Mind mapping software is an invaluable tool for web design, video production and host of other activities.

Good mind mapping software used to be expensive but not any longer! With products like Mindomo, Mindmeister, Freemind, Bubbl.us and Creately just to name a few you can map out your next great million dollar idea and share your vision online in real time without having to spend any hard earned cash in the process. All of these software programs are easy to use and offer either a free version or a free 30 day trial.

Here at Moss Media we decided to put a few of the top contenders to the test in our lab.

Bubbl.us is fun and esthetically pleasing but a bit of lightweight when it comes to professional features. It’s great for quick concept sketches and blows the doors off of any cocktail napkin for laying out your next big scheme to make a million.

For more detailed or serious work we choose to put  Creately, Mindomo, Mindmeister and Freemind to the test.

Creately has a tone of great features and is beautiful to look at. Unfortunately anything you produce using the free version is public. So if you’re not prepared to share you next big get rich quick scheme with the world before you make your first million you’ll need to pay at least $5 a month to keep your grand plan under wraps. A small price to pay really, considering the feature and graphically rich environment. Oh yes and did I mention it’s Google Apps friendly. Google Apps is a subject for another day but suffice to say it is worth consideration if you’re a gmail user.

Mind Meister is a serious contender when it comes to free or nearly free mind mapping tools. It’s iPad and iPhone friendly and gives you the option of keeping your plan private even on the free version. An upgrade to the premium service is a little pricey, $59us annually, but is does allow for collaboration with others online and a host of great features. The free version limits the number of nodes in a chain (mind map-eeze) which we found frustrating but considering the fact that is was free as well as allowing real time online collaboration and privacy we liked it.

FreeMind is the premier free mind mapping software tool.  It allows you  to unfold or fold up a node chain which many of it’s competitors fail to offer. This may seem trival but if your map gets large this feature is invaluble. Freemind has been the first choice in free online mind mapping tools for sometime now, but with Mindomo on the scene this may not be true for much longer.

Of all the mind mapping tool we tested, we found Mindomo to be the most versatile, feature rich, collaborative product of  them all. Each product has limits (especially at the free level) but for easy of use, privacy, online collaboration and a wide variety of professional features, Mindomo was our first choice.

If you haven’t tried mind mapping yet don’t wait another minute. Being able to chart you plans, ideas, even your life using any of these great products will have you that much closer to realizing your goals. Now that there’s such a wealth of free tools to choose from there’s no reason why you can’t be mind mapping your way to success.