10 Best Note Taking Apps for Boosting Productivity in 2023

Evernote specializes in offering software for note taking, project collaboration, scheduling, and task management—all in one suite. 

Why I picked Evernote: Using Evernote software, you can create notebooks and add web clippings, notes, and images. You can also share your notes with other collaborators using laptops, tablets, and smartphones. 

Evernote allows you to make notes more useful by adding text, images, audio, scans, PDFs, and documents. The flexible search capabilities help you find what you need, and your notes are synced automatically to all your devices.

Evernote Standout Features and Integrations

Features include a web clipper, templates, a task manager, calendar integrations, and a document scanner.

Integrations are available natively with tools such as Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Salesforce, and Slack. 

Evernote Plans and Pricing

Plans begin at $9.99/month. A free version with limited features is also available.

Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking app from one of the world’s largest and most influential software vendors. It’s designed to allow users to take versatile notes that can be easily shared with colleagues. 

Why I picked Microsoft OneNote: Microsoft OneNote allows users to type notes, enter handwritten notes using a stylus/fingertip, or add audio recordings. The deep search functionality makes it easy to find critical information. 

Handwritten notes can be converted to digital text, and important ideas can be highlighted using various shapes and colors. Microsoft 365 files can also be embedded into a note for easy editing. Notes can even be shared with colleagues for further collaboration and input.

Microsoft OneNote Standout Features and Integrations

Features include highlighting, drawing, web clipping, and the ability to organize content across notebooks, sections, and pages.

Integrations are available natively with applications such as AutoCAD, Microsoft 356, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word.

Microsoft OneNote Plans and Pricing

Plans begin at $6.99/user/month. A one-month free trial is offered with the $9.99 a month plan.

Hive Notes specializes in helping you take better meeting notes, assign follow-up items, and track the progress of assigned tasks.

Why I picked Hive Notes: Perfect for team status or client meetings, Hive Notes keep everyone accountable and on track. You can turn text into an action, assign due dates, and share notes with everyone on your team. 

You can link notes to calendar meetings, populating the note with relevant meeting information. Then attendees can get meeting alerts, linking directly to the meeting note. There’s also a private notes section for your eyes only. So you can add personal notes, actions, and comments on next steps.

Hive Notes Standout Features and Integrations

Features include flexible project layouts, native email, resourcing, group messaging, and file sharing.

Integrations are available natively with applications such as Dropbox, Google, and Zoom.

Hive Notes Plans and Pricing

Plans begin at $16/user/month. A free plan with limited features is also available. 

Google Keep is a free note-taking app available to anyone with a Google account, designed to help you take notes and jot down ideas anywhere. 

Why I picked Google Keep: Using Google Keep, professionals and individuals can create, edit and share notes from a unified platform. It’s easy to add lists, photos, and audio notes. You can then search notes using attributes such as color, labels, and type. The tool also allows you to record voice memos and set location-based or time-based reminders. 

The application syncs across all devices, allowing teams to access the tool from anywhere. Voice notes can be recorded and transcribed, and notes can be copied into a Google Doc with a couple of clicks.

Google Keep Standout Features and Integrations

Features include collaboration tools, notes management, reminders, annotations, task tagging, meeting notes, and handwriting recognition. 

Integrations are available with Airtable, Google Docs, Gmail, Telegram, and many other applications.

Google Keep Plans and Pricing

Google Keep is offered free to anyone with a Google account.

Apple offers a wide range of hardware and software for both personal and business use, with Apple Notes bundled as a free, flexible note-taking app. 

Why I picked Apple Notes: This app helps you capture a quick thought, create checklists, sketch ideas, or write detailed notes. You can then sync these across all your devices using Google Cloud. 

You can create folders to organize your notes or use the gallery view to get a clear overview of your documents. It’s easy to search for a note or attachment, and you can even create a note from your lock screen. 

Apple Notes Standout Features and Integrations

Features include the ability to pin notes, scan, sign documents, and add attachments.

Integrations are available natively with iCloud, Tinderbox, and many Apple applications.

Apple Notes Plans and Pricing

Apple Notes is bundled free of charge with most Apple devices. 

Milanote replaces linear text documents with a creative space for exploring ideas, based on a flexible drag-and-drop interface. 

Why I picked Milanote: Milanote is an online platform that helps designers and writers organize creative projects effectively. The software can be used to create mind maps, mood boards, briefs, and prototypes. In addition, the web clipper allows you to save links, images, and videos to existing boards from web pages with a single click.

Milanote's uncluttered text editor lets you add headings, lists, and other formatting. The software includes customizable templates, plus the option to add images, PDFs, color swatches, animated GIFs, videos, and design files. All of your content lives in one secure place for easy access.

Milanote Standout Features and Integrations

Features include design-oriented notes, integrated to-do lists, versatile uploads, and keyboard shortcuts. 

Integrations are available natively with a wide range of applications, including Desktop, Shift, and Rambox.

Milanote Plans and Pricing

Plans begin at $9.99/user/month. A free plan with limited features is also available. 

Notion is a digital workspace that helps you manage notes, tasks, records, projects, and calendars. 

Why I picked Notion: Available in both cloud and on-premise formats, Notion allows team members to collaborate and perform joint tasks, share meeting notes, update project expense reports, and maintain benefits policies. The software can also be used for product roadmaps, task lists, repository patterns, and streamlining project workflows.

The editor offers distraction-free writing through a clean, simple interface. Mobile apps are available for both iOS and Android devices, so users can view and manage tasks from anywhere.

Notion Standout Features and Integrations

Features include a portfolio tracker, designer templates, database management, documentation, and data export.

Integrations are available natively with applications such as Figma, Google Sheets, and Twitter.

Notion Plans and Pricing

Plans begin at $10/user/month for business use (or $5/user/month for personal only). They also offer a free plan for 1 admin + 5 guests with limited features. 

Simplenote offers a stripped-down but effective note-taking and syncing experience for those who don’t need advanced features and capabilities. 

Why I picked Simplenote: Billed as the simplest way to keep notes, this app is available for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, or in your browser. You can sync your notes in real-time across all your devices to stay up-to-date wherever you are. 

To stay organized, just add tags to your notes to make them searchable. Collaborate with colleagues by sharing notes or publishing them online. Simplenote supports markdown, making it easy to produce rich, complex notes.  

Simplenote Standout Features and Integrations

Features include markdown support, backups, real-time syncing, tagging, and collaboration options.

Integrations are available through Zapier for a wide range of applications.

Simplenote Plans and Pricing

Simplenote is available to use free of charge. 

Zoho Notebook is a card-based note-taking solution for creating color-coded notes, generating checklists, and collaborating effectively within a unified platform. 

Why I picked Zoho Notebook: Zoho Notebook enables you to capture and store images, PDF files, documents, and spreadsheets. The built-in sketch tool makes it easy to create doodles, visualize ideas, or handwrite quick notes.  

Note card types are designed to complement the type of note you’re taking. You can easily jot, list, record, sketch, and snap what you need to remember. Using the audio functionality, employees can also record meetings, lectures, and other conversations for future reference.  

Zoho Notebook Standout Features and Integrations

Features include note tagging, passcodes, TouchID, version history, and secure collaboration.

Integrations are available natively with Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and various Zoho applications. 

Zoho Notebook Plans and Pricing

Plans begin at $19.99/user/month. A free plan with limited features is also available. 

Obsidian is a markdown file reader that sits on top of text files in a designated folder, enabling users to write, edit and interlink their notes. 

Why I picked Obsidian: Built for taking notes quickly, you can use it to build a personal wiki or Zettelkästen. The software provides contextual information about key themes and topics in each note, so writers and note-takes can observe organic connections.

You can customize easily, thanks to a large range of plugins, themes, and custom CSS styling. Data is stored in a local folder, so you don’t have to rely on cloud storage. Notes are in the format of human-readable markdown, so you can create an extensible knowledge base tailored to suit your own requirements. 

Obsidian Standout Features and Integrations

Features include a code fence with syntax highlighting, task lists, tags, footnotes, and internal links.

Integrations are available natively with applications such as Excalidraw, Electron, and Typescript.

Obsidian Plans and Pricing

Obsidian is 100% free for personal use. Paid commercial plans are also available, starting from a one-time fee of $25.