Bubbl.us review

Bubbl.us allows you to create colorful and engaging mind maps - graphical representations of concepts and ideas and the relationships between them. It is great for planning projects, collaborating with others, and brainstorming with your team. It can also be used as a teaching tool in the classroom.

Running since 2005, Bubbl.us has helped 7 million users over the years, and is published by LKCollab, LLC., a US company based in Glendale, Wisconsin.

With Bubbl.us, you and your audience can better understand and process concepts as well as generate new ideas. Also, since it is browser-based, it does not require the installation of any client software, which lowers costs and any barriers to getting started with the service.

Bubbl.us: Plans and pricing

With the free version, you can create up to three mind maps. This plan would suit users who need the service as a one-off for a specific project or assignment. The premium plan costs $4.91 per user per month (billed at $59 annually, or $6 a month with a rolling contract), and a team plan that supports three users can be purchased at a cost of $59 per person (billed at $177 annually, or $18 a month).

The premium and team plans both come with a 10-day free trial, unlimited mind maps, the ability to add files and images, and options for real-time collaboration. They also come with guest editing and priority support.

The premium plan is a great choice for small businesses that want to benefit from the visual aid of a mind map without having to pay for an enterprise solution.

If you opt for the Team plan, this adds an administrator account, multiple licenses, advanced user management, document retention tools, and the option to configure a custom sign-in domain and apply company branding.

These features make the team plan the perfect application for businesses that rely heavily on collaboration, brainstorming, and innovation and who want unfettered access to an effective mind mapping solution.

Bubbl.us: Features

Bubbl.us was conceived to help you effortlessly create mind maps. In Bubbl.us, these are essentially flowcharts or diagrams made of bubbles of information. The maps use a clever color scheme that allows users to easily see how different bubbles and branches of a given mind map are related to each other. 

Using the Custom button, you can personalize the bubbles in your mind map to highlight different relationships or emphasize contrasts and differences between various sets of information. The Hue, Saturation, and Palette buttons can also be used to further customize the colors of your mind map bubbles.

Many users, especially teachers, have raved about how well their students take to Bubbl.us’s color-coded map representations. The tool gives students the freedom they need to customize things without giving them so much freedom that they get lost in the process.

Meanwhile, mind maps are automatically saved every two minutes with Bubbl.us. Note, however, that you need to register for an account to store them online. Bubbl.us supports Google accounts, or you can register with a standard email address. The export option allows you to save your maps in JPG, PNG, and HTML formats.

With the premium version, you can even share your maps via email, add files and images, enjoy real-time collaboration, see your revision history, and allow anyone with a link to edit your mind map.

Collaboration extends across the internet, which is particularly useful for teachers and students for project development work.

Bubbl.us: Ease of use

The first thing you see when you open Bubbl.us is a template selection screen. In total, 11 are available to choose from, covering standard mind maps, flow charts, basic wireframes, and others. 

You can also hit the + button to start your own diagram from scratch.

The UI is pretty clean and easy to understand. You start with a large canvas on which you can draw shapes and bubbles and populate them with information. The app works pretty much the same way on different devices, with the only difference being the actual size of the canvas you start with.

As with any mind mapping tool, the keyboard shortcuts are vital. They can literally make the difference between presenting ideas quickly and not including them because the creative flow has been distracted with a mouse. Ctrl + Enter creates the first subordinate bubble, while Tab repeats the action to create more. Ctrl + Enter will create a subordinate to any selected bubble. You can bring up a list of commands by pressing Ctrl when a bubble is selected (although this curiously omits the Tab command). Lists can be added, as can notes.

In interactive pop-up menu lets you edit the size of your text and the connection arrows in your diagrams. Once your mind map is ready, you can save it as an image and share it with others.

You can also resize and manipulate the objects themselves on your canvas. All you have to do is create a new shape or object, give it a name, and connect it to other shapes on the canvas based on how they are affiliated. In this way, you can create visually striking maps without spending too much time or money to do so.

Finally, you can easily switch to different layouts by selecting the bubbles (some or all) and selecting a new layout. Bulk style changes can also be applied this way (such as bubble shape, font, etc.)

Bubbl.us: Customer support

Bubbl.us is cloud-based and runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS. It can be used with all current browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and a few others.

In terms of support, you can reach the tech team via email, phone, and online help desk tickets if you have any issues with the service. There are a few online guides and tutorials as well, but they are very basic in nature and only cover the core features of the platform.

A smart pop-up box is available within the app to search for instant answers. This can be switched from a search tool to a messaging window, which you can use to drop the Bubbl.us team a support query. Response times are vague (“a few hours”), and our test question (about templates) took around 2 hours to answer.

Bubbl.us: The competition

With so many mind mapping tools available to choose from, what would make you select Bubbl.us over any of its rivals? 

Budget-wise, Bubbl.us is competitively priced compared to alternative tools such as MindView and and MindMeister. While they all offer free versions with affordable monthly alternatives for more features, Bubbl.us is easily cheapest of these. 

In terms of ease of use, Bubbl.us is also a strong contender. Its intuitive UI and shallow learning curve are critical for quick onboarding. Bubbl.us is easy to get started with, and you can learn how to use all of its various features very quickly. 

When it comes to students and small business teams, MindView and and MindMeister both sport advanced features that take can a little longer to become accustomed to.

If all you need is the most basic of features, then Bubbl.us does the trick. You can use it to make flowcharts and diagrams and plan projects and assignments. However, if you need to perform advanced tasks, such as work prioritization or conditional decision-making, MindView and and MindMeister would be a better fit for you.

Bubbl.us: Final verdict

Bubbl.us is a good service for beginners to consider because it is easy to use and has a low learning curve. It can also be used on most smart devices, and it is great for online brainstorming, visualizing problems and solutions, and for use in the classroom.

However, Bubbl.us is also a bare-bones app that’s a little difficult to customize. Also, elements or assets in your mind map may overlap, making it difficult to click on them, and bubbles cannot be moved in groups, so you have to move bubbles one at a time. These quality of life shortcomings aren’t quite deal-breakers, but they may be cause for regret later on.

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