Napkin AI vs MyLens AI: AI Visual Design & Exploration Comparison

When it comes to turning information into visuals, AI platforms take different approaches: some focus on creating polished, export-ready graphics you can drop into slides and posts, while others focus on building interactive visual structures you can explore, expand, and share. Napkin AI and MyLens represent these two directions—both visual-first, but designed for fundamentally different purposes.

If you're deciding between them, you're likely weighing whether you need quick, shareable visuals with minimal friction (Napkin) or interactive diagrams you can explore and refine from diverse sources (MyLens). This comprehensive guide breaks down what each platform offers, how they differ, and when each one shines.

TL;DR

Napkin AI turns your text into polished, export-ready graphics for slides and social media—fast and minimal. MyLens AI turns your sources into interactive visuals you can explore, expand, and present. Choose Napkin for quick static graphics; choose MyLens for interactive diagrams that help you understand and communicate complex information.

What Is Napkin AI?

Napkin AI is the visual AI for business storytelling. You import or paste your text—no prompting required—and Napkin generates relevant visuals so sharing your ideas is quick and effective. It works directly from your content: diagrams, mind maps, flowcharts, infographics, and data charts that you can pick, polish, and take anywhere.

Napkin is built for people who want visuals fast. You get full control over the result: add or swap icons from a large database, use decorators and connectors to emphasize structure, and adjust colors and fonts. Visuals are fully editable so you can make them yours before exporting. Creation and editing are desktop-focused; you can view existing Napkins on mobile, but the best experience is on desktop.

Key Napkin AI Features

• Text-first input: Import or paste text—no prompts needed; click to generate visuals
• Visual types: Infographics, diagrams, mind maps, flowcharts, data charts, and more
• Editable visuals: Icons, decorators, connectors, colors, and fonts
• Export formats: PPT, PNG, PDF, SVG (no JPEG; PNG for higher quality)
• Use cases: Presentations, blog, social media, and documentation
• Integrations: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canva, Keynote; Medium, Substack, WordPress; LinkedIn, X, Instagram, YouTube; Google Docs, Word, Notion, Confluence
• Sharing: Export files or share a link so your audience sees text and graphics together
• Languages: Create visuals in 60+ languages (interface in English)
• Collaboration: Teamspace, real-time co-editing, commenting and feedback with built-in highlighter

Napkin offers a free plan with some limits on quotas and features; paid plans unlock more. Sign up on desktop via Google Single Sign-On or email and password. For support, use the chat widget on the website or email [email protected].

What Is MyLens?

MyLens is an AI visual thinking platform that transforms your sources and data into interactive visuals and diagrams. Instead of reading through everything line by line, you see the structure visually and explore insights by interacting with the visual. The visuals are rich, interactive structures where you can expand nodes, drill down into sections, get citations from sources, generate infographics of any part, and get explanations. You explore interactively, adding more information to visual nodes until you fully grasp the insights. The result is a professional, shareable visual you can present or post.

MyLens supports a wide range of inputs: PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, URLs, YouTube videos, spreadsheets (CSV, Excel), images (including screenshots), and plain text. You can feed it meeting notes, reports, articles, or any content and ask for a timeline, mind map, quadrant, flowchart, table, or other visual format. The AI suggests the best visual type for your content and generates it automatically. Give it a try right here:

Key MyLens Features

• Interactive Visuals: Mind maps, timelines, flowcharts, quadrants, tables, trees, and more
• Click to Explore: Expand nodes, drill down, get explanations, view citations
• Fully Editable: Manually adjust content or ask AI to refine visuals
• Multi-format Input: Documents, images, spreadsheets, web content, videos, text
• Chrome Extension: Wherever you’re on the web—YouTube, websites, docs—click MyLens to visualize content
• Multi-language Support: Generate visuals in any language
• Presentation-ready: Compelling visuals that are engaging to present or post
• Citation Support: View source evidence when files are uploaded

MyLens is valuable for professionals analyzing business files, students turning study materials into visual summaries, educators creating lesson plans, and content creators organizing information for presentations.

Feature Comparison: Napkin AI vs MyLens AI

When to Choose Napkin AI

Choose Napkin AI when your main need is quick, polished visuals for sharing and export. It fits:

• Presentations, blog, and social: You have text ready and want a visual in minutes to drop into decks, articles, or posts
• Export-first workflow: You need PPT, PNG, PDF, or SVG to use in other tools
• Business storytelling: You want auto-generated infographics, diagrams, and flowcharts that look good with minimal setup
• Team collaboration: You want Teamspace, real-time co-editing, and feedback on visuals

If your workflow is "paste text → pick a visual → polish and export," Napkin is a strong fit.

When to Choose MyLens

Choose MyLens when you have scattered raw data—documents, notes, reports, URLs, or other content—and need to turn it into interactive visuals you can explore and refine. It excels at generating timelines, mind maps, flowcharts, tables, and more that you can click into, expand, and cite. MyLens makes it easy to present or share these visuals with your team or audience.

• Transforming diverse sources (PDFs, Word, slides, URLs, spreadsheets) into one visual you can explore
• Understanding complex information at a glance through interactive structures
• Exploring by clicking nodes to expand, drill down, get explanations, or view citations
• Discovering insights you might have missed and refining visuals with AI
• Editing and personalizing visuals, then presenting or sharing in different formats

If your workflow involves multiple sources and you need structured visuals you can explore, cite, and iterate on—not just export once—MyLens is built for that.

Key Differences: Export-First vs Interactive Exploration

The main difference between Napkin AI and MyLens is how you use the visuals:

Napkin AI: Polish and Export

Napkin is built for speed and portability. You get visuals from text with no prompting, edit them with icons, decorators, and style options, then export as PPT, PNG, PDF, or SVG. The result is a finished asset you take into presentations, blogs, or docs. Ideal when the deliverable is a polished graphic and your input is already in text form.

MyLens: Interactive Visual Structures

MyLens turns your content into living diagrams you can explore. Visuals are interactive: click any part to expand, drill down, get explanations, or view citations. You can add more sources and refine the visual as you go. Ideal when you need to understand and explore information, not just produce a single export.

Pricing & Accessibility

Both Napkin AI and MyLens offer free plans to try. For higher quotas and more features, both have paid options. Check Napkin AI and MyLens for current pricing and plans.