AI Mind Map Generator

Turn your PDFs, reports, lecture notes, Word docs, slides, or a typed topic into a one-page visual mind map — central concept, branching sub-topics, and labeled relationships, grounded in your own material. Built for students, professionals, researchers, and teams.

See AI Document

Free to start · No credit card · Created in AI Document

Used by 170,000+ learners and professionals worldwide

170,000+
users worldwide
3
visual styles
Under 1 min
typical generation
AI Mind Map Generator — a one-page visual map with a central concept and labeled branches generated from a PDF

How you make one

Mind maps are an AI Document type

You no longer open a separate mind-map product. Attach your sources in AI Document, choose Mind map, and get the one-page visual from that material.

Why people love it

Why people love AI Mind Maps

Stop re-reading dense chapters, reports, or papers. See how every concept connects on a single page.

See the connections

A mind map shows a central concept with branching sub-topics and labeled relationships — so you grasp how ideas fit together, not just a list of facts.

Built from your material

Combine up to 3 sources — PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoint, text files, Google Drive documents, or a typed prompt — into one map. Synthesize multiple chapters at once.

Grounded, not made up

The map is extracted from your actual uploaded sources, not a model's generic knowledge — so it covers exactly your syllabus, paper, or report and your wording.

How it works

How it works

Three steps from your source material to a finished, saveable mind map.

  1. 01

    1. Add your sources

    Upload PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoint, or text files — or pick from your library or Google Drive (up to 3 sources). Or skip the file and just type a study prompt like "Mind map the Krebs cycle with inputs, outputs, and key steps".

  2. 02

    2. Choose a style

    Pick one of 3 visual styles — Radial, Concept Map, or Sketchnote — and optionally add custom instructions (up to 500 characters) to shape the layout, emphasis, or label length. Premium users can also choose the AI model.

  3. 03

    3. Generate and save

    Click Generate Mind Map. Scholarly processes your sources asynchronously — usually under a minute — and saves the result as an SVG image in your workspace, ready to view full-page, share, or download on a paid plan.

3 visual styles

Pick a visual style

The same concepts, drawn three different ways. Each style is its own look — choose the one that fits your subject and how you like to study.

Radial Map

Default

A central concept with branches radiating outward — the classic mind-map look, ideal for hierarchical topics.

Concept Map

Free

Nodes connected by labeled relationship lines — best for showing how ideas, causes, and processes link together.

Sketchnote

Free

A hand-drawn, doodle-style layout that feels like illustrated study notes — friendly and memorable.

Choose a specific style, or let the AI auto-select the best one for your material. Free users get the default model; premium users can pick from additional AI models in the customization panel.

What you get

Everything in a Scholarly mind map

More than a picture — a grounded study artifact that lives in your workspace.

Multiple input sources

Combine PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoint, text files, and Google Drive documents in a single map — up to 3 sources, with hybrid input like two PDFs plus a prompt.

3 visual styles

Radial Map, Concept Map, or Sketchnote — or let the AI auto-select the best fit for your topic.

Custom instructions

Refine layout, emphasis, or label length in plain text (up to 500 characters) — for example, "emphasize the enzymes" or "keep labels short".

Multi-language

Generate maps in your preferred language, set once in your assistant preferences and applied to every map you create.

Grounded generation

Concepts and relationships are extracted from your actual uploaded sources, not generic AI knowledge — so the map matches your course, research, or work documents.

Saved to your workspace

Each map becomes an image component on a page in your workspace with one click — open it, view full-page, or keep it alongside your other study material.

More model choices

Free users get the default AI model; Premium users unlock additional AI model options and ongoing generation.

Central concept + branches

Every map has one central concept with branching sub-concepts and labeled relationships, so the structure of the topic is clear at a glance.

Interactive viewer

Open the map in your workspace and use zoom and pan to explore dense maps, or view it full-page for review.

Download and export

On paid plans, download your mind map as a PNG or SVG to drop into slides or keep for offline study. Viewing and sharing with a link are free for everyone.

Hybrid sources

Mix and match up to 3 inputs in one request — combine two chapters and a topic prompt, or a slide deck and your notes.

One-page summary

Dense chapters condensed into a single visual page you can take in at once — perfect for last-minute review.

Best for

Great for every subject

From cell biology to compilers — mind maps adapt to the structure of your material.

Biology

Map cellular processes, photosynthesis, or enzyme pathways with labeled steps and inputs/outputs branching from the core concept.

History

Lay out historical events with branching timelines, causes, and relationships between key figures and movements.

Chemistry

Visualize reaction mechanisms, molecular structures, and bonding relationships — concept-map style is built for this.

Literature

Organize character relationships, plot themes, and narrative connections in a sketchnote or radial layout.

Computer science

Map algorithms, data structures, or system architectures with clear hierarchical branching.

Honest comparison

Mind Maps vs other map tools

Scholarly has a few ways to map and visualize concepts. Here's when to use each one.

Concept Map Generator

Best for a fast, free text outline. A public browser tool that turns a typed topic into a concept map — no login needed to try it.

Outputs raw Mermaid, markdown, or structured text you can copy or download.

Includes a complexity slider (basic to comprehensive).

Plain text only — no visual rendering and not grounded in your uploaded files.

Infographic Generator

Best for visual summary posters. A one-page visual summary of your sources, with its own set of styles.

Same source picker, customization, and expanded model selection.

Great for a poster-style recap of a whole chapter.

A general summary — it isn't built around nodes, branches, and relationships the way a mind map is.

Best for structure
Mind Maps

Best for seeing how concepts connect. Renders a grounded, one-page visual map from your own PDFs, Office files, or a prompt.

Central concept with branching sub-concepts and labeled relationships, in 3 visual styles.

Saved into your workspace as an image you can view full-page and share — or download as PNG or SVG on paid plans.

Free to start, up to 3 combined sources, with expanded model selection and higher limits.

Powered by AI agents

Every tool here is a purpose-built AI agent

Scholarly doesn't just call a model once. Each feature is run by an autonomous AI agent that reads your material, reasons across multiple models, and can research the web and run code — then hands back a finished, cited artifact.

Multiple models

Agents route each step to the model that does it best, instead of relying on a single one.

Live web research

When your sources aren't enough, agents search the web and cite what they find.

Runs code in a sandbox

Each agent gets its own sandbox to compute, transform data, and build your artifact.

Grounded in your sources

Every output is built from the PDFs, notes, and lectures you upload — not guesswork.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What can I turn into a mind map?

You can use PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and text files — uploaded directly, pulled from your Scholarly library, or imported from Google Drive. This works for textbooks and lecture notes as well as research papers, work reports, meeting docs, and business plans. You can also skip files entirely and type a prompt, and combine up to 3 sources in a single map, including a mix of files and a prompt.

How long does it take to generate a mind map?

Generation runs asynchronously and typically completes in under a minute, depending on how much source material you include. Because it runs in the background, you can't preview the map before it's created.

What does the finished mind map look like?

Each map is a one-page SVG image with a central concept and branching sub-concepts connected by labeled relationships, rendered in the visual style you chose. It's saved as an image component on a page in your workspace, where students, professionals, and teams can open it, view it full-page, or share it — and paid plans can download it to drop into slides and reports.

What visual styles are available?

There are 3 styles: Radial Map, Concept Map, and Sketchnote. Pick the one that fits your topic, or let the AI auto-select the best one for your material.

Can I customize the output?

Yes. Alongside the visual style, you can add custom instructions in plain text (up to 500 characters) to steer the layout, emphasis, or label length — for example, asking it to focus on a particular section or keep labels concise. Note that some instructions may be overridden by the chosen AI model. Custom Designs lets you save your own design profile — standing instructions and reference images — that's applied to every mind map you generate.

Is the mind map generator free?

Yes, it's free to start. The free plan uses the default AI model and includes a limited number of AI creations so you can try it out. Paid plans unlock additional AI model options and ongoing generation.

Can I edit the map after it's generated?

The output is a single static SVG image, so you can't drag nodes or rewire connections after generation like an editable graph. If a map misses the mark, you generate a new one with different sources, a different style, or new custom instructions — each generation creates a new artifact rather than replacing the old one.

How is this different from the Concept Map Generator?

The Concept Map Generator is a fast, free public browser tool that outputs plain text, markdown, or Mermaid from a typed topic — handy for a quick outline. Mind Maps instead render an interactive visual artifact grounded in your uploaded PDFs and files, and save it into your workspace alongside your other study material.

Can I make a mind map without uploading a file?

Yes. Just type a prompt — for example, "Mind map photosynthesis with light and dark reactions" or "Mind map our go-to-market strategy" — and Scholarly builds the map from that prompt. Students, professionals, and researchers can also combine a prompt with up to two uploaded files in the same request.

Do mind maps work with scanned or handwritten PDFs?

Yes. Scholarly can read relevant PDF pages as images, so scanned documents and clear handwriting can be used even when there is no selectable text. Image quality and legibility still affect the result.

Pricing

Turn your notes into a mind map in under a minute

Create your first mind map from a PDF, your notes, or just a topic prompt. Free to start — go Premium for more AI models and ongoing generation.

See AI Document

Free

See what it does with one of your own sources.

$0

/month

Free forever

No card required.

  • 3 lifetime AI Chat messages

  • 1 free AI creation total

  • 2-minute podcasts and video lectures

  • 1 free file upload total (8MB)

  • 5 lifetime quiz questions

  • 1 completed practice exam total

  • 15 lifetime voice minutes

  • 32-page PDF to flashcards

  • 500 lifetime autocomplete words

Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, or create a podcast, video lecture, slides, infographic, mind map, study guide, worksheet, spreadsheet, story book, timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline — or run Deep Research or turn a recording into AI Meeting Notes.

Premium

Most Popular

Steady weekly output from the material you already have.

$12

/month

Billed yearly at $144 · save $216

  • Everything in Free, plus:

  • 10 AI creations per week

  • Unlimited AI chat & autocomplete

  • Podcasts up to 60 minutes, videos up to 45 minutes

  • Unlimited file uploads (up to 300MB)

  • Unlimited study sessions

  • Unlimited exams & quizzes

  • 1000-page PDF to flashcards

  • Export to Anki

  • Priority support

Laureate

For work where being right matters more than the price.

$99

/month

billed monthly · cancel anytime

For frontier models & 8x more AI Creations

Our most advanced and most expensive tier.

  • Everything in Premium, plus:

  • 80 flexible AI creation credits every week

  • 80 AI creations per week

  • Podcasts up to 60 minutes, videos up to 45 minutes

  • Unlimited uploads up to 1 GB, plus 3,000-page PDFs

  • 12 hours of voice mode per day

  • Priority support and early access to new Frontier models

Pricing shown in USD. Local currency may be available for Premium in app.

Compare plans

AI chat

Premium and Laureate include unlimited AI chat. GPT 5.6 Sol and Claude Opus 5 are reserved for credit-metered AI creations.

Free
3 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

AI creations

AI creations share one credit balance across every creation tool. Standard models use 1 credit; Frontier models Sol and Opus use 3.

Free
1 total
Premium
10/week
Laureate
80/week

Podcast length

Free episodes are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target length up to 60 minutes.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 60 minutes
Laureate
Up to 60 minutes

Video lecture length

Free lectures with a length control are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target up to 45 minutes. Short stays about 30 seconds.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 45 minutes
Laureate
Up to 45 minutes

File uploads

Free
1 total (8MB)
Premium
Unlimited (300MB)
Laureate
Unlimited (1 GB each)

PDF to flashcards

Free
32 pages
Premium
1000 pages
Laureate
3000 pages

Practice questions

Free
5 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Practice exams

Free
1 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Voice mode

Free
15 min total
Premium
2 hr/day
Laureate
12 hr/day

Autocomplete

Free
500 words total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Export to Anki

Free
Premium
Included
Laureate
Included

Support

Free
Standard
Premium
Priority
Laureate
Priority

What customers say

Scholarly has enhanced the quality of notes and questions I administer to my tutees. Insightful, to the point.

TD Georgas

TD Georgas

Tutor

I have very good experience with Scholarly it summarize me scientific text in hovel academic level with citation. I use this for any therapeutic area . It is great and useful tool.

Diana

Diana

Scholarly user

Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.

Briana

Briana

Scholarly user

This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.

Kelvin

Kelvin

Scholarly user

Your questions, answered

Is Scholarly free to use?

Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with lifetime allowances: 3 AI Chat messages, 500 autocomplete words, 5 quiz questions, 15 voice minutes, 1 practice exam, one free AI creation total, and 1 file upload. These allowances do not reset. Upgrade to Premium for 10 AI creations per week and unlimited uploads.

What uses my free AI creations?

Generating flashcards, improving a flashcard deck, making a podcast, creating a video lecture or infographic, building slides, a spreadsheet, or a story book, making a mind map, study guide, or worksheet, having an AI Agent create a timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline, running Deep Research, or processing a recording uses your free AI creation. It is a lifetime free credit and does not reset. AI Chat, autocomplete, quiz practice, voice, exams, and file uploads have separate lifetime allowances.

Can I cancel anytime?

Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.

What payment methods do you accept?

We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.

Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?

Yes. For a school or organization-wide rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so and we'll help you find the right setup.

What happens when I hit a free plan limit?

You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free-plan allowances are lifetime credits and do not reset. Premium includes 10 AI creations per week, podcasts up to 60 minutes, video lectures up to 45 minutes, unlimited uploads, chat, autocomplete, quizzes, and exams, plus more daily voice time.