Kumu review

Kumu is relationship-mapping software for turning connected people, systems, and ideas into maps. It is aimed at work where a list or conventional diagram may not show how the parts relate. The homepage says it runs without a software installation and includes tools to present and publish maps.

Its map types cover stakeholder relationships, systems and causal loops, social networks, community assets, and concepts. Teams can use it to explore factors such as influence and alignment, show personal or organizational networks, or connect ideas to a wider picture. Kumu is therefore more specific than a general-purpose mind-mapping app: its focus is on relationships between map elements, with sharing and presentation built into the product.

The pricing page offers free Basic workspaces for public projects, as well as paid workspaces and a custom-quoted Enterprise option. The key cost question for a switch is how many private projects the team needs.

Kumu’s clearest fit is collaborative mapping that can be shared publicly. The pricing page lists unlimited public projects and unlimited collaborators on both Basic and Pro workspaces. Basic costs $0 per workspace per month, so a team can publish public maps without a workspace subscription. Kumu also lists daily project backups on Basic and hourly backups on Pro.

The range of map formats is useful for teams working across different kinds of relationships. Stakeholder maps cover interests, loyalties, influence, and alignment; systems maps include causal loop diagrams; and social network maps can show people and organizations. Community asset and concept maps add other uses without requiring a separate product for each map type, according to Kumu’s feature descriptions.

Presenting and publishing maps is part of the product, not an add-on in the published feature list. Pro adds view-only access and custom branding, which may help when sharing work with an audience that should not edit it. For a team whose maps can be public, Kumu’s free workspace is an inexpensive way to start.

Private projects change the price calculation. On Basic, Kumu lists private projects at $9 per project per month; on Pro, the workspace is $10 per month and private projects are $20 each per month. A team that needs several private maps should price the project fees before moving over: Pro’s workspace charge does not include private projects. The pricing page also lists a $20 fee to unarchive a private project.

Kumu lists monthly subscriptions, but annual pricing is not published. Enterprise pricing is also not published: it is custom-quoted, with per-seat pricing negotiated. The page lists self-hosted or cloud-hosted options, SAML single sign-on, priority support, and a 99.95% uptime SLA for Enterprise, but smaller teams will need a quote to know the actual cost. The published pricing details do not state a cap on private projects or map elements, so we would not assume one; they do make the per-project charge explicit. And while the homepage says no installation is needed, the published material does not confirm offline use.

Kumu’s Basic workspace is free, but that price covers public projects. Each private project costs $9 per month. Pro costs $10 per workspace per month, and private projects there cost $20 each per month. So moving from Basic to Pro adds $10 per workspace and raises the monthly price of each private project by $11; Pro adds hourly backups, view-only access and custom branding. Both workspace plans include unlimited public projects and collaborators.

The pricing information lists a two-week free trial. Subscriptions are monthly; annual pricing is not published. Watch the project fees: two private projects cost $18 a month on Basic or $40 on Pro, before any workspace charge. Unarchiving a private project costs $20. Enterprise pricing is a custom quote, with per-seat pricing negotiated; training and consulting cost extra. If your team needs many private maps, calculate project costs before switching rather than comparing workspace prices alone.

Kumu says it runs without software installation, but that doesn’t tell us how much work it takes to move existing maps or data. The available product information doesn’t specify import or export formats, bulk migration tools, or whether map relationships can be moved to another platform intact. Confirm those details with Kumu before you rebuild a large map collection or make it central to team workflows.

The clearest switching risk in the published pricing is private-project cost: Basic charges $9 per project each month, while Pro charges $20. That may be a reason to look elsewhere if you need many private maps. We don’t have Reddit posts or comments in the published material, so we can’t responsibly attribute common reasons for leaving to users. Before committing, test a representative map, check how you can retrieve its data, and compare the ongoing project fees with your current setup.