Freeplane
The power-user's open-source mind mapper — scripting, LaTeX, conditional styles, zero cost.
About
Freeplane is the actively developed fork of FreeMind, led by one of FreeMind's own developers, and it keeps the GPL-2.0 license and the .mm format while going far beyond the original. The GitHub repository (freeplane/freeplane) holds about 4,400 stars with commits through September 2026, and stable releases kept coming through 2025–2026, including 1.13.3 in July 2026. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux via Java, with installers that can bundle the runtime. The feature set reads like a researcher's wishlist: Groovy scripting for automation, conditional node formatting, attribute-based filters, hierarchical tags, inline LaTeX math, node-level DES encryption, TaskJuggler export, and XSLT-based custom exports. It even has a portable mode that runs from a USB drive.
Honest limits: the Swing interface looks dated and the learning curve is the steepest in this batch — casual mappers will find it overkill. No published performance benchmarks found.
What it can do
- Groovy scripting API for automation and add-ons
- Conditional node formatting and attribute-based filters
- Inline LaTeX formula rendering (JLaTeXMath)
- Node attributes, tags, reminders, and calendar integration
- DES encryption for whole maps or individual nodes
- XSLT export pipeline: HTML, PDF, LaTeX, MS Office, TaskJuggler
- Portable mode — runs from USB storage
- Full .mm compatibility with FreeMind
Setup
Download the installer for your OS (Java bundled in some packages) and open a .mm file — no account.
Prerequisites
A Java runtime; some installers bundle it automatically.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 9/10
Scored 9/10 (VERIFIED tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: GPL-2.0 license and active development confirmed via GitHub repo (freeplane/freeplane, ~4,400 stars, commits through Sep 2026) and the release history showing 1.13.3 in July 2026; feature claims (Groovy scripting, LaTeX, conditional styles, DES encryption) documented in the project's own docs and corroborated by windowsforum and makeuseof. Strengths: most capable free mind mapper available, open file format, scriptable, still shipping releases. Docked for: (1) steep learning curve and dated Swing UI; (2) Java runtime dependency. License: GPL-2.0 open source.
★ 4,413 GitHub stars
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 7.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 9.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 10.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 9.0/10
- · GPL-2.0 fork of FreeMind led by Dimitry Polivaev.
- · GitHub freeplane/freeplane: 4,413 stars; v1.13.3 released July 2026; commits through Sep 2026.
- · Groovy scripting, conditional formatting, LaTeX, DES node encryption, XSLT exports, portable USB mode.
- · Steepest learning curve in batch; dated Swing UI; needs a Java runtime.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.