Top 10 Concept Map Makers in 2024 (Free, Online, and Apps)
Whether you’re a student or part of a team, organizing your thoughts and ideas with a concept map is one of the top things you should do when brainstorming. Taking advantage of a concept map maker allows you to create a plan for homework, tasks, and other workflows that come your way.
On this page, we’re going to teach you how to choose from the top 10 concept mapping tools available in 2023. Once you’re done reading, you should be able to choose the best concept map maker for you and your team’s needs. Stick around to learn more.
Part 1. What Is a Concept Map?
A concept map is almost always used during the planning phase of any project to help you categorize the parts and break down complex items in a simple and intuitive way. While creating a mind map on paper is fine, it’s far easier and more efficient to do it with a mapping app as it makes a huge difference in saving you time.
Here are the benefits of using a concept map maker:
- Collaboration – Multiple users from your team or audience can collaborate in real-time on the same mind map to discuss thoughts and ideas.
- File Attachment – You can immediately share external files and attach important information such as audio files, videos, images, and links.
- Presentation – No one wants to see visual content on a hastily written paper. It’s far easier to present and share your diagrams with concept maps and convert them into presentations so that others can easily access and view your ideas.
Part 2. Top 10 Concept Map Tools in 2023
We’ve compiled the ten best concept map tools available in 2023 to get your creative juices flowing today.
We also created a handy chart below to help you compare each concept maker creator in terms of its supported OS, G2 rating, pricing information, and more. To get you started, read on.
Here’s a nifty chart to summarize all 10 concept map makers in terms of their G2 rating, pricing, and supported OS available.
Website Url | G2 Rating | Pricing | Supported OS | |
Wondershare Mockitt | /download.html | 3.8 out of 5 | Monthly – $12.99 Quarterly – $29.00 Annual – $69.00 Perpetual – $299.00 Web |
Windows macOS Ubuntu |
Adobe Express | https://adobe.com/express/ | 4.5 out of 5 | With Free Version Monthly – $9.99 Yearly – $99.99 Windows |
macOS iOS Android |
Lucidchart | https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/ | 4.6 out of 5 | With Free Version Monthly – $7.95 |
Web iOS Android |
Canva | https://www.canva.com/ | 4.7 out of 5 | With Free Version Monthly – $12.99 Monthly – $36.00 per user (Enterprise) |
Web Windows macOS iOS Android |
Creatively | https://creatively.life/ | N/A | Free – Account Required | Web iOS |
Visme | https://www.visme.co/ | 4.5 out of 5 | With Free Version Monthly – $29.00 (Starter) Monthly – $59.00 (Pro) |
Windows Mac iOS Android |
GitMind | https://gitmind.com/ | 4.8 out of 5 | With Free Version Monthly – $9.00 Yearly – $4.08 (With annual commitment) |
Windows Mac iOS Android |
MindMeister | https://www.mindmeister.com/ | 4.3 out of 5 | Basic – Free Monthly – $2.49 (Personal) Monthly – $4.19 (Pro) |
Web iOS Android |
FigJam | https://www.figma.com/figjam/ | 4.5 out of 5 | With Free Version Monthly – $3.00 Yearly – $5.00 per editor (With annual commitment) |
Windows Mac iOS Android |
EdrawMax | https://www.edrawsoft.com/ | 4.3 out of 5 | Yearly – $99.00 Lifetime – $198.00 |
Windows Mac iOS Android |
1 - Wondershare Mockitt
Mockitt by Wondershare is one of the best concept mapping tools in 2023. It’s available on multiple platforms and lets you design, collaborate or do prototyping to provide you with all the tools you need on your UI/UX design journey.
Features
- Flowchart – Create visual flowcharts in minutes and spark your diagrams with graphics.
- Prototyping – Design interactive prototypes for data sharing with visual user flows.
- Collaboration – Create your own UI/UX design or even work as a team where all members can weigh in.
- Mind map – Brainstorm and express your thoughts easily and organize your ideas with a beautiful visual illustration.
2 - Adobe Express
Adobe Express can easily make standout content in minutes from its thousands of templates with Creative Cloud Express. You also get access to free stock images, pro effects, design elements, and more. Afterward, you can share your concept map across your team for consistent collaboration.
Features
- Edit images and videos – Resize content, convert files, and add effects on images, videos, and documents with Quick Actions.
- Templates – Save time by choosing from thousands of templates for concept maps, social media content, logos, etc.
- Beginner-friendly tools – You can create everything you need for a concept map even if you’re not a designer due to the intuitive tools at your disposal.
3 - Lucidchart
Lucidchart is another intelligent conceptual map maker to bring you and your teams together. This concept map maker is enterprise-ready and offers organizations a secure intelligent diagramming app at a great price. It also has a free version for individual users to get you started in brainstorming, planning, and making decisions that are best for your team.
Features
- Intelligent diagraming – Quickly visualize your team’s systems, structure, and processes to get everyone on the same page.
- Scale cloud infrastructure – Embed cloud architecture diagrams as a reference for your teams to get insights in real-time.
- Integration – Works well with Google Workspace, Microsoft, Atlassian, Slack, AWS, and more to maximize your overall productivity.
4 - Canva
Canva is one of the friendly social media concept map makers available in 2023. It has a beginner-friendly drag-and-drop interface along with a vast library of templates to make your thoughts and ideas appealing and beautiful.
Features
- Design and Publishing – Up to 100+ million premium stock photos, videos, audio, and graphics to augment your mind map.
- Collaboration – Multiple team members working on the same design streamline your creative workflows to resolve edits anytime and anywhere on any device.
- Cloud Storage – Free version has 5GB of free cloud storage while going Pro provides 1TB of cloud storage.
5 - Creatively
Creatively is a new platform for creatives to bring their thoughts and ideas into mind maps to showcase their work for companies and brands. It offers best-in-class tools, networking features, and even access to job postings from notable brands.
Features
- Digital Tools – Create and post 30 seconds adverts or high-resolution images in minutes.
- Free to use – Creatively is completely free after signing up.
- Discovery Feature – You get a chance to win $5,000 each month if your work gets selected by the creative team.
6 - Visme
Visme is another all-in-one design tool to create concept maps to transform the way you create, share, and publish your presentations. Over 15 million users use Vizme as their product creation tool to visualize and present stories and translate boring abstracts into engaging visuals.
Features
- Graphs and Charts – Visme has a wide range of graphs and chart formats to create a unique concept map for your team and audience.
- Interactivity – Create an interactive experience for your audience with clickable menus, hotspots, and hover effects.
- Branded content – You can seamlessly add brand fonts, logos, and color palettes to create unique branded content.
7 - GitMind
GitMind helps you inspire and boost your productivity with concept map-making across all major platforms. This design offers real-time collaboration to allow you and your team to edit the same concept map even when you’re in a different location. Capture and structure your ideas with concept maps with the assistance of flowcharts, diagrams, and more.
Features
- OCR – Extract long text from images to instantly translate your scribbles into editable text when making concept maps.
- Slideshow – create concept maps, mind maps, and other flowcharts with smooth transitions.
- Color theme – Create your custom style or choose from a wide range of templates available.
8 - MindMeister
MindMeister is one of our top picks for concept map making in 2023 to visualize your idea into reality. MindMeister allows you to create an unlimited number of subtopics and color code them for clarity and style.
Features
- Custom Styles – Make your concept map unique by utilizing custom styles to visualize your ideas to your team and audience.
- Focus Mode – Focus lets you remove all backgrounds so you can showcase your best ideas front and center.
- Comments & Notifications – Receive feedback from your team or your audience to start the discussion during concept-making.
9 - FigJam
FigJam helps you express yourself by providing you with a concept map with the use of markers, shapes, and connectors to organize your thoughts and ideas and visualize how they work together. It has a free version so you can try out its key features right away.
Features
- Online whiteboard – Use an online whiteboard to brainstorm ideas and create a unique concept map.
- Design processes – Plan and facilitate collaborative and cross-functional designs with space for capturing feedback and insights during the design process.
- Collaboration – Anyone can jump in and contribute on concept maps with dot voting and polls to encourage active participation from everyone.
10 - EdrawMax
Last on the list of the best concept map makers available in 2023 is Wondershare’s EdrawMax. It’s a versatile mind-mapping software with brainstorming and collaborative features to bring your thoughts and ideas to life.
Features
- Diagramming and flowcharting – Create unique and powerful visual illustrations to show your processes with the team or to an audience.
- Innovation – More than 1,500 built-in templates and over 26,000 symbols to choose from to scale your concept maps with confidence.
- Collaboration – Share your work and collaborate with your team in any file format to any shareable channel anytime and anywhere.
Conclusion
Choosing the right concept map maker for you and your team’s needs depends on the concept map-making technique you’re looking for. To sum it all up, you need a concept map creator that has great collaboration features as well as diagramming tools beyond concept map making to create advanced visuals for your workflows.
Having a handy design tool allows you to structure your ideas graphically to succeed in all your presentations. If you’re tight on budget, we’ve listed a couple of free concept map makers available without spending a dime so be sure to try them out.