Freeplane
Freeplane is a powerful and free software for building mind maps. It is a redesigned version of the well known FreeMind , and is created by one of FreeMind's key developers.
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Freeplane News & Activities
Recent News
Recent activities
bimsmarter added Freeplane as alternative to BIM Workflow Generator
KM-9639 added Freeplane as alternative to MindMapVault- thecrabagenda liked Freeplane
krvkir added Freeplane as alternative to org-mindmap- ravenduke liked Freeplane
- BasedUser liked Freeplane
- nttldnknwn reviewed Freeplane
I agree with the reviews that the program is clunky to use. Maybe you can get used to it over time, but why put up with inconveniences and poor design choices?
The website states that the program’s interface has been redesigned, but… at least one of the dark themes has visual glitches when switching between parent and child nodes.
I’d like to believe that the program will improve over time, but unfortunately, it’s hard to believe that. I’d prefer to choose another software solution.
- Dev_03 liked Freeplane
- nttldnknwn liked Freeplane
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What is Freeplane?
Freeplane is a powerful and free software for building mind maps. It is a redesigned version of the well known 
FreeMind , and is created by one of FreeMind's key developers. The software is written in Java, and supports any platform capable of running current versions of Java.
Freeplane information
Developed by
Freeplane team Licensing
Open Source and Free product.Rating
Average rating of 3.9Alternatives
86 alternatives listedSupported Languages
- English
Comments and Reviews
It can open .mm files locally or from URL.
It's the LEAST user-friendly program I have ever encountered. I have literary wasted over an hour of my life trying to figure out where to find the most basic things. They are hidden all over the place in menus/submenus... in hundreds of places. You can't even create a new node by a single click from the (completely useless) toolbar or at least from the context menu, as one would expect! You have to go somewhere to a hidden submenu... Just awful.
I gave up on Freeplane 2-3 times in the past just for the reasons you mentioned above. I hated it's interface. Then I gave it a try one more time & my conclusion is Freeplane is the best mind mapping software I have come across. You will have to learn just a few basic keyboard shortcuts & it will make the software super easy to use. Also watching a few video tutorials on YouTube helped me. Once you get a hang of it, you will love it.
Freeplane has improved drastically in the last 3 years, with much better discoverability of available commands and improved layout. Regardless, it caters more to power users than commercial alternatives. Id say it's time to give it another go though!
I agree with the reviews that the program is clunky to use. Maybe you can get used to it over time, but why put up with inconveniences and poor design choices?
The website states that the program’s interface has been redesigned, but… at least one of the dark themes has visual glitches when switching between parent and child nodes.
I’d like to believe that the program will improve over time, but unfortunately, it’s hard to believe that. I’d prefer to choose another software solution.
Pros: Has a modern UI (one of the best java apps I've seen), nice themes. "just works" and huge amount of extensibility, great for working through ideas, or even longer term projects or second brains. Cons: Desktop-centric, since there is limited web and mobile support by 3rd party apps, power-user catering (while simple to learn it works best with a rich keyboard-shortcut based workflow and may take a while to grasp for an average consumer), and limited/no collaboration ("single player").
Best free Mindmapping Tool
Does what it needs to rather well but quite clunky. There is no hand holding. UI would fit in nicely with Windows XP. Tree format breaks down with a lot of information, but that's not the software's fault. I've moved to TreeSheets for what I'd use this for, but if this meets your needs, go for it.
It's using 270mb of memory as soon as it's working!
I deleted this immediately. IT wastes like Java Swing and Electron cannot be in my machine.