The best note-taking apps in 2026, compared by what you need

The best note-taking apps in 2026 are Obsidian for private, linked notes, Notion for teams, Microsoft OneNote for free handwriting on every device, and Barside for a free, local-first desktop app on Windows, Linux and Mac. Apple Notes, Evernote, Google Keep, Joplin and Bear each win a narrower job. The right pick depends on three things: the devices you write on, whether other people edit your notes, and where you want the notes to live.

This guide gives you the short answer, a comparison table with prices checked on September 28, 2026, a review of each app with its real limits, and a way to choose.

The best note-taking apps at a glance

• Best for private, linked notes: Obsidian. Free, fast, and every note is a plain Markdown file you own.
• Best for teams and wikis: Notion. Pages, databases and sharing in one online workspace.
• Best free notebook on every device: Microsoft OneNote. Free on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, with handwriting.
• Best free desktop app for Windows, Linux and Mac: Barside. Notes, tasks, reading and recordings in one app, saved on your computer with no account.
• Best for iPhone, iPad and Mac: Apple Notes. Built in, free, with document scanning and locked notes.
• Best for web clipping and scanned paper: Evernote.
• Best for quick lists on your phone: Google Keep.
• Best open-source app with encrypted sync: Joplin.
• Best writing app for Apple devices: Bear.

How we chose these note-taking apps

We compared each app on the jobs people do with notes every day. Every fact about another product comes from its own website, pricing page or help center, checked on September 28, 2026, and listed under Sources at the end of this page.

• Where your notes live. On your device, in the company's cloud, or both, and whether you can take them with you in a format another app can open.
• Platforms. Which computers and phones it runs on, and whether there is a web version.
• Real cost. What the free plan stops you from doing, and what the first paid plan costs.
• Writing and organizing. Checklists, tables, links between notes, tags or folders, and templates.
• Capture. Web clipping, screenshots, document scanning and voice.
• Offline use. Whether you can write and search with no connection.
• Sharing. Editing with other people, or at least sending them a note.

The best note-taking apps compared

Prices are as of September 2026, from each company's own pricing page. "Yearly" means the monthly price when you pay for a year at once.

The 9 best note-taking apps, reviewed

Every price in these reviews is as of September 2026, from the company's own website.

1. Obsidian: best for private, linked notes

Obsidian is a free notes app that stores every note as a plain Markdown file in a folder on your device. Because the files are ordinary text, any editor can open them, today or years from now. Type [[ to link one note to another, open the graph view to see how your ideas connect, and use Canvas as an infinite board for diagrams and research. The Bases core plugin shows your notes as database-like tables, cards, lists and kanban boards, sorted and filtered by their properties.

Best for: writers, researchers, students and developers who want notes they own, with room to grow.

• Strengths: free with no sign-up; Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android; plain Markdown files, so there is nothing to export when you leave; links, graph view, Canvas and Bases built in; thousands of community plugins; a web clipper for most browsers.
• Limits: syncing between your devices costs extra, or you set up your own file sync. It is built for one person first, so a team that wants a shared wiki is better served by Notion or Confluence. Many popular features come from community plugins that you install and keep up to date yourself.
• Price: free. Obsidian Sync starts at US$4 a month billed yearly or US$5 monthly (1 GB), and it is end-to-end encrypted by default. Publish costs US$8 per site a month billed yearly. A commercial license (US$50 per user a year) is optional.

2. Notion: best for teams and wikis

Notion is an online workspace where notes, docs, wikis and databases live together. You build pages from blocks, add database properties and filters to organize information, and share any page with your team or with guests. Notion Calendar, forms and sites are included, in basic form on the Free plan.

Best for: teams that want docs, a wiki and light project tracking in one place, and people who enjoy building their own systems.

• Strengths: databases, templates and sharing in one tool; apps for the web, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android; Business adds Notion Agent, AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search.
• Limits: your workspace lives on Notion's servers. Offline use covers the pages you choose to download on Free, and your recent and favorite pages on paid plans. The Free plan allows uploads up to 5 MB, keeps 7 days of page history, and limits blocks once two or more members share a workspace. Free and Plus include only a trial of Notion AI. The desktop app is for Windows and Mac, so Linux users work in the browser.
• Price: free. Plus is US$10 per member a month billed yearly (US$12 monthly), and Business is US$20 billed yearly (US$24 monthly). Enterprise is priced on request.

If Notion feels heavy or you want your notes offline, compare the best Notion alternatives.

3. Microsoft OneNote: best free notebook on every device

OneNote is Microsoft's free digital notebook, and it works like a paper one. Notebooks hold sections, sections hold pages, and on a page you click anywhere to type. With a pen, your finger or even a mouse, you can draw, sketch or handwrite right on the page. It runs on Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android and the web, and keeps notebooks in the cloud so they follow you.

Best for: students, anyone who writes by hand on a tablet, and people who want a free notebook on every device they own.

• Strengths: free everywhere; freeform pages for typing, drawing and handwriting; the familiar notebook, section and page structure; works with your Microsoft account and Microsoft 365.
• Limits: notebooks live online with your Microsoft account, so your notes depend on it. The OneNote desktop app for Windows is the only version that can also keep notebooks on your hard drive. Freeform pages suit handwriting well, but long structured documents are tidier in a linear editor. A few extras need a Microsoft 365 subscription.
• Price: free to download and use. Microsoft 365 unlocks some premium features.

Thinking of leaving OneNote? Read the OneNote alternative guide.

4. Barside: best free desktop app for Windows, Linux and Mac

Barside is a free desktop app that keeps your notes on your own computer: Windows, Linux or Mac. There is no account to create and no limit on notes. A note is a full page: headings, checklists, tables, code blocks, links, images, video and audio. Around your notes sit the tools you would otherwise use separately: a task board built from your checklists, templates, reminders, bookmarks, Excalidraw drawings, a reading inbox, screen recording and call transcription.

Best for: people who work at a Windows or Linux computer, or a Mac, and want one fast, private app for their notes and the work around them.

• Strengths: every change saves on your computer as you type, and your notes work fully offline. Type [[ to link notes and see backlinks under Linked from, and explore them on the Note map. Every checklist item in every note lands on one task board, grouped by due date. Start from six ready-made templates, from meeting notes to a weekly review, or let repeating notes make themselves on a schedule. Barside docks to the edge of your screen, pins any note in its own window, and its search bar opens from any app with Alt+Shift+Space.
• AI, your way: Barside has no AI of its own and no AI subscription. Connect your own Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or OpenRouter account in Settings → AI, and the assistant and AI search work with your notes. Until you connect one, the AI features stay off; after that, notes go to your AI company only through the AI features you use.
• Limits: desktop only, with no phone app and no web version of your notes. There are no databases like Notion's and no live co-editing: sharing a note to a Space sends a copy. Notes are saved in Barside's own library file, not as Markdown files like Obsidian's. Sync between computers needs Barside Plus.
• Price: free. Barside Plus is optional, at US$20 a month or US$200 a year plus sales tax, for encrypted cloud backup, cloud sync between your computers and cloud agents.

Read the full guide to the Barside notes app, or download Barside.

5. Apple Notes: best for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Apple Notes comes with every iPhone, iPad and Mac. It handles checklists, tables, drawings, attachments, and scanned and signed documents, and you can organize notes with tags and Smart Folders or lock the private ones. With iCloud, notes stay up to date on all your Apple devices, and you can open them at iCloud.com in a web browser.

Best for: people whose devices are all Apple and who want fast capture with nothing to install.

• Strengths: free and built in; quick capture on iPhone; document scanning; tags, Smart Folders and locked notes.
• Limits: there is no Notes app for Windows, Android or Linux, only iCloud.com in a browser. It is built for everyday notes more than for a large, linked knowledge base. Sync uses your iCloud storage, which starts at 5 GB free for everything you keep in iCloud.
• Price: free. If you run out of space, iCloud+ starts at US$0.99 a month for 50 GB.

6. Evernote: best for web clipping and scanned paper

Evernote calls itself "your second brain": notes, tasks and a calendar in one place, with a web clipper, document scanning, templates and advanced search. It has apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and the web, and connects to Google or Microsoft calendars.

Best for: people who clip a lot from the web or scan receipts and paper, and want it all searchable on every device.

• Strengths: a Web Clipper that saves what you see online with a click; document scanning; tasks with dates and reminders; calendar events linked to notes; advanced search with filters.
• Limits: the free plan is small: 50 notes, 1 notebook and sync on 1 device, so a growing library soon needs a paid plan. Starter raises that to 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks and 3 devices.
• Price: Starter is US$99 a year or US$14.99 a month, and Advanced is US$249.99 a year or US$24.99 a month.

Moving out of Evernote? The Evernote alternative guide walks through it.

7. Google Keep: best for quick notes and lists

Google Keep is a free, simple notes app tied to your Google account. You jot down notes, lists, photos, drawings and audio, color and label them, pin the important ones, and set reminders. Share a note and other people can edit it with you in real time. Keep syncs across your phone and computer, and you can keep working offline.

Best for: grocery lists, quick ideas and shared family lists, especially on Android.

• Strengths: free; very fast capture; shared lists that update live; reminders; works offline and syncs when you reconnect.
• Limits: Keep is made for short notes and lists, not long documents or a knowledge base with linked notes. Your notes live in your Google account.
• Price: free with a Google account.

8. Joplin: best open-source app with encrypted sync

Joplin is a free, open-source notes app for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, with a terminal app too. Your notes are saved in an open format. You sync them through Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive or other services, and you can turn on end-to-end encryption so only you can read them. A web clipper for Chrome and Firefox saves pages and screenshots as notes.

Best for: privacy-minded people who want open source, their own choice of sync, and apps on every platform, Linux included.

• Strengths: open source; notes in an open format; optional end-to-end encryption for sync; runs everywhere; a web clipper.
• Limits: the editor is built around Markdown, with a rich text mode, and many extras come from plugins that you add yourself.
• Price: free. Joplin Cloud Basic is €2.99 a month or €28.69 a year (2 GB), and Pro is €5.99 a month or €57.48 a year (30 GB).

9. Bear: best writing app for Apple devices

Bear is a Markdown notes app for Mac, iPhone and iPad with a clean editor and flexible tags. The free version has no sync. Bear Pro adds iCloud sync across your devices, encrypted notes, export to PDF, HTML and DOCX, more themes, and search for text inside PDFs and images.

Best for: writers and students who live on Apple devices and care about a beautiful editor.

• Strengths: a calm, fast editor; Markdown; tags with icons; an affordable Pro plan.
• Limits: Apple devices only, with no Windows, Android or web app. Sync needs Pro.
• Price: free without sync. Bear Pro is US$2.99 a month or US$29.99 a year.

How to choose the best note-taking app for you

Start with the devices you write on, then the people you write with.

• You capture most notes on your phone: pick an app with a strong phone version. Apple Notes on iPhone, Google Keep on Android, or Obsidian, OneNote and Notion if you use both.
• You work at a Windows or Linux desktop all day: Barside, Obsidian or OneNote. Choose Barside if you also want tasks, reading, recordings and meetings in the same place, next to your work at the edge of the screen. All three run on a Mac too.
• Your team edits the same pages: Notion. OneNote also lets you collaborate on notebooks.
• You want to own your files for decades: Obsidian or Joplin, because both keep notes in open formats on your device.
• You clip the web and scan paper: Evernote.
• You write by hand with a pen: OneNote.
• You write long pieces on a Mac or iPad: Bear.

Before you move years of notes, ask three questions:

1. Can I get my notes out? Try the export on day one, not on the day you want to leave.
2. What happens with no connection? Open the app in airplane mode and search for an old note.
3. What will the free plan stop me from doing next year? Note limits, device limits and upload sizes start to matter as your library grows.

Where each note-taking app keeps your notes

Where your notes live decides who can read them, what works offline, and how hard it is to leave.

Local-first apps such as Obsidian, Joplin and Barside keep working when the company's servers do not, and they never need an account to open your notes. Barside counts which features are used, by name only, and you can turn that off. Its online features, such as Spaces and cloud sync, stay off until you use them. Read how Barside keeps your library on your computer, or the privacy guide. If owning your data is your main reason to switch, see the best local-first apps.

Switching note-taking apps without losing your notes

Most apps export something another app can read: Markdown, HTML, Word files or their own export format. Barside reads the common ones directly, so you can try it with your real notes instead of a blank page.

1. Export from your old app. In Notion, open Settings, then General, choose Export all workspace content and pick Markdown & CSV; Notion emails you a link to the ZIP file. From Google Keep, use Google Takeout and select only Keep. From the OneNote app for Windows, export pages or sections as Word files. From Evernote, export notebooks as .enex files.
2. In Barside, open Settings → Import notes and choose where the notes come from. An Obsidian vault is simply its folder.
3. Check the preview. Barside shows how many notes and attachments it found and any warnings, before anything is added.
4. Import into a new or existing workspace. Links between notes become note links, checklists become tasks, and images, audio and video come along. Tags are kept as text.

The files are read on your computer, and nothing is uploaded. If an import fails, nothing is added. The import guide covers every source step by step.

Compare these note-taking apps in more depth

If you already know which app you want to leave, these guides compare it with Barside feature by feature, with honest notes on where each one is better:

• Notion alternative: an offline, local-first workspace instead of a cloud one.
• Obsidian alternative: linked notes plus tasks, reading and recordings in one app.
• Evernote alternative: notes, web pages and reading, without a 50-note free limit.
• OneNote alternative: notes that stay on your computer instead of a Microsoft account.

Building a system for everything you learn? The best second brain apps goes deeper on capture, linking and search.