There are as many online brainstorming tools as there are brainstorming methods. Some of them focus on visual brainstorming like mind-mapping, some focus on online whiteboarding, and others on note-taking or video conferencing.
There are as many online brainstorming tools as there are brainstorming methods. Some of them focus on visual brainstorming like mind-mapping, some focus on online whiteboarding, and others on note-taking or video conferencing.
Whether you’re brainstorming remotely or in person, these digital tools can help make your sessions more efficient. But with so many options, how do you pinpoint the most suitable brainstorming tool and method for your specific needs?
In this guide, we review the 10 best brainstorming tools that adapt to different brainstorming techniques, sharing what we like and dislike about each.
Online brainstorming tools provide a digital platform for team members to collaborate, share ideas, and organize thoughts. Let’s take a look at the 10 best brainstorming tools you can use.
Ideanote is an idea management tool that takes your ideas through all the stages of their lifecycle. It can help you brainstorm, collect, sort, select, evaluate, and implement ideas in an organized way.
Ideanote is more than an idea management platform. It’s a tool that encourages constant innovation by allowing everyone to contribute their ideas from anywhere, anytime.
G2: 4.7/5
Capterra: 4.9/5
Large groups and remote teams.
Ideanote lets you customize the platform to meet the needs of your brainstorming sessions, track the progress and impact of brainstormed ideas visually, and harness the power of AI to eliminate manual work. Plus, you can easily integrate it with your existing tools for an even more organized idea management workflow.
Ideanote is an excellent tool for both group and asynchronous brainstorming. Yet, in the case of the latter, it’s vital to foster a culture of continuous innovation within your team and set brainstorming rules that allow everyone to feel safe with contributing ideas individually.
Also read:
Reverse Brainstorming: Definition, Examples & Techniques
How to prepare a brainstorming session
Miro is a collaborative digital whiteboard platform where teams can brainstorm ideas visually. It allows teams to ideate solutions to problems and create visual representations of those solutions. With its interactive features and virtual canvas, Miro allows remote teams to collaborate in real-time.
G2: 4.8/5
Capterra: 4.7/5
Small, remote teams.
Miro offers a user-friendly platform for remote brainstorming with visualization tools and real-time collaboration. It’s an excellent option for smaller teams seeking visual brainstorming solutions.
Miro's strengths lie in visual collaboration, yet it lacks advanced idea management features. Its emphasis on visual brainstorming, like mind-mapping and whiteboarding, might not suit all your brainstorming needs.
For those needing a more linear approach to brainstorming, a tool like Lucidchart is a great option. Lucidchart is an online diagramming and visual communication platform that enables teams to create diagrams, flowcharts, and mind maps collaboratively.
G2: 4.5/5
Capterra: 4.6/5
Small, remote teams.
Lucidchart makes it easy to visualize ideas through diagrams and charts.
Lucidchart is a flowcharting and diagramming platform rather than a proper idea collection tool, and it doesn’t have the capacity to collect a large number of ideas.
ChatGPT can be a great tool to kickstart your creativity and help you get some initial ideas. This interactive AI-powered language model is great for writing content, but it can also facilitate brainstorming in many ways.
G2: 4.7/5
Capterra: 4.6/5
Individual and asynchronous brainstorming
ChatGPT can help you produce various ideas quickly and get objective and unbiased feedback. It’s also quick and free to use.
ChatGPT isn’t a brainstorming tool per se. It can help you come up with ideas, but it's important to remember that its responses are based on the input it receives. Sometimes, the ideas it comes up with might not fit your situation.
MindMeister is a standard tool for online mind mapping. It can aid your brainstorming sessions by providing you with a means to create associations between ideas visually. MindMeister’s collaborative features allow multiple team members to work on mind maps simultaneously.
G2: 4.3/5
Capterra: 4.6/5
Remote teams of all sizes.
MindMeister's strengths lie in its visual mind mapping capabilities, real-time collaboration, and presentation mode, making it ideal for organized idea visualization and sharing.
MindMeister isn’t focused on achieving specific business goals or engaging users across devices for larger campaigns.
ClickUp's homepage sums it up best with its headline, "One app to replace them all." ClickUp is an all-in-one project management solution that you can use for many things: task management, time tracking and management, goal tracking, creating and sharing documents, and collaborating with your team in real time. Yes, you can also use it for brainstorming.
G2: 4.7
Capterra: 4.7
Mid-sized and large remote teams.
The platform is versatile, user-friendly, and can be customized to your needs. Moreover, ClickUp has a mobile app that allows you and your team to manage things on the go.
ClickUp doesn’t provide you with an easy way to collect ideas. For instance, a non-tech-savvy team member would struggle to navigate numerous tasks and projects to find the right place to leave their ideas. This could easily discourage them from submitting their idea in the first place.
Note-taking isn’t only a tool for studying. It can also greatly help you with brainstorming. A note-taking app like Google Docs can help you capture all the ideas that come up during your brainstorming sessions.
G2: 4.7
Capterra: 4.7
Small, remote teams.
With Google Docs, multiple team members can contribute ideas simultaneously, and everyone can see the changes in real time. Plus, the ability to easily share and access documents makes it convenient for remote teams to collaborate effectively.
Google Docs is useful for jotting down ideas and notes freely during a brainstorming session. But since everyone can access and edit this document, it can quickly become messy when you’re dealing with a large number of ideas or a big team.
Video conferencing platforms like Hangouts, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams are excellent tools for online brainstorming. With a virtual whiteboard and screen-sharing option, you can easily jot down ideas and collaborate in real time.
G2: 4.3
Capterra: 4.4
Remote teams of all sizes
Platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have features like virtual rooms and filters that allow you to implement creative brainstorming techniques such as Charette or Six Thinking Hats during your online sessions.
While video conferencing platforms let you record your brainstorming sessions, ideas often end up scattered or forgotten. And even if you take notes during the meeting in a shared Google Docs document, managing all the ideas may become challenging.
You may know Kahoot! from its interactive online quizzes. Yet, it is also a great brainstorming tool that lets you create brainstorming sessions that involve games and quizzes related to your topic.
G2: 4.6
Capterra: 4.8
Small, remote teams.
By combining gamification with idea generation, Kahoot! offers a unique and engaging approach to brainstorming that can spark creativity among even the most introverted team members.
Kahoot is an easy-to-use, playful tool that allows for quick brainstorming during live meetings. However, it doesn't provide a way to keep working on those ideas after the meeting.
You probably know Slack as a productivity platform. It allows you to communicate and collaborate with your team in real time through dedicated channels to share files, discuss projects, and even audio and video chat with your team members.
But aside from all that, you can also use Slack for brainstorming by creating a dedicated channel for idea collection.
G2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.6
Remote teams of all sizes.
Slack lets you categorize discussions and keep conversations organized, making it easy to follow updates on each topic - or each idea.
You may have already tried collecting ideas in a Slack channel. You may have called it #product-ideas and waited to see ideas flowing in. But you soon realized the channel stays static, and the few collected ideas gather dust. There’s no structure, no goal, and no idea collection process in this method.
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Ready to brainstorm faster?
Do you think your teams could run more effective brainstorming sessions?
If you're looking for an all-in-one solution for your innovation, look no further than Ideanote! With our flexible platform you can do everything from collecting ideas, engaging your crowd and analyzing your innovation performance.