Comparison

TheBrain vs Brainstorming

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

Head to head
About

TheBrain

This app helps you capture, connect, and visualize all your ideas, notes, and files across devices. It acts as a digital memory, showing related items and allowing for dynamic mind mapping and powerful search to help you recall information instantly.

Highlights
  • Award-winning visualization
  • Networked notes with backlinks
  • Dynamic mind mapping
  • Easy idea capture
  • Cross-device sync
  • Powerful search
  • Visual file management
Features
Read full description

YOUR DIGITAL MEMORY. VISUALIZED. TheBrain is the unique knowledge app that helps you capture everything — ideas, notes, web pages, files, photos — and connect it all the way you naturally think. Stop hunting through folders, tabs, and search bars. Start seeing your knowledge as a living network you can navigate with a tap. Described by the Wall Street Journal as "Software that thinks like you do" and MacLife as "the most compelling mind mapping adaptation we've encountered." Winner of KMWorld's Trendsetting Products award. WHY THEBRAIN? Traditional notes apps trap your ideas in folders, tags, or endless lists. TheBrain lets every piece of information connect to anything else — so the right idea finds you the moment you need it. It's note-taking, mind mapping, file management, and AI rolled into one beautiful experience that works the same on every device. KEY FEATURES CEREBRO — TALK TO YOUR BRAIN WITH AI Our built-in agentic AI assistant. Ask Cerebro anything — and let it create new thoughts and notes, surface exactly what you need, summarize long documents, suggest meaningful links, or just have a conversation about what you know. It can do anything you can do — only faster. DYNAMIC THOUGHT NETWORK Move beyond conventional mind maps and folders. TheBrain's animated visualization shows your ideas, their context, and the relationships between them — at any scale. Tap a thought, and the entire network reorganizes around it. NETWORKED NOTES Rich notes shown in context with automatic backlinks and concept discovery. Hybrid WYSIWYG + Markdown writing, powerful tables, resizable images, math, and folding — all the modern editor essentials. EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE Attach web pages, PDFs, photos, and documents to any thought. Link people, projects, files, and ideas in a single living workspace. POWERFUL SEARCH Find any note, file, web page, or idea in seconds. Every match appears in the context of your thought network, so you instantly see how it relates to everything else you know. SEAMLESS SYNC ACROSS DEVICES Your brain is always with you. Mobile, Mac, Windows, Linux, and web stay in sync — even with large brains. Smart Sync downloads attachments on demand, keeping your brain fast and lightweight on every device. INFINITE SCALE Effortlessly handles hundreds of thousands of items and many gigabytes of data — without slowing down. COLLABORATE AND SHARE Publish your brain online for the world, or sync thoughts privately with your team. Great for shared knowledge bases, project planning, and team research. ==================================== WAYS TO USE THEBRAIN • Build your second brain — a living reflection of how you think, ready when you need it. • Manage everything in your life: projects, people, goals, files, and ideas in one place. • Capture interesting articles, videos, and references so they're activated when you need them. • Organize trips, travel, and major life events with all the right context at hand. • Power your research — go deeper on any concept and see how it connects to everything else. • Turn goals into action by linking them with the resources needed to achieve them. • Build a knowledge base that sparks new ideas and breakthroughs. • Link people, projects, and information for a smarter view of your business. • Create topic brains around your passions, hobbies, and special interests. • Plan personal projects like home renovations, weddings, or major purchases. GET STARTED IN MINUTES Start with a single thought — your name, a project, an idea you want to explore. Add a few connections. Within minutes you'll understand why people have trusted TheBrain for over two decades. For the best experience, install TheBrain on your phone, tablet, and computer. Our iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and other mobile clients all sync seamlessly — your best thinking is always with you.

About

Brainstorming

This app helps you explore and develop ideas through interactive word clouds and suggestions. You can add various media like images, links, and voice memos to enrich your concepts. It's designed to streamline creative processes for projects, naming, and investigations.

Highlights
  • Interactive idea exploration
  • Thematic word cloud generation
  • AI-powered suggestions
  • Multimedia content integration
  • Project sharing
  • Export as image, video, or PDF
Features
Read full description

Unleash your creativity with Brainstorming, an intuitive platform where ideas come alive through interactive exploration. Automatically generate thematic clouds from your initial subjects and receive relevant suggestions tailored to your projects, just like magic. Dive deep into word relationships and concepts, adding images, sketches, voice memos, and web links. Explore cultural references from movies to Wikipedia articles. With a free account, create and share your Brainstormings with your friends and colleagues, and explore our community's public Brainstormings for fresh ideas. Streamline your creative process. Catchphrases, names, themes, or conducting investigations, Brainstorming simplifies it all. Subscribe to Brainstorming Premium for 1,99$/month to enjoy : • Unlimited Brainstorming projects • Unlimited number of levels in your Brainstorming projects • Adding artificial intelligence powered suggestions at all times, images and art references • Export and share your Brainstorming projects as images, videos or PDF. These prices apply to United States residents. Prices may vary in other countries respecting your local currency exchange rate. Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account. At the end of the term, unless auto-renewables subscriptions are disabled, your subscription will automatically renew in your iTunes account. You will be charged for the regular price of your subscription within 24 hours prior to the end of the current term. You can turn off automatic renewal in your iTunes account settings at any time, but you must do so at least 24 hours before the end of the current term. Refunds will not be provided for the unused portion of any term. Find more informations about the confidentiality policy of Brainstorming on https://brainstormi.ng/policy To read our Terms of Use, visit https://brainstormi.ng/terms

Screenshots

TheBrain4 screens
Brainstorming4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: TheBrain at 4.8 against Brainstorming's 4.1. TheBrain also leads on review sentiment (45% vs 26%). Brainstorming's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. TheBrain sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month and Brainstorming sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TheBrain holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 150 and 71 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 45% of TheBrain's written reviews are positive against 26% of Brainstorming's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TheBrain ships an update monthly, Brainstorming every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
TheBrain versus Brainstorming: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTheBrainBrainstorming
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (150 ratings) — better4.1 (71 ratings)
Positive reviews44.7% of reviews — better26.1% of reviews
Number of ratings150 — better71
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size240 MB136 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTheBrain Technologies LPGuillaume Cendre

Customer experience

TheBrain

All ratings150 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral0.7%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews159 reviews
Positive44.7%
Neutral14.5%
Negative40.9%

Brainstorming

All ratings71 ratings
Positive74.6%
Neutral1.4%
Negative23.9%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive26.1%
Neutral13.0%
Negative60.9%

Bugs and requests

TheBrain

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on iOS 9
  • Inability to open brains
  • Freezing after each action
  • Login and account issues
  • Sync problems

Requested features

7 requests
  • Offline mode
  • Improved mobile UI and UX
  • Better integration with other apps
  • More affordable pricing options
  • Enhanced search and filtering
Show 2 more
  • Split-screen support on iPad
  • Handwriting and stylus support

Brainstorming

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TheBrain

Subscriptions2
  • TheBrain Pro Monthly$17.991 Month
  • TheBrain Pro Annual$189.991 Year
2 purchases

Brainstorming

Subscriptions2
  • Brainstorming Premium$1.991 Month
  • Brainstorming Platinum$3.991 Month

Questions

Is TheBrain free?
TheBrain is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Brainstorming free?
Brainstorming is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TheBrain or Brainstorming?
TheBrain is rated higher. TheBrain averages 4.8 out of 5 from 150 ratings, while Brainstorming averages 4.1 from 71 ratings.
Do TheBrain or Brainstorming have ads?
Neither TheBrain nor Brainstorming shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TheBrain or Brainstorming?
TheBrain ships an update monthly, and Brainstorming every 9 days. Most recently, TheBrain was updated on September 25, 2026 and Brainstorming on September 19, 2026.

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