Best Notes Apps Compared: Which One Suits You?

There is no single best notes app. There are a handful of good ones, and each is built for a different kind of note taker. Some are for quick lists and reminders. Some are for long notebooks and class notes. Some are for teams, and some are for people who want to link their thoughts into a personal knowledge base. This guide compares the main notes apps and says who each one suits, including our own free app, Notes.

This comparison is based on what each product is designed for. Plans, features and prices change, so check each app's own site for current terms.

The short version

App	Best for	Platforms	Works offline	Free to use
Google Keep	Quick notes, lists and reminders in a Google account	Android, iPhone, web	Yes, in its mobile apps	Yes
Apple Notes	People whose devices are all Apple	iPhone, iPad, Mac; iCloud on the web	Yes	Yes
Microsoft OneNote	Large notebooks, class and meeting notes	Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, web	Yes, in its apps	Has a free version
Evernote	Collecting web clips, documents and research	Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, web	Check their site	Check their site
Notion	Team docs, wikis and structured pages	Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android, web	Check their site	Has a free version
Obsidian	A private knowledge base of linked notes	Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android	Yes	Yes
Notes (EveryApp)	Quick notes, checklists and sketches on any device	Any browser; installs on iPhone, Android and computers	Yes	Yes

Google Keep

Google Keep is a sticky-note style app from Google. Notes show up as cards you can colour, pin and label. You can make checklists, add photos, record voice notes and set reminders. It works well on Android and ties into the rest of a Google account.

Choose Google Keep if you already live in Gmail and Google Calendar and want quick notes with reminders on your phone. Reminders are part of the free product, which is a point in its favour over ours.

Apple Notes

Apple Notes comes with every iPhone, iPad and Mac. It handles folders, tags, checklists, tables, document scanning with the camera and handwriting with Apple Pencil. You can lock private notes and share notes with other people. It syncs through iCloud.

Choose Apple Notes if every device you own is an Apple one, since it is already there and syncs through the iCloud account you already have. It gets awkward when you add an Android phone or a Windows laptop, because you then rely on the iCloud website on those devices instead of an app.

Microsoft OneNote

OneNote works like a digital ring binder. You have notebooks, sections and pages, and each page is a free-form canvas where you can type, draw, paste images and attach files anywhere. It fits class notes and workplaces that already use Microsoft 365.

Choose OneNote if you take long, structured notes, like lecture notes for a whole term or a notebook per project. It also supports handwriting on a tablet with a stylus.

Evernote

Evernote is built for collecting a lot of material. Its web clipper saves articles and pages from your browser. You can store documents, PDFs and images in notebooks and search across them. It also has tasks and templates.

Choose Evernote if your notes are mostly research: saved articles, scanned documents, receipts and reference material you want to search later. If you only need quick notes and lists, it may be more than you need.

Notion

Notion is a workspace for notes, docs and projects. Pages can hold text, tables, databases, boards and embedded content, and teams use it for wikis, project plans and shared docs. Several people can edit and comment on the same page.

Choose Notion if you work with other people and want notes, docs and project tracking in one place. For a single person who wants to jot down a thought fast, it can feel heavy.

Obsidian

Obsidian stores your notes as Markdown files in a folder on your own device. You link notes to each other, see the links as a graph and extend the app with community plugins. To sync between devices you can use Obsidian's own sync service or sync the folder yourself.

Choose Obsidian if you want a long-term personal knowledge base, you like Markdown and you want your notes as plain files you control. It takes some setting up and suits people who enjoy tinkering.

Where Notes fits

Notes is our free notes app at EveryApp. It sits closest to Google Keep in style: quick notes, checklists, colours and pins. It is not trying to be a notebook system or a team workspace.

What Notes does well

• Text, checklists and drawings in one note. Turn a note into a checklist in one tap. Tap Draw to sketch a map, a room layout or a diagram with your finger, a pen or a mouse. Pick a pen, marker or eraser, a colour and a width, and undo as often as you like.
• Easy to find things. Search, colours, pins and tags keep a growing pile of notes in order.
• Hard to lose anything. Archive notes you're done with. Deleted notes wait in the trash and can be restored for 30 days.
• No limit on notes. Text and checklist notes, tags, search, drawings, the archive and the trash are all free.
• Works on any device. It opens in any browser. You can install it from the browser on iPhone, Android and computers, with no app store. On iPhone, open it in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, open it in Chrome and tap Install.
• Works offline. Write without a connection. Changes catch up when you're back online.
• Private. You can use it without an account, and your notes stay on your device. Sign in with a free EveryApp account only if you want them synced across your devices. You can download everything you've written at any time, and delete your notes whenever you like.

What Notes doesn't do

Be clear about the limits. Notes doesn't attach photos or files, scan documents, clip web pages or lock individual notes. You can't share a note with someone else or edit it together. There are no notebooks or folders; you organise with tags, colours and pins instead. Notes hold plain text, checklists and drawings, with no headings, tables or other formatting.

Some features need Pro. Reminders (once, or every day, week or month), version history for a note's last 10 versions, Markdown export and extra colours and background patterns are part of Pro. If free reminders matter most to you, Google Keep is the better choice.

How to choose

Start with the job your notes do, then check your devices.

• You want quick notes and lists on your phone. Google Keep, Apple Notes or Notes. Pick Apple Notes if you're all-Apple, Google Keep if you rely on Google and want free reminders, and Notes if your devices are mixed or you'd rather not sign in.
• You take long notes for a course or a job. OneNote. Its notebooks and free-form pages are built for it.
• You collect articles, PDFs and documents. Evernote. Its clipper and search are the point of the product.
• You share notes with a team. Notion, or OneNote if your workplace uses Microsoft 365.
• You want a linked knowledge base you fully control. Obsidian.
• You want to sketch next to your words. Notes, OneNote or Apple Notes all let you draw in a note.
• You use iPhone at home and Windows at work. A browser-based app avoids the gap. Notes runs in any browser and installs on both. OneNote, Evernote and Notion also cover both.

You can use more than one. Some people keep a big notebook app for work and a quick-notes app for daily life. If your notes are mostly tasks with due dates, a to-do list may suit you better than any notes app. For a private daily diary, try the daily journal.