Microsoft OneNote
A digital notebook from Microsoft, free to use on the web.
Web AppFreeWeb
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Category
Best Note-Taking software, apps and tools
94 hand-picked note-taking tools, apps and resources, each one checked by a real person. 92 of them are free or have a free plan.
Updated
Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com
Note-taking apps give you one place to write down ideas, meeting notes, reading notes and anything else you want to keep. The best ones make capture quick on every device, let you find a note again in seconds and let you take your notes with you if you ever switch.
This category covers simple notes apps, Markdown editors, outliners and plugins that add drawings or AI help to your notes. Pick an app that syncs to every device you use, keep your folder or tag system shallow, and spend a few minutes each week tidying what you captured.
All resources
Type
Pricing
Platform
94 resources
Freeplane
A free, open-source mind mapping app that runs anywhere Java does.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.4Visit
Xmind
A mind mapping app for every platform with a free plan.
Desktop AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.5Visit
Zoho Notebook
A free, ad-free note-taking app built around colourful cards.
Web AppFree planWeb, iOS
4.5Visit
Cryptee
Encrypted photo storage and a private document editor in one app.
Web AppFree planWeb, Cross-Platform
4.3Visit
Mochi
A flashcard app that turns Markdown notes into spaced repetition cards.
Desktop AppFree planmacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
DokuWiki
A simple wiki for notes and documentation that you host yourself.
Web AppFreeWeb
4.3Visit
HackMD
Real-time collaborative Markdown notes for teams and communities.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.5Visit
cheat
Pull up quick cheatsheets for terminal commands without leaving the terminal.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.4Visit
Foam
A free note-taking and linking system that lives inside VS Code.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.4Visit
TiddlyWiki
A personal wiki notebook that fits in a single file.
Web AppFreeWeb, Offline
4.5Visit
MarkEdit
A tiny, native Markdown editor for Mac that feels like TextEdit.
Mac AppFreemacOS, Offline
4.6Visit
Glow
A terminal Markdown reader that makes notes and READMEs easy on the eyes.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
Obsidian Git
An Obsidian plugin that backs up and syncs your vault with Git automatically.
OtherFreeCross-Platform
4.6Visit
Checkvist
A keyboard-first outliner for people who think in nested lists.
Web AppFree planWeb, Chrome
4.5Visit
Dynalist
An infinite outliner for organising notes, ideas and projects as bullet lists.
Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.4Visit
Koodo Reader
A clean ebook reader for EPUB, PDF and more, with notes and sync.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.6Visit
Dillinger
A free online Markdown editor with a live preview.
Web AppFreeWeb
4.4Visit
Notejoy
A fast, focused notes app built for sharing knowledge with a team.
Web AppFree planWeb, iOS
4.5Visit
ProtectedText
An encrypted online notepad with no accounts, ads or tracking.
Web AppFreeWeb, Android
4.4Visit
Rentry
A free Markdown pastebin for sharing formatted notes and pages.
Web AppFreeWeb
4.4Visit
nb
A command-line notebook for notes, bookmarks and to-dos in plain text.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.5Visit
UpNote
A clean, fast notes app that syncs across every device.
Mobile AppFree planiOS, Android
4.6Visit
zk
A plain-text note-taking assistant for building a Zettelkasten in the terminal.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.5Visit
Flatnotes
A simple self-hosted notes app that stores everything as Markdown files.
Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.5Visit
anarlog
A private AI meeting notepad that works without a bot in the call.
Desktop AppFree planmacOS, Windows
4.5Visit
QOwnNotes
A plain-text Markdown notepad and to-do manager for your desktop.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.6Visit
Coggle
Make collaborative mind maps and flowcharts in your browser.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.5Visit
jrnl
A simple command-line journal for quick notes and daily logs.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.5Visit
Xournal++
Take handwritten notes and annotate PDFs with a pen or tablet.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.6Visit
SilverBullet
A programmable Markdown notes app you host and open in your browser.
Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.6Visit
Alexandrie
A self-hosted Markdown knowledge base that works offline on any device.
Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.5Visit
Rnote
A handwriting and sketching app for notes, diagrams and PDF annotation.
Desktop AppFreeLinux, Windows
4.6Visit
Memos
A self-hosted timeline for quick notes you can search, tag and share.
Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit
SiYuan
A privacy-first knowledge workspace with block links, databases and flashcards.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.7Visit
Workflowy
A minimalist outliner for organising notes, tasks and ideas as nested lists.
Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.5Visit
- Trilium Notes
- Markmap
- Zettlr
- HedgeDoc
- Heynote
- MarkText
- Open Knowledge
- StackEdit
- Standard Notes
- AppFlowy
- Joplin
- Meetily
- Notesnook
- Simplenote
- Copilot for Obsidian
- Dataview
- Excalidraw for Obsidian
- Kanban for Obsidian
- Smart Connections
- Tasks for Obsidian
- Templater
- Glyph
- Obsidian Vault Intelligence
- obsidian-mind
- Operon
- claude-obsidian
- hypernovum
- Obsidian Second Brain
- Snipd
- Matter
- Taskade
- Mem.ai
- Supernotes
- MindNode
- Moments App (by Momentum)
- MindPal
- Routine
- Evernote
- Superlist
- Anytype
- Capacities
- Bear
- Craft
- Fathom
- Logseq
- Reor
- AFFiNE
- Granola
- Otter.ai
- Reflect
- RemNote
- Tana
- Google Keep
- Notion Second Brain Template
- Obsidian Web Clipper
- Building a Second Brain
- Obsidian
- Notion
Showing 36 of 94
Note-Taking at a glance
Counted from the listings on this page.
- Pricing
- Of 94 picks, 54 are completely free, 38 have a free plan and 2 are paid.
- Highest rated
- claude-obsidian (4.8/5), Obsidian (4.8/5) and Notion (4.7/5) have the highest ratings in our reviews.
- Formats
- Most common: Web App (37), Desktop App (30), Other (9) and AI Tool (8).
- Often also listed under
- Knowledge Management (42), Personal Knowledge Management (36), Organization (18) and AI Productivity (15).
- Platforms
- Most listed: macOS (59), Windows (53), Web (50) and Linux (39).
- Best for
- Picked most often for Students (55), Personal Use (53) and Writers (53).
- Learning curve
- 50 beginner-friendly, 39 intermediate and 5 advanced.
- Newest addition
- Microsoft OneNote, added 12 November 2026.
Note-Taking tools: common questions
Straight answers to what people ask before picking a tool.
- What are the best note-taking tools?
- The highest-rated note-taking picks in the directory right now are claude-obsidian, Obsidian and Notion. Each one is checked by hand, and the full list above is sorted by our recommendation.
- What is the best free note-taking tool?
- claude-obsidian and Matter are the top-rated completely free options. If a free plan is enough, Obsidian is also worth a look.
- How many note-taking tools are listed?
- 94 note-taking resources are listed: 54 completely free, 38 with a free plan and 2 paid. New ones are added as they are checked.
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