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

1.  BLOGS >> 14 Best Note taking Apps: Which one is Ahead of the Pack? 14 Best Note taking Apps: Which one is Ahead of the Pack? 19 Apr '2019 Vyshnavi Basuthkar Have a thought or an impo?ant 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 co?ee. 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 la?er sounds pe?ect, and that’s why we’ve rounded up thi?een best note taking apps and summarised their features.    The 14 Best Note Taking Apps for work and Life To ?nd an ideal note-taking app with all the above features, we began with over thi?y-six contenders and sho?listed our way down to thi?een most promising applications.   Table of Contents 1. Evernote 2. Microso? OneNote 3. Google Keep 4. Simple Note 5. Slips

2. 6. Zoho Notebook 7. Quip 8. Dropbox Paper 9. Boostnote 10. Colornote 11. Notion 12. Milanote 13. Bear 14. MyScript     Evernote          This app allows users to prioritise and capture ideas, to-do-lists, and projects. It o?ers capable services such a suppo?ing 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 forma?ing Unclu?ered inte?ace Lacks search capabilities Flexible manipulation of images Poor text forma?ing   OCR feature that allows

3. users to extract text from images   Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS.   Pricing: Free plan for individual use. Premium plans sta? at $2.74 per month.     Microso? OneNote       With Microso? OneNote, you can do a lot more than creating notes and checklists.   This tool is pe?ect 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 ?nge?ip No reminder features Collaborate with anyone Complex for newbies Conve? handwri?en notes to text Functionalities di?erences for Mac Users Access from anywhere Digital Highlighter Upload ?les Organise lessons and share assignment from the central library Integration with other apps  

4.    Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS    Pricing: Free plan with 5 GB ?le upload limit. Extra space can be purchased.     Google Keep         This is another popular free note-taking app that o?ers 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 o?oad 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 Limited features Di?cult organisation Colour notes for easy searching No Numbered list or bullet point Automatic sync and backup Follows voice command Pinboard feature Multi-device sharing  

5.  Available on: Android, iOS, Windows, Google Chrome, macOS    Pricing: Available for free     Simple Note          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 suppo? that allows users to write, preview, and publish notes No reminder No social media integration Instant searching through tags Poor save-to-disk feature Users are allowed to expo? data Collaborative features to work together     Available on:  Windows, iOS, Linux, Web, Android, and macOS    Pricing: Free      

6. Slips       Slips suppo? you to store your instant idea, a quick note, an image, an URL link, etc., just at the touch of a bu?on.   It has power packed feature-stack of auto text suggestions, organizes text with bullets and number lists, seamless keypad, suppo?s 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 Lack of social media integration. Unlimited number of slips Set Time Reminders       Zoho Notebook     

7.     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 ?les Pre-built checklist Lacks some features like tag search Completely free and ad- free No text forma?ing Cloud Syncing Weak community suppo? Beautiful inte?ace Ease of use   Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS   Pricing: Free     Quip     

8.     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   Slow search function Integration with Google Drive and Dropbox Limited features with a free plan Create folders and subfolders Private folders for personal note taking E?cient storage and syncing     Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS    Pricing: $30 per month for a team of ?ve, and an additional $10 per member.     Dropbox Paper  

9.   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 No Highlight features No reminder or timer se?ing Essential note taking functionalities High-level task management     Boostnote       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 forma?ing options Semi-live previews Consistency issues Code syntax in over 100

10. Code syntax in over 100 languages Poor syncing Backed-up by the community of programmers Doesn’t work well when o?ine Easy syncing across devices Customisation features    Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS    Pricing: Free      Colornote       Colornote is a neatly designed application with coloured templates. The key features include quick creation of lists and notes, e?o?less 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 Not available for iOS and MacOS Sticky notes  Managing calendar and schedule Chrome extension unavailable Se?ing reminder Lacks some basic features Notes sharing

11. Locking and archiving features Lack of searching options Backup and searching Autolink to search the web    Availability: Android and Amazon Appstore    Pricing: Free   Notion     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-?nd answers Kanban boards, list views, and calendar Complex UI No feature to organize snippets Databases and Spreadsheets No handwriting suppo?s Markdown Drag and drop Runs O?ine

12. Runs O?ine Syncing across devices Easy Integration    Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS    Pricing: Free plan with 5 GB ?le upload limit. Paid plan at $4 per month with unlimited upload and storage.     Milanote       For creative minds, visual thinkers, and designers, Milanote is arguably the best note-taking app available on Android. It's for those who prefer images over words, and want to tool to express their creativity.   The tool has a tactile and fast inte?ace which makes it best note-taking app for iPad user.   Milanote Pro Milanote Cons Web clipper feature to snap images online and save them to visual notes No highlighter or marker to draw Not suitable for audio memos and notes Fast inte?ace No collaboration and sharing features Cloud Syncing and backup    Available on: macOS and iOS    Pricing: Free version allows 100 notes, images, and link access. The professional plan, sta?ing at $9.99 per month, o?ers unlimited storage.    

13. Bear       This digital note-taking app suppo?s the Markdown format and allows the users to work inline images.   The best thing about the bear is how it enhances focus towards one task by eliminating all unnecessary elements from the display that's what makes Bear the best note-taking app for iPhone users.   Bear Pros: Bear Cons: Multiple themes and rich previews In-line suppo? for photos   To-dos and Hashtags It’s not available for free Focus mode No tabs, so you can view only one note at a time Multi-device sync   Regular Updates Multiple expo? options Advanced Markup Editor   Available on: macOS and iOS    Pricing: $1.49 monthly and $14.99 annually     MyScript  

14.     Next in the queue is MyScript which is designed with powe?ul technologies like handwri?en technologies and digital ink. The tool is packed with features with allow users to take notes on the go.   MyScript Pros: MyScript Cons: Digital Interactive Ink Handwri?en text conversion into the text No reminder features Recognition of graphic, math, and music Complex for newbies Integration with several apps    Available on: Windows, iOS, Web, Android, and macOS    Pricing: Free product by Dropbox     Final Verdict: Over to you now Now that we’ve done an in-depth analysis of the thi?een best note-taking apps, we leave it on you to choose the one that is ahead of the pack and pick what's best for your professional and personal needs.   However, we see how the competition is pre?y close in the class of Best note taking app on iPad, and so we are listing some of the features that make a note-taking app ideal:   When it's about ?nding an ideal productivity tool, some standards and features have to be met. For example: The application should have a seamless User Inte?ace   It should o?er an excellent user experience

15.   It should be cost-e?ective   It should provide an option for multitasking    It should have additional tools like clipping, highlighting, image to text conversion    The app should o?er distraction-free note-taking experience   It should work across all operating systems   If the decision were on us, we'd choose Evernote for being feature-rich and for o?ering productivity features which make it so useful for professional use. If the decision was on you, which one would you pick? Let us know in the comment section below. BEST NOTE TAKING APPS BEST NOTE TAKING APPS MAC NOTE TAKING APPS ANDROID Team Collaboration like never before Give enough space to your business to grow. Make it accessible anytime anywhere. Sign Up FOLLOW US     Recent Blogs How To Tell If A SaaS Provider How To Tell If A SaaS Provider Is Handling Sensitive Data Is Handling Sensitive Data Correctly Correctly 10 Best Free Gan? Cha? 10 Best Free Gan? Cha? So?ware In 2019 So?ware In 2019