Comparison

MindNode vs MarginNote 3

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

MindNode

Capture, organize, and visualize your thoughts and ideas. This app allows you to brainstorm, structure complex projects, and share your vision in various formats. Stay productive across all your devices with seamless iCloud integration.

Highlights
  • Capture thoughts as text, images, links, or tasks
  • Organize ideas with hierarchical outlines and mind maps
  • Style mind maps with themes and stickers
  • Export ideas to various formats
  • Cross-platform productivity with iCloud sync
  • Focus Mode and foldable branches for organization
Features
Read full description

Every great idea starts with a single thought. And another. And then a million more. MindNode is the most delightful brainstorming app for Mac and iOS. It helps you capture your thoughts and create a clear picture of your idea. Featured as Apple’s “App of the Day” & “Editors’ Choice” WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND? • Capture Your Thoughts Whether as words, images, links, tasks, or notes, capture your thoughts in any form. Create an outline for an organized, hierarchical view, and observe how it grows as a mind map. Use the mind map to visually rearrange nodes and add new thoughts. MindNode is the right tool to get your ideas out of your head the way you want to. • Organize Your Idea Your document reflects your ever-changing understanding of an idea as you add and adjust thoughts. Move, tag, connect, detach, and reconnect as often as you like. Mind map and outline side-by-side. Concentrate on one thought at a time with Focus Mode, Visual Tags, and foldable branches. • Style Your Mind Map Personalize your document with beautiful out-of-the-box themes and custom stickers. Make your mind map look just right by styling every detail. With Smart Layout your idea will always look fantastic. • Share Your Vision Easily share your documents with others or move them one step further in your creative process. Send tasks to Apple Reminders, Things, or OmniFocus. Export your idea as text, image, and to many other file formats. STAY PRODUCTIVE WHEREVER YOU GO Whether it’s on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, with MindNode, you stay productive wherever you are. Store your files on iCloud Drive and access them on all your devices. FREE EDITOR Use MindNode for free to capture your ideas with actions like editing, rearranging, and folding nodes, as well as importing and exporting files. • Capture: grow your thoughts into fully-fledged ideas • Fold branches: keep your documents organized • Import: FreeMind, MindManager, iThoughts, plain text, RTF, CSV, OPML, Markdown, TextBundle • Export: plain text, RTF, CSV, OPML, PDF, PNG image, Markdown, TextBundle, TaskPaper, FreeMind MINDNODE PLUS MindNode Plus is a cross-platform subscription for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It unlocks all of MindNode’s features like Outlining, Visual Tags, Focus Mode, Notes, Themes, Stickers, Connections, and much more. MindNode Plus is available as a monthly and a yearly subscription. Try out all of MindNode’s features with a free 14-day trial. • Collect everything: add text, images, and links to nodes • Outlining: create your document using a hierarchical, organized approach • Visual Tags: tag your thoughts for more context, highlight tags to see new relationships • Notes: keep your mind map easy to read without losing a single detail • Connections: connect nodes on different branches • Tasks: turn your thoughts into actions • Quick Entry: just start typing to collect thoughts • Themes: beautiful out-of-the-box themes and unlimited personal themes • Images: insert your own images and annotate them • Stickers: 260+ hand-crafted stickers with adjustable colors • Styling: rich styling options for every single part of your mind map • Layouts: top-down and horizontal • Focus Mode: put a spotlight on a single branch • Dark Mode: for when your thoughts come at night • Share Tasks: to Apple Reminders, Things, and OmniFocus WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT MINDNODE “The app keeps out of your way, so it doesn’t interrupt your thought processes.” – New York Times “An app on the cutting edge of iOS design and technologies.” – MacStories “Slowly grow and track your ideas, connecting nodes to help you better conceptualize your idea or thoughts.” – BusinessInsider QUESTIONS? Reach out to us at support@mindnode.com and on Twitter (@mindnode). Let us know if you have any questions or issues. We’re always glad to help. Terms of Service: https://mindnode.com/terms

About

MarginNote 3

This app redefines studying by integrating e-reading with powerful annotation, mind mapping, and flashcard tools. Organize knowledge, connect ideas with hashtags, and enhance memory retention through spaced repetition. It offers a seamless workflow across multiple documents and devices.

Highlights
  • Integrated PDF/EPUB reader
  • Advanced annotation tools
  • Mind mapping and outline organization
  • Flashcard creation and Anki export
  • Multi-document support
  • Handwriting and Apple Pencil support
  • OCR for scanned PDFs
Features
Read full description

MarginNote 3, all brand new e-reader to better study and digest your books Integrating powerful tools for book annotation, mindmapping, flashcards and more, to build up your reading notes as never before. ============================================ Welcome to MarginNote. This is a highly powerful reading and study software and is applicable to Mac, iPad, and iPhone. By integrating the PDF/EPUB reader and multiple powerful study tools, MarginNote will enable learners to reorganize and connect knowledge from different aspects, then memorize and grasp it accordingly. Whatever your profession, such as student, educator, researcher, lawyer, or life-long learner, you may annotate and take notes through MarginNote, organize notes via Mindmap and Outline, connect knowledge horizontally via Hashtag and raise memory effect via the Flashcards. You will discover what MarginNote does is not to simply integrate these tools. Instead, it combines them deeply and skillfully, which makes it easier for users to toggle between different tools. What's New in MarginNote 3 * New and Clean UI Completely redesigned. * Improved performance and Running more smoothly * Support both Document Reading mode & Study Reading mode. * Excerpts & Note-taking * Enhanced Handwriting & apple-pencil support. * Support TextBox on PDF. * Support direct text-typing & sketching when editing note cards. * Support Auto OCR when excerpting on scanned PDFs. * Emphasis & Cloze * Support direct emphasis in powerful Emphasis mode both on PDF or Outline. * Support auto convert emphasis to Cloze in CardDeck. * Support creating Image-Occlusion flashcards. * Multi-Documents * Support both document tabs & split views to switch between documents. * MindMap * Auto grouping new excerpts by Document Table of Contents. * Support new brach display mode: Framework. * Swipe/Drag gestures to slide in/out Outline & Documents in Study mode. * Enhanced grouped cut/paste, drag to merge,.. etc. * Outline * Improved search and displaying keywords in results. * Improved styles. * CardDeck: * View Flashcards in MindMap mode and Document mode. * Enhanced Anki Export: Card styles, Image occlusions, Cloze * Enhanced Research web browser. * iCloud Sync * Fixed several design issue in previous versions. * More stable & improved performance. * Categories * Separate categories for Document, Study and Review. * Trash * Recover data from Trash and make data more safe. * Trial * 14-days free trial. MarginNote 2 features: Reading: - Support PDF and EPUB format; Annotating and NoteTaking: - Support text highlight and rectangular highlight; - Add notes directly at the page margin; the note editing area will not overlap with the book content at all; - Text, voice, picture, sketching and many other forms of comments in note; - Add hashtags to notes to facilitate the connection of notes; Outline and Mindmap: - Outline and Mindmap in one view; - Create Outline tree by swipe gestures; - Multi-selection editing such as group, merge, clone, etc; - Quick searching and filtering according to colors, hashtags, books. Flashcard: - Highlights and notes can be automatically turned into flashcards for review; - Spaced repetition adopting the Anki-based algorithm; - Switch to the linking book page at any time; iPad Pro & Apple pencil: - Split View of multiple tasks; - High-precision drawing by Apple pencil; - Fine tuned for Apple pencil; - Keyboard shortcuts; Import, Export and Sync: - Import webpages and notes from Evernote; - Export flashcards to Anki; - Export Outline to OmniOutliner; - Export Mindmap to iThoughts or MindManager; - Export to Evernote; - Export all the margin notes, MindManager, Outline and Pages to a printable PDF; - Sync books & notes with iCloud; Terms of Use: https://www.marginnote.com/press/marginnote-3-term-of-use Privacy Policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/92678020

Screenshots

MindNode4 screens
MarginNote 34 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: MarginNote 3 at none against MindNode's shown. MarginNote 3 also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 59%) and iOS requirement (11.2 vs 16.4). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. MindNode sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and MarginNote 3 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MarginNote 3 holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.9K and 5K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of MindNode's written reviews are positive against 75% of MarginNote 3's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MindNode versus MarginNote 3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMindNodeMarginNote 3
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.9K ratings)4.7 (5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.0% of reviews74.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.9K5K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 6 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.411.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size390 MB392 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperIdeasOnCanvas GmbHBeijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd

Customer experience

MindNode

All ratings1,897 ratings
Positive88.0%
Neutral2.8%
Negative9.2%
Written reviews122 reviews
Positive59.0%
Neutral11.5%
Negative29.5%

MarginNote 3

All ratings5,043 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews983 reviews
Positive74.6%
Neutral11.5%
Negative13.9%

User reviews

MindNode

From 1.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth and intuitive interface
  • 🧠 Excellent for organizing thoughts and ideas
  • 🌐 Seamless sync across devices
  • 💻 Great for both personal and professional use
  • 🎨 Beautiful and customizable themes

Room to improve

  • 💰 Subscription model frustrates some users
  • 🔒 Locked features behind paywall
  • 🐛 Occasional sync and stability issues
  • 🔀 Limited layout and connection options

MarginNote 3

From 5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful and efficient for studying and research
  • 👍 Excellent mind mapping and note-taking features
  • 💡 Unique and innovative functionality like video annotation
  • 🚀 Handles large volumes of documents and notes well
  • 👍 Useful for organizing and synthesizing information from multiple sources

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 👎 Steep learning curve and lack of comprehensive documentation
  • 👎 Unreliable cloud syncing between devices
  • 👎 Cluttered and unintuitive user interface in some areas
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches with certain features like handwriting and OCR

Bugs and requests

MindNode

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Files disappearing or becoming corrupted
  • App crashing after recent updates
  • Inability to restore previous purchases

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add audio recording capability
  • Improve handwriting and Apple Pencil support
  • Allow more flexible node connections and layouts
  • Provide a one-time purchase option

MarginNote 3

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Syncing issues causing data loss across devices
  • Crashes and freezes when working with large documents
  • Inconsistent behavior with highlighting, erasing, and text formatting
  • OCR not functioning reliably for non-Latin scripts
  • Difficulty managing and organizing large document libraries

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved export options and ability to share projects
  • Better integration with other productivity apps like Anki
  • More customization options for mind maps and annotations
  • Smoother handwriting experience and better palm rejection
  • Support for more file formats like PowerPoint

In-app purchases

4 purchases

MindNode

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription6 Months trial$24.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Subscription1 Year trial$24.991 Year
5 purchases

MarginNote 3

Subscriptions2
  • OCR Pro (Monthly)3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • OCR Pro (Annually)3 Days trial$9.491 Year
One-time3
  • 14 days Free TrialFree
  • Unlock Full$12.99
  • Upgrade to Full$12.99

Questions

Is MindNode free?
MindNode is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MarginNote 3 free?
MarginNote 3 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MindNode or MarginNote 3?
MarginNote 3 is rated higher. MindNode averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.9K ratings, while MarginNote 3 averages 4.7 from 5K ratings.
Do MindNode or MarginNote 3 have ads?
MindNode shows ads; MarginNote 3 does not.
Which is updated more often, MindNode or MarginNote 3?
MindNode ships an update every 6 weeks, and MarginNote 3 every 6 weeks. Most recently, MindNode was updated on September 23, 2026 and MarginNote 3 on September 24, 2026.

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