14 Best Note Taking apps ( iOS, Android, Mac & Windows): Which one is Ahead of the Pack?

Originally Published at Troop Messenger 

 

Have a thought or an important reminder to set? But no paper or pencil, and no time to pen it down? Fret not, we have got you covered!

 

The thing with thoughts is that they hit you suddenly, irrespective of the time and place. A million-dollar idea can strike your brain while you are tuning to your favourite song, or walking down the street to fetch your morning coffee. We bet it happens to everybody, including you.

 

At a time like these, do you frantically search for a paper or pen or you wish for a readily available tool that allows you to make quick memo notes? The latter sounds perfect, and that’s why we’ve rounded up thirteen best note-taking apps and summarised their features. 

  To find an ideal note-taking app with all the above features, we began with over thirty-six contenders and shortlisted our way down to thirteen plus most promising applications.

 

Best Note-taking apps: The quicklinks!

 

1. Evernote

2. Microsoft OneNote

3. Bit.ai

4. Google Keep

5. Simple Note

6. Slips

6. Zoho Notebook

8. Quip

9. Dropbox Paper

10. Boostnote

11. Colornote

12. Notion

13. Milanote

14. Bear

15. MyScript

 

 

Evernote: The biggest note-taking app

 

  

 

 

This app allows users to prioritise and capture ideas, to-do-lists, and projects. It offers capable services such a supporting an extensive range of note types including sketches, checklists, plain text, images, audio memo, and clipped pages.

 

Evernote Pros:

Evernote Cons:

Great Web Clipper

Easy note formatting

Uncluttered interface

Flexible manipulation of images

OCR feature that allows users to extract text from images

Lacks search capabilities

Poor text formatting  

 

Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS.

 

Pricing: Free plan for individual use. Premium plans start at $2.74 per month.

 

 

Microsoft OneNote: The Office user’s Note-taking app

 

 

 

With Microsoft OneNote, you can do a lot more than creating notes and checklists.

 

This tool is perfect for both professional and personal reasons, given how it allows the users to enjoy multiple features like organisation, collaboration, and sharing. It’s the best note taking the app for Android and Mac users.

 

OneNote Pros:

OneNote Pros

Scribble great idea by writing and drawing with fingertip

Collaborate with anyone

Convert handwritten notes to text

Access from anywhere

Digital Highlighter

Upload files

Organise lessons and share assignment from the central library

Integration with other apps  

No reminder features

Complex for newbies

Functionalities differences for Mac Users

 

 Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS

 

 Pricing: Free plan with 5 GB file upload limit. Extra space can be purchased.

 

Bit.ai  (Document Collaboration Note Taking App)

 

Bit is a great Microsoft word alternative and the perfect app for team note-taking and documentation. Teams can create notes and documents like to-dos, client materials, project proposals, sales decks, training documents, how-to guides, etc. and collaborate in real-time. They can chat inside of documents, leave in-line comments to leave feedback, make decisions and get everyone on the same page.

 

Bit.ai Pros:

Bit.ai Cons:

Take rich notes by adding audio, pictures, videos, code blocks, maths equations, etc

Workspaces to keep everything organized

Markdown support

Content management capabilities

Rela-time team collaboration

Chat

Safe and secure

Document tracking 

No handwriting support

No mobile app

 

 

Google Keep: The Personal user’s Note-taking app

 

 

 

 

This is another popular free note-taking app that offers users a tactile and comprehensive note-taking space.

 

The tool has an advanced array of inbuilt features. Keep by Google is the quickest way to offload thoughts and ideas without losing focus.

  

Google Keep Pros:

Google Keep Cons:

Create notes, lists, and set reminders

Add collaborator

Add drawings and photos

Search notes by creating topics

Colour notes for easy searching

Automatic sync and backup

Follows voice command

Pinboard feature

Multi-device sharing

Limited features

Difficult organization

No Numbered list or bullet point

 

 Available on: Android, iOS, Windows, Google Chrome, macOS

 

 Pricing: Available for free

 

 

Simple Note: The affordable note-taking app

 

  

 

 

Simple Note being the easiest of all note-taking apps delivers a productive way of taking notes, maintaining lists, and penning down ideas.

 

The tool is clean, light, and free with all components like syncing sharing, and backup.

 

SimpleNote Pros:

SimpleNote Cons:

Simple and clean UI

Markdown support that allows users to write, preview, and publish notes

Instant searching through tags

Users are allowed to export data

Collaborative features to work together

No reminder

No social media integration

Poor save-to-disk feature

  

 Available on:  Windows, iOS, Linux, Web, Android, and macOS

 

 Pricing: Free  

 

 

Slips : The feature-stack Note-taking app

 

 

 

Slips support you to store your instant idea, a quick note, an image, an URL link, etc., just at the touch of a button.

 

It has power-packed feature-stack of auto text suggestions, organizes text with bullets and number lists, seamless keypad, supports instant image capture, and many more.

 

It enables the user to write text by choosing the font styles of Bold, Italic and Underlined. With the help of coloured templates, the user can easily pick the choice to make note-making more professional and beautiful.

 

Slips Pros:

Slips Cons:

Free to use

Simple and Clean UI

Auto-Save Option

Unlimited number of slips

Set Time Reminders

 

Lack of social media integration.

  

 

Zoho Notebook: The most beautiful note-taking app

 

 

 

This is an excellent app for both professional and student, for it provides a wide range of features that allow users to jot down notes, set reminders, create checklists, and sync it all. Not only is it free, but it is ad-free too.

 

Zoho Notebook Pros:

Zoho Notebook Cons:

Audio notes

Upload photos and files

Pre-built checklist

Completely free and ad-free

Cloud Syncing

Beautiful interface

Ease of use

Lacks some features like tag search

No text formatting

Weak community support

 

Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS

 

Pricing: Free

 

 

Quip: The project-focused note-taking app

 

  

 

 

Quip is not your regular note taking application since it can do a lot more. There’s a reason why it is touted as best note taking the app for Mac users.

 

The app is a spreadsheet and works processing application that lets you work with others, take notes, create documents, and share spreadsheets on the go.

 

Quip Pros

Quip Cons:

Complete transparency of collaboration features

Secure mobile collaboration

Group Chat

Integration with Google Drive and Dropbox

Create folders and subfolders

Private folders for personal note-taking

Efficient storage and syncing  

 

Slow search function

Limited features with a free plan

 

Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS

 

 Pricing: $30 per month for a team of five, and an additional $10 per member.

 

 

Dropbox Paper: The Best Collaboration Note-taking app

 

 

Dropbox paper is a free note-taking tool from Dropbox which works by bringing creation and collaboration at one place. The tool allows the users to write, edit, review, brainstorm, and manage the task on the go.

  

Dropbox paper pros:

Dropbox Paper Cons:

Add audio, pictures, videos

Excellent cloud sync and backup

Essential note-taking functionalities

High-level task management  

No Highlight features

No reminder or timer setting

 

Boostnote: An open-source Note-taking app

 

 

 

This is an open source memo app made especially for programmers. The stylish tools are backed up by a great community of developers and programmers.

 

With Boostnet, the users can take notes, write mathematical formulas, and codes, and customise as required.

 

Boostnote Pros:

Boostnote Cons:

Markdown notes

Various formatting options

Semi-live previews

Code syntax in over 100 languages

Backed-up by the community of programmers

Easy syncing across devices

Customisation features

Consistency issues

Poor syncing

Doesn’t work well when offline

 

 Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS

 

 Pricing: Free

 

  

Colornote: A Smart Note-taking app

 

 

 

Colornote is a neatly designed application with coloured templates. The key features include quick creation of lists and notes, effortless organisation, and secure backup to the cloud.

 

All these features make Colornote the best note taking the app for students and professionals.

 

Colornote Pros:

Colornote Cons:

Checklists and Text notes

Colour Coding

Sticky notes 

Managing calendar and schedule

Setting reminder

Notes sharing

Locking and archiving features

Backup and searching

Autolink to search the web

Not available for iOS and macOS

Chrome extension unavailable

Lacks some basic features

Lack of searching options

 

 Availability: Android and Amazon Appstore

 

 Pricing: Free

 

Notion: The all-in-one workspace Note-taking app

 

 

The notion makes for an all-in-one Workspace with excellent features like writing, planning, collaboration, and organisation. It's more than the note-taking app.

 

The tool gives the user the best of everything by bringing together productivity and collaboration features.

 

Notion Pros:

Notion Cons:

Notes and Documents with multiple media types

Knowledgebase through easy-to-find answers

Kanban boards, list views, and calendar

Databases and Spreadsheets

Markdown

Drag and drop

Runs Offline

Syncing across devices

Easy Integration

Complex UI

No feature to organize snippets

No handwriting supports

 

 Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS

 

 Pricing: Free plan with 5 GB file upload limit. Paid plan at $4 per month with unlimited upload and storage.