
Freeplane
Free, open source mind mapping and knowledge management desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux with scripting, LaTeX and add-ons.
Freeplane is a free and open source mind mapping application for thinking, knowledge management and getting things done. It grew out of FreeMind and has been developed as an independent project since 2007, making it one of the longest-lived open source mind mappers. Nodes support rich text, Markdown and HTML styling, images, icons, attributes, links and notes, and whole maps can be protected with password-based encryption.
Where Freeplane pulls ahead of most proprietary tools is depth: nodes can contain LaTeX formulas and evaluated formulas, maps support conditional styles and powerful filters, branches can be turned into presentations, and almost anything can be automated with Groovy scripts (plus Jython and JavaScript), map-local scripts and community add-ons. Recent releases add AI chat workflows and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for bringing AI assistance into your maps.
Compared to XMind, MindMeister and MindManager, Freeplane trades cloud collaboration and polish for power, offline use and full ownership of your data. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, can run portably from a USB drive, and stores maps as plain .mm files — but it is a single-user desktop tool with no real-time co-editing and no mobile or web client.








