The 20 Best Note-taking Apps of 2025
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The best note-taking apps in 2025 are Notta for AI-powered transcription with 98.86% accuracy, Notion for all-in-one workspace management, Obsidian for private offline note-taking, and Apple Notes for handwriting with Apple Pencil. These apps provide voice transcription, team collaboration, Markdown editing, and stylus writing across all major platforms.
Taking notes is simple enough — until you forget where you saved them, end up with a disorganized mess, or can’t read your own handwriting. Note-taking apps put an end to these struggles and let you reclaim your focus for more important tasks.
Note-taking is a personal process, kind of like handwriting. Some people prefer speed and simplicity, while others look for an app with advanced features and customization options.
We tested a wide range of apps for speed, ease of use, organization tools, and cross-device compatibility to help you find the one that fits your note-taking style.
Join us as we explore 20 of the best note-taking apps, highlighting their features, strengths, and use cases.
How we construct our reviews
We personally test each app and only review it once we’ve seen how it performs in real scenarios.
We compared each transcript to a human reference to measure accuracy. We also timed how long it took to go from opening the app to getting the first usable transcription. Finally, we checked how well each tool synced across iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac, and whether integrations like Zoom, Slack, and Google Drive worked smoothly.
Here are the essential features we look for in a note-taking platform:
It should have a fast response time so you can take notes instantly whenever inspiration strikes.
Sharing and organizing notes should be straightforward.
It can be simple or full of advanced features, but it should feel intuitive and enjoyable to use.
Most importantly, it should match the way you prefer to take notes.
For this article, we’ve divided the apps into categories and reviewed them in detail to provide you with:
An overview of each app
A list of pros and cons
Pricing information
Platform availability
Ideal users
We’ve grouped the tools into the following categories:
Tools with sharing and collaboration features
Note-takers with bi-directional linking
What Are the 20 Best Note-taking Apps of 2025?
What Are the Best Voice-Based Note-taking Apps?
Voice-based note-taking apps use speech recognition technology to convert speech into text. These apps join your meetings or access your meeting recordings to create actionable summaries and notes. This way, you don’t have to manually write everything down.
With AI in the picture, voice-based note-taking apps have become even more efficient and accurate.
1. Notta
Best for: AI-powered note-taking, recording, transcription, and translation
Notta is a handy note-taking app that uses artificial intelligence to create insightful, actionable notes in minutes. Instead of struggling to keep up with meetings or lectures, you can rely on Notta to automatically transcribe audio and generate summaries of main points, saving you valuable time and effort.
Prefer to take notes manually? Notta has you covered. It features a variety of editing tools that give you full control over your content. For example, you can add visuals like slides or diagrams to personalize your notes.
But Notta is more than just a basic note-taker. It can convert meetings, conversations, and other audio files into text with up to 98.86% accuracy. You can upload existing recordings or have Notta’s AI assistant join live meetings to transcribe them automatically in real time.
You can export notes in multiple formats and connect the app with third-party tools, including CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, as well as video conferencing platforms like Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.
Notta delivers one of the most well-rounded note-taking experiences, helping you stay organized and on top of your to-do list.
Pros
Translate your transcriptions into 42 languages.
Add notes, timestamps, and bookmarks to transcripts or during live meetings to highlight important text.
Access multiple-speed playback, and instantly skip to keywords within the transcript.
Organize your notes by creating workspaces and folders.
Save and sync notes and conversations across all your devices.
Export and share files in multiple formats, including TXT, DOCX, SRT, and PDF.
A free Chrome extension lets you record audio online from any open tab.
Cons
Some advanced features aren’t available on the free plan.
Pricing
Free: Free forever plan for one seat
Pro: $8.17/month/user
Business: $16.67/month/user
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Supported platforms
Mac, Windows, Web, iOS, Android
Who uses it: Busy professionals, students, and anyone needing access to affordable, high-quality transcription and translation.
“The notes section during a live meeting, with action items and timestamps, is very critical! The ability to see the live transcript is what sets this program apart from its competitors. The smart AI feature is also really neat and has many great uses.” — G2 user
2. Fathom
Best for: Highlighting key moments in real time
Fathom is a Zoom note-taking app that automatically captures and summarizes your meetings using AI. It highlights key moments, generates summaries, and syncs directly with tools like CRM or project management systems. It’s great for meeting follow-ups and ensures nothing important slips through the cracks.
One feature we liked was the ability to highlight important moments during the meeting. Fathom lets you choose between present or custom highlight options, like ‘Feedback’ or ‘Issues’, so you can quickly tag key points as they happen.
Pros
Integrates with popular third-party tools, including HubSpot, Zoom, and Trello, making it easy to share notes with your coworkers.
Timestamp important moments in the meeting to easily recall and review information later.
Real-time highlights, so you can access key points and make decisions while the meeting is in progress.
Cons
AI can struggle to understand and accurately transcribe technical terms, accented speech, or unusual names, which may require manual correction.
Pricing
Free: Free forever for one seat
Premium: $15/month/user
Standard Team: $19/month/user
Pro Team: $29/month/user
Supported platforms
Mac, Windows
Who uses it: Students and small business owners looking to improve productivity as individuals or teams
“Fathom's user-friendly interface and seamless integration with my other tools make it a breeze to use. The ease of exporting notes and organizing information has been a significant advantage for my workflow.” — G2 user
Which All-Purpose Note-taking Apps Should You Use?
These are everyday note-taking apps you can use even when you're not in a meeting. They help you write down your thoughts and organize them into clear, actionable tasks.
3. Evernote
Best for: Being a one-stop shop for notes, files, tasks, and scheduling
Evernote is a popular note-taker that helps individuals or teams stay organized by creating shareable, media-rich notebooks. From notes and tasks to schedules and your favorite web resources, you can just about manage your entire life from Evernote.
If you like multitasking, you’ll appreciate Evernote’s new update that converts text to audio. It’s perfect for reviewing your notes during a long commute or giving your eyes a break after a full day of screen time.
Pros
Supports multiple media types, including images, audio, PDFs, and web embeds.
Features like handwriting recognition, web clipping, calendar integration, and task management add flexibility.
Evernote’s API integrates into hundreds of apps and services, making it easy to fit into your workflow.
Productivity tools, such as task managers, calendar integration, and scheduled reminders, help you stay organized.
Cons
AI features are not available on the free plan.
You need the highest-tier plan for multi-user collaboration.
Pricing
Free: Free forever for one seat
Personal: $10.83/month/user
Professional: $14.16/month/user
Teams: $20.83/month/user
Supported platforms
Mac, Windows, Web, iOS, Android
Who uses it: Evernote's capture and search features make it popular for designers, students, and corporate teams. However, it’s starting to show its age against the new generation of apps like Roam, Craft, and Obsidian.
“I truly believe that Evernote owes its logo: It does help to build an elephant's memory, not only in terms of capacity but also regarding the limitless connections you can create and enrich, following your preferred classification rules.” — G2 user
4. Google Keep
Best for: Capturing, editing, and sharing notes on any device, anywhere
Google Keep is a simple, efficient, cloud-based note-taking app with a 'post-it note' feel. It’s fast (especially on mobile), and organizes all of your notes, screenshots, photos, and videos on a digital bulletin board.
However, Keep doesn’t feel as integrated with other Google tools as you’d expect. For example, reminders don’t automatically sync between Google Keep and Google Tasks. You can add reminders to your Google Calendar, but the integration is basic compared to a dedicated task management app.
Pros
It’s easy to use with a minimalist interface that requires minimal setup.
You can create voice memos, add tasks, insert images, and create drawings on your bulletin board.
No limits on the number of notes, so you don’t have to worry about running out of space.
Integration with other Google tools.
Cons
Keep offers limited customization features.
Pricing
Free to use with your Google account.
Supported platforms
Android, iOS, web
Who uses it: Light note-takers who need a simple and fast app. Keep has enough features for most people's needs, but its lack of document formatting tools feels like a missed opportunity.
“The app does what it says; it's really good for organizing and maintaining notes and reminders.” — Google Play review
5. OneNote
Best for: A user-friendly note-taking experience with powerful collaboration features
OneNote is a free note-taking app that works across all your devices. As part of Microsoft Office, it works naturally with other Office tools, making it ideal for teams that already use the platform. With Copilot, you can generate ideas from prompts, and the Digital Ink feature lets you sketch or handwrite directly in your notes.
Pros
Optical character recognition and ink-to-text conversion
Deep hierarchical folder structures. Each folder can contain as many sections, subsections, and pages, with a wide variety of file types.
OneNote syncs as you work, so if you lose your internet connection, it will automatically update everything once you’re back online.
Cons
Prone to lagging and occasional freezes when processing a lot of data at the same time.
Pricing
Free to use
Additional storage is available for Microsoft 365 users
Supported platforms
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web
Who uses it: OneNote is a reliable choice for professionals and students who already use Microsoft tools. While feature-rich, it feels a bit dated compared to some newer note-taking apps.
“I love that it auto synchronizes to the cloud where it can be seen by others with access. Annotations allow people to see what has been contributed by others.
I like how a team's document is a living document that grows. It's not a stale text document that is outdated the moment it is created. Search function is excellent.
I also like the shortcuts that can be shared within the documents.” — G2 review
What Are the Best Note-taking Apps for Team Collaboration?
6. Craft
Best for: Intuitive, block-based document styling
Craft feels like the perfect middle ground between Notion’s structure and Google Docs’ simplicity. It uses a block-based layout and has a clean, modern design that makes it easy to add images, videos, tables, subpages, and more. Real-time sharing also allows smooth collaboration with the rest of your team.
With Craft, you can organize your notes in folders, set up reminders to finish tasks, and even generate AI-powered summaries and translations.
Pros
Craft’s user-friendly UI allows easy and attractive page creation for your notes.
You can organize your work by project, then use ‘Collections’ to group related documents.
Create and nest notes within other notes. This allows you to form a hierarchical structure for your documents or to easily group related information.
Share outputs as Markdown, Textbundle, PDF, or MS Word document, with HTML, Plaintext, or RTF.
Create private password-protected links for any page.
Cons
Craft is primarily designed for Mac and iOS users. Although it has a web app that allows access to Windows and Android users, it’s not as capable as the native apps.
The Free plan is limited, with only 1,000 blocks available and reduced import and export functionality.
Pricing
Free: Limited plan for one user
Craft Solo: $9.99/month/user
Craft Together: $17.99/month for up to 6 users
Discount available for large teams
Supported platforms
Mac, iOS, web
Who uses it: Any individual or company who wants to create and present well-formatted media-rich documents.
“Craft offers an easy user interface for creating documents. The products look great and allow for easy organization of information.” — G2 review
7. Notion
Best for: Writing, planning, and thinking
Notion creates highly readable, well-formatted notes and documents. It combines shareable workspaces, wikis, and documents with databases, custom Gantt charts, calendars, and Kanban boards, giving teams plenty of ways to collaborate and stay organized.
It’s highly customizable with flexible page structure, drag-and-drop blocks, and custom templates. On top of that, Notion supports various content types, including images, text notes, bookmarks, videos, and code.
Pros
Notion’s customization abilities allow it to serve as a note-taker, knowledge base, project manager, content hub, and more.
You can combine lists, charts, tasks, notes, forms, wikis, and lightweight databases into a single workspace.
The platform integrates with dozens of apps, allowing automation of hundreds of processes and workflows.
The developer community around Notion is enormous. There are thousands of unique templates, tutorials, and events to explore.
Cons
The platform has a steep learning curve, since it’s designed for flexibility and complex workflows. It’s not as straightforward as other apps.
Pricing
Free: Basic features for 1 admin with up to 10 guests
Plus: $10/month for 1 admin with up to 100 guests
Business: $20/month for 1 admin with up to 250 guests
Enterprise: Contact sales
Notion AI: $8/month/member
Supported platforms
Windows, Mac, web, iOS
Who uses it: Teams and individuals that need a flexible, all-in-one workspace.
“With Notion, we don't need much time to set up parameters, and it differs a bit from other competitors that use templates for each type of project.” — G2 review
8. Dropbox Paper
Best for: Collaborative text, media, and file management
With a familiar document-style layout, Paper makes note-taking feel as natural as using Google Docs. It’s part of Dropbox, so it’s great for teams that already rely on the platform for work. You can assign to-dos, set due dates, and tag teammates directly in your documents.
Pros
Paper integrates note-taking and file management into one workspace.
Supports both internal and external collaboration on templates, tasks, and files
Clean interface with easy-to-use drop-downs, pop-ups, and a dedicated presentation mode.
Allows previews of YouTube, Vimeo, and Soundcloud links inside the app.
Cons
Only available with a Dropbox account.
Can only export in PDF format.
Pricing
Free with your Dropbox account
Supported platforms
Windows, Mac, Desktop, iOS, Android
Who uses it: Dropbox users looking for a simple, collaborative note-taking tool with strong file management.
“Dropbox Paper's real-time collaborative editing and integration with other tools make it an efficient platform. It’s easy to implement with Slack and other services.” — G2 review
9. Milanote
Best for: Visual note-taking for designers and creatives
Milanote is a gorgeous notetaking app designed for creative professionals. Its drag-and-drop board layout feels more like a digital canvas, making it both intuitive and highly flexible.
You can write your to-do lists and upload files in Milanote. You can also save text, images, and links to keep everything organized
Pros
Uses a dotted grid similar to the popular Baronfig notebook to encourage creative expression.
Boards let you visually arrange notes, tasks, images, audio, video, drawings, and more directly on the page.
Nearly 30 templates for different uses, like project planning, storyboarding, novel writing, and web design.
Supports most standard image formats, PDFs, ZIPs, RARs, audio/video files, and Adobe formats.
Export options include PDF, Markup, Word, and plain text. Milanote also integrates with Dropbox and Google Drive.
Cons
The mobile app isn’t as smooth or reliable as the desktop version. Boards may display incorrectly on mobile, and functionality is more limited.
Pricing
Free: Up to 100 notes, images, or links, and 10 file uploads
Individuals: $9.99/month
Teams: $49/month for up to 10 people
Supported platforms
Windows, Mac, web
Who uses it: Milanote is an excellent choice for visual thinkers and creative professionals. It works best as a digital whiteboard or idea hub, with note-taking features built to support collaboration and creative planning.
“Milanote is an amazing tool to organize and scale up the clarity of ideas and make sense of them as they grow.” — G2 review
Which Note-taking Apps Offer Bi-directional Linking?
Bi-directional link-building is a feature that lets you create and manage links between notes. You can reference one note from another, automatically establishing a connection to the original note. Over time, this builds a network of notes that helps you keep ideas organized and makes it easier to find related content.
10. Obsidian
Best for: Best for private, offline note-taking
Obsidian offers a highly customizable approach to note-taking as it combines bi-directional linking, solid privacy, and graph-based visual tools. It stores notes as plain text files in Markdown format, which makes your notes portable and easy to access outside the app.
It’s a great option for anyone who values privacy, since Obsidian runs entirely offline by default. This gives you complete control over your data and enhances privacy, since nothing is synced to the cloud unless you choose to.
Pros
Obsidian stores files locally on your computer, so you have full control over your notes.
Creating internal links allows Obsidian to develop a "constellation of notes,’ which makes them easier to cross-reference.
Graph mode allows for powerful visualizations of your data.
Obsidian's Markdown file type is easily exported and edited in other apps.
You can customize your Obsidian themes with CSS and use plug-ins to extend the program’s functionality.
Cons
Obsidian has a steep learning curve, especially for beginners.
Pricing
Free: All features are free forever for personal use
Optional add-on services:
Sync: $4/month/user
Publish: $8/month/site
Supported platforms
Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Who uses it: Obsidian is great for people who want to organize their thoughts in a connected, flexible way. It’s especially popular with writers, researchers, and anyone building a personal knowledge base they can fully control.
“One of the best thought organization and note-taking tools (if not the best) that also maintains 100% privacy for your data because it is fully localized.” — Reviews
11. Roam Research
Best for: Networked note-taking with bi-directional linking
Roam uses bi-directional linking to reveal connections between your notes and ideas in an intuitive way. Instead of organizing notes in a rigid folder structure, Roam treats them as part of a flexible network, where relationships matter more than hierarchy.
Pros
Pages aren’t stored in folders, and they can be embedded inside other pages.
Allows almost instant linking and referencing using hashtags and bi-directional references.
Unlinked references suggest new connections between ideas.
Graph view gives you a visual map of how your notes are connected.
Cons
Roam is more expensive than many other note-taking apps with similar features
Pricing:
Pro: $15/month/user
Believer: $500 for 5 years
Supported platforms
Web
Who uses it: Roam’s note-taking approach benefits anyone looking to explore relationships between ideas. It’s especially useful if you take lots of notes and want a system that helps you link and revisit them.
“Roam Research has revolutionized my note-taking process. With bi-directional links, daily notes, and unmatched flexibility, it's a game-changer for creative thinkers.” — Reviewer
12. Mem
Best for: Self-organizing notes
Mem is one of the most popular bi-directional AI note-taking apps that helps you quickly capture ideas and collaborate with your team. Mem automatically organizes your notes into three main sections:
Timeline: A clean, efficient space to capture daily ideas
Inbox: A place to process those inputs
Tasks: A management and scheduling hub
Without the need for folders, you can integrate emails, calendar events, messages, and data from other work apps into Mem for easy future reference.
Pros
Mem uses AI to group related notes together and display them when they’re most relevant.
Toggling 'Focus mode' removes distracting sidebars.
Formatting and Markdown options provide the tools to create visually appealing text.
Mem’s ‘Flow’ templates allow the creation of custom workflows and automate repetitive tasks.
Cons
It doesn’t have advanced features like some other apps.
Pricing
Free: Mem 2.0 is currently free for all users while in its testing phase. The company will announce pricing plans when the full version is released.
Supported platforms
iOS, web
Who uses it: Mem hasn’t clearly defined its audience. It mostly attracts users who are searching for alternatives to apps like Roam and Obsidian. Still, it’s full of potential and worth keeping an eye on.
"I put emails, docs, and meeting transcripts into Mem. Mem knows me and our product, so I use it to create an architecture spec, a full go-to-market strategy, design specs, and investment slides." — Reviewer
What Are the Best Markdown Note-taking Apps?
A Markdown note-taking app lets you format text using Markdown, a simple markup language. It supports rich text formatting (like bold, italics, headers, lists, links, and more) using plain text with simple syntax rules.
13. Bear
Best for: Apple users who want a beautiful, Markdown-based note-taking app
Bear is an elegant note-taking app for both Mac and iOS. Its minimalist appearance provides a distraction-free writing experience, advanced markup options, and full in-line image support. You can store and organize different types of content (including text, photos, tables, and to-do lists) within a single note.
Pros
Provides a beautiful writing experience with excellent typography features.
Tagging features allow ideas to be linked via hashtags and forward slashes.
Lock individual notes behind a password to control access.
Comprehensive Markdown support for headings, paragraphs, lists, and blockquotes.
Cons
Only available to Mac and iOS users.
Pricing
Free: Limited features, exports, and themes
Bear Pro: $2.99/user/month
Supported platforms
Mac, iOS
Who uses it: Writers and creatives who want a clean, elegant space to draft and organize their notes.
“Bear app is minimal on purpose. So there are very few distractions if you're using the app to take down notes, ideas or creating content for your blog.” — G2 review
14. Typora
Best for: Markdown writing and editing with customizable CSS themes
Typora is a powerful cross-platform writing tool. It offers a live preview Markdown writing experience and supports hundreds of coding languages, headings, tables, links, and images. You can also customize the interface with CSS to create themes that match your style.
Pros
Custom typography, beautiful CSS themes, and an open layout make for a nice writing experience.
Typora helps you stay focused by blurring everything except the line you're working on or keeping your current line centered on the screen.
Full support for Markdown, diagrams, and math equations.
Great export options, including Markdown, PDF, HTML, and plain text.
Cons
Typora doesn’t have a lot of advanced features, but it's simple enough for users who are new to Markdown.
Pricing
One-time purchase: 14.99 for the editor and reader
Supported platforms
Windows, Mac, Linux
Who uses it: Typora appeals to writers looking for a focused workspace with solid export options. Its minimalistic design and intuitive formatting tools make writing feel smooth and enjoyable.
“The product is simple to use. I can type Markdown, and it is reflected automatically in the text editor without any preview mode, etc. I can create lists, tables, etc easily, which is amazing.” — G2 review
15. Ulysses
Best for: Focused writing for the Mac and iOS environments
Ulysses combines an award-winning interface design with Markdown formatting, grammar, and style tools to create an elegant writing app. It’s perfect for various types of writing projects, from simple note-taking to full manuscripts. It can turn your notes and writing into PDFs, Word documents, ebooks, and even blog posts.
Pros
It’s enjoyable to write Ulysses since every detail in Ulysses is thoughtfully designed.
Ulysses points out grammar, punctuation, semantics, capitalization, and style errors to help improve the quality of your work.
With features like word and character goals and smart filters for organizing your texts, Ulysses strikes a nice balance between staying motivated and staying organized.
Cons
Lack of collaboration features for teams working across platforms.
Only available for Apple devices
Pricing
Writing app: $5.99/month or $39.99/year
Supported platforms
iOS, Mac
Who uses it: Ulysses is built for writers who value simplicity and focus. Its clean, thoughtfully designed interface makes it more of a serious writing tool rather than a quick notepad.
“The cloud connection and cloud workability is an amazing feature, so users can work anytime and access the data from anywhere.” — G2 review
Which Apps Are Best for Quick Note Capture?
Minimalistic note-taking apps are designed to make the process of capturing ideas, notes, and reminders as fast and straightforward as possible. They don’t have complex features or formatting options, making them ideal for noting quick thoughts and important information on the go.
16. Simplenote
Best for: Simple, cross-platform note-taking
In contrast to other digital note-taking apps, Simplenote emphasizes simplicity rather than advanced functionality. It’s fast, uncluttered, and built just for writing. One feature that sets Simplenote apart is its version history. Every time you edit a note, Simplenote saves the previous versions. You can easily go back in time to view or restore earlier versions of your notes.
Pros
Simplenote keeps things straightforward with no text formatting, images, or file uploads. It just offers a clean space to write without distractions or clutter.
Works reliably across all compatible platforms. You can take notes and write to-do lists on one device, then instantly access them on another.
It’s completely free to use with no paid upgrades or storage tiers.
Cons
You can’t attach images or PDF files to Simplenote.
Pricing
Free
Supported platforms
Android, iOS, web, Windows, Mac, Linux
Who uses it: Simplinote is ideal for minimalists who care more about speed and simplicity than advanced features.
“It’s a simple note-taking app that excels in simplicity and basic note-taking capabilities.” — G2 review
17. Drafts
Best for: Quickly capturing ideas with powerful customization and sharing options
Drafts is a quick-capture tool for text that’s great for those quick bursts of inspiration. It offers customizable text editing, personalized user interface options, and plenty of features. Drafts integrates well with Apple and keeps your notes consistent and accessible on all of your devices.
Pros
Drafts can work as either a minimalist note-taking tool or a feature-rich text editor, depending on how you use it.
A blinking text prompt allows for quick note-taking as soon as you open the app.
Supports hands-free capture through Siri on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
The “Actions” feature enables integration with other apps, making it easy to copy, share, or process your notes.
Focus mode helps you stay concentrated when writing.
Custom syntax per draft lets you individually adjust font, size, line height, and spacing for each note.
Cons:
Custom themes, advanced automation, action syntaxes, workspaces, and sharing options require a paid upgrade.
Pricing
Free: Unlimited draft creation and editing
Pro: $1.99/month or $19.99/year
Supported platforms
iOS
Who uses it: Drafts is ideal for anyone who works with text across multiple apps and platforms. It excels at quick capture but also includes a range of features and integrations for more advanced tasks.
What Are the Best Stylus and Apple Pencil Note-taking Apps?
Apple offers several note-taking apps, with Apple Notes as the main option. They work smoothly with other Apple services and stay in sync across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Many also support the Apple Pencil and other styluses, so you can write, sketch, or capture ideas in whatever way works best for you.
18. Apple Notes
Best for: Handwriting and drawing with the Apple Pencil on Apple devices
Apple Notes is a free built-in note-taking app for Mac and iOS. It’s feature-rich, polished, and uncluttered, offering 5GB of free iCloud storage. You can store multiple types of content, including images, web links, handwritten notes, maps, PDFs, and sketches.
It works perfectly with the Apple Pencil for drawing and handwriting, making it easy to annotate documents or add hand-drawn elements to your notes.
Pros
Access tables, to-to lists, image and audio import, Siri voice dictation, document scanning, and all of Apple’s sharing and export options.
Using your voice, ask Siri to 'create a note.' Dictate your note, and Siri will automatically save and sync it across your devices.
Lock your notes with a password and unlock them using Face/Touch ID.
Search messages using a combination of letters and tags, even within attachments.
Scan photos, videos, and portions of printed text directly into a note using your phone’s camera.
Cons
Only available on Apple devices and iCloud on the web.
Pricing:
Apple Notes is free and pre-installed on Apple devices.
Supported platforms
iOS, Mac
Who uses it: Notes contains Apple’s signature design and hundreds of thoughtful UI and usability touches. It continues to improve constantly and offers a lot of depth and flexibility.
“This app offers wide accessibility across all applications and Apple devices, standing out for its exceptional user-friendliness.” — Reviews
19. Nebo
Best for: Stylus users who need a cross-platform note-taking app
Widely regarded as the best handwriting app available, Nebo transforms messy handwriting into clean, readable text. Its interactive ink engine lets you mix handwriting, typed text, diagrams, and sketches on the same page.
You can sketch your ideas on a limitless canvas and even annotate PDFs with this innovative note-taking app. It’s available on iPad, Windows, and Android devices, and it syncs through the cloud, so your notes stay consistent across platforms.
Pros
Nebo’s handwriting recognition lets you write notes by hand and instantly converts them to text.
Handwriting support for 66 languages.
Share a PDF with Nebo and instantly annotate it using highlighting, sketching, and drawing tools. Annotations are indexed and appear in search.
Import and resize images from the camera or album, and place them anywhere on the canvas.
Interactive diagramming is intuitive. You can sketch rough shapes, like circles or arrows, and the app will automatically convert them into clean diagrams.
Cons
Doesn’t offer any collaborative features. If you want feedback from your team, you’ll need to export and share your notes manually.
Pricing
Free: With basic features
Add-ons and essentials packs: From $4
Supported platforms
iOS, Windows, Mac
Who uses it: Students who want to take handwritten notes, convert them into digital text, and organize their study materials.
20. Goodnotes
Best for: A journal-like approach to note-taking
Goodnotes is a popular planner-style note-taker for the iPad that offers excellent handwriting recognition, a pleasing visual experience, and plenty of customizability using stickers and journal templates. It instantly recognizes typos in text and lets you annotate PDFs on your tablet.
Pros
Great personalization options to use when importing personalized covers for journaling and planning, adding images or stickers, creating mind maps, or taking lecture notes.
All folders and sub-folders auto-sync across all your devices.
Built-in flashcards create an accessible memorization mode.
Freely annotate and draw on PDFs.
Cons
You're limited to three notebooks in the free version. To create more, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Pricing
Free: Basic version with limitations
All platforms: $9.99/year
Apple one-time payment: $29.99
Android and Windows: $6.99/year
Supported platforms
iOS, Windows, Android
Who uses it: Students like Goodnotes for taking lecture notes, organizing study materials, and annotating their PDFs.
“It’s a pretty good tool to write down notes and find them again. For me, it’s currently the best solution on the market compared to the competitors.” — Reviews
Final verdict: Which is the right note-taking app for you?
While there are countless note-taking apps available, knowing exactly what you need it for will help you quickly narrow down your choices.
For example, if you want to create meeting notes without writing them by hand, Notta is the ideal choice.
As an AI note-taking app, Notta will transcribe meetings and lectures, and generate summaries with insights and action items. It can even translate the text into the language of your choice.
Start with Notta for free and try our powerful AI audio and transcription software. Use it to make notes, create summaries, and translate your text in a matter of minutes.
FAQs
Which app is best for note-taking with a stylus?
Goodnotes is the best app for note-taking with a stylus. Notable features include:
Smooth handwriting and drawing: Goodnotes offers excellent support for stylus input, with smooth and responsive handwriting and drawing capabilities.
Organizational features: It includes advanced organization tools like folders, tags, and custom templates to keep notes structured and easy to navigate.
Annotation and PDF support: Goodnotes allows you to annotate PDFs and other documents, so it’s ideal for both note-taking and document review.
Microsoft OneNote is another great app for taking notes with a stylus, and it has strong integration with the rest of the Microsoft app platform.
What is the best free app for taking notes?
Notta is the best free app for taking notes. It lets you capture ideas quickly by transcribing your voice in real-time. It's especially helpful if you need to take detailed notes during meetings and interviews.
With features like real-time transcription, audio recording, and AI-generated summaries, Notta makes it easy to stay organized. The free version includes a generous set of features so you can get started without paying a cent.
Should I take notes digitally or on paper?
You can take notes either digitally or on paper, since both options have their strengths.
Paper note-taking offers a tactile experience that many find helpful for memory and focus. Its simplicity can also reduce distractions.
On the other hand, digital note-taking provides greater flexibility. You can search and organize your notes, incorporate media, and collaborate with others in ways that aren't possible with pen and paper.
How do I write notes on my phone?
You can write notes on your phone using a note-taking app. Open the app, create a new note, and start typing using the on-screen keyboard.
Many apps also support voice input, handwriting with a stylus, or adding images and checklists for more flexibility.
