10 Best Note-Taking Apps of 2026

Notion is the most capable note app on this list because it is not only a note app. Every page is built from blocks, and any page can hold a database with properties, subtasks and dependencies, so meeting notes can link to a project tracker and a team wiki in the same workspace. The free plan is enough for individuals and includes a trial of Notion AI. Plus adds collaboration for small teams, and Business is the plan that includes full Notion AI and Custom Agents, which run on Notion credits. Paid plans start at $10 per member per month billed annually. The downsides are speed and focus. Large workspaces can feel slow, offline access is weaker than in Obsidian or Bear, and some people find the blank page and endless options distracting. If your notes need to become shared, structured documents, nothing else here matches it.

Obsidian is the best app here for people who want to own their notes. Everything is a Markdown file on your own device, so there is no lock-in, and the app is free without limits, with no sign-up required. Links between notes, a graph view and full text search make it strong for research and long-term knowledge bases, and a large library of community plugins can add calendars, task lists and more. The paid pieces are optional. Sync costs $4 per user per month billed annually and adds end-to-end encrypted sync, version history and shared vaults. Publish costs $8 per site per month billed annually. Commercial use does not require a license, though a $50 per user per year license is offered. The trade-off is effort. A good Obsidian setup takes time, and teams that need real-time collaboration will be happier in Notion.

OneNote is the most underrated app on this list because many people already have it. Its notebooks, sections and pages give a familiar structure, and each page is a free-form canvas where typed text, images and digital ink sit side by side. That makes it one of the best options for students and anyone who writes with a pen on a touchscreen. You can sign up for free, and OneNote is available across desktop, mobile and the web. Copilot in OneNote, which drafts plans, lists and ideas from your prompts, comes with a paid Microsoft 365 plan: Personal costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, and Family $12.99 per month. The weaknesses show in search, tagging and export, which feel dated next to Notion or Obsidian, and Markdown users will be frustrated. For anyone already in Microsoft 365, OneNote is a strong default at no extra cost.

Bear is the app to pick if you care how writing feels. It is a Markdown editor that hides the syntax, with text, photos, tables and to-do lists in the same note, flexible tags instead of folders and themes that make long sessions pleasant. It won an Apple Design Award, and it shows. The free plan keeps notes local and includes document scanning and many export formats. Bear Pro costs $2.99 per month after a seven-day trial, or $29.99 per year, and adds iCloud sync, search inside photos and PDFs, and more themes and app icons. Notes stay between you and iCloud, notes can be encrypted, and Apple's Advanced Data Protection is supported. The limits are simple: Bear runs only on Mac, iPhone and iPad, there is no web app for a Windows work laptop, and there is no real-time collaboration. For personal writing on Apple devices, it is a delight at a very low price.

Goodnotes is the handwriting app to beat. Ink feels natural, handwriting becomes searchable and editable, and PDFs can be imported and marked up like paper. The free plan is a taster, limited to three files and 20 minutes of audio recording. Essential costs $11.99 per year and removes those limits, adds unlimited audio recording and includes limited Goodnotes AI. Pro at $35.99 per year adds private link sharing, real-time collaboration and cross-platform library sync. AI Pass adds advanced AI features and more credits for $9.99 per month, which costs more in a year than Pro itself. Both paid plans have a seven-day trial. Goodnotes is less useful if you mostly type, where Notion or Obsidian give better structure and linking. For students annotating lecture slides or anyone who thinks better with a pen, it is excellent value.

Capacities takes a different approach to notes. Instead of folders, every note is an object with a type, such as a person, a book, a meeting or a project, and objects link to each other. For people building a personal knowledge base, that structure makes notes easier to find months later. The free Basic plan is generous: unlimited spaces, objects and blocks, custom object types, sync across all devices, full import and export, and 5 GB of media uploads before a monthly cap applies. Capacities Pro costs $9.99 per month billed monthly, less when billed yearly, and adds an AI assistant, whiteboards, task management, smart queries, calendar integration, Readwise and Kindle imports and version history. The object model has a learning curve, and Pro costs more than Obsidian Sync or Bear Pro. For anyone who wants Obsidian-style linking with less setup and built-in sync, Capacities is the most interesting newer app here.

Notability has long been a favorite in lecture halls, and its pricing now spans from a free taster to an AI study plan. Every note can mix handwriting, typing, PDF markup and audio, so a lecture recording sits alongside the notes taken during it. Starter is free for five notes with all editing tools and access to more than 20,000 templates. Lite costs $11.99 per year, against a $14.99 regular price, and unlocks unlimited notes. Plus at $15.99 per year adds limited AI quizzes, flashcards, audio transcription and YouTube link-to-note conversions. Pro at $79.99 per year makes transcription and AI summaries unlimited and real time. Business plans start at $60 per user per year with shared libraries and admin controls. The plan structure is busier than it needs to be, and Goodnotes offers a stronger handwriting engine. For students who rely on recordings, Notability is a strong pick.

Evernote is the app that defined digital note capture, and its search remains among the best. It finds text inside images and documents, the Web Clipper saves pages cleanly, and tasks and Evernote Calendar sit next to your notes. Newer AI features include an assistant, semantic search, transcription of meetings and a connection to outside AI tools through MCP. The weak point is value. The free plan now allows only 50 notes, one notebook and one device, which makes it a trial rather than a home. Starter allows 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks and three devices, and only Advanced removes the caps. The pricing page showed us prices in Polish zloty, so the USD check is pending. Long-time users with years of clipped content will find Evernote still does the job well. New users who mainly type notes can get more for less from Notion, Obsidian or OneNote.

Joplin is the open source answer to Evernote. Notes are written in Markdown, organized in notebooks with tags, and the apps are free with the source code available. You can sync through Joplin Cloud or run your own Joplin Server, which matters to people and organizations that want full control over where data lives. Joplin Cloud Basic gives 2 GB of storage, 10 MB per note or attachment, publishing to the web and unlimited devices. Pro raises storage to 30 GB, with an upgrade to 100 GB, and allows 200 MB per note or attachment, and paid plans list features such as notebook sharing, Email to Note and a Joplin Cloud AI beta. Teams plans need at least two users. Joplin lists its prices in euros, so our USD check is pending. The interface is functional rather than pretty, and setting up sync takes more thought than in Notion or Bear. For people who value open source and data ownership, it is the strongest free option alongside Obsidian.

Standard Notes is built for people whose notes are sensitive. Every plan is end-to-end encrypted, and even the free plan includes unlimited device sync on web, desktop and mobile, offline access, tags, per-note password protection, two-factor authentication and daily encrypted email backups. The catch is that free notes are plain text. Productivity at $90 per year unlocks the Super note type with Markdown, rich text, checklists and code, plus spreadsheets, Daily Notebooks, folders, a Web Clipper and a year of revision history. Professional at $120 per year adds 100GB of encrypted file storage and subscription sharing with up to five accounts. Refund periods are 14 days on Productivity and 90 on Professional. For most people, $90 a year is a lot next to Bear or Obsidian Sync, and integrations are thin. For journals, credentials and private records, its encryption-first design is worth the price.