To analyze ideas, organize thoughts, find gap spots, and learn relationships between concepts, a concept map is the best choice. The next problem is that making a concept map by hand can be very tedious for beginners. As concept maps are quickly evolving into an indispensable tool, developers released a lot of software and applications to help you streamline the workflow. This article will test and identify the best concept map makers and tell you the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
Before going ahead, let's learn the concept map definition. A concept map is a diagram that displays the relationships between ideas. It helps you to understand how these ideas are connected to each other.
The purpose of concept mapping is to let your audience can easily get and understand the relationships when you have a large body of ideas or information that you need to present. In another word, it allows you to dig into a topic in detail, organize your thoughts, remember important information, and understand relationships.
The basic elements in every concept map include concepts and relationships. When you make a concept map, it should include nodes, cross-links, linking words, hierarchical structure, and propositional structure.
There are four types of concept maps widely used cross-industry:
1. Spider map. It looks like a spider net. You can start with the core idea from the center, and branch outwards to sub-ideas.
2. Flowchart. You may be familiar with flowcharts, but it is actually a type of concept map too.
3. Hierarchy map. This concept map is used to show the order of something.
4. System map. It is the most complicated type of concept map.
Most web-based apps have some kind of limitations, such as watermarks. MindOnMap is an exception. It does not have any restrictions. As long as you have an account, you can create concept maps online for free.
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SmartDraw is one of the popular concept map generators online. Although it is not free to use, the price is more affordable than other paid software. Plus, it offers a desktop client for Windows and Mac too.
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Lucidchart is an all-in-one concept map creator online. It allows you to make organizational charts for visualizing and understanding. The preset structures make it popular among average people. It costs $9.95 per month.
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If you need a cloud-based concept map maker online, Creately is a good choice. It provides a free version for the public with basic features. For professionals and businesses, there are several paid plans that cost at least $6 per month.
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Visme is a simple concept map creator online for users who need a tool for idea presentation and visualization. It simplifies the process of creating and sharing diagrams and charts, as well as other visual formats.
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GitMind is a free concept map maker for brainstorming, project planning, development, action, and more. It is 100% free of charge for making concept mapping and other visual diagrams on Windows.
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Freeplane is an open-source concept map generator. It comes with tools that you can use to present your ideas, display your thoughts, and finish your tasks quickly. Plus, it is available on a wide range of platforms.
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EdrawMax is a professional concept map creator from Wondershare. As another all-in-on diagram program, it makes professional-looking mind maps constructed easily. Moreover, it has been updated for the latest PCs.
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Visio is the concept map maker from Microsoft. It is a part of Microsoft 365. It means that only the latest Office package includes this tool. However, it is still an outstanding tool to display your ideas to the audience visually.
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MindGenius is another concept map creator that is worth PC users trying. It helps you and your teams to hash out ideas about a particular project or event easily. The latest version is MindGenius 20, which costs $256.
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As its name indicated, MindManager is a powerful concept map creator for Mac. It has a Microsoft Office integration. All features are concentrating on brainstorming, planning, management, and sharing ideas.
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Mindomo is a concept map maker popular among experts. It allows you to mentally outline ideas in a visually engaging interface, as well as collaborate with teams. The built-in teamwork feature lets your partners put their minds together easily.
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SimpleMind is another popular concept map maker partly because it simplifies the thoughts presentation, analysis, and structure on both Mac and Windows. The clear interface enables beginners to find what they want quickly.
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Extended Reading:
Mydea is another concept map creator available in Mac App Store. You can download this tool and display your ideas for free. As a diagram app, it is a nice choice for beginners and students.
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Visual Paradigm is an attractive concept map maker for process mapping, network diagramming, visual modeling, and more. It features all diagrams and ERD tools essentially in concept map generation.
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Does Google have a concept map maker?
No, Google does not come with a dedicated app for concept map making. Alternatively, you can do the job using Google Docs. It provides a lot of shapes, projects, and text tools to help you display your ideas in a document online.
Concept map vs. Mind map, what are the differences?
At first glance, they are very similar because both are places to brainstorm ideas. However, concept maps and mind maps have their own distinctive functions. The main difference is their visual structure.
Can you create a concept map in PowerPoint?
Yes, you can make a concept map or other visual diagrams in PowerPoint if you are experienced. PowerPoint does not provide templates for concept maps, but you can use the built-in shapes and objects to draw a map according to your need.
Conclusion
Now, you should master at least 15 best concept map makers on Windows, Mac, Linux, and online. Some of them are completely free to use, such as MindOnMap. Others require you to purchase a plan, a license, or pay for limitation unlock. You can pick an appropriate tool according to your situation. If you have other questions or better recommendations, please leave a message below this post and we will reply to it quickly.
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