Before anyone writes a line of code for a new website, someone has to answer a simple question: what pages does this site actually need, and how do they connect? For years, teams answered that with a whiteboard, a spreadsheet, or a generic diagramming tool never built for the job. Today there are tools built specifically for this "planning phase" — drawing out a site's structure, user flows, and rough page sketches before development starts. Two of the best-known are Octopus.do and FlowMapp, and they overlap so much in what they do that picking between them mostly comes down to a few real differences.
| Octopus.do | FlowMapp | |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | AI-generated sitemaps from a prompt or an existing site | Visual planning board with built-in cost estimating and invoicing |
| AI sitemap generation | Yes — generate from a prompt, or crawl an existing site automatically | Not the focus; more manual, structured planning |
| Client-facing extras | AI content and SEO tag generation | Cost estimation and invoicing built into the workflow |
| Pricing | Free tier + paid plans, exact grid not published on homepage | One free project for life, no card required, exact grid not published |
| Track record | Popular with SEO specialists, marketers, freelancers | 400,000+ users, enterprise clients (Intel, IBM, EA, UNICEF, Deloitte) |
| Export options | Figma, Webflow, WordPress, PNG, PDF, XML, CSV | Figma, Webflow, Framer, WordPress, PDF, PNG, XML, CSV |
Where they're nearly identical
Both tools let you sketch a full site structure — every page, how it links to the next, and a rough wireframe of each screen — and both export cleanly into design tools like Figma or straight into a CMS like Webflow or WordPress. Both offer a genuinely free way to get started (a limited free tier for Octopus.do, one free project forever with no card required for FlowMapp). Honestly, the overlap is large enough that both tools list each other as their own top alternative — this is a case where the choice comes down to workflow fit, not raw capability.
Octopus.do: lean on AI to skip the blank page
Octopus.do's standout feature is that it doesn't make you start from nothing. Type a prompt describing the site you want, and it generates a starting sitemap for you — or point it at an existing website and its crawler reconstructs the full structure automatically. It also throws in AI-generated content drafts and SEO tags per page, which is genuinely useful if the same person planning the site also has to write the copy.
Forces: AI sitemap generation from a prompt, an automatic crawler for existing sites, and built-in AI content/SEO tag generation.
Limits: exact pricing isn't clear from the homepage (you'll need to dig or start the free tier to see it), and its AI features run on OpenAI's API, so you don't have full control over that layer.
FlowMapp: planning built for agencies and client work
FlowMapp leans less on AI generation and more on being a complete planning-to-proposal workflow: sitemap, user flow, and wireframes, plus a cost estimate and invoice you can actually send to a client from inside the tool. That client-facing angle, plus a client roster that includes Intel, IBM, EA, UNICEF and Deloitte, points at who it's really built for — design agencies and studios managing multiple client projects, not just solo builders.
Forces: integrated cost estimation and invoicing (rare in this category), a large track record with 400,000+ users and enterprise clients, and a free project that stays free forever with no credit card required.
Limits: like Octopus.do, the exact pricing grid isn't published on the homepage, and it's noticeably less AI-generation-forward than newer competitors — you're doing more of the initial structuring yourself.
Pick Octopus.do if…
You want to go from a blank page to a working sitemap in minutes, especially by pointing the AI at an existing site or a written brief. It's also the better fit if you're already thinking about SEO structure and content while you plan, since that's built into the tool rather than a separate step.
Pick FlowMapp if…
You're running an agency or freelance practice and need to turn a site plan into a client-ready proposal — sitemap, wireframes, cost estimate, and invoice in one flow. It's also the safer pick if you want a tool with a long track record and enterprise-scale usage behind it.
The bottom line
Both Octopus.do and FlowMapp solve the same core problem well, and both let you try before you commit to a paid plan. If AI doing the first draft of your sitemap matters most, start with Octopus.do. If turning that plan into a billable client proposal matters more, start with FlowMapp.