from other tools. Free exports are PDF, PNG, Markdown and a project file; SVG and CSV need a paid plan.
- Sharing
- Publish a map by public link or iframe embed, or share by email for real-time viewing. Team plans add shared workspaces and roles.
- Apps and extensions
- Available on the web, iOS and Android, with browser extensions for capturing pages and summarizing videos.
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
MindMap AI
Free$0
Unlimited projects and manual edits, export to PDF, PNG and Markdown, and 50 AI credits a month.
Basic$4.99
per month, billed annually at $59.88 ($9.99 billed monthly)
2,000 AI credits a month, summaries of PDFs, images, audio and video, no watermark, SVG and CSV export.
Pro$7.99
per month, billed annually at $95.88 ($14.99 billed monthly)
5,000 AI credits a month, larger file limits for PDFs, audio and video, and priority support.
Team Basic$4.99
per seat / month, billed annually ($9.99 billed monthly)
2,000 credits per seat, shared workspace, roles and central billing, up to 100 seats; Team Pro is $14.99 per seat monthly.
Lite$157
one-time, credits never expire
Pay once for 100,000 AI credits and lifetime updates; shown against a crossed-out $297. Plus and Ultimate sell more.
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
MindMap AI
- Annual discount
Save 50% with yearly billing
The yearly toggle on the pricing page shows Basic at $59.88 and Pro at $95.88 a year, against $9.99 and $14.99 billed monthly.
- Lifetime license
Lifetime credit packs
Lite $157, Plus $237 and Ultimate $397 are one-time payments for 100,000, 200,000 and 500,000 AI credits that never expire.
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, MindMap AI or Xmind?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Xmind is cheaper to start with: $4.92 a month, against $4.99 a month for MindMap AI. MindMap AI starts at $4.99 per month, billed annually at $59.88 ($9.99 billed monthly), and Xmind starts at $4.92 per month, billed yearly ($59 a year).
Which has a free plan, MindMap AI or Xmind?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both MindMap AI and Xmind have a free plan.
Which platforms do MindMap AI and Xmind run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only MindMap AI lists a browser extension and only Xmind lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps. Both list a web app and iOS and Android apps. 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.