» What is Evernote?
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Evernote is one of the popular to-do list apps that is designed to help take notes, organize and prioritize ideas, and create lists to keep productive and on track. This article will highlight the best Evernote alternatives for notes and task management. Evernote connects with the productivity tools you already use, so you can work your way. Learn more → Document scanning. Back up important documents to all your devices, and keep the information—not the clutter. Learn more → Web Clipper. Save web pages (without the ads) and mark them up with arrows, highlights, and text to. Google Keep is available for Android and iOS, as a Chrome browser plug-in, and as a web app. As you'd expect. It uses your Google account to sync across devices, making it a particularly useful.
Evernote is an app that helps users to manage and organize their schedules in an efficient manner. It aids users in arduous tasks like notetaking, task management, and archiving. The data collected can be in the form of pictures, videos, and audio recordings. These notes are backed up in the cloud which allows users to access them from any platform.
» Why do we need an alternative to Evernote?
While Evernote is a popular task management app however, there are a few ways by which it falls a bit short. For example; one cannot password protect the desktop version of this app. It also doesn’t allow the protection of particular notes.
If you are not impressed with what Evernote has to offer then no worries, below is a list of the best and most popular software that offers unique features of their own.
» List of alternatives to Evernote:
1. Google Keep
Google keep is a free software tool that allows its users to share their thoughts with their friends and families. This app is popular, not only in the industrial and entrepreneur sector but also in academics and other small management projects.
› Special Features:
• It allows users to set location-based reminders. A location-based reminder will pull up a list when you reach the designated location. • Evernote lacks in this sector as it does not have geofencing capabilities.
• It also has a feature of a time-based reminder to ensure that you never miss a thing.
• The app allows you to quickly filter and search for notes by color and other attributes like lists with images. It improves the efficiency as the user no longer needs to spend precious time looking through copious notes.
• Notes taken can be accessed from other devices that have been synced. This ensures that they are always available at your fingertips.
› Pricing:
• Google Keep is free of cost
2. Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote can be seen as an upgrade to traditional notebooks. It offers its users a feel of the traditional notebook in a hassle-free digital format. OneNote is very popular in the education sector. Teachers use it to organize lesson plans in a digitalized notebook format and share it with the other staff members too. It's easy to use format makes it more popular than Evernote.
› Special Features:
• With easy navigation and search, users can find themselves exactly where they left. OneNote allows users to access their notes across all devices, this way noting down any sudden inspiration won’t go amiss.
• One can also revise notes with highlighting, type, or ink annotations.
• Users can share their ideas and create together on OneNote.
• One can also record audio notes, insert online videos, and add files.
• The OneNote Web Clipper allows users to save notes with a single click.
• Notes can also be highlighted with Important and To-Do tags.
• Users can annotate their notes and draw their thoughts using a stylus or their finger.
› Pricing:
• The OneNote app is free of cost.
3. Box Notes
Real-time collaboration serves as a foundation of exchanging notes and efficient working. It is an essential part of how we work. Its collaborative features are better than that of Evernote.
› Special Features:
• Box Notes allows its users to brainstorm with co-workers and share their notes. Box Notes is an online note-taking app that enables teams to work together. This easy to use platform allows its users to take business notes and organize business reviews.
• It also allows them to write newsletters.
• It also improves productivity as it provides users with functions that can check status updates and provide a platform to plan projects together.
• Box Notes has a feature of live editing that allows everyone to view changes and updates easily. This improves the efficiency of work and serves as a pool of ideas to fish from.
• The Box Note desktop app is similar to the web version; it provides the same live editing features. Every note created or shared is protected.
• The notes are secured with enterprise-grade security and meet global compliance standards. This includes HIPAA and FedRAMP.
› Pricing:
• The most popular plan of Box notes is the business plan which is at $0.025 per user, per month (paid annually).
4. Simplenote
Simplenote is a free software application (the app is owned by Automatic) that provides its users with a wide range of formatting options for taking notes.
› Special Features:
• It supports Markdown. The Markdown option needs to be enabled in the settings. This feature can be used to embed images into the notes. The app allows users to arrange notes in an immaculate manner. Standard notes can be formatted in such a way that it looks neat. It saves time as users don’t have to continuously shift between the mouse and keyboard.
• The use of tags can help organize and categorize notes. Users can share notes with others by simply adding their email addresses as tags.
• The app can also be password protected if needed.
• The company does not place a limit on how many notes can be taken.
• It also has an option of notes history that can be used in case a file gets deleted accidentally.
• Another feature of Simplenote is that users can publish directly onto the web using the app.
› Pricing:
• Simplenote is free of cost
5. Dropbox Paper
The Dropbox Paper application helps users stay organized. It is an extremely popular app used by several high-end firms. The founders of retail brand Les Lunes use Dropbox Paper to manage operations across their different locations.
› Special Features:
• The task management tool can be used to assign to-dos and add due dates. • The tool can also be used to mention people. All these functions can be performed from the app itself.
• Receiving feedback has never been easier and more relaxed.
• Annotations allow users to comment on specific parts of images.
• Users can view the activity as well as use emojis.
• Dropbox papers have several smart templates, for example-a template to design the agenda of a meeting.
• Users can capture inspirations instantly using other devices. Paper’s iOS and Android apps can be used to create notes, capture images, and give feedback on the go.
• A professional-looking presentation can be created with the click on a button. The app can transform docs into presentations.
› Pricing:
• The basic version is free. Whereas Dropbox Plus is $9.99 per month(if billed annually).
6. ProofHub
ProofHub makes remotes work easier and faster. One can create notes and assign different colors. The app is popular among organizations of all sizes. It can be used in the office while working remotely or on the go. Institutions with cut-throat teams, battling several deadlines simultaneously find the app to be both efficient and easy to use.
› Special Features:
• It allows teams to get approvals on finalized work quickly and send feedbacks for on-going projects.
• Delegating tasks gets much easier as the app provides an option to assign tasks, add labels and tags, set dates, track time, etc.
• The app boasts of a beautiful file management system.
• It integrates file-sharing systems like Google Drive and Box.
• It also has several features to ease the process of project planning. Some of the widely used features are- Gantt chart for timeline view, custom workflows, and Kanban board.
› Pricing:
• Ultimate Plan starts at $89/month (billed annually).
7. Bear
At the moment, Bear works on iPad, iPhones, and Mac only. It differs from Evernote as it is only available on Apple devices whereas Evernote works on Windows operating systems as well. The app provides a wonderful platform for crafting notes and prose.
› Special Features:
• The editing and formatting options of Bear are extremely impressive and the app supports Markdown.
• It allows users to include links in the middle of their work.
• For users that belong to the software work and regularly work with several lines of codes, the app Bear is a perfect fit. One can copy and paste several lines of codes using the application. A feature that wasn’t easy to use or comfortable in Evernote.
• Tagging and navigation options of Bear are also comparatively simpler.
• The app also provides an option of interlinking. This allows users to create their wiki. Bear Pro has a wider range of themes and options for exporting.
• One can export notes as DOCX, HTML, PDF, and even JPG.
• On iOS, Bear has its native extension. One can use this extension to add images and texts to the note.
› Pricing:
• The full version of Bear is available at $1.49 per month.
8. Notejoy
Notejoy is a powerful, easy, and fun to use software application. It also supports deep integration with other apps like Google Drive and Microsoft Office.
› Special Features:
• Notejoy’s fast search option makes it easy for users to browse through their different pieces of works.
• It allows users to insert documents right into a note and also provides checklists.
• It provides options to show the users who all have viewed their notes, participate in threaded discussions, and provide light-weight responses.
• It also uses @mention to bring someone’s attention. Notejoy offers an upgrade of Notejoy Plus and premium.
• Notejoy Plus offers unlimited users per library, priced per user. It also offers unlimited libraries and 10GB library storage.
• It provides end to end encryption and password-protected notes. It also has two-factor authentications.
• Notejoy premium has all the facilities provided by Plus in addition to 20GB library storage and team activity dashboard. It also provides an upload of 1Gb, per file.
› Pricing:
• The price ranges at $100.00 per year.
9. Notion
Notion is a user-friendly application with easy to understand instructions.
› Special Features:
• A unique feature is that it has a wiki. It serves as a database for company goals, engineering practices, and contact numbers. Notion can be used across different devices and also offers a free trial.
• The software is accessible via desktop, web, and mobile devices. This makes it easier and convenient for users to bring their work and access it anytime, anywhere.
• It allows users to manage their to-do lists and take notes. It allows them to track their bills, dues, and details in a database found on their finance page.
• The app is popular for its clean and clutter-free interface. The app is free for personal use.
› Pricing:
• Notion offers an upgrade that costs around $4to $8.
10. Milanote
Milanote is a tool that is packed with an amazing interface. It helps you organize your notes and projects. It was launched in 2017 and was #1 on Product Hunt and Designer Use. It was also on the Front Page of Hacker News. The tool can be used as both- a private space as well as a shared workspace (for collaborations).
› Special Features:
• It has a flexible drop and drag interface that allows users to arrange their notes in a manner best suited to them.
• It promotes interactions as the tool has options to view teammates and leave comments.
• It also provides a high-quality printable PDF. Milanote’s UI is completely different from that of Evernote.
• The app also lets the user design the space which is a little different from the working of Evernote.
• The Milanote Web Clipper lets you collect ideas from the internet and integrate it with your work in a single click.
• One can invite others to edit, comment only, or permit them to only view the notes.
› Pricing:
• The tool is free to one project but can be later upgraded to $9.99 per month.
11. Zoho Notebook
Zoho notebook has a cleaner interface as compared to Evernote. It does not have a bulleted interface as Evernote does.
› Special Features:
• One can view notes using the Apple watch. This increases performance and boosts productivity.
• Zoho allows ease of movement of objects between pages and notebooks.
• It encourages users to save and share their notes online. One can also export an entire book as an HTML page.
• The versioning feature of Zoho allows its users to see various iterations made during the day.
• It also provides a timestamp for reference.
• The notebook has four types of cards to make work easier and more organized. The four types are: text card, audio card, photo card, or a checklist card.
• The lock notes feature of Zoho is extremely popular with its users (Evernote does not have this particular feature).
› Pricing:
• The notebook free of cost.
What is Evernote used for?
Evernote is a popular application for note-taking and managing tasks. It can help you capture and manage to-do lists, projects, and ideas. With the help of its mobile application and web version, Evernote helps you keep track of every detail that is essential to you but you may forget. It keeps you updated on what you should do and lessen your worry to a great extent.
Is OneNote better than Evernote?
Despite being note-taking tools, OneNote and Evernote emphasize two different areas. Evernote specializes in organizing a note and search your content from the web easily. OneNote enables you to take notes from scratch and arrange them in a certain way.
Is Evernote free to use?
Yes, Evernote does have a free version. It lets you sync data between 2 devices and add at most 60 MB data per month. But advanced features like integration of other software, convert notes, and team collaboration, you need to upgrade to a paid version.
How much does Evernote cost?
Evernote has a free version enabling you to add 60 MB data per month and sync between only two devices. The Premium plan costs $8 per month to upload at most 10GB of files every month while the Business plan costs you $15 to upload 20GB data per user with a shared space of 2GB per user.
What is the best alternative to Evernote?
- Google Keep
- Microsoft OneNote
- Box Notes
- Simplenote
- Dropbox Paper
- ProofHub
- Bear
- Notejoy
- Notion
- Milanote
- Zoho Notebook
Note-taking is personal. It has as much to do with how your mind works as it does with what you’re taking notes about and why you’re taking them in the first place.
Still, search for the best note-taking app and you’ll invariably find Evernote at the top of most lists.
Some notes are for sharing. Some are a reminder. Some are taken and never looked at again.
Sometimes a note is a quick thought, jotted down on-the-go on a mobile device. Other times your notes are prepared at length at your computer over a large project, meeting, or study session.
Evernote is fine, generally-speaking — but you’re not just anyone, and your notes aren’t just any notes.
To find the best Evernote alternatives, we tested and used over 30 apps, reviewed top threads on Reddit, and consulted reviews on G2 to hear what the community had to say.
It’s not all just Evernote vs OneNote anymore. There are a slew of great note-taking apps, each with a key advantage over Evernote depending on what you are doing.
The best note-taking apps that aren’t Evernote:
- Hugo - Best meeting notes app
- CacoonWeaver - Best speech-to-text notes app
- Milanote - Best whiteboard-style notes app for creatives
- Bear - Speediest markdown notepad for iOS & Mac
- Typora - Best distraction-free notes app
- Workflowy - Infinite expandable bullet points
- OneNote - Best free option (not just for Microsoft lovers)
- Boost Note - Best note-taking app for developers
- Google Keep - Best note-taking app for Google fanatics
- Ulysses - Top-of-the line notes for serious writers
- Notability - Best notes app for iPad with Apple Pencil
- Nebo - Best note-taking app for Surface with Surface Pen
Why Evernote is no longer the gold-standard for notes
For many years, Evernote was on top of the note-taking game. With its sleek, comfortable interface, enjoyable mobile experience, and easy way of organizing with folders and stacks of folders, Evernote dominated the note-taking world after the iPhone’s original launch in 2007.
However, over the last 4+ years, Evernote has undergone a series of problematic changes, introducing bizarre new products in an attempt to expand its reach. They also changed the free plan in ways that have driven away users by crippling key features unless you pay.
Evernote remains a great product in many ways. It syncs across devices, offers a handy web clipper, and can even search handwriting.
But in trying to be all things to all people, the notes app market has opened up, offering a slew of note-taking apps that are going to appeal to more specific groups of people looking for more specific solutions.
What’s not on this list?
With note-taking apps, you need to be able to quickly take notes. Speed is of the essence. That means not having to waste time organizing and saving your files. You also need to be able to easily search your notes to find information.
Of course, you can take notes almost anywhere you can write.
Some people use the cells in a spreadsheet. Others use word processing apps like Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Authors may prefer to jot down notes inside the tools they are already working in, like Scrivener. You can also take notes in project management software like Asana, or collaborative docs like Dropbox Paper.
None of these, however, beat the speed and simplicity of a dedicated notes app.
So in this post, we’re only looking at tools that are primarily for notes. Full-on word processing tools aren’t in the running, nor are project management tools or CRMs that happen to have a notes function. (Ulysses might be a minor exception, as it can be both a notes tool and word processor depending on how you use it.)
With that, here are the best note-taking tools in 2020 that aren’t Evernote.
Hugo - Best meeting notes app
For iOS and in your web browser. (Android, iPadOS, and macOS are on the horizon)
Plenty of note-taking apps are good generally-speaking, but taking notes in meetings poses some unique challenges. Fortunately, Hugo is purpose-built for meeting notes at work.
First, staying organized. Hugo centralizes and organizes all of your meeting notes with the help of your calendar. Notes are associated with your actual meetings, so you basically don’t have to worry about categorizing anything. (You can always add tags if you want to.) This works with G Suite, Gmail, or Office 365 calendars.
Plus, Hugo also integrates with over 20 other apps used for work. It syncs notes to your CRM (e.g. Salesforce), pushes tasks to project management tools (e.g. Jira), and works seamlessly with video conferencing tools (e.g. Zoom).
The Chrome browser extension gives you access to your notes from any page in your browser, which means you don’t have to dedicate your screen to note-taking during a video call. Just open and close the Hugo drawer when you need to check your agenda or jot a note down.
Hugo isn’t designed to just help you (although it will). With accounts for teams, collaborative note-taking, and a library of 80+ meeting note templates, everyone in your organization can use Hugo to centralize your meeting notes together.
During the pandemic, Hugo is offering free accounts to teams of up to 40 users. If you sign up during this period, you’ll get to keep that pricing even after the pandemic is over.
Hugo Pricing:
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: $6/user/month for teams 11+
ALSO: Take a look at this guide to taking amazing meeting notes.
CacoonWeaver - Best speech-to-text notes app
Compatibility: iOS (iPhone/iPad)
CacoonWeaver is the best way to collect audio notes for iOS. Pop open the app and transcribe your ideas, thoughts, memories, and dreams. To organize your notes with voice commands, just say something like, “Cacoon Shopping” and the app will automatically put your notes in the Shopping category.
Unlike other note-taking apps where you need to enable dictation to record an audio note, and then carefully watch to make sure your text is going in correctly, CacoonWeaver records your audio and transcribes at the same time.
You can play back your notes, or read them back, which gives you the peace of mind to know that no matter what, your information won’t be lost, and there are no limitations on the max length of an audio recording.
CacoonWeaver also keeps track of where you had ideas, showing you blips on a map.
The UI is clean and minimalistic for distraction-free recording and offers custom push notifications and nudges to help you be your best self.
Because it is still in its debut phase, CacoonWeaver is currently free and keeps your data private and secure. The app claims to be in beta but it is fully functional and in better shape bugs-wise than a lot of other apps you’ll find on the AppStore.
CacconWeaver Pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid plan: N/A
Milanote - Best whiteboard-style notes app for creatives
Compatibility: Desktop apps for Mac and Windows, plus mobile apps for iOS and Android
The Next Web calls Milanote “the Evernote for Creatives” and it’s easy to see why creative directors, filmmakers, photographers, marketers, and designers of all kinds enjoy using it.
Unlike most note-taking apps, Milanote takes a highly-visual approach, allowing you to organize your ideas and projects in visual boards. Collect images, videos, text, and tasks all together on your screen.
If your creative process includes activities like mood boarding, brainstorming, storyboarding, or mind-mapping, the visual canvas offers a flexible and delightful experience.
Milanote works for teams and clients too, with build-tin commenting, sharing, and notifications. Plus, you can download a high-quality, printable PDF of any board.
You can try Milanote free with no time limit, although it is limited to 100 notes, images, or links (and only 10 file uploads). After that, it’s $9.99 for unlimited storage
Milanote Pricing:
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: $12.50/month when billed monthly, $9.99/month when billed annually.
Bear - Fastest markdown notepad for iOS & Mac
Compatibility: iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Mac
For Apple fans looking to upgrade beyond Apple Notes, Bear offers a good balance of features, design, convenience, and software speed. If you’re coming from Evernote, for example, it’s so fast, you’ll notice the difference immediately.
From your very first note, Bear’s design shines, treating you with elegant typography and theme options which include multiple dark modes.
Bear's speed isn't just for writing notes, either. Searching in the app also runs fast, with minimal delays when searching notes.
With many advanced markdown options (or is it markup?), Bear works great if you like to format as you type. Hybrid markdown support means you can see the formatted text as you’re typing, although if you’re not a regular user of markdown, you might not enjoy the experience at first. You can easily export these nicely-formatted notes to HTML, PDF, and TXT.
It also has quick shortcuts, such as for finding today’s date, and supports checkboxes to help with to-dos. Built-in tagging is powerful and allows you to create tags anywhere in a document that are automatically captured in the sidebar.
Bear uses iCloud to speedily sync notes between iOS and Mac with a Pro membership. Still, some users complain that this should be a free feature like it is with most other note-taking apps.
Bear is rated 4.5 out of 5 on G2 Crowd with positive reviews from many note-taking app power users, such as consultants, software developers, and UI/UX designers. The biggest complaint about Bear is a lack of helpful or effective support.
Bear pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid Plan: Bear Pro is $1.49/monthly, $14.99 annually with a free trial
Typora - Best distraction-free notes app
Compatibility: For desktop/laptop computers only (Mac, Windows, and Linux)
Typora is a slick alternative to Bear that is even more minimalist and distraction-free. The app is simple, with very little UI getting in the way. It’s also beautifully designed, with clear, aesthetically-pleasing text.
Typora has a night mode and also supports custom themes so that you can create the perfect writing experience.
It also has two cool modes. One is a unique Focus Mode that highlights the paragraph you’re currently working on, while graying out everything else. Typewriter Mode similarly highlights the center of your screen.
Many of the same advanced markdown features are in Typora, meaning that you can type up nicely-formatted notes without ever having to shift your hand to your mouse. Even so, if you want to get a little bit fancy, Typora supports tables, diagrams, mathematical formats, footnotes, code fences, and task lists.
Typora Pricing:
- Free app: Yes, during beta
- Paid Plan: Not yet announced
Workflowy - Infinite expandable bullet points
Compatibility: Desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux, plus iOS, Android, and in your browser
Do you love taking notes with bullet points?
Do you wish everything in life could be bullets — Infinite, ever-expanding bullet points, as far as the sky can reach?
Does your whole world spin around lists and bullet points? If not, would you like it to?
If the answer the above is a resounding Yes!, you’ll be in heaven with Workflowy.
The concept is simple. Workflowy lets you create infinite piles of bullet points which are also each their own document. Expand, collapse, move documents, drill in and out — it’s intuitive and natural bullet points at a scale that you may have never dreamed of.
The product works well for outlining and project organization just naturally. It’s novel, intuitive, and requires very little learning to figure out.
The only downside to Workflowy is in organizing more matrixed information. This might be more challenging, because every bit of information may not have a clear place in your stack of bullet points for where it should belong. (Contrast this with Hugo, which organizes meeting notes based on your calendar, so notes don’t live in just one particular place — they’re associated with names, companies, dates, meeting titles, etc...)
Still, for your next novel or work project, especially for people whose minds work in a certain bullet-driven way, give Workflowy a try.
Workflowly Pricing:
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: $5/month
OneNote - Best free option (not just for Microsoft lovers)
For iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and in the browser
Simple, practical, and ubiquitous for Windows and Office users, OneNote is a free note-taking app that seems to be everywhere.
It’s a great basic option, with a familiar UI to anyone who has ever used Microsoft products like Word, and while it does most of the things Evernote does, it stands out because of one big four-letter word that starts with an F.
Free.
You get more advanced functionality here without having to pay.
In OneNote, you can add multimedia elements to your notes, such as audio, video, images, and even websites using the Webclipper browser extension. Task lists are an option, although robust task management in OneNote can be challenging because you can’t put due dates on anything.
OneNote has a large folder organization system, letting you create notebooks and sections, and nest them inside each other. The way that sections get dragged around can be frustrating — trying to move one section below another and can have it end up inside on accident — but again, for a free option, for many, this may be a minor inconvenience. Cross-notebook search is available, although there is a learning curve to finding your information.
OneNote uses OneDrive to sync across all of your Microsoft apps. If you don’t have an Office 365 subscription, you can upgrade your OneDrive to a paid plan for an increase in storage space.
OneNote Pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid plan: Upgrade OneDrive for more storage space, starting at $1.99/month for 100 GB
Boost Note - Best note-taking app for developers
Compatibility: iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and in your browser
Stylish, markdown-enabled, and fully open-source, Boost Note is a developer’s dream. The interface resembles Sublime, the popular text editor, with a slight skew toward taking quick and easy notes.
Boost Note highlights syntax for you and recognizes over 100 programming languages. It also supports math blocks where you can write math equations using LaTeX syntax. Themes are fully customizable.
Notes are stored safely in the cloud, with more file system-based storage coming soon.
Boost Note Pricing:
- Free app: Yes (100 MB cloud storage)
- Paid plan: 2GB cloud storage at $3/month. Boost Note for Teams launches in June 2020.
Google Keep - Best note-taking app for Google fanatics
Compatibility: Android, iOS, and in your web browser
Google Keep is a straightforward notes app that comes as part of your G Suite or Gmail account. It offers a clean, nicely-organized UI that has most of the standard features you’re looking for in a note-taking app, without too many bells and whistles.
If the rest of your life already revolves around Google products, Google Keep may be the right pick for you.
Best Alternatives To Evernote
As you create notes, they are organized on your screen visually in a corkboard style. You can change the background colors to give it a post-it notes effect. While if you take a ton of notes, this may feel haphazard, with moderate use it's colorful and fun.
You might be wondering, Why do I need Google Keep when I have Google Docs?
For some users, it may be redundant to have multiple types of Google Docs, but others may enjoy the simpler note-taking experience in Google Keep. And if your notes start to become something more than just a note, there’s always the Copy to Google Docs action to transfer it over.
Alternative To Evernote App
Google Keep Pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid plan: N/A
Ulysses - Top-of-the-line notes app for serious writers
Compatibility: Mac, iPad, iPhone
For writers and authors, Ulysses is a notes app that will replace your word processor 99% of the time. Fully-featured and elegant, it is a very power writing app.
Export in various file formats, including text, HTML, ePub, PDF, and DOCX, plus a number of export styles for professional-looking PDFs and manuscripts. You can also schedule or publish articles to Wordpress and Medium directly within the app.
Ulysses also excels at organizing, if you’re willing to set it up. With views, custom searches, filters, and tags, it’s the most organizable note-taking experience on this list (except for Hugo, which auto-organizes meeting notes based on your calendar.)
All of this functionality comes at a cost, however. Ulysses is free to try, but if you get hooked, there’s not paired down free version to stick with.
Ulysses
- Free plan: Trial only
- Paid plan: $4.99/month or $39.99 ($3.33/month) when paid annually
Notability - Best note-taking app for iPad with Apple Pencil
Compatibility: iOS (iPhone and iPad)
Combine handwriting, photos, and typing into a single note with Notability. The elegant interface is nicely-designed, letting you choose from a variety of typing and drawing instruments with ease.
Notability has a nice range of sketching tools that make it easy to recolor, scale, and adjust your ideas and sketches. You can also pick from different paper backgrounds, for example, to sketch your notes on graph paper, or more textured art paper.
Notability syncs with iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, AirDrop, and Email for easy sharing with colleagues and study partners.
It’s also great for annotating PDFs.
Notability Pricing:
- Free trial: No
- Paid app: $8.99
(Note: Nebo, discussed below, is another great option that works across all tablet platforms.)
Nebo - Best note-taking app for Surface with Surface Pen
Compatibility: iOS, Android, and Windows
Microsoft’s Surface Pen offers a delightful drawing experience on the Surface Book, Pro, and Studio, and there’s no reason you can’t use OneNote for this purpose. The anniversary update of Windows 10 also brought the Windows Ink Workspace, which gives you three cool apps: Sticky Notes, Sketchpad, and Screen sketch.
If you have an active pen like the Surface Pen, you might be asking, with all this greatness bundled for you in Windows, can note-taking get any better?
The answer is yes, and the other answer is Nebo.
Draw sketches and diagrams. Easily switch between your pen and keyboard.
Evernote Alternative Mac
There are tons of cool gestures that make the experience delightful, like how you can scratch out a letter to delete it, or swipe up to join two sentences together.
Evernote Alternative Mac
Getting notes out of Nebo is a breeze, with image, text, DOCX, and HTML formats available. You can also copy/paste diagrams to PowerPoint and they stay fully-editable.
Nebo pricing:
Evernote Alternative Google Play
- Free app: N/A
- Paid app: $9.99