The open-source, browser-based XMind alternative

XMind has grown well beyond the desktop: it now has a web version and real-time co-editing for maps kept in its cloud, with the number of shared maps set by your plan. Where livediagram still differs is the friction before the first idea. It opens on any machine with a browser, including locked-down work laptops where you cannot install anything, and you can start a map without creating an account at all.

Collaboration works the same way: send the link to a teammate and you are both on the map at the same time, with live cursors showing who is where, whether or not they have signed up. Comments and assigned actions live on the elements themselves, so feedback lands where the idea is, not in a separate chat thread.

You don't have to start over. XMind exports maps as Markdown outlines, and livediagram imports Markdown directly: the outline becomes a real, themed node-and-link diagram, laid out for you, in place of the tab's contents (add a new tab first to keep what is there). Or paste the outline into a mind map's Edit Outline and every line becomes a mind node you can keep growing. Mermaid text imports too.

Going the other direction is just as open: export a map as PNG, SVG, or PDF for documents, or as Mermaid or Markdown text to keep the structure portable. Nothing about export sits behind a subscription.

A mind map is usually the start of something: the ideas become a plan, the plan becomes a flowchart or a board of tasks. In XMind that next step usually happens in a different tool. In livediagram it happens on the next tab: one document holds the mind map, the flowchart, the timeline, and the wireframe side by side, with tabs grouped into folders and per-tab layers when things get big. Plan mode turns a tab into a board of cards with columns, WIP limits and quick add, so the follow-up work can live next to the map that produced it.

Templates cover the common shapes of that follow-up work (flowcharts, kanban, retros, org charts, timelines and more), and one-click themes restyle the whole canvas so everything stays visually consistent as the project grows. When it is time to walk people through it, Presentation mode turns elements from any tab into a slide deck.

XMind is a subscription product: the free version is capable but the full feature set is paid. livediagram is MIT-licensed open source with a free hosted version and no paid tier at all. Every feature, including export, collaboration, and the API, is available to everyone, and you can self-host the whole thing on your own Cloudflare account if you prefer.