The 10 best brainstorming tools in 2026

Ideas can be brilliant, half-baked, or deeply cursed. The problem is that most of the time, you don't know which they are until you get them out of your head. 

But regardless of quality, ideas are the raw material of your business. Everything from new products to smarter strategies all start as someone's messy thoughts that need a place to land.

In most companies, ideas don't come from one person or one team—they come from everywhere. Which means someone has to capture, organize, build on, and decide which ones are worth pursuing. Without the right brainstorming app, good ideas are destined to either get ignored or buried in meeting notes no one ever opens again.

Brainstorming software gives teams a shared space to think out loud, whether that's sketching ideas visually, talking them through, or dumping half-formed thoughts before they disappear. Whether you're collaborating in real time or brainstorming remotely, the right tools can help you turn scattered thinking into something you can actually use.

The best brainstorming tools

• Coggle for mind-mapping

• Miro for an online whiteboard

• Zapier Canvas for automation planning and diagramming

• Lucidchart for flowcharts

• Figma for wireframing

• Zoom for video conferencing

• Slack for team chat

• ChatGPT for an AI chatbot

• OneNote for note-taking

• Wispr Flow for dictation

What is a brainstorming tool?

Brainstorming tools offer ways to collect and organize your random stream of thoughts so you can turn them into actionable ideas. From giving you a literal blank canvas to jot down your ideas to setting up a virtual room for live brainstorming sessions with your teammates, these apps run the gamut. 

This breadth of options is a positive, though, because the best brainstorming tool will differ for each person and project. For example, email marketing teams may benefit from using a flowchart app to visualize their next email drip campaign, whereas an individual freelance writer might need only a note-taking app to capture all their rough story pitches. 

With that in mind, here's a list of the best brainstorming tools, based on dozens of hours of testing from the Zapier team. 

The best brainstorming tools at a glance

The best brainstorming tool for mind mapping 

Coggle

Coggle pros:

• Easy to use 

• Generous free plan

Coggle cons:

• Available only as a web app

Mind mapping is a great way to record the wild flights of fancy that brains can often follow in a storm. Put another way, if you're looking to trace and record the kind of free association that's central to the brainstorming process, a mind map is an invaluable brainstorming tool.

Coggle is, in many ways, the mind map maker to beat. It's fast, intuitive, and easy to use (with great keyboard shortcuts). You can manage up to three private mind maps for free. And if you want to bounce ideas off a colleague, you can add them to your map, carry on a conversation in the messages sidebar, or go into full-screen presentation mode.

Even though the interface is starting to look a little dated, Coggle is still packed with thoughtful touches. For example, you can format your mind map items and messages with Markdown, so you can get as fancy as you need to while adding your text, images, and links to the canvas. 

The main drawback: it's available only through your web browser. But if you're not regularly mind mapping on the go, this may not be a concern.

Coggle pricing: Free for up to three private diagrams; $5/month for unlimited private diagrams and extra mind mapping tools (like additional shapes and color control).

Read more: The best mind mapping software

The best brainstorming tool for whiteboarding

Miro

Miro pros:

• Robust library of whiteboard templates

• Talktracks allow you to create interactive board walkthroughs for asynchronous collaboration

Miro cons:

• Using it is a tad less intuitive than some of the other apps

For capturing your ideas—good, bad, and otherwise—there's no beating your standard whiteboard. This handy piece of furniture is the perfect place to plan and dream, requiring only a few dry-erase markers and your bright ideas. But what if you can't be together to capture those insights in person? Enter: online whiteboards.

Miro is available on any device—and on the web. Get started with a standard blank whiteboard, or use any of the pre-loaded templates to get a jumpstart on your brainstorming session. And you're not limited to one template: you can add as many as you want to a board.

Add shapes, text, and sticky notes. Keep your teams literally on the same page (or board), even if you can't all be in the same room at the same time. And, of course, there are AI features to help you do things like generate diagrams and images from a prompt, automatically create sticky notes, and otherwise bounce ideas off an AI chatbot.

Miro marketplace houses over 250 apps you can integrate with. You can do even more with Miro by connecting Miro to Zapier—embedding whiteboards into orchestrated workflows across your business. For example, you can automatically create new cards and boards based on meeting recordings or spreadsheet entries. Learn more about how to automate Miro.

Miro pricing: Free for 3 editable boards, 5 Talktracks, and 10 AI monthly credits; from $8/user/month (billed annually) for the Starter plan, which includes unlimited boards, Talktracks, and more AI credits. 

Read more: The best online whiteboards

The best brainstorming tool for automation planning and diagramming

Zapier Canvas

Zapier Canvas pros: 

• Integrates with other tools, including a no-code app builder, database, AI agents, and chatbot builder all in one platform

• Built-in AI at every step

Zapier Canvas cons: 

• Free plan is limited to two-step automations

Whether you're new to automation or your entire business runs on it, the process of brainstorming new ways to connect your apps and automate your workflows never ends. As teams adopt more tools and AI, the real challenge isn't just automating tools, but designing workflows that actually make sense end-to-end.

Zapier Canvas is an AI-powered diagramming tool that helps you brainstorm, map, and pressure-test automation ideas before you build them. You can visually sketch out workflows across apps and AI steps, while Canvas suggests opportunities for automation and flags ways to simplify or improve your flow. Then, once you've ironed out a suitable workflow, you can immediately transform your plan into an automated solution that powers your work forward.

If you're not sure where to start, Zapier Copilot can help you move from a vague idea to a concrete workflow in seconds. Just describe what you want to automate in plain language, and Copilot will generate a draft workflow directly in Canvas—complete with suggested apps, steps, and logic. From there, you can refine the idea visually, explore alternatives, and stress-test the flow before turning it into a working automation. It's brainstorming powered by AI, with execution built in.

Zapier Canvas pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $19.99/month for multi-step Zaps, unlimited Premium apps, and webhooks.

The best brainstorming tool for creating flowcharts 

Lucidchart

Lucidchart pros:

• Windows-inspired toolbar and menus offer a familiar user interface  

• Team hubs for easy cross-platform collaboration

• Bundle with Lucidspark for online collaborative whiteboarding, meetings, and planning

Lucidchart cons:

• Steep learning curve for understanding all functions

A whiteboard is great for capturing any idea that might have a chance of sticking to a wall. But maybe you need a more orderly approach to planning. If you're more linear in your thinking, a flowchart or diagramming platform is a fantastic option for a brainstorming app.

Lucidchart is widely treated as the "industry standard" flowchart/diagram software—and it's obvious why. The feature set is impressive, but the interface never feels overwhelming as a new user. Everything is organized and works as you'd expect: click and drag shapes and tools into your canvas, and access tooltips and help sections from anywhere.

Lucidchart's new AI features also bring ultimate productivity to the platform: create conditional formatting rules, generate a diagram from a text prompt, and summarize content inside a diagram. Integrate with your own large language model (LLM) via API connection, connect with ChatGPT, or use Lucidchart's own powerful custom GPT for diagram creation.

You can use Lucidchart as your own personal brainstorming tool. But if you want to bring other minds into the fold, all you have to do is send an email invite (collaborators don't need their own subscription). Multiple editors can also live-edit in the same document.

Lucidchart pricing: Free for up to 3 documents; Premium plans start at $9/month for individuals and $10/user/month for teams (minimum 3 users) and include unlimited documents.

Read more: The best flowchart software and diagram tools

The best brainstorming tool for wireframing 

Figma

Figma pros:

• Generous free plan

• Excellent collaboration across teams

• Access to a huge active community with free resources like UI components and icon sets

Figma cons:

• Learning curve for more advanced features

What started as a web-based alternative to desktop design tools has evolved into a flexible platform that works just as well for early-stage brainstorming as it does for polished UI design. Figma is approachable enough for non-designers but powerful enough to scale with complex product teams.

Most wireframing workflows begin in FigJam, Figma's integrated whiteboard tool. FigJam makes it easy to brainstorm visually with teammates using sticky notes, flowcharts, and quick sketches to map out ideas before a single pixel is finalized. Once your concepts start to take shape, you can move seamlessly into Figma to turn those ideas into structured wireframes.

Figma includes pre-sized frames for common devices—desktop, tablet, and mobile—so you can start wireframing without hunting down screen dimensions. A simplified toolbar gives you quick access to shapes, lines, and drawing tools, while the plugin library lets you pull in icons, UI components, and stock images if you don't want to start from scratch.

Figma makes a great collaborative brainstorming tool. Multiple teammates can work in the same file at once, making it easy to co-create and iterate in real time. And because all plans include commenting, collaborators can leave feedback, tag teammates, and resolve ideas as they go. Paid plans unlock audio chat and written annotations, which are especially useful for design reviews and developer handoffs.

For teams, designers can reuse approved components, colors, and typography across projects, and updates to a single master component automatically propagate everywhere, which helps keep ideas aligned as they scale.

When you connect Figma with Zapier, you can extend brainstorming beyond the design team. Design updates can trigger notifications, update project tickets, and even generate AI-powered summaries of changes—helping ideas move smoothly from wireframe to release. Discover other popular ways to automate Figma.

Figma pricing: Free for unlimited drafts and up to 3 projects, FigJam files, and Figma Slides; paid plans start at $16/user/month for the Professional plan with unlimited projects, team libraries, and more.

Read more: The best wireframe tools

The best brainstorming tool for video conferencing 

Zoom

Zoom pros:

• Reliable and easy to use

• Includes collaboration features and allows for video recording

Zoom cons:

• Not part of a software bundle, which can get expensive in large organizations

Even the best whiteboards and flowchart tools won't allow you to capture that aha moment on a teammate's face. Video conferencing can provide you with a more personal brainstorming experience, adding an element of free-flowing conversation as well as non-verbal cues into your idea planning mix.

Practically everyone knows about (and uses) Zoom at this stage of the game. And with its expanded AI meeting assistant features, it's continuing to lead the pack. It also includes whiteboards, making it easy to quickly fill a virtual board with diagrams, images, and sticky notes. And there's support for real-time transcriptions, complete with closed captioning.

When you use Zapier's Zoom integration, you can orchestrate workflows that turn conversations into action. For example, you can automatically generate AI-powered meeting summaries, create and assign follow-up tasks in your project management tool, and share updates with stakeholders in Slack. Learn more about how to automate Zoom.

Zoom pricing: Free plan includes 40-minute meetings for up to 100 participants and limited in-meeting use of the AI companion; from $13.33/month/user (billed annually) for the Pro plan, which includes more AI features, user management, 30-hour meetings, and reporting.

Read more: The best video conferencing software and screen sharing software

The best brainstorming tool for text-based communication 

Slack 

Slack pros:

• Every team chat feature you could imagine

• Streamlined design that people love using

Slack cons:

• Expensive and not part of an existing software bundle

Video conferencing apps are great for real-time brainstorming sessions. But if real-time collaboration is a step too far for your needs, team chat apps give you space for asynchronous ideation. 

With Slack, you can share ideas with broader teams in public channels or just one-on-one in a direct message. Want to upvote or downvote an idea? Emoji reactions make it easy to meaningfully respond to messages in just a couple of clicks. And for live brainstorming chats or coworking sessions, Slack offers huddles—audio or video calls that people can drop in and out of. Plus, with Slack's AI add-on, you can quickly search for and distill information, helping you draw on past conversations to inform future brainstorming sessions. 

With Zapier's Slack integration, you can orchestrate intelligent, enterprise-scale workflows that go well beyond Slack channels. For example, Zapier can capture ideas shared in Slack, use AI to categorize and prioritize them, and push the top concepts into your project management tool. This way, free-flowing discussions turn into structured next steps. Discover other popular ways to automate Slack.

Slack pricing: Free for unlimited users and 1-on-1 calls within your team; paid plans from $7.75/user/month (billed annually), which include screen sharing, huddles, and team video calls.

Read more: The best team chat apps

The best AI-powered brainstorming tool

ChatGPT

ChatGPT pros:

• Flexible and easy to use

• State-of-the-art AI

ChatGPT cons:

• Custom-built chatbots are accessible only through ChatGPT

There's an AI-powered solution to nearly every productivity problem. Maybe you're stuck on what topic to write next for your blog. Or perhaps you have the topic and talking points, but you're at a loss for how to piece it together. That's where a generative AI tool like ChatGPT can be a great thought partner for brainstorming.

Ask it a question, see how it responds, and then go back and forth, using it as your robot sounding board. You're not limited to text-only conversations, either. You can also upload images and files with your prompts, or ask ChatGPT to generate AI images. If you want to simulate a real-time brainstorming session, use ChatGPT Voice Mode to talk to ChatGPT and have it voice its response to you. If any of ChatGPT's responses are particularly interesting, you can share a link to the chat and show it to others (and they can start where you left off).

ChatGPT automatically remembers what you've said across conversations, so you don't have to keep entering the same background information and directives for each brainstorming session. You can even build your own custom-made chatbot with unique instructions and data. 

ChatGPT also integrates with Zapier, allowing you to embed AI-driven brainstorming into orchestrated, multi-step workflows. For example, when a new industry trend is added to your research database, Zapier can prompt ChatGPT to generate campaign ideas, share them in Slack for feedback, and capture the strongest directions in your project management tool—transforming raw insights into structured, actionable strategies. Learn more about how to automate ChatGPT.

ChatGPT pricing: Free plan available; paid plans from $8/month for ChatGPT Go, which is ad-supported but gives users access to the latest flagship model, or $20/month for the Plus plan, which includes advanced reasoning models and custom GPTs. 

Of course, ChatGPT is far from the only AI-powered brainstorming tool you can use. Here are some other options.

• Lots of the tools you already use will have AI built in. Notion AI, for example, lets you ask questions about your documents, which can help you find the best nuggets.

• All the best AI writing generators can help you brainstorm your written content.

• AI meeting assistants can provide transcripts, pull out important parts of your conversation, and help you find the diamonds in the rough of a long meeting.

Read more: The best AI productivity tools

The best brainstorming tool for note taking 

OneNote

OneNote pros:

• Freeform note-taking app, so you can jot down whatever you want wherever you want to on the canvas

• AI assistant (Copilot) built into the app

OneNote cons:

• It's still a Microsoft app, so it can feel a bit corporate for a note-taking app

You'll need an effective way to capture all the brilliant insights that will be flying around during your next idea session. After all, there's nothing worse than wrapping up a successful meeting and then struggling to remember the key takeaways once everyone's out of the room.

Microsoft OneNote is a great option: it's not only a free brainstorming tool, but it's also a flexible platform for capturing and annotating images, text, and even doodles or sketches, if your computer supports a stylus. You can also use Copilot in OneNote to create, summarize, and edit text, as well as help you understand your notes. 

OneNote makes this list over other note-taking apps because of its freeform vibe: you can start typing, drawing, or attaching visuals anywhere on the page. It feels a lot like the pen and paper we all still love.

And when you connect OneNote with Zapier, you can build sophisticated workflows that automate entire note-taking processes. For example, after capturing ideas in OneNote, Zapier can send them to ChatGPT to generate action items, and then categorize and prioritize those tasks in your project management app. Learn more about how to automate OneNote.

OneNote pricing: Free for up to 5GB of notes; $1.99/month for 100GB.

Read more: The best note taking apps 

If you prefer native apps, check out these picks:

• The best note taking apps for Macs

• The best note taking apps for iPad 

• The best Android note taking apps

The best brainstorming tool for dictation

Wispr Flow

Wispr Flow pros:

• Context-aware automatic editing and formatting

• HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II compliance available

Wispr Flow cons:

• Inaccuracy issues in long stretches of continuous dictation

If your best ideas strike when you're switching between a Mac at home, a Windows desktop at work, and your iPhone in between, Wispr Flow keeps your dictation experience consistent across devices. Instead of juggling multiple tools, it acts as the connective tissue—maintaining your vocabulary, formatting preferences, and writing style wherever you're capturing ideas. Team plans extend those benefits across your org, which makes it easier to brainstorm and document ideas collaboratively.

Wispr Flow stands out from traditional dictation tools thanks to its context-aware editing and formatting. When you set it up, you choose writing styles that adapt automatically based on the app you're using:

• Formal for polished, punctuated writing

• Casual for lighter formatting

• Very casual for quick, lowercase idea dumps

That flexibility makes it especially useful for brainstorming, whether you're outlining ideas in Notion, firing off notes in Slack, or drafting rough concepts in a doc.

Wispr Flow learns as you dictate. If it mishears an internal term or product name, just correct it once, and it's saved as custom vocabulary. On team plans, that shared vocabulary—along with reusable snippets—helps teams capture ideas faster and stay consistent. (For example, saying a single keyword can instantly drop in a predefined paragraph or link.)

Wispr Flow also brings AI-powered quality-of-life features that are surprisingly useful during messy ideation. You can correct yourself mid-sentence and have Flow clean up the final output, switch a paragraph into a list using voice commands, or reformat text after the fact using Command Mode. It's even possible to dictate code or app logic if you're experimenting with vibe coding.

Wispr Flow pricing: Free plan available; Flow Pro starts at $15/user/month

Read more: The best dictation and speech-to-text software and the best transcription software

Other brainstorming tools 

You can never have enough good ideas, which is why you can really never get enough tools to help you generate, organize, and capture your brainstorming. The best part about these remaining options is that they'll provide you with a host of different ways to foster your thinking and expand your horizons.

• Try brainwriting (also known as the 6-3-5 method), which is designed to stimulate creativity and help groups generate ideas. 

• There are plenty of data-backed ways to de-stress and let your mind wander in productive directions. 

• Don't discount physical exercises, either, which can help spur ideas. Here's how dancing helped one writer get more creative. You can also take a good, old-fashioned hike. 

• You can also change up the medium. Consider powering down and pulling out some paper to brainstorm.

• If paper planning feels too limited, you can combine paper techniques with digital ones.

What's the best brainstorming tool?

The best brainstorming tool is the one that helps you spark some creativity. Apps like Coggle, Miro, and Figma are a great place to start, but if you're looking for something specific, there's always an option for your niche—like Zapier for brainstorming automations.

It'll take some trial and effort to find out which tools help you generate the best ideas, so start off with the ones that make sense for you right now. Then, use Zapier to connect them with your other apps so you can automate the boring stuff, leaving you with even more time to think up your next great idea.

Related reading:

• The best team collaboration tools

• Common problems caused by collaboration (and how to fix them)

• Mental models to help you make better business decisions

This article was originally published in February 2023 by Toby Peterson. The most recent update was in February 2026 by Nicole Replogle.