Best note-taking apps in 2026: Notion, Obsidian, OneNote and more

Notion is the best note-taking app for most people who want notes, wikis and tasks together, and Obsidian is the best for notes you fully own. Microsoft OneNote is the best free option, Joplin the best open-source one, Bear the best for Apple users, and Evernote is a veteran whose free plan has become very restrictive.

The best note app is the one you will actually open. Before choosing, decide how you take notes. Some people want a fast scratchpad, others a linked personal knowledge base, and others a shared team wiki. Each type of app serves a different habit.

Our picks at a glance

Notion: Best all-in-one workspace

Notion turns notes into a workspace. Pages hold text, checklists and embedded files, and databases show collections as tables, boards or calendars. That makes it strong for wikis, project notes and personal planners. The free plan suits individuals, with 7 days of page history and 5 MB file uploads; Plus costs $10 per member per month and Business $20, which includes Notion AI features.

It is not the fastest tool for quick capture, and offline use is weaker than with local-first apps. Read our Notion review for more detail.

Obsidian: Best for notes you own

Obsidian stores your notes as plain markdown files in a folder on your own device, which means no lock-in and no dependence on a company’s servers. It supports links between notes, a graph view and a huge plugin library, which makes it a favourite for building a personal knowledge base.

The app is free without limits and requires no sign-up. Optional extras are Sync at $4 per user per month billed annually ($5 monthly), which adds cross-device sync, end-to-end encryption, version history and shared vaults, and Publish at $8 per site per month billed annually. A commercial licence is $50 per user per year; it is not required for work use but encouraged. Setup, especially for mobile, takes more effort than with Notion, and it is less suited to team collaboration.

Microsoft OneNote: Best free app

Microsoft OneNote is a free-form digital notebook, with notebooks divided into sections and pages where you can type, draw, paste and clip content anywhere on the canvas. It is free to use with a Microsoft account and fits neatly into the Microsoft 365 world, including Windows, Mac and mobile devices.

Its looseness is both its charm and its weakness. It is excellent for students and people who like a paper-notebook feel, but organisation can become untidy, and it lacks the structured databases of Notion.

Joplin: Best open-source option

Joplin is free and open source, with apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and a terminal app. It uses end-to-end encryption and syncs through services including Joplin Cloud, Dropbox and OneDrive. Notes are saved in an open format.

The interface looks dated beside the commercial apps, and the experience is less polished, but for privacy-minded people who want a free tool and control over where data lives, it is an excellent fit.

Bear: Best for Apple users

Bear is a markdown notes app with a famously elegant writing experience, tagging and widgets for Mac, iPhone and iPad, including support for Siri and Shortcuts. It is aimed at writers and anyone who wants beautiful, uncluttered notes.

It does not run on Windows or Android, so it is only for Apple households. Syncing across devices needs Bear’s Pro subscription, so check the current price on Bear’s site.

Evernote: Best web clipper heritage

Evernote helped define the category, and it still offers good search and web clipping. But its free plan is now limited to 50 notes, one notebook, five spaces, one device and 1 GB of storage, and its paid Starter and Advanced plans include a 7-day trial. Reviewers generally suggest looking at the alternatives above first unless you already have years of notes inside it.

Tip

Before moving to a new app, export your notes to a standard format such as markdown or HTML, and check that you can export again later. Easy exit is a feature.

Matching the app to how you take notes

Moving your notes without losing them

Switching apps is where most people give up, so plan the exit before you commit.

• Plain markdown is the most portable format. Obsidian works directly on markdown files, and Joplin and Notion can export to markdown, so notes can travel between them with little cleanup.
• Evernote exports to its own ENEX format, which several other apps, including Joplin, can import.
• OneNote has the most closed format of the group, so expect more manual work when leaving it. Export important pages to PDF or Word as a fallback.
• Attachments and images are the usual casualties. After any move, open a handful of notes with embedded files and check they are intact before deleting the original.

Note

Keep a periodic export of notes you cannot afford to lose, whichever app you use. A copy in a plain format is cheap insurance against changed plans, closed accounts or sync mishaps.

Common mistakes

• Over-engineering the system. Elaborate folder trees and tag schemes collapse under their own weight. Start with a few categories and add structure only when you feel pain.
• Picking a tool for features you never use. A simple app you open daily beats a powerful one you avoid.
• Using several apps for the same job. When notes live in four places, search stops working. Choose one home and treat others as inboxes.
• Ignoring offline access. If you work on trains, planes or patchy connections, check that the app works properly without a signal.
• Trusting sync blindly. Test that edits made on one device appear on another before relying on it, and know how to recover an earlier version.
• Forgetting search. Good search compensates for messy organisation. Check how quickly each app finds a note by a word in its body.

Notes and tasks

Many people find that notes and tasks blur. Notion handles both in one place through databases, while Obsidian can do it through plugins. Microsoft OneNote lets you tag items as to-dos but is not a task manager. If your work is mainly projects with deadlines and teammates, see our guide to the best project management software for small teams and keep your notes app for thinking and reference.

What to look for

• Where the notes live. Cloud-first apps are convenient for collaboration, local-first apps give you control and offline access.
• Format. Plain markdown files are the easiest to move to another app later.
• Sync and platforms. Make sure there are good apps for every device you use, and check whether sync costs extra.
• Organisation style. Folders, tags, links and databases suit different minds. Try each approach.
• Privacy and encryption. If you store sensitive material, look for end-to-end encryption and check whether it is on by default.
• Search and capture. Quick capture and good search matter more than elaborate features.
• Cost over time. Free plans can change, so favour apps that let you keep your data in open formats.

You might also consider the apps that came with your devices, such as Apple Notes or Google Keep, which are free and convenient if you stay within one ecosystem.

Free or paid: what you actually pay for

Most people can take notes for nothing. Microsoft OneNote and Joplin are free, Obsidian is free for personal use, and Notion has a free plan for individuals. Money usually buys one of three things.

• Sync across devices. Obsidian Sync and Bear Pro exist for exactly this. You can avoid the cost by syncing files through a cloud folder you already pay for, at the price of a little more setup.
• Collaboration. Notion’s paid plans add team features and a longer page history. Solo users rarely need them.
• Storage and limits. Evernote’s paid plans lift the caps that make its free plan hard to use.

If a free plan covers your devices and your sharing needs, start there and upgrade only when a limit gets in your way.

Which should you choose?

• You want one workspace for notes and projects: Notion.
• You want a private, long-lived knowledge base: Obsidian, or Joplin if you prefer a simpler, free app with built-in encrypted sync.
• You are a student or live in Microsoft 365: Microsoft OneNote.
• You write on a Mac and iPhone: Bear.
• You are already in Evernote: stay if it works, but test an alternative before renewing.

A practical approach is to pick one app for a fortnight and move real notes into it. Whichever you land on, keep your notes in a form that is easy to export, so that a future change is painless.

How we chose

We picked apps with active development, clear pricing and distinct strengths. We compared official plans, features and pricing as of October 2026, alongside the consensus of established independent reviews, and weighed ease of use, flexibility, privacy, platform support and cost.