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.