Best Note Taking Software

Microsoft OneNote is a digital note-taking app organized like a physical notebook, with notebooks divided into sections and pages. Every page acts as a free-form canvas where users can type, write with a stylus, insert images, attach files, and record audio anywhere on the page. Notes sync across devices through a Microsoft account, and shared notebooks let multiple people add text, images, and files to the same space for collaboration on projects, classes, or households.

OneNote itself is free to use on web and mobile, and Copilot in OneNote adds AI-assisted drafting, idea generation, and organization for subscribers. The full desktop application and expanded storage come bundled with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscriptions, which also include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive storage. OneNote is deeply integrated with Microsoft Teams for meeting notes and classroom use.

Obsidian is a note-taking and personal knowledge base application that stores notes as plain Markdown files directly on your device. It emphasizes bidirectional linking, so any note can reference another and automatically show a list of backlinks, and an interactive graph view visualizes how notes connect. Obsidian's Canvas feature offers an infinite whiteboard for arranging notes, images, PDFs, and other content spatially, and thousands of community-built plugins and themes let users customize functionality and appearance.

The core Obsidian app is completely free for personal use, with no sign-up required, and works offline on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. Paid add-ons cover optional cloud sync and web publishing, plus a commercial-use license for businesses. Because notes are stored locally as Markdown files, users retain full ownership of their data and can move it to other apps at any time.

Evernote is a note-taking and organization app that lets users capture text, photos, PDFs, and web pages in a single searchable place. Notes can be grouped into notebooks and tagged for quick retrieval, and the built-in Web Clipper saves articles and pages directly from a browser. A document scanner turns paper receipts, business cards, and handwritten pages into searchable digital files, while boolean search and OCR make it possible to find text inside images and scanned documents.

Recent versions add AI features such as an AI Assistant, semantic search, and AI-generated meeting notes, along with calendar sync and task management with due dates. Evernote works across web, desktop, and mobile, syncing notes automatically. In late 2025 the company replaced its Personal and Professional plans with new Starter and Advanced tiers, alongside a more limited free plan.

Joplin is an open-source note-taking and to-do app that stores notes in Markdown format and organizes them into notebooks with tags. It includes OCR-powered search that finds text inside PDFs and images, supports code blocks, tables, and math expressions, and offers both a Markdown editor and a Rich Text editor. Joplin is offline-first, meaning all data is stored locally and remains fully accessible without an internet connection, with end-to-end encrypted sync available through Joplin Cloud, Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, or a self-hosted server.

The core app is completely free across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, and its source code is publicly available on GitHub. Joplin Cloud is an optional paid hosting service that adds features like notebook sharing, publishing notes to the web, a web app, and email-to-note, with plans ranging from a low-cost Basic tier up to Teams and self-hosted Business options. A browser extension for web clipping and a large plugin library round out the ecosystem.

Google Keep is a lightweight note-taking app for capturing quick notes, checklists, and reminders. Notes can include text, images, voice recordings that get transcribed, and drawings, and Keep uses optical character recognition to pull text out of images so it can be searched later. Notes can be color-coded and organized with labels, pinned to the top, or set with time- or location-based reminders, and everything syncs instantly across devices tied to the same Google account.

Keep is entirely free with any Google account and includes Gemini AI integration to summarize notes, generate ideas, and draft content from existing notes. It is available as a web app and on Android and iOS, and it integrates closely with other Google Workspace apps like Docs and Calendar. Because it lacks folders and advanced formatting, Keep works best for short-lived notes and lists rather than long-form documents.

Apple Notes is the note-taking app built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, letting users jot quick thoughts or create longer notes with checklists, images, scanned documents, and sketches. Notes can include attachments like PDFs, photos, maps, and web links, and the app can record and transcribe audio directly into a note. A built-in document scanner digitizes paper pages, and Smart Folders automatically organize notes based on filters such as tags or attachment type.

When iCloud is enabled, notes sync automatically across all of a user's Apple devices and are accessible through a browser at iCloud.com. Notes and folders can be shared with other iCloud users for real-time collaboration, with an Activity view showing recent changes, and locked notes can be protected with end-to-end encryption. Apple Notes is completely free, though syncing large attachments across many devices may require paid iCloud storage.

Bear is a note-taking app built exclusively for Apple's ecosystem, covering iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS. Notes are written in Markdown and can be organized with hashtags, including nested tags, rather than traditional folders. Users can insert sketches inline with text using Apple Pencil or a finger, and WikiLinks let notes connect to each other to form a personal wiki. Bear works fully offline on Mac and iPhone and keeps notes private, stating that the company cannot see users' notes or tags.

The free version works on a single device with basic editing and limited export formats. Bear Pro adds iCloud sync across devices, OCR search inside photos and PDFs, over 28 themes, additional app icons, and export to PDF, HTML, DOCX, and other formats. Because Bear has no Windows, Android, or web version, it is best suited to people who work entirely within Apple hardware.

Roam Research is a note-taking application built around an outliner interface, where every page is composed of nested, hierarchical blocks of text. Its defining feature is bidirectional linking: typing double brackets creates a link to another page and automatically adds a backlink, while a block reference lets users connect to any individual block anywhere in the graph. This lets users build a dense, interconnected web of notes rather than a folder hierarchy, with a graph view for visualizing how pages relate to each other.

Roam supports Daily Notes for journaling, boolean-style queries embedded in the outline, and a lightweight task manager using TODO and DONE tags. It can be extended with custom CSS themes and third-party plugins, and supports real-time collaboration. Roam Research has no permanent free tier beyond a trial; it is a paid subscription product aimed at researchers, writers, and knowledge workers who want a flexible, non-linear way to organize thoughts.

Craft is a documents and notes app focused on clean visual design, letting users build pages with rich formatting, images, tables, and nested sub-pages. Collections turn documents into flexible databases with custom properties and views, while Daily Notes provide a dedicated space for journaling, planning, and quick capture. Tasks can be embedded directly inside documents so plans and to-dos stay connected, and an AI Assistant can chat about a document's content, including OCR on images and PDFs.

Craft syncs across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web, and works offline. Documents can be shared or published with a public link, with custom branding and visit tracking on paid plans. The free plan supports up to 1,500 content blocks and 1GB of storage, while paid Plus, Family, and Team plans remove those limits and add real-time collaboration, shared Spaces, and more AI credits.

Goodnotes is a note-taking app built around a realistic handwriting experience, letting users write with an Apple Pencil or stylus, annotate PDFs, and organize notebooks into nested folders. It uses optical character recognition so handwritten notes appear in search results, and it supports rich text editing that blends typing, images, and handwriting in the same document. Newer versions add a Whiteboard mode for brainstorming and diagramming, plus AI features like meeting transcription, note summaries, and quiz generation from a user's own notes.

Goodnotes is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and the web, with real-time collaboration for shared notebooks and documents. The free plan is limited to three notebooks, while paid Essential and Pro subscriptions unlock unlimited documents, larger storage, cross-platform sync, and advanced AI tools. Team and Enterprise plans add admin controls, single sign-on, and centralized billing for organizations.