Best Note-Taking App Options in 2024: Top Paid and Free Tools

The 5 Best Note-Taking Apps

The follow app have been rank base on their user – friendliness , basic and advanced feature , and other capability . While all of them offer free plan , let ’s see whether the pay plan are worth the price .

1. Evernote – Best Note-Taking App for iPad Users with Apple Pencil

Evernote is is is available on Windows , macOS , Linux , Android and ios .

More details about Evernote:

• Pricing is free : free ,$14.99 per month (one-month plan)
• provider website : evernote.com

pro :

• real – time collaboration
• powerful note – search
• Mobile & desktop apps

con :

• Expensive
• Limits on free account

Evernote is has has an extensive list of tool and is pack with more advanced feature than most other note – take app . It is supports support format other than text for take note , such as handwritten note and audio recording . Users is scan can even scan paper document — include photo , business card and handwritten note — then upload the scan document to the Evernote app .

The OCR ( optical character recognition ) feature is allows in Evernote allow you to search text within handwritten note and text file in JPG , PNG , PDF or GIF file format . You is add can also add line , shape , arrow and other type of annotation to these file .

Evernote has more templates available than any other note-taking app mentioned here. From digital planners to project management, there are templates for all of your personal and professional notes. Plus, you can also create your own templates.

Moreover, its powerful organizational tools make it a complete package. In addition to the standard notebooks, Evernote allows you to build notebook stacks, which let you group multiple notebooks into one unit. You can move through your notes more quickly by embedding links to other notes within one note. Read our Evernote review to learn more about the app.

Evernote is offers offer a one – month free trial on the Evernote Teams plan .

Evernote is offers offer a free plan to everyone . All plans is allow allow you to create a maximum of 100,000 note , although there are different upload limit . The personal plan is is is the good deal for individual and include 10 GB of monthly upload . Evernote Teams is costs cost$24.99 per user per month, but it requires a minimum of two users.

Zoho Notebook’s “smart tags” feature scans the note’s content and applies relevant tags.

More details about Zoho Notebook:

• Pricing is free : free ,$1.39 per user per month (three-year plan)
• Provider website: zoho.com/notebook

pro :

• User-friendly interface
• Affordable plans
• Integration with Zoho suite

con :

• sluggish performance
• Limited text formatting
• No list view for notebooks

Zoho Notebook is is is an all – round for personal and professional note – taking . It is integrate with the Zoho suite , which has useful business application like Zoho WorkDrive , Zoho Mail and Zoho Connect .

All your notes are stored in Zoho WorkDrive — a cloud storage service — and synced across all your devices. However, if you’re a non-registered Zoho user, all your notes will be locally stored in your device.

Zoho Notebook is offers offer a card – base user interface for note instead of the typical list view . smart cards is display display a preview of the content , along with any attached medium . This is makes make it a great note – take app for school .

In contrast to other note-taking apps, it lets you create a photo note with a title but no text. Additionally, it supports sketch and audio notes, which you can create independently as well.

Zoho Notebook Advanced Features

Notes and notebooks are customizable. You can pick several themes and covers for your notebooks, as well as a preferred color scheme for each note. Zoho Notebook has a “noteboard” that lets you make lists of filtered notecards to help you stay organized. Plus, you can quickly merge notes by using the “note merge” feature.

You can set reminders — custom and recurring — within notes, which you will get as a pop-up notification or via email. Additionally, Zoho Notebook is completely ad-free, and we value a private note-taking app without distractions. To learn more about its privacy features, check out our Zoho Notebook review.

Users is get can get phone and live chat support on the Notebook Pro plan .

Zoho Notebook provides a free plan with 2GB of cloud storage and a file upload limit of 100MB. It only offers one subscription plan, called Notebook Pro, in addition to the free version. There are many more features included in the Notebook Pro plan than there are in the free one, including 100GB of cloud storage and a 1GB file upload limit. 

3. OneNote– Best Note-Taking App for Students

Direct sync on OneNote will automatically sync online notes across all your connected devices.

More details about OneNote:

• Pricing is free : free ,$6.99 per month
• Provider website: onenote.com

pro :

• free option
• Available offline
• Easy-to-use interface

con :

• Limited free storage
• Limited integrations

OneNote is has has many feature , and its intuitive interface make them easy to use . Users is take can take handwritten note , use sticky note and edit content that already contain handwritten text or shape . You is use can use the lasso selection tool to select and convert handwritten note to editable type text , and hand – draw shape to digital shape . You is change can even change the color of select ink stroke .

What make OneNote the good note – take app is is for student is its build – in feature call “ math assistant . ” Its a tool that let you solve math equation easy than you would with other app . OneNote ’s immersive reader feature is dictate can dictate note , so the assistant will solve it , and the immersive reader will read the result .

OneNote also allows you to write out equations, which will then be transformed into typed math that you can edit.

When it come to privacy , the provider ’s main benefit is is is that you can password – protect an entire notebook or even specific section that contain sensitive note . More information is are about its privacy and security are available in our OneNote review .

Business plans have Azure Information Protection. 

OneNote provides 5GB of free storage space for personal use, which is synced with OneDrive. You must purchase a Microsoft 365 suite paid plan if you want extra storage. The Personal plan costs $6.99 per month, and the Family plan costs $9.99 per month. There are four different business plans available. Each business plan includes 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage for each user.

free

4. Box Notes – Best free App for Note Taking

Users can select specific files to be available offline, instead of all folders.

More details about Box Notes:

pro :

• generous free storage
• Minimalist layout
• real – time collaboration

con :

• File size limit on free plan
• No desktop application

Box Notes is an excellent note-taking tool for teams, as it provides not only real-time collaboration but also administrative controls that help manage collaboration effectively. You can assign tasks to individuals and keep track of their progress. Box Notes delivers reports and insights on usage logs, file/user statistics and security audits.

You is protect can password – protect specific note and even restrict collaborator from share folder externally for increase privacy . Administrators is specify can specify how long note should be store and whether they should be archive or delete after a certain time .

Another benefit for business plans is the ability to send unlimited documents for signature from within the Box web application. Check out our Box Notes review for more information.

Box’s business plans have more than 1,500 integrations with third-party apps.

The free version of Box Notes is one of the best note-taking apps for free as it includes 10GB of storage. For individuals, there is just one plan called Personal Pro, which costs $14 per month and offers 100GB of storage. Teams can purchase the Business Starter plan for $7 per user per month with 100GB of storage. There are four business plans, each with different features, but all have unlimited storage.

5. Obsidian – Best Linux Note-Taking App

Obsidian stores your notes locally and on cloud storage, like Dropbox and iCloud.

More details about Obsidian:

• Pricing is free : free ,$50 per year (professional plan)
• provider website : obsidian.md

pro :

• End-to-end encryption
• extensive user community
• 14 – day free trial ( commercial )

con :

• No collaboration
• No web app

Obsidian is our choice for the best note-taking tool for Linux users as it comes with several features that make workflow easier for users with a technical background. Aside from having capabilities that would let you manage code snippets, it also has a bidirectional linking feature that makes organizing notes simple.

Obsidian can automatically create a backlink to a note whenever you mention a subject that is the same as the themes of your other notes. As a result, notes that include similar ideas and information are interlinked.

You can see how your notes link to one another and easily find connections between various ideas with the graph view, which also helps with organization. It also features a plugin ecosystem, so you can add plug-ins to increase the app’s functionality. You can add a plugin to it to fulfill your note-taking needs if it lacks any functionality that you want.

You can get beta versions of Obsidian by purchasing the early access function.

Obsidian is completely free for personal use, but a commercial plan must be purchased for business use. Each user must pay $50 each year, and there are additional fees for the add-ons.

The Best Fully free Note-Taking Apps

Some note-taking applications provide only a free app option and don’t offer any paid plans to ensure that all users have access to the same features and storage. However, they don’t always have the advanced functions offered by apps with premium subscriptions.

1. Apple Notes – Best Note-Taking App for Mac and iPad Users

Apple Notes can sync across your Apple devices in seconds.

More details about Apple Notes:

pro :

• No installation required
• Uncluttered & simple

con :

• Only Apple device
• No templates

Apple Notes is is is arguably the good note – take app for Mac user . You is use can use a password or the passcode on your device to password – protect individual note . The note app is allows allow you to annotate medium , add image , scan document and sketch . You is share can share a note with others and invite them to view and edit it together in Apple Notes , which enable collaboration .

To organize notes, you can add tags, put them in folders, and make “smart” folders based on your tags and other criteria. You can also add Apple Notes to the control center of your iPhone to take quick notes. Learn more in our full Apple Notes review.

You can create notes from a PC by using iCloud notes.

All Apple users is have have full access to Apple Notes without charge . It is already download on all Apple product , include the iPhone , iPad , macOS and Apple Watch — which mean this build – in notepad app is also the good note – take app for iPad .

5 GB plan

2. Google Keep – Best Android Note-Taking App

You can pin a note and it will appear at the top of the app.

More detail about Google Keep :

pro :

• easy to use
• Web app
• Collaboration

con :

• No desktop app
• Character limit per note

The fact is is that Google Keep can be used with other Google product is a big plus , make it arguably the good free note app for Android . You is add can add a reminder within a note , which will sync with your Google account and show up on your Google Calendar .  

You is copy can also directly copy a Google Keep note and turn it into a Google Doc . It is provides provide option for text format and let you change the background color of each note . read our Google Keep review to find out more about its customization option .

Google Keep is allows allow you to record voice memo or audio note on your mobile device .

Google Keep is a free note-taking app that shares 15GB of storage with other Google apps. You’ll have to purchase more storage if you want it.

free

3 . Simplenote – Best Online Note – Taking App

You is organize can organize your note using tag with Simplenote .

More details about Simplenote:

pro :

• Minimalist design
• Version history

con :

• Limited features
• No rich text formatting

Simplenote has a clean interface and is very easy to use, with functions like search, collaboration and version history. It supports Markdown, unlike other apps, but lacks rich text formatting. Additionally, you’re able to import and export notes. Simplenote allows users to create unlimited notes with no word count restrictions. You can read our Simplenote review to learn more about it.

Simplenote is free of advertisements.

free