Make a Mind Map From Any Topic or Notes With AI
A mind map puts one topic on the left and spreads it into branches on the right. StudyClock's AI builds one from a topic name or a block of your own notes. You choose 2, 3, or 4 levels, and the finished map holds at most 60 nodes, which are the boxes on the map. The mind map generator is where you build your first one.
A free StudyClock account is required, because signed-out visitors get a sign-in screen where the text box would be. New accounts open with 50 credits, and one map costs 10 credits for a free account or 6 for Pro.
This page covers what you can type in, what each depth gives you, and what happens past 60 nodes. It also covers how to move around, save, and export a map, and the limits worth knowing first, such as no editing of single boxes. The figures were checked in October 2026.
What you can type in
The text box is labeled "Topic or text to map". It takes plain text from 3 to 5,000 characters, and a counter beside the label shows how close you are. A topic name such as "Cell division" works, and so does a paragraph from your notes. Five thousand characters is about 800 words, so a few pages of dense notes is the ceiling.
Four example topics sit under the box: Photosynthesis, The French Revolution, How the internet works, and Cell division. Clicking one only fills the box, and nothing is charged until you press Generate map. You can also press Ctrl or Cmd plus Enter to submit from the keyboard.
The AI is asked to make a mind map for whatever you type. With a short topic, the branches come from the AI's general knowledge of the subject. With pasted notes, the map is built for that text. Nothing tells the AI to stay inside your notes, and it is asked to cover the topic broadly, so a branch can include an idea your notes never mention. Compare the map with your notes before you rely on it. Each box label is meant to stay between 2 and 6 words, so a map shows the shape of a topic and not full sentences.
The map is written by OpenAI's GPT-4o-mini model (October 2026), so your text leaves StudyClock's servers. Read the privacy policy and the terms of use before you paste anything personal.
Text from PDFs, photos, and other tools
Only text can go in the box, whether you type it or paste it. Files of any kind are not accepted. If a PDF lets you select its text, copy that text into the box yourself.
For photos of printed or handwritten pages, the Scan Notes tool reads image files and gives you text you can fix. Its Copy text button lets you paste the result here. Scan Notes has next-step buttons for summaries, flashcards, and chat, but none for mind maps, so the paste is a manual step.
The same is true for the AI Summarizer. A summary does not move into this tool by itself. Use the Copy button on the summary and paste it into the box.
How 2, 3, and 4 levels differ
The depth picker offers 2, 3, or 4 levels, and 3 is selected when you arrive. Hovering over the options shows the hints Quick overview, Balanced, and In depth. The central topic counts as level 1.
The AI is asked for 4 to 8 main branches off the center, and then 2 to 5 boxes under each box on every deeper level. Those are instructions to the AI, not rules the server checks, so a real map can come back with a different count. The table shows what the instructions add up to.
| Depth | What the map holds | Nodes the AI is asked for |
|---|---|---|
| 2 levels | The center and its main branches | 5 to 9 |
| 3 levels | Adds 2 to 5 boxes under each main branch | 13 to 49 |
| 4 levels | Adds 2 to 5 more boxes under each of those | 29 to 249, then cut to 60 |
If the AI follows those instructions, only depth 4 can pass the 60-node limit, so depth 2 and depth 3 maps are not shortened. A depth 3 map works well for a single chapter. Depth 4 suits a topic with real steps inside its parts, but it is the setting where the limit starts to matter.
What happens above 60 nodes
After the AI answers, the server counts the nodes. If there are more than 60, it keeps the first 60 in reading order and drops the rest. Reading order means the center first, then the first main branch with everything under it, then the second main branch with everything under it, and so on. The server does not remove the smallest or deepest boxes first. It cuts from the end of the list.
Take a depth 4 answer with 6 main branches, each holding 4 boxes that each hold 3 more. That is 103 nodes. The first three main branches keep all 17 of their nodes, the fourth keeps 8 of its 17, and the fifth and sixth are gone. You pay the full price, and the only sign on screen is a toolbar count of 60 nodes.
So if the last topic you expected is missing and the count says 60, make the map again at depth 3. You can also paste one section of your notes at a time, which gives each section its own set of branches.
Moving around a finished map
The central topic sits at the left, and the branches fan out to the right. Each main branch gets its own color, and the boxes under it share that color. There are six colors, so a seventh or eighth main branch reuses one. The main-branch boxes are tinted, the next level is outlined, and the third and deeper levels have dashed outlines.
A small map opens fitted to the screen. A large one opens at a readable zoom, centered on the central topic. You can then move around in several ways:
Pan:
drag the background.
Zoom:
scroll, pinch, or use the plus and minus buttons at the bottom left. Zoom runs from 25% to 250%, and the percentage button resets it to 100%.
Fit:
the frame button, or the 0 key, fits the whole map on screen.
Keyboard:
click the map once, then use the arrow keys to pan and plus and minus to zoom.
Every box with boxes under it has a small button inside its right edge. The minus sign folds the branch, and a folded branch shows a plus sign with the number of boxes directly under it. One button in the bottom bar folds every branch down to the main branches, and pressing it again unfolds everything.
A strip along the top lists the main branches, each with a count of the boxes under it. Selecting one centers the map on that branch. On wider screens a small overview map appears in the bottom right corner when the map is bigger than the window. Labels that are too long for a box are cut off, and the full label shows when you hover over the box.
Full view opens the map in a full-screen layer with the topic name and node count at the top. The Escape key or the Close button returns you to the page. Screen readers get the map as a nested list of the same labels.
Saving, exporting, and editing a finished map
A new map exists only on the open page until you save it. Regenerate and New map both replace it, so an unsaved map you want to keep should be saved first. Regenerate asks you to confirm and then builds a new map from the text and depth now in the box, at the full price again. New map opens a small panel with the text box and depth picker for a different topic.
Save map asks for a title and optional tags separated by commas. The title starts as the central topic and can be up to 200 characters. Saving costs no credits. Saved maps are kept in your AI Notes Library, where a free account is limited to 20 saved AI items overall, and flashcard decks and summaries use the same 20. Once you reach 20, Save map fails until you delete an item, which frees its slot. Pro has no limit.
Export PNG downloads an image of the whole map as it is laid out at that moment, at double resolution. A branch you folded stays folded in the image. The file is named after the central topic, such as mindmap-cell-division.png.
A saved map opens in the library with the same pan, zoom, fold, Full view, and Export PNG controls. That page also has Copy as text and Download as a file. They give you the box labels as a nested list, saved as a Markdown file, which you can paste into your own notes and edit. There is no link for sharing a map with someone else.
The boxes on a map cannot be edited. You cannot rename a box, add one, delete one, or drag a branch under a different parent. The controls on a finished map are pan, zoom, fold, jump, Full view, Regenerate, New map, Export PNG, and Save map. To change what a map says, reword your text and generate again, which costs another map, or copy the saved outline and edit it as plain text. A new run can also return a different map, so it can fix a bad branch and can also lose a good one.
What a map costs
A map costs 10 credits on the free plan and 6 on Pro. The price is flat. Depth does not change it, and neither does the length of your text. A two-word topic at depth 2 costs the same as 5,000 characters at depth 4. Regenerate and New map each count as a full map.
The 50 signup credits pay for five free-plan maps. On the 1st of every month, a free account is topped up by 10 credits, but never past a balance of 60. A Pro account is topped up by 400, with a ceiling of 600. Once the signup credits are gone, the free top-up pays for one map a month. Credit packs are one-time purchases: Micro gives 150 credits for $1.99, Starter gives 400 for $3.99, and Power gives 900 for $7.99. A pack is used only after that month's credits run out.
The cost shown beside the Generate map button, in the help text, and in the Regenerate box is 10 for every account, including Pro. A Pro account is charged 6, and the balance in the header after the map appears shows the real charge. The app also compares your balance with 10 before it lets you press Generate map, so a Pro account with 6 to 9 credits left cannot generate until it has more.
If the AI call fails, returns something that cannot be read as a map, or returns a map with the wrong structure, the credits are refunded automatically. The error message on screen can be a general one, so check your balance to see the refund.
| Free | Pro ($4.99 a month) | |
|---|---|---|
| Credits per map | 10 | 6 |
| Credits at signup | 50 | 50 |
| Monthly credits | 10, up to a balance of 60 | 400, up to a balance of 600 |
| Saved AI items | 20 | Unlimited |
| Depth, pan, zoom, fold, export | Same | Same |
For other plan details, see the pricing page. Credits are shared with all of StudyClock's AI tools.
Worked example: one chapter, two maps
Say you are revising a Class 12 history chapter before a test. You have about 700 words of notes, which is roughly 4,200 characters, so all of it fits in the box.
Paste the notes, leave the depth at 3, and press Generate map. On a free account that is 10 credits. A depth 3 map can have at most 49 nodes if the AI follows its instructions, so nothing can be cut off. Check the toolbar count, then read the map against your notes and write down any idea that is missing or does not belong.
If the gaps are large, reword the text and generate once more for another 10 credits. If they are small, fix them on paper. Either way, save the map, which costs nothing, and export the PNG for your phone or a printout. The whole job costs 10 or 20 credits, and a new account has 50.
Then use the fold button as a self-test. Fold the map to its main branches, pick one, and say what sits under it before you unfold it. This kind of recall from memory beats rereading, as the guide to active recall and passive review explains. Once you are comfortable with the map, you can turn the same notes into cards with the AI Flashcard Generator.
When a mind map helps and when it does not
A map suits subjects where the links between ideas matter as much as the ideas. History has causes that lead to events and consequences. Biology has systems with interacting parts. Polity and civics, for UPSC or state exams, have one change that touches several others. For a chapter you have already read twice, a depth 2 or depth 3 map can be a quicker check of its shape than a third read.
It helps less in four cases. Numerical practice in physics or chemistry is about repeating steps, and a map adds little. A box holds 2 to 6 words, so formulas and long definitions will not fit. The AI may add ideas that are not in your notes. And if the value you want is the thinking that goes into organizing material yourself, drawing the map by hand will teach you more than receiving a finished one.
To see how it behaves before you commit a chapter, tap the Cell division example, switch the depth to 2, and press Generate map. That uses 10 of the 50 signup credits, shows you the fold, zoom, and save controls on a small map, and leaves enough for four more.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. You can fold, pan, zoom, export, save, or generate again, but you cannot rename, add, or delete a single box. To change what a map says, reword your text and generate again, or copy the saved map's outline as text and edit it in your own notes.
Not directly. The text box accepts typed or pasted text and nothing else. If a PDF lets you select its text, copy that into the box. For a photo of notes, run it through the Scan Notes tool first, copy the text it returns, and paste it here.
No. A map costs 10 credits on the free plan and 6 on Pro, at any depth and for any length of text.
The cost beside the Generate map button, in the help text, and in the Regenerate box is 10 for every account. A Pro account is charged 6, and the balance in the header after the map appears shows the real charge. The app also checks your balance against 10, so a Pro account with 6 to 9 credits left cannot press Generate map until it has more.
Yes, by copying. Use the Copy button on the summary and paste the text into the box. The two tools do not pass text to each other on their own.
The server keeps the first 60 nodes in reading order and drops the rest, so the last main branches can be shortened or missing. A toolbar count of exactly 60 nodes is the sign. Use depth 3 or paste one section at a time to avoid it.
No. A map stays on the open page until you press Save map. Generating a new map or leaving the page loses an unsaved one.
The credits you spent are refunded automatically, and you can try again. The message on screen may be general, so check your balance to confirm the refund.