I’d previously purchased iThoughts and used it a little but my projects don’t often require that kind of app. As it happens I’ve got a new project coming up that would probably benefit from actually diving in with this kind of app. Yesterday I saw the new version of MindNode was released so I downloaded it for the free 2 week trial. I spent an hour with each app and came away with the impression that iThoughts is a more powerful app in almost every way.
MindNode is better in the area of visual style with a couple of added features. It’s also got newly announced support for second, external USB C monitors which might be nice for some. Also, two finger tap to undo is a nice touch and a feature I’m coming to like thanks to Procreate and the Affinity apps.
But iThoughts seems to be the more capable app. It’s got support for markdown in the notes for nodes, the ability to import a greater variety of objects, and far more export/sharing options. After an hour of using them I felt like I’d gotten a solid handle on how they each work (very similar) but also had the sense that I’d reached the limit of MindNode’s feature set.
With iThoughts there was more to learn and more that I could do. An example, the project I’m mapping is a collaborative local history project which includes several small non-profits, various resources being digitized, a podcast and a website where the materials will be catalogued. iThoughts has the ability to work special categories of notes such as tasks with due-dates, resources (people in orgs), cost calculating nodes, and project progress (for nodes that have tasks).
Anyone else have experience with these two and if so, any thoughts on how they compare? I’d heard a lot of good things about MindNode and expected that after I tried it I’d be inclined to purchase but after my initial exploration I’m actually thinking I’d be better off sticking with iThoughts.
