The Best Notes Apps in 2026
We researched notes apps using official vendor websites, including pricing pages, plan tables, and product documentation. The rankings focus on the category’s core job, value for money, and features verified from those sources, helping individuals and teams compare tools for capturing, organizing, and finding notes.
Our top picks
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Top ranked
Evernote#1 of 769.4/10A broad note workspace for capture, search, tasks, calendar-linked notes, and sharing.
Free plan · 7-day trial
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Runner-up
Google Keep#2 of 769.2/10A free, straightforward notes app for shared lists and everyday capture.
Free plan
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Top-ranked free plan
Notion#3 of 769.1/10A flexible workspace for shared knowledge, with a free plan and paid collaboration features.
Free plan
Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. How we rank.
The full ranking 76 tools, best first · page 1 of 2
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Best forPeople wanting a full-featured note workspace
A broad note workspace for capture, search, tasks, calendar-linked notes, and sharing.
- Offline access
Free plan · 7-day trial Our Evernote verdict → Visit EvernoteFor vendors Sponsor this spot · #1 · $149/mo →9.4/10★★★★★Visit Evernote -
Best forPeople wanting simple, free collaborative notes
A free, straightforward notes app for shared lists and everyday capture.
- Offline access
9.2/10★★★★★Visit Google Keep -
Best forTeams building collaborative notes and knowledge bases
A flexible workspace for shared knowledge, with a free plan and paid collaboration features.
- Offline access
9.1/10★★★★★Visit Notion -
Best forOpen-source users wanting offline-first notes
A flexible Markdown notes app for local-first work, with paid cloud collaboration when needed.
- Offline access
Free plan · 14-day trial Our Joplin verdict → Visit JoplinFor vendors Sponsor this spot · #4 · $69/mo →9.0/10★★★★☆Visit Joplin -
Best forPeople wanting free notes across devices and formats
A flexible notes app with a free tier, broad device support, and paid AI features.
- Offline access
8.9/10★★★★☆Visit Zoho Notebook -
Best forLocal-first users organizing linked Markdown notes
A flexible offline notes workspace; syncing and web publishing are optional paid add-ons.
- Offline access
8.8/10★★★★☆Visit Obsidian -
Best forPeople who want straightforward free notes everywhere
A straightforward, free notes app with offline access and Markdown across platforms.
- Offline access
8.7/10★★★★☆Visit Simplenote -
Best forOpen-source users building a linked knowledge graph
A flexible local-first graph for personal notes, tasks, and research.
- Offline access
8.6/10★★★★☆Visit Logseq -
Best forMarkdown users on Nextcloud or ownCloud
A flexible Markdown notebook for people already working with Nextcloud or ownCloud.
- Offline access
8.5/10★★★★☆Visit QOwnNotes -
Best forDesktop researchers writing and citing Markdown
A free desktop Markdown workspace for researchers who need citations, links, and export tools.
- Offline access
8.4/10★★★★☆Visit Zettlr -
Best forSelf-hosters who want a customizable personal wiki
A flexible, open-source wiki for self-hosters; less suited to ready-made note workflows.
8.3/10★★★★☆Visit TiddlyWiki -
Best forLinux and desktop users wanting simple wiki notes
A free, open-source desktop wiki for linked notes, journals, and documents.
- Offline access
8.2/10★★★★☆Visit Zim Wiki -
Best forTeams combining notes with project work and wikis
A flexible team workspace for notes and project work, with a free plan and self-hosting.
- Offline access
8.1/10★★★★☆Visit AppFlowy -
Best forVisual thinkers mapping connected notes and ideas
A graph-based notes app for connecting ideas, with offline access and multiple views.
- Offline access
8.0/10★★★★☆Visit TheBrain -
Best forPeople wanting polished documents and collaborative notes
Craft combines structured documents, daily notes, tasks, and sharing in a cross-device workspace.
- Offline access
7.9/10★★★★☆Visit Craft -
Best forPrivacy-minded solo note-takers
A privacy-focused notes app with offline editing and a free plan.
- Offline access
7.8/10★★★★☆Visit Notesnook -
Best forStudents turning notes and sources into study material
A study-focused notes app that connects source material with review tools.
7.7/10★★★★☆Visit RemNote -
Best forPeople prioritizing encrypted notes and file storage
A privacy-focused notes app with a useful free tier and paid editors and storage.
- Offline access
7.6/10★★★★☆Visit Standard Notes -
Best forSolo users organizing linked objects and daily notes
A flexible personal knowledge workspace, with task and calendar tools on paid plans.
- Offline access
7.5/10★★★★☆Visit Capacities -
Best forOffline-first users organizing notes and projects
A local-first workspace for notes, projects, and shared knowledge across desktop and mobile.
- Offline access
7.4/10★★★★☆Visit Anytype -
Best forResearchers who think visually with PDFs and whiteboards
Organize notes, PDFs, and research visually, with AI tools and collaboration on paid plans.
- Offline access
7.3/10★★★★☆Visit Heptabase -
Best forAI-focused users combining notes, tasks, and meetings
A notes workspace that links AI-assisted meeting capture with tasks, calendars, and email.
7.2/10★★★★☆Visit Tana -
Best forPeople who want AI to track commitments in their notes
A notes-centered assistant for turning meetings and messages into tracked commitments.
7.1/10★★★★☆Visit Mem -
Best forUsers who prefer daily notes and bidirectional links
Daily notes, backlinks, and block references suit people who organize ideas as connected graphs.
- Offline access
7.0/10★★★★☆Visit Roam Research -
Best forSolo users who want encrypted, linked notes
A focused personal notes app with offline access, capture tools, and encrypted sync.
- Offline access
6.9/10★★★☆☆Visit Reflect -
Best forUsers combining notes with calendar tasks
A notes, tasks, and calendar workspace for people who plan from their notes.
- Offline access
6.8/10★★★☆☆Visit Amplenote -
Best forApple users planning notes around tasks and calendars
A planning-focused notes app for Apple users who want tasks and calendars alongside notes.
- Offline access
6.7/10★★★☆☆Visit NotePlan -
Best forOutliners who want nested notes and fast capture
A focused outliner with fast capture, nested notes, and flexible sharing.
6.6/10★★★☆☆Visit Workflowy -
Best forSmall teams sharing notes and libraries
Collaborative notes with offline editing, OCR search, and flexible team libraries.
- Offline access
6.5/10★★★☆☆Visit Notejoy -
Best forVisual note-card users who want links and offline search
A visual note-card app for linking ideas, working offline, and sharing notes.
- Offline access
6.4/10★★★☆☆Visit Supernotes -
Best forDesktop users keeping Markdown notes in Git-backed vaults
A desktop Markdown vault for people who want Git history and AI tools alongside linked notes.
- Markdown support
- Offline access
6.3/10★★★☆☆Visit Tolaria -
Best forSelf-hosters moving notes into a hierarchical notebook
A free, open-source notebook with offline storage, backlinks, OCR search and self-hosting.
- Offline access
6.2/10★★★☆☆Visit TriliumNext -
Best forApple users who want rapid text capture and automation
A fast inbox for text that turns capture into configurable workflows.
- Offline access
6.1/10★★★☆☆Visit Drafts -
Best forPrivacy-focused users comfortable self-hosting sync
A privacy-focused Markdown notebook with offline access and self-hosted encrypted sync.
- Offline access
6.0/10★★★☆☆Visit FUTO Notes -
Best forOpen-source users wanting a feature-rich Markdown vault
A local-first Markdown vault with research tools, PDF annotation, and several sync options.
- Offline access
5.9/10★★★☆☆Visit Noteriv -
Best forSelf-hosters managing encrypted Markdown notes
A self-hosted notes app for encrypted Markdown documents, with search and a REST API.
- Offline access
5.8/10★★★☆☆Visit plumio -
Best forSelf-hosters who want a scriptable offline wiki
A flexible offline-first wiki for self-hosters, with a narrower integration footprint.
- Offline access
5.7/10★★★☆☆Visit SilverBullet -
Best forSolo users wanting inexpensive offline notes and clipping
A focused notes app with a free tier and low-cost Premium options.
- Offline access
5.6/10★★★☆☆Visit UpNote -
Best forApple users who prefer Markdown notes and export options
A focused Markdown notebook for Apple users who want structured notes and export choice.
- Offline access
5.5/10★★★☆☆Visit Bear -
Best forVisual thinkers collecting ideas on shared boards
A flexible canvas for collecting ideas, planning visually and sharing boards.
5.4/10★★★☆☆Visit Milanote -
Best forDesktop users seeking private, offline Markdown notes
A capable local-first notes app for desktop users who want control over storage and sync.
- Offline access
5.3/10★★★☆☆Visit Beaver Notes -
Best forDesktop users building a local linked-note collection
A free, open-source desktop app for building a personal network of Markdown notes.
- Offline access
5.2/10★★★☆☆Visit Tangent -
Best forPeople saving and automatically organizing web content
A capture-and-recall app for saving web content, notes, images, and articles.
- Web clipper
5.1/10★★★☆☆Visit mymind -
Best forMarkdown users syncing notes across filesystems and devices
A cross-platform Markdown notebook for offline work and flexible file-based sync.
- Offline access
5.0/10★★☆☆☆Visit NotesHub -
Best forAndroid users wanting rich notes with reminders and AI help
A flexible Android notes app with offline editing, locks, collaboration and reminders.
- Shared collaboration
- Offline access
4.9/10★★☆☆☆Visit Vilipi -
Best forApple users organizing notes around dates
Agenda connects dated notes, calendar events, reminders, and collaboration on Apple devices.
- Offline access
4.8/10★★☆☆☆Visit Agenda -
Best forMarkdown users wanting portable offline notes
A free, open-source notes app for portable Markdown and offline access.
- Offline access
4.7/10★★☆☆☆Visit HelixNotes -
Best forSelf-hosters wanting shareable Markdown notes
A free, self-hosted notes app with Markdown, sharing, search and offline PWA access.
- Offline access
4.6/10★★☆☆☆Visit Memos -
Best forMarkdown users wanting a free local-first knowledge base
A free Markdown notebook with linked notes and research tools across web, desktop, and mobile.
- Markdown support
- Offline access
4.5/10★★☆☆☆Visit Neoma -
Best forWindows users clipping and searching text
A Windows desktop notes app built around text clipping, full-text search, and structured organization.
- Offline access
4.4/10★★☆☆☆Visit CintaNotes
No tools match those filters.
Compare at a glance
| # | Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Offline access | Sync model | Markdown support | Web clipper | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evernote | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 9.4 |
| 2 | Google Keep | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 9.2 |
| 3 | Notion | Yes | $10/user/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 9.1 |
| 4 | Joplin | Yes | €2.99/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 9.0 |
| 5 | Zoho Notebook | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 8.9 |
| 6 | Obsidian | Yes | $4/user/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 8.8 |
| 7 | Simplenote | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 8.7 |
| 8 | Logseq | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 8.6 |
| 9 | QOwnNotes | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 8.5 |
| 10 | Zettlr | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 8.4 |
| 11 | TiddlyWiki | Yes | None | — | — | — | — | 8.3 |
| 12 | Zim | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 8.2 |
| 13 | AppFlowy | Yes | $12.50/user/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 8.1 |
| 14 | TheBrain | Yes | $15/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 8.0 |
| 15 | Craft | Yes | $6.40/user/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 7.9 |
| 16 | Notesnook | Yes | $1.99/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 7.8 |
| 17 | RemNote | Yes | $8/mo | — | — | — | — | 7.7 |
| 18 | Standard Notes | Yes | $90/yr | Yes | — | — | — | 7.6 |
| 19 | Capacities | Yes | $8.33/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 7.5 |
| 20 | Anytype | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 7.4 |
| 21 | Heptabase | Yes | $107.88/user/yr | Yes | — | — | — | 7.3 |
| 22 | Tana | Yes | $30/user/mo | — | — | — | — | 7.2 |
| 23 | Mem Agent | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | 7.1 |
| 24 | Roam Research | No | — | Yes | — | — | — | 7.0 |
| 25 | Reflect | No | $10/user/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 6.9 |
| 26 | Amplenote | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 6.8 |
| 27 | NotePlan | No | $99/user/yr | Yes | — | — | — | 6.7 |
| 28 | Workflowy | Yes | $6.99/mo | — | — | — | — | 6.6 |
| 29 | Notejoy | Yes | $5/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 6.5 |
| 30 | Supernotes | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 6.4 |
| 31 | Tolaria | Yes | None | Yes | Local-first | Yes | — | 6.3 |
| 32 | TriliumNext Notes | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 6.2 |
| 33 | Drafts | Yes | $19.99/yr | Yes | — | — | — | 6.1 |
| 34 | FUTO Notes | — | None | Yes | — | — | — | 6.0 |
| 35 | Noteriv | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 5.9 |
| 36 | plumio | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 5.8 |
| 37 | SilverBullet | — | None | Yes | — | — | — | 5.7 |
| 38 | UpNote | Yes | $1.99/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 5.6 |
| 39 | Bear | Yes | $29.99/user/yr | Yes | — | — | — | 5.5 |
| 40 | Milanote | Yes | $49/mo | — | — | — | — | 5.4 |
| 41 | Beaver Notes | Yes | $4/mo | Yes | — | — | — | 5.3 |
| 42 | Tangent | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 5.2 |
| 43 | mymind | Yes | $4.99/mo | — | — | — | Yes | 5.1 |
| 44 | NotesHub | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 5.0 |
| 45 | Vilipi | Yes | — | Yes | Both | — | — | 4.9 |
| 46 | Agenda | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 4.8 |
| 47 | HelixNotes | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 4.7 |
| 48 | Memos | Yes | None | Yes | — | — | — | 4.6 |
| 49 | Neoma | Yes | A$22/user/mo | Yes | Local-first | Yes | — | 4.5 |
| 50 | CintaNotes | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | 4.4 |
Head-to-head All 11 comparisons →
- Evernote vs Simplenote
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- Google Keep vs Simplenote
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How we rank notes apps
Every tool on this page was researched by iTechGuides Editors from its official website — pricing pages, plan tables and product documentation. We rank on how well each one does this category's core job, what the free or entry plan includes, and where it falls short. Where we have enough verified facts, the score out of 10 is a rubric — job fit, value and how much we could verify — shown with its breakdown on every tool's page; a tool we have not verified enough to score yet shows its rank without a number. Scores are re-checked when a product changes its plans. Read the full editorial policy, or submit a tool we missed.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Last updated · How we research and update