ChatGPT's plugin directory now carries thirteen plugins, or apps as they were called until July, that will build you a mind map. Every one of them produced a map on the first request. Five of them could not change a single thing about it afterwards.
What is the best ChatGPT plugin or app for mind mapping in 2026?
MindMap AI is the best ChatGPT plugin or app for mind mapping overall, followed by Xmind and DeeplyClear. Mapify has the best in-chat preview. The deciding factor is whether a plugin can change a map that already exists, because most cannot: they generate one, then either decline the edit or rebuild the whole map around it.
Quick recommendations
- Best overall: MindMap AI, the only app that changes an existing map in place and leaves your manual work alone
- Best app behind the chat: Xmind, a desktop-grade editor, though its ChatGPT preview is the worst here
- Best editing after MindMap AI: DeeplyClear, renames and deletes in the same map, though expanding spawns a new one
- Best in-chat preview: Mapify, a full interactive map with six layouts you can switch between without regenerating
- Best for diagrams beyond mind maps: Whimsical, though it threw intermittent runtime errors during testing
- Most generous free plan: DeeplyClear, 20 private maps plus unlimited public ones
On this page
- What is the best ChatGPT plugin or app for mind mapping in 2026?
- Quick recommendations
- How I tested these plugins
- Only 7 of these 13 plugins are actually mind mapping tools
- All 13 ChatGPT mind map plugins compared
- Why most ChatGPT mind map plugins cannot edit a map
- The 13 best ChatGPT plugins for mind mapping
- 1. MindMap AI: best overall ChatGPT plugin for mind mapping
- 2. Xmind: best app behind the chat
- 3. DeeplyClear: best editing without leaving chat
- 4. Mapify: best in-chat preview
- 5. Whimsical: best for diagrams beyond mind maps
- 6. Lucid: best for enterprise diagramming
- 7. Mermaid Chart: best for diagrams as code
- 8. Miro: best for live team whiteboards
- 9. MindMap by KeenEthics: best for a quick map with no signup
- 10. Kiuwo: create-only, with a small allowance
- 11. Canvs.io: best for quick throwaway canvases
- 12. B&A Diagrams: built for process diagrams, not mind maps
- 13. getMindmap: not recommended for now
- What I excluded and why
- The bottom line
A note on the word. OpenAI renamed this twice. The 2023 plugins were retired in 2024, apps arrived in October 2025, and on 9 July 2026 the App Directory became the Plugin Directory. A plugin is now the package you install; an app is the piece inside it that connects to an outside service. Throughout this guide, plugin means the thing you add to ChatGPT, and app means the vendor's own product you open in a browser.
How I tested these plugins
Every plugin got the same four requests in a single conversation: generate a mind map, expand one node, rename one node, delete one node. Then I opened whatever it produced in the vendor's own app and tried to edit it by hand. Finally I made a manual change in the app, went back to ChatGPT, asked for an unrelated edit, and reopened the app to see whether my change had survived.
That last step is the one that separates these apps, and it is the one nobody publishes.
The scoring rubric
Five criteria, each scored 1 to 5, weighted and scaled to a score out of 10.
| Criterion | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| AI assistant tools / MCP tools | 30% | What the plugin actually lets ChatGPT do to a map: expand, rename and delete, and whether those change the existing map |
| Full-fledged mind map editor | 20% | What you can do by hand in the vendor's own app once the map exists |
| Own AI feature | 20% | AI inside the product itself, independent of ChatGPT |
| Pricing value | 15% | Free plan limits and what you get before paying |
| Ease of use | 15% | Preview quality, sync behaviour, setup friction and reliability |
Why the MCP tools criterion carries the most weight
A ChatGPT plugin is an MCP server. It hands the assistant a list of tools, and ChatGPT can only do what that list allows. That is the whole reason to use a plugin rather than the vendor's website, and it is why this criterion carries 30%. If a plugin exposes nothing but a create tool, ChatGPT is doing the thinking and the plugin is drawing a picture.
A low score here does not mean the plugin failed. Almost all of them produced a map on the first request. What differs is whether the tool list contains an operation that touches a node that already exists. MindMap AI's 20 tools cover editing, moving and deleting a node by reference. DeeplyClear's 8 include exact node and edge operations. Kiuwo's 4 edit nodes that are already there but cannot insert new ones. Several plugins expose nothing at all that changes a map once it is built.
The count is a poor proxy for any of this, which is why I score behaviour rather than tool numbers. Miro exposes 44 tools, more than any other plugin here, and still hands you a flat image with no node you can address. Xmind exposes 4 and edits the map. The number tells you how broad a product is, not whether its plugin can change one branch of a mind map.
The weighting favours my own product, so I have said so plainly rather than burying it. The same rubric was applied to every plugin, including mine.
Caveats: tested on the ChatGPT web app with a single account in July 2026, one topic per plugin, though not the same topic across all of them. These integrations change quickly.
Only 7 of these 13 plugins are actually mind mapping tools
Only seven of the thirteen are mind mapping tools. The rest are diagramming or whiteboard products that will produce a mind map when asked, and that difference shows up in the results.
- Mind mapping: MindMap AI, Xmind, DeeplyClear, Mapify, Kiuwo, MindMap by KeenEthics, getMindmap
- Diagramming: Whimsical, Lucid, B&A Diagrams
- Diagrams as code: Mermaid Chart
- Whiteboards: Miro, Canvs.io
Lucid and Miro are worth singling out, because neither names mind mapping in its own description at all. That lines up exactly with what happened on test: Lucid declined to edit a map it had just made, and Miro delivered one as a flat image you cannot touch.
All 13 ChatGPT mind map plugins compared
| # | Plugin | Best for | Free plan | MCP tools | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MindMap AI | Mind mapping in ChatGPT overall | Unlimited maps, 50 AI credits/month | 20 | 9.4 |
| 2 | Xmind | A desktop-grade app behind the chat | Unlimited local, 10 cloud maps | 4 | 6.9 |
| 3 | DeeplyClear | Editing without leaving chat | 20 private maps, unlimited public | 8 | 6.8 |
| 4 | Mapify | Switching layouts fast | 30 one-time credits, no editing | 12 | 5.8 |
| 5 | Whimsical | Diagrams beyond mind maps | 3 boards, 100 AI actions | 12 | 5.7 |
| 6 | Lucid | Enterprise diagramming | 3 documents, 60 objects each | 9 | 5.6 |
| 7 | Mermaid Chart | Diagrams as code | 3 diagrams | 2 | 5.6 |
| 8 | Miro | Live team whiteboards | 3 most recent boards editable | 44 | 5.0 |
| 9 | MindMap by KeenEthics | A quick map with no signup | Free, nothing persists | 2 | 4.4 |
| 10 | Kiuwo | Turning study material into maps | About 2 to 3 detailed maps | 4 | 4.2 |
| 11 | Canvs.io | Quick throwaway canvases | No published cap, rooms expire | 6 | 3.8 |
| 12 | B&A Diagrams | Process diagrams, not mind maps | 3 documents, 1 AI generation | 8 | 3.1 |
| 13 | getMindmap | Not recommended | 10 maps | 2 | 3.0 |
Why most ChatGPT mind map plugins cannot edit a map
Five of the thirteen plugins will generate a mind map and then struggle to change it. How they fail differs. Kiuwo and getMindmap decline flatly, refusing both to add a node and to delete one. Lucid and Mapify decline to rename or delete. Asked to expand, Lucid rebuilds the map as a new file, while Mapify does change the map you already have, but re-roots the node and expands the whole tree rather than that one branch. B&A Diagrams simply does nothing on all three. Kiuwo offers to rebuild the whole map instead, which is honest, and expensive when your free plan allows two or three maps.
Two plugins went further and reported changes they had not made. Xmind said it had expanded a node when the map was unchanged, and worked only on a second attempt. getMindmap said the map had been saved to the account, then retracted it when asked, because the integration had returned no map ID it could verify against.
And manual work rarely survives. Whimsical, Lucid, Xmind and DeeplyClear all overwrote hand-made changes on the next AI edit. Mapify could not be tested because free accounts cannot edit by hand at all. Only MindMap AI preserved it. The remaining apps either produce an image with nothing to edit by hand, or no saved map to return to.
The 13 best ChatGPT plugins for mind mapping
1. MindMap AI: best overall ChatGPT plugin for mind mapping
Score 9.4/10 · 20 MCP tools · Free: Unlimited maps, 50 AI credits/month
Full disclosure: we build MindMap AI. It is scored on the same five criteria as everything else, and it does not take top marks on all of them.
Expand, rename and delete all changed the map that already existed, rather than producing a replacement. Maps sync to the app automatically, with no click-through step to create them, and changes made in chat appear there in real time.
The survival test is where it separates. A manual change made on the canvas was still there after an unrelated edit was requested in chat. Of the five other apps where this could be run, four overwrote the change and one could not be tested because its free plan blocks manual editing.
Key features
- 20 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: create, read, edit, move, delete, style, theme, arrows, summaries, chart types, export and project management
- Expand, rename and delete all change the existing map rather than replacing it
- Maps sync to the app automatically, with no open-in-app step
- Creates, edits, styles, searches, views and exports maps built from ideas, notes, documents and conversations
- Full manual editor: layout, styling and structure by hand
- Preview in chat with centre and zoom controls
- Free plan: unlimited maps with 50 AI credits a month
Pros
- The only app tested where expand, rename and delete all change the existing map
- Manual work done in the app is respected rather than overwritten
- Maps reach the app automatically, with no open-in-app step
- Preview in chat with centre and zoom controls
Cons
- The preview does not offer layout switching, which Mapify does
- No live co-editing with other people
- Free AI is capped at 50 credits a month, so heavy generation needs a paid plan
Verdict: the one to use if the map is something you intend to keep working on. If you want to flip a map through six layouts before deciding what it should be, Mapify's preview does that better.
Add it from the MindMap AI plugin page in ChatGPT's directory, then just name it in a prompt.
2. Xmind: best app behind the chat
Score 6.9/10 · 4 MCP tools · Free: Unlimited local maps, 10 in the cloud
The most capable mind mapping application behind any app in this list, with unlimited local maps and 10 in the cloud on the free plan. All three edits eventually worked and changes go into the same map.
Getting there was the problem. The preview showed two main nodes while the app held a fuller map. After the first map, previews stopped appearing, and when forced, one returned a preview belonging to a different mind mapping tool entirely. Expand reported success without changing anything and only worked on a second attempt. Delete was refused until the vacation map was made the active map in Xmind. Manual work was overwritten.
Key features
- 4 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: create, list, read and edit Xmind maps
- All three edits eventually land, and changes go into the same map
- Delete requires the target map to be the active map in Xmind first
- Desktop-grade editor across web, Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android
- Its own AI runs a continuous chat: generate, then expand and refine, on Premium credits
- Free plan: unlimited local maps, 10 cloud maps, 10 trial AI credits
Pros
- The strongest standalone mind mapping app in the list
- Unlimited local maps and 10 cloud maps on the free plan
- Changes go into the same map
Cons
- Preview showed a fraction of the map, then stopped appearing
- Reported an expand it had not performed
- Delete required making the map active in Xmind first
- Manual work in the app is overwritten
3. DeeplyClear: best editing without leaving chat
Score 6.8/10 · 8 MCP tools · Free: 20 private maps, unlimited public
The best at editing from chat among the apps we did not build. Rename and delete both worked in the same map, which nothing else here managed cleanly. Expand was the exception and produced a new map rather than extending the existing one.
Its own app carries an AI chat, mostly surfacing an elaborate action but able to take other instructions. Manual editing there is limited.
Key features
- 8 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: create, list, read, preview and edit, with exact node and edge operations
- Rename and delete change the existing map; expand produces a new one
- Generates and edits interactive mind maps and knowledge maps from ideas, conversations, research, documents, notes and code
- Limited manual editing in the app
- Free plan: 20 private maps plus unlimited public ones
Pros
- Rename and delete both work in the existing map
- An AI chat inside the app that accepts general instructions
- Preview in chat
Cons
- Expanding a node produces a new map instead of extending the current one
- Manual editing in the app is limited
- Manual changes are overwritten by the next AI edit
4. Mapify: best in-chat preview
Score 5.8/10 · 12 MCP tools · Free: 30 one-time credits, no manual editing
The best preview of any app tested, and it is not close. The map renders in full, branches collapse and expand, and six layouts sit under it as buttons: Mind Map, Logic Chart, Tree Chart, Timeline, Fishbone and Grid. Switching redraws the preview without regenerating anything.
Everything after that is a problem. Rename and delete were both declined. Expand re-rooted the target node and expanded the whole map instead of that branch. And the survival test could not be run at all, because free Mapify accounts cannot edit by hand, which is a harsher finding than failing it would have been.
Key features
- 12 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: text, websites, files, PDFs, images, audio, video and YouTube into maps, plus research and async tasks
- Six layouts switchable in the preview: Mind Map, Logic Chart, Tree Chart, Timeline, Fishbone and Grid
- Full interactive preview with collapsible branches, and a static HTML file alongside it
- Rename and delete declined; expand changes the existing map but re-roots the node
- Converts text, documents, webpages, YouTube videos, audio, video, images and research into interactive maps
- Free plan: 30 one-time AI credits and no manual map editing
Pros
- Six layouts switchable directly in the preview
- Full map in the preview with collapsible branches
- Returns a static HTML file alongside the map
Cons
- Rename and delete both declined
- Expand re-roots the node and expands the whole map
- Free accounts cannot edit by hand at all, so the quality of its editor could not be assessed
5. Whimsical: best for diagrams beyond mind maps
Score 5.7/10 · 12 MCP tools · Free: 3 collaborative boards, 100 AI actions
The broadest coverage of any app here. One app covers mind maps, flowcharts, sequence diagrams, wireframes, sticky notes, tables and docs, and its own app has full manual editing plus an expand action.
Two things hold it back. Structural changes rebuild the whole tree, which is why a manual change made in the app was overwritten during an unrelated edit. And the plugin intermittently returned "Error loading app, runtime error" during testing, working normally the rest of the time.
Key features
- 12 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: mind maps, flowcharts, sequence diagrams, wireframes, boards, docs, editing and search
- Covers mind maps, flowcharts, sequence diagrams, wireframes, sticky notes, tables and docs
- Expand, rename and delete all work, but structural changes rebuild the whole tree
- Full manual editing in its own app, plus a single expand action from its AI
- The map reaches your workspace only after you press Edit in Whimsical
- Free plan: 3 collaborative boards and 100 AI actions
Pros
- Seven content types through one app
- Full manual editing in its own app
- Full preview in chat
Cons
- Intermittent runtime errors when loading the app
- Structural changes rebuild the whole map and reset styling
- Manual work in the app is overwritten
- The map does not exist in your workspace until you click through
6. Lucid: best for enterprise diagramming
Score 5.6/10 · 9 MCP tools · Free: 3 editable documents, 60 objects each
Real document management, a proper diagramming app behind it, and an AI chat inside Lucidchart that can expand, edit and delete nodes. Manual editing there covers drag and drop, text, shapes and basic colours.
In ChatGPT it is create-only. Rename was declined, with the plugin reporting no in-place rename or edit operation for an existing node. Delete was declined for the same reason. Expanding rebuilt the whole map as a new file, and chat changes then synced into that new file rather than the original. Manual work was overwritten.
Lucid's own app can delete a node perfectly well. It is the ChatGPT plugin that cannot.
Key features
- 9 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: mind maps, diagrams, org charts, sequence diagrams, search, sharing and exports
- Create-only from chat: rename and delete are both declined
- Expanding rebuilds the map as a new file, and later chat changes sync into that new file
- Manual editing in Lucidchart: drag and drop, text, shapes and basic colours
- Its own AI expands nodes and runs a chat that can edit or delete them
- Free plan: 3 editable documents, 60 objects each
Pros
- Genuine document management: folders, sharing, comments
- An AI chat inside the app that can edit and delete nodes
- Full preview in chat
Cons
- Rename and delete both declined in ChatGPT
- Expanding rebuilds the map as a new file
- Manual work in the app is overwritten
- First attempt returned a board rather than a mind map
7. Mermaid Chart: best for diagrams as code
Score 5.6/10 · 2 MCP tools · Free: 3 diagrams
Expand, rename and delete all worked, and the preview shows the map alongside its source. If your team already keeps diagrams in version control, nothing else here fits that workflow.
The catch is the round trip. An edited map opens in the Mermaid Chart app as a new file rather than updating the original, so the app fills with versions. Manual editing there is thin: add and delete nodes, change shapes, edit text, with no drag and drop. The free plan stops at three diagrams, after which the app link will not open.
Key features
- 2 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: create and update Mermaid diagrams, and list saved ones
- Expand, rename and delete all work in chat, and the preview shows the map with its source
- An edited map opens in the app as a new file rather than the original
- Manual editing covers add and delete nodes, shapes and text, with no drag and drop
- Its own AI offers quick node-level edits and a chat that adds, edits or deletes nodes
- Free plan: 3 diagrams, after which the app link stops opening
Pros
- All three edits worked in chat
- Preview shows the map and its source together
- Quick AI edits and an AI chat inside the app
Cons
- Edited maps open in the app as a new file, not the original
- No drag and drop in the app
- Free plan caps at three diagrams
8. Miro: best for live team whiteboards
Score 5.0/10 · 44 MCP tools · Free: only the 3 most recent boards stay editable
For a room full of people working at once, Miro is still the strongest tool in this list, and its plugin does at least preview the first map in chat.
The mind map itself arrives on the board as a rendered image. You cannot select a node, drag one, or reorder siblings by hand, and Miro says as much in the app: only flowchart, ER, class and sequence diagrams are supported, everything else renders as an image. The preview also only appeared for the first map.
Key features
- 44 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: boards, diagrams, tables, docs, comments, images, code widgets, prototypes, slides and search
- Expand, rename and delete all work, and changes reach the board in real time
- The map arrives as a rendered image, so no node can be selected, dragged or reordered
- Previews the first map in chat, then stops
- Asks whether to use a new board or the existing one on the next map
- Free plan: unlimited boards created, only the 3 most recent stay editable
Pros
- Previews the first map in chat
- Changes sync to the board in real time
- Asks whether to use a new board or the existing one
Cons
- The map arrives as an image with no node-level editing
- Preview only appeared on the first map
- Miro's own notice confirms mind maps are not a supported diagram type
9. MindMap by KeenEthics: best for a quick map with no signup
Score 4.4/10 · 2 MCP tools · Free: free, but nothing persists
No account, no setup, and expand, rename and delete all worked. Branches collapse and expand in the preview. For a fast visual inside a conversation you are already having, it is the least friction of anything here.
It also has no app, no account and no persistence. Nothing is saved, nothing is exportable, and when the conversation ends the map is gone. The collapse control is a view setting, not an edit.
Key features
- 2 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: render an interactive, collapsible mind map in the chat, with pan, zoom, fullscreen and expandable nodes
- Expand, rename and delete all work, each re-rendering the whole map
- Collapsible branches in the preview, which is a view control rather than an edit
- No app, no account and no signup of any kind
- Nothing is saved, exported or shareable, and the map ends with the conversation
Pros
- No signup or setup of any kind
- All three edits worked
- Collapsible branches in the preview
Cons
- No app and no account, so nothing persists
- No export or shareable link
- Every change re-renders the whole map
10. Kiuwo: create-only, with a small allowance
Score 4.2/10 · 4 MCP tools · Free: about 2 to 3 detailed maps
Generates a map, previews it, and opens in its app. Beyond that it is narrow. Its tools edit nodes that already exist or build a new map, so it cannot add a child node and cannot delete one. Asked a second time, it explained the limit itself and declined rather than overwrite the existing map.
What it does instead is unusual and worth credit. Rather than silently rebuilding, it offers to recreate the whole map with the change applied. That is more honest than most. It is also expensive, because the free plan is stated as roughly two to three detailed maps, so every edit costs another one.
Key features
- 4 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: create, list, read and update maps and nodes
- Cannot add child nodes or delete a node in an existing map. Its tools edit existing nodes or create a new map, nothing else
- Offers to recreate the whole map with the change applied, rather than rebuilding silently
- Converts study material and ideas into structured interactive maps from PDFs, images, notes, audio, web links, PowerPoint and Excel
- A working open-in-app link and an editable structure in the app
- Free plan: roughly 2 to 3 detailed maps
Pros
- Preview in chat and a working open-in-app link
- Asks before rebuilding rather than doing it silently
Cons
- Cannot add or delete nodes in an existing map, only edit ones already there
- Free plan is roughly two to three maps, so rebuilds are costly
11. Canvs.io: best for quick throwaway canvases
Score 3.8/10 · 6 MCP tools · Free: no published cap, rooms expire
The only app whose editor opens inside the conversation rather than sending you to a browser tab. Expand, rename and delete all worked, and it returns the outline code of the map alongside the preview.
Each change creates a new map image and adds it to the editor rather than replacing what is there, so five changes leaves five stacked images to clean up. Editing in the canvas is whole-image only, with no node-level selection. One attempt returned a blank canvas.
Key features
- 6 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: Mermaid diagrams, manual canvas elements, editing, deleting and querying
- Its editor opens inside the conversation rather than a browser tab
- Expand, rename and delete all work, but each change stacks another map image on the canvas
- Returns the outline code of the map alongside the preview
- Editing in the canvas is whole-image only, with no node-level selection
- Canvases are rooms that expire, so nothing is kept by default
Pros
- Editor opens inside the conversation
- All three edits worked
- Returns the map outline as code
Cons
- Every change stacks another image rather than replacing the map
- No node-level editing in the canvas
- Returned a blank canvas on one attempt
12. B&A Diagrams: built for process diagrams, not mind maps
Score 3.1/10 · 8 MCP tools · Free: 3 documents, 1 AI generation
A process diagramming tool that will produce a mind map on request. What appears in chat is a dashboard you click through rather than the map itself, and expand, rename and delete did not work.
Its own app has AI commands that will do those jobs, which makes this a case where the ChatGPT integration is weaker than the product behind it. The free plan is the tightest here: three documents and one AI generation.
Key features
- 8 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: open the app, generate and manage diagrams, save and edit them
- Expand, rename and delete all failed in chat
- What appears in chat is a dashboard you click through, not the map
- Covers flowcharts, timelines, ERDs, UX diagrams, process diagrams, charts and business or data visualisations, with AI commands that can perform edits chat cannot
- Manual editing is limited to basics such as adding a node
- Free plan: 3 documents and 1 AI generation
Pros
- The app's own AI commands can perform the edits chat cannot
- Generates a usable first map
Cons
- Expand, rename and delete all failed in chat
- No direct preview, only a dashboard link
- Free plan allows one AI generation
13. getMindmap: not recommended for now
Score 3.0/10 · 2 MCP tools · Free: 10 maps
The only app tested that failed at both ends. It threw "Error loading app, failed to fetch template" twice during the session. Expand and delete were both declined. The open-in-app link resolved back to ChatGPT itself rather than getMindmap. And the map never appeared in the connected account.
The integration returned no map ID and no verifiable link, and on that basis ChatGPT stated the map had been saved before retracting it when asked. A tool that fails is one thing. A tool whose failure produces a confident false confirmation is worth knowing about.
Key features
- 2 MCP tools exposed to ChatGPT: connect the account, generate and save maps
- Renders a map in the preview, but it never reached the connected account
- Expand and delete both declined
- The open-in-app link resolves back to ChatGPT rather than getMindmap
- Its own app generates from a pasted prompt and offers Mind Map, Concept Map and Custom types
- Free plan: 10 mind maps
Pros
- Renders a map in the preview on the first request
Cons
- Map never appeared in the connected account
- Open-in-app link resolves back to ChatGPT
- Expand and delete both declined
- Template loading errors during testing
What I excluded and why
MockFlow. It offered to build the map but reported that the MockFlow board bridge was not available in the ChatGPT session, and directed the work to Codex instead. Codex would not connect either. Nothing reached a board during testing, so there was nothing to score. This may be configuration or a temporary outage rather than a permanent state.
The bottom line
Thirteen plugins will draw you a mind map. Five of them stop there, and several of the rest quietly rebuild the map from scratch every time you ask for a change, taking your styling and your manual work with it.
The question to ask is not whether an app can make a mind map. They all can. It is what happens on the third request, when you want to move one branch and keep everything else exactly where you put it.
Related reading: Best Claude apps for mind mapping and AI mind map generators.
FAQ
Yes, through a plugin. ChatGPT has no built-in mind mapping and cannot save a map anywhere on its own. Thirteen plugins in its directory will build one, including MindMap AI, Whimsical, Lucid, Miro, Xmind and Mapify.
Only MindMap AI, fully. It changes an existing map in place across expand, rename and delete. DeeplyClear manages rename and delete but creates a new map when expanding. Four cannot modify an existing map at all: Kiuwo and getMindmap decline to add or delete, Lucid rebuilds into a new file, and B&A Diagrams does nothing on any of the three. Mapify is a partial case, changing the existing map on expand but declining rename and delete.
DeeplyClear, with 20 private maps plus unlimited public ones. Xmind follows with unlimited local maps and 10 in the cloud. At the other end, Kiuwo allows roughly two to three, B&A Diagrams three documents and a single AI generation, and Mapify's free plan blocks manual editing entirely.
It depends on the plugin. MindMap AI and Lucid put the map in your account automatically, and Kiuwo's open-in-app link works. Whimsical and Mermaid Chart only create the file once you click through. MindMap by KeenEthics has no app at all. getMindmap did not save the map despite reporting that it had.
Because the plugin exposes only a create action to ChatGPT. When you ask for a change, the assistant has nothing to call, so it either declines or rebuilds the whole map. This is an integration limitation rather than a limitation of the mind mapping product itself, which is why several of these apps can do in their own interface what they cannot do from chat.
Mapify. The map renders in full, branches collapse and expand, and six layouts sit beneath it as buttons, so you can switch between mind map, timeline, fishbone and others without regenerating anything.
Yes. Both are MCP servers that an assistant calls to reach an outside tool, and the MCP tool counts in this guide come from those servers. Only the name changes from platform to platform. What matters more is that the same vendor can behave differently on each, so how a tool performs in one assistant is not a reliable guide to how its plugin behaves in ChatGPT.
Usually not. Whimsical, Lucid, Xmind and DeeplyClear all overwrote hand-made changes on the next AI edit. Mapify could not be tested because free accounts cannot edit by hand. MindMap AI preserved the change.
