Brightpod vs. MindMeister

I like Brightpod. We used their previous product, DeskAway, which we actually liked a bit more for our needs (cannot remember why now as we've found workarounds over the last three years!). It is good for us, and we need to organize multiple task lists for multiple clients. We need to be able to monitor task progression and completion, as well as to track time by resource. We need to prioritize and focus our resources, and we need to review time tracking/performance reports. All possible in Brightpod. We especially like the access we can give to clients, which is on a task list basis, so they can see some task lists in their pod but not others, which allows us to not overwhelm them with unnecessary info, but at the same time, accomplish the detailed tracking we need.

Incentivized

MindMeister is ideally suited for building mind maps, site maps, or similar types of data maps in the cloud without needing to install extra software. I find that it isn't quite as ideal for other types of diagrams (ERDs, flowcharts, etc) as some other tools, though it definitely can handle those things as well.

Incentivized

• A very visually pleasing layout of projects in a Kanban style view.
• Keeps all communication on a task or project in one place, so that everyone is on the same page.
• Great template system for recurring projects like onboarding or deploying a specific service that has a defined timeline.
• Flexile recurring tasks.

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

• Reports.
• Team Member workload.

• I think that the free plan should offer a bit more terms of features to make the testing experience more engaging.
• My experience using the App version was not so good when compared to the web version of it. I feel more comfortable using it in my notebook.
• Paid plans could be more flexible to support small or temporary demands.

Incentivized

It's working very well for our organization.

Brightpod is easy to use. We have several levels of users, some are from outside the USA and some are here. We needed something that could be used by programmers, coders, technical project managers, marketing individuals, and administrators. We get a thumbs up from all these user types. The system is hardly ever down, so we are able to use 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Incentivized

Customer Support was fast and helpful.

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

SaaS is the way forward :)

Brightpod was definitely the most attractive and we felt like it had the least amount of clutter. We hated how Wrike handled recurring tasks. ActiveCollab just seemed to have some complexity that we didn't need. The Brightpod developers are very responsive and were able to fix bugs quickly.

Incentivized

I have also used LucidChart and Google Draw to create mind maps and concept maps in the past. I think that MindMeister is by far the cleanest and most user friendly of the three. Google Draw does not have anywhere near the same functionality. LucidChart tends to be clunky and the options to create your map are not always clear and intuitive.

Incentivized

• Increased employee efficiency
• Ability to have remote teams

• The most positive result of using MindMeister is a visualization of each step in work and connections between different nodes(ideas, steps).
• This greatly simplifies the work, especially collaborative work, since it is easier to show it once than to explain things many times.
• Negative impact: lack of offline desktop version.

Incentivized