Coggle vs MindMeister: What’s the best mind mapping tool?

Visualization, and therefore mind mapping, is more important now than ever. It can improve productivity and is a fun way to explore your mind for new ideas. To help you select the best solution for your business, here is a comparison between Coggle and MindMeister based on these 4 criteria: Visual assets, user-friendliness, format compatibility, and collaboration. We’ll show you the pros and cons of Coggle and MindMeister.

What is mind mapping?

Mind mapping is simply a diagram used to visually represent or outline information. It is a powerful graphic technique you can use to translate spiraling thoughts and concept into a visual picture. Since mind mapping works as the brain does, it allows you to organize and understand information faster and better.

It is an expression of radiant thinking and thus helps to unlock the potential of the brain. The mind mapping design enables you to easily sort through different details and recognize relationships among these details.
To realize visually clear and attractive mind-mappings you need to count on the best tools.

The following two options are available:

  1. Use mind-mapping software that you need to download and install such as Xmind or iMindMap.
  2. Enjoy an online tool, such as Coggle or MindMeister, much more convenient and easy to access.

For this article, we will focus on this last option in which we will compare Coggle and MindMeister.

Whether you’re taking notes, brainstorming, planning, or doing something awesomely creative, it is super simple to visualize your ideas with Coggle. Share with as many friends or colleagues you like. Changes you make will show up instantly in their browser, wherever they are in the world.

MindMeister is an online mind mapping tool that lets you capture, develop and share ideas visually. More than 10 million people already use our award-winning mind map editor for brainstorming, note taking, project planning and tons of other creative tasks. MindMeister is completely web-based, which means there’s no download and no updating! Whether you’re working on Windows, Mac OS or Linux, you can always access your mind maps right inside the web-browser.

Visual assets

On one hand, Coggle is a fantastic tool to create beautiful diagrams without any efforts. A mix of pastel colors and thin shapes will offer a minimalist look to all your mappings. Find inspiration, templates, and examples from a selection of the best public diagrams and mind maps made with Coggle into the Gallery.

On the other hand, with MindMeister, you can choose between the classic mind map layout and org chart mode; keep your ideas neatly aligned or position them freely anywhere on the canvas. If you don’t want to create new mind maps from scratch, you can select one of many practical mind map templates from the library to save time. MindMeister is both mind mapping and presentation software in one! The online version lets you turn mind maps into stunning presentations within seconds and present them right inside the map editor.

User-Friendliness

With Coggle, you can download the optional Chrome store App to easily access the service through an extension. A very interesting asset is the possibility to look through all the changes to a diagram and make a copy from any point to revert to a previous version. You can also drag-and-drop images right from your desktop to your diagrams. There’s no limit to the number of images you can add. More specifically, Coggle allows you to join branches and create loops to create more powerful and flexible diagrams representing process flows and other advanced things.

Something we can regret is the possibility to do relations only: no non-parent links. Coggle’s model allows a mode to have multiple children, but only one parent, and no other connections of any sort.

For MindMeister, user can switch between classical mind map layout, a layout where all topics are aligned on the left or the right, and org chart layout.

In addition to web software, MindMeister is available on iOS and Android mobile platforms as well. Clear overview without losing any details . The mind mapping format provides with a clear overview of connections, hierarchies, and relationships of notes. At the same time, it’s possible to add more detailed notes, links, pictures and even whole files to the keywords, so that no important information gets lost.

Format compatibility

With Coggle, universality is the motto, Markdown is a plain text formatting syntax designed so that it can optionally be converted to HTML using a tool by the same name. LaTeX is a document preparation system and document markup language. It is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents. You can also export to PDF, image, plaintext and .mm files.

Coggle’s model allows a mode to have multiple children, but only one parent, and no other connections of any sort.

With MindMeister, you can upload attachments directly from your favorite platforms such as Google Drive and Dropbox, ensuring that important files are included in your brainstorming process. Seamlessly export your maps into one of the many formats MindMeister supports, like PNG, PDF or Word, or import mind maps from plain text and other mind mapping software files.

Collaboration

With Coggle, Coggle allows inviting friends and colleagues to work collaboratively on notes and diagrams in real-time. For MindMeister, notes can be shared and collaborated on in real-time like Coggle.

MindMeister allows sharing maps with an unlimited number of collaborators so it’s possible to take notes and brainstorm together. Mind maps can be shared by inviting people either directly via email or by sending them a link to the map. Even people without a MindMeister account can access the maps and even edit them. Users can create polls and have collaborators vote individual topics up or down, or comment on them.

Cost

Have a look at the plans offered by the two competitors in the images below. Both platforms offer a free plan for you to enjoy but you will rapidly be limited in terms of options for tasks. A business special offer is available for both Coggle and MindMeister.

Conclusion

The platforms both have their perks and limitations, take a look a both before deciding which one works better for you. MindMeister allows sharing maps with an unlimited number of collaborators so it’s possible to take notes and brainstorm together. Mind maps can be shared by inviting people either directly via email or by sending them a link to the map. Even people without a MindMeister account can access the maps and even edit them. Coggle has a very minimalist interface, it helps to focus on your content instead of the format. The result is always pleasing to watch and ideas are clearly readable.
Get visualizing!

Did this article leave you thirsty for more? Not to worry, here you can read our last article in which we review Flock and compare it to its competitor Slack.

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