MindMeister vs. Microsoft Visio

This product is well suited for making mind maps and outlining projects and ideas from the start. It can be tough if you are trying to convert something you began in Docs. It allows for a lot of intuitive creation, making your work flow easily. It can get to be a bit clunky though if you make your map too large.

Incentivized

I believe any company or individual that is looking to get a process map visualized; would be a great tool. The tool is a great way to get complex ideas onto “paper” for all to see. Visio can be harder to use if you have an idea that is going in many different directions. If all ideas can fit on one page, this is the tool to use to visualize it all.

Incentivized

• The UI is well laid out and easy to use. The workflow makes perfect sense and makes creating tasks a breeze.
• The collaboration features make brainstorming not only easy but fun! Everyone enjoys using the tool, which was not the case with other collaboration software we used.
• I love being able to get all of my thoughts and ideas on the screen to see them and then be able to connect them in a logical way.

Incentivized

• The templates for basic flowcharting are simple to use and cover most of the basic functions and touch points in a diagram.
• The variety of included icons and connectors means it's very easy to create floor plans and/or network diagrams.
• The ease at which you can customise connectors with different colours/thickness makes it very effective in overall presentation of a diagram.

Incentivized

• I wish collaborators could add comments without having to be given editor privileges. A "Reviewer" role would be helpful.
• I would like to be able to toggle note visibility on and off. If there is a way to do it now, I haven't found it. As it is, I have to hover or use the sidebar to see notes.
• Two or three times I have seen my nodes spontaneously reverse order in a big map (over their recommended limit). Even so, they are working on tracking the issue down.

• Its inability to delve deeply into micro information successfully.
• It is a paid software which comes after paying a Microsoft licensing fee.
• The cost is high and the integration of the stencil library is unnecessarily fragmented.
• The more you use it, the faster and more effective you will get.

Incentivized

We use Microsoft Visio to keep our diagrams updated and to that end we will need the subscription to keep using the software. Otherwise we will be left with PDF versions of the diagrams.

Incentivized

I think Microsoft Visio is pretty easy to initially pick up and understand the user interface to dive into make basic models. It would be nice if there were some fit for purpose templates so that not as much time needs to be spent on some types of engineering diagram structure. Trying to work on a single Visio file with multiple team members is also a sticking point.

Incentivized

Never had an issue with customer support, though we never really needed anything major as far as technical help. I do not believe they offer 24 hour customer support but we don't need it as MindMeister is not the type of tool we need need 24 hour a day support for. Overall, very happy with the level of support.

Incentivized

Overall, I feel that Microsoft's support is weak. They are now such a behemoth that their model of putting documentation online for their users to sift through is totally outgrown. Given the amount of money you pay for these licenses, Microsoft should provide easy one-on-one support for their products via email or chat. The idea of paying their rates for support incidents is ridiculous. If you have an enormous amount of time on your hands, use their support websites and you will eventually find a solution most of the time.

Incentivized

Mindmeister has a good free plan compared with Lucidchart, and better Google Drive integration in my opinion. draw.io has a better free plan than MindMeister, but I prefer MindMeister for mindmap creation still, while I prefer draw.io for other types of diagrams. Xmind is powerful, but bloated, and requires installation on every machine that needs to open the file. The fact that MindMeister is in the cloud is a huge bonus.

Incentivized

I have personally never used or evaluated other programs similar to Microsoft Visio. I started using it following an indication from a colleague who told me that our University distributes it free of charge to its users. Since I first used it (more or less three years ago), I have never left Microsoft Visio. Excellent!

• Our meetings became more productive (time saving /better outcome).
• Project management activities became more efficient (time-saving/increased quality/better collaboration).
• It became easier to create online repositories to share relevant and well-organized information to our teams (before it was dispersed, incomplete, and difficult to find/manage).

Incentivized

• Greatly enhanced time to create share and finalize documentation.
• Better collaboration between disparate teams, such as marketing opts and sales ops.
• Transparency/visibility into standardize, workflows and processes have led to better team, relationships, and better results that translate directly to the bottom line and ROI.

Incentivized