9 BEST Note Taking App for Mac & Windows (2025)

Note-taking apps are online notebooks, and because they’re digital, you can do much more than paper ever could. For instance, it includes text search, so in a matter of seconds, you can find whatever notes you need. However, it is important to find an excellent note-taking app since ordinary software may have privacy issues, lack organization, limited customization, etc.

Thus, after investing 100+ hours into researching over 40 of the best note-taker apps, I have compiled an insightful and unbiased guide featuring both free and paid options. This comprehensive review covers essential features, pros, cons, and pricing, providing you with trusted and well-researched information. This ultimate article may help you find the perfect note-taking app. Do not miss out—read the full article for exclusive and credible insights. Read more…

Best Note-Taking App for MacBook & PC

Name	Integrations	Real-Time Collaboration	Supported Platforms	Free Trial	Link
Zoho Projects	Zoho Suite, Google, Microsoft apps	✅ Yes	Web, Android, iOS, iPad	Lifetime Free Basic Plan	Learn More
Notion	Slack, Trello, GitHub, Figma, Asana, etc.	✅ Yes	iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows	Lifetime Free Basic Plan	Learn More
Monday	Dropbox, Teams, Outlook, Zapier, Slack	✅ Yes	Windows, iOS, and Android	Lifetime Free Basic Plan	Learn More
ClickUp	GitHub, Google Drive, Bitbucket, Slack	✅ Yes	Windows, iOS, and Android	Lifetime Free Basic Plan	Learn More
Evernote	Slack, Google Drive, Calendar	✅ Yes	Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Web	Lifetime Free Basic Plan	Learn More

1) Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is a powerful project management tool that also helps with note-taking and task management. It allows me to easily organize my notes by creating tasks and subtasks, making it simple to track ideas, set deadlines, and manage multiple projects efficiently. Zoho Projects is accessible on both desktop and mobile apps, ensuring I can access my notes anytime, anywhere.

Zoho Projects, established as part of the Zoho Suite, offers easy collaboration with teammates, which is essential when sharing or refining notes together. The ability to automate tasks and set up workflows further enhances my productivity. Zoho Projects also offers time tracking to monitor the time spent on note-taking or related tasks, ensuring better time management. The mobile app lets me stay connected to my notes, whether I am on the go or at the desk.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $3.27/user/month, billed annually.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan for up to 5 users.

Visit Zoho Projects >>

Lifetime Free Basic Plan

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2) Notion

Notion became an essential part of my workflow during my review process. I tested its ability to blend note-taking with team collaboration and was genuinely impressed by how intuitive and customizable the interface is. The drag-and-drop simplicity combined with powerful integration options makes it ideal for both individual users and small teams. It allowed me to organize meeting notes and project timelines and even embed spreadsheets without feeling overwhelmed. This may help users reduce the time they spend switching between multiple apps. Marketing teams often rely on Notion to collaborate on campaign briefs, track deliverables, and store creative assets all in one shared workspace.

Notion offers an impressive suite of features that I found particularly helpful in managing my tasks and projects. During my research, I collaborated with my team in real time, and the seamless integration with tools like Slack and GitHub helped me leverage its functionality. Notion supports more than 30 media types and provides various export options, including HTML, CSV, and PDF.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $12 per seat/month. 20% discount on yearly payment.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan

Visit Notion >>

Lifetime Free Basic Plan

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3) Monday

Monday.com is one of the best notetaking apps that I tested during my research. It offered me a way to collaborate with my team in one shared space. The app’s remarkable template made it easy to organize and link meeting notes. Monday.com provides an impressive dashboard that allowed me to access a macro-level view of my projects. I could stay on track with sprints, add and reorder action items based on priority, and assign team members to each task while monitoring progress at every stage. It is a highly reliable tool that seamlessly integrates with Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Dropbox, Slack, and more, hence, collaboration becomes easy and effective.

Monday.com offers the best way to connect, collaborate, and execute ideas. It supports multiple file formats like JPEG, PDF, and CSV and provides Google Drive cloud storage options. This tool is great for teams who want to boost productivity with features like dark mode, drag-and-drop, and version history. I noticed that Monday.com supports various languages, including English and French, making it a superior choice for diverse teams.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $12 per seat/month. 18% discount on yearly payments.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan up to 2 seats (No Credit Card Required).

Visit Monday >>

Lifetime Free Basic Plan

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4) ClickUp

ClickUp impressed me as a practical solution while I reviewed several tools for this article. I particularly liked how it blends note-taking with real task management. During my research, I was able to write notes and instantly convert them into actionable tasks with deadlines. That made a huge difference in staying on track. It is one of the best ways to bring structure to scattered ideas. This may help teams stay focused without constantly switching tools. Project managers often rely on ClickUp to turn brainstorming notes into structured project plans, helping them hit deadlines and communicate with stakeholders more clearly.

ClickUp is one of the top-rated tools that allows you to access your notes from any browser or mobile device. It helped me customize my important notes with headers, bullets, and colors, which is great for personalizing my workspace. During the period of my assessment, I was able to create a highly visualized dashboard and share reports effortlessly. It is a superior choice for team collaboration, as it offers seamless integrations with Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, and more.

ClickUp offers one of the easiest ways to manage your tasks with amazing features like customization, reporting, and automation. I could export notes in multiple file formats like CSV, PDF, and HTML. It also provides unlimited storage for file uploads and supports multiple languages, which is essential for global teams.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $10 a month. 30% discount on yearly payments.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan (No Credit Card Required).

Visit ClickUp >>

Lifetime Free Basic Plan

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5) Evernote

Evernote proved to be an adaptable platform during my review process. I tested how well it manages different note types—from text and audio to images and checklists. I particularly appreciate how it syncs everything instantly between devices. It is helpful to know that you can find your notes without delay, no matter which platform you are on. This may help anyone who moves between workstations or travels frequently. Journalists commonly use Evernote to store interview notes, audio clips, and references while reporting from various locations without worrying about losing their information.

Evernote brings a reliable blend of features to help you stay organized without overcomplicating things. I found it’s cross-platform syncing smooth and dependable, letting me jump between my phone and desktop effortlessly. The web clipper helped me save full articles with tags and notes during research. I recommend tagging clipped content immediately so it is easier to retrieve later. I scanned handwritten notes from a recent meeting, and they turned into searchable files within seconds, thanks to the OCR scanning tool.

I liked how I could manage tasks inside notes, set deadlines, and track their progress without switching apps. That made daily planning feel more focused. Tag organization saved me time when locating older notes from different projects. Evernote’s calendar integration connected my notes to events, which helped during client follow-ups. While testing this, one thing I noticed was how linking notes with calendar events made meeting prep much more efficient.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $10.83 per month, billed annually.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan

Link: https://evernote.com/

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6) GoodNotes

GoodNotes became an ideal companion during my evaluation process. I checked how well it handled note organization and annotation, and I was able to keep everything in well-labeled folders with ease. The tool made handwriting feel natural and intuitive, which helps when trying to replicate a paper-like flow. Keep in mind it also works across devices, so your content stays with you on the go. It is a superior choice for anyone who prefers writing over typing. Architects often rely on GoodNotes to sketch building concepts on-site, mark up floorplans, and sync revisions with team members across their devices.

I particularly liked that I could write and sketch on digital paper using either a stylus or my finger. It allows you to personalize your notebook with templates and switch effortlessly between vertical and horizontal scrolling. I could also easily export notes in formats like CSV, TSV, and PDF. It also offered me seamless integration with several cloud storage options. I could choose to store it on Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $9.99 per year.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan.

Link: https://www.goodnotes.com/

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7) Milanote

I explored Milanote, and it helped me organize my projects and ideas using visual boards. I found that it is an impressive PDF note-taking app for Mac, supporting PDFs, JPGs, Excel, and Word files. It allowed me to save text, links, and images from the web effortlessly. I could also add notes and photos directly from my mobile phone. I could edit by collaborating with others in real-time and invite users to view and edit my board and download PDFs.

Milanote, established in 2016, offers easy integration with Google Drive, Dropbox, Trello, and more. I could easily upload files up to 50 MB in various formats. These files include JPG, PNG, and GIF, which were essential for my creative tasks. The platform supports multiple languages and provides useful features like dark mode and version history. Milanote also helped me customize templates and data synchronization, which assisted in intelligent content management and collaboration.

Pricing:

• Price: Plans start at $9.99 per month, billed annually.
• Free Trial: Lifetime free Basic plan.

Link: https://milanote.com/

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8) SimpleNote

Simplenote is one of the best Evernote alternatives as it supports markdown, which I found incredibly useful. I was able to quickly find my notes using the search feature and tags, making it a superior choice for any organization. During the period of my assessment, I discovered that this app for Mac lets you share lists, post instructions, or publish notes online. The best part is that my notes were backed up automatically whenever I made changes, and the app ensured that all the updates synced across devices flawlessly. I recommend this app for iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, and Linux.

SimpleNote, founded in 2008, offered me a remarkable experience with its Google Drive cloud storage option, which I found helpful in keeping my notes organized. I was able to access multiple file formats like JSON, TXT, MD, ENEX, and CSV, making it a top-notch tool for versatility. I particularly liked its drag-and-drop feature and dark mode, which made my workflow smoother. During my assessment, I discovered that its keyboard shortcuts helped in enhancing my productivity.

Pricing:

• Price: Free Software

Link: https://simplenote.com/

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9) Zotero

According to my review, Zotero is an amazing tool for collecting, organizing, and sharing research. I reviewed Zotero as one of the best note-taking apps for Mac. The best feature of this tool is that it can detect research on the web automatically. I could quickly sort items into collections and tag them with keywords. Zotero helped me create bibliographies directly in Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs, which is essential for research. I recommend Zotero for those who need to share their library with a large number of people. It is compatible with Mac, Linux, and Windows platforms.

Zotero, founded in 2006, is an impressive tool for managing references. It offers seamless integration with Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive, hence, I could keep my files organized across platforms. This tool supports a wide range of file formats, such as RDF, CSV, BibTex, and JSON. Zotero also provided me with 300 MB of free storage, and if you need more, there is unlimited storage available for file uploads.

Additionally, I could access helpful features like color variations, drag and drop, dark mode, scanner, and version history, which is great for researchers. The tool has the ability to collaborate freely and maintain privacy. I also appreciate its constant improvement and unparalleled support provided via email.

Pricing:

• Price: Free to download.

Link: https://www.zotero.org/

What is Note Taking App?

A note-taking app is an online notebook that helps you take notes of various day-to-day office tasks. It lets you stay focused on your work by reminding you about to-do tasks. It also helps you manage work and projects using a calendar for better management.

How Did We Choose BEST Note Taking Apps?

At Guru99, we are dedicated to delivering credible, accurate, and objective content backed by expert insights. After spending over 100 hours analyzing 40+ note-taking apps, we created a trusted guide covering both free and paid options. Efficient note taking supports productivity and organization, so we highlighted tools with adaptability, ease of use, and problem-solving features. Our expert-driven review includes key features, pros, cons, and pricing to help you make informed choices. The goal is to meet diverse user needs with updated and reliable content. We focus on the following factors while reviewing a tool based on.

• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Our team chose apps that sync across devices to ensure your notes are always accessible anywhere.
• User Experience: We made sure to shortlist tools with ultra-responsive interfaces designed for all users without compromise or delay.
• Organization Features: Experts in our team selected apps that simplify structure with tags, folders, and search optimized for efficiency.
• Security Standards: We chose based on strong encryption and secure storage to ensure your information stays private and protected.
• Integration Capabilities: Our team focused on apps that connect with commonly used tools to save time and streamline workflows.
• Offline Access: We made sure each app allows you to take and view notes offline so you can work without interruptions.

How Much Should You Pay for a Note-Taking App?

Pricing for note-taking apps varies widely. Some are free with basic features, while others offer premium plans for advanced tools. Choosing the right price depends on how you use the app. I often remind people to match the cost with their needs, not just trends. Paying more doesn’t always mean getting more value.

For students or casual users, a free or low-cost app with cloud sync and search might be enough. Professionals or creatives may need extra features like team collaboration, audio recording, or handwriting support. These usually come with subscription fees.

I have seen people waste money on features they never use. Focus on your workflow and choose an app that complements it. Test free versions first before going premium.

• Free Plan: Best for light users needing basic note storage and access across devices.
• One-Time Payment: Great for users who dislike subscriptions and want long-term value.
• Monthly/Yearly Subscription: Ideal for power users needing constant updates, advanced tools, or business integrations.
• Compare Features vs Cost: Make sure you’re paying for what actually helps you, not what’s just popular.

How can you make Note Taking easier?

Here is how can you make note-taking easier:

• Step 1) Download and install any of the above-listed note-taking applications on your computer
• Step 2) Open the application
• Step 3) Create your notes based on the priority
• Step 4) Set the notes using a calendar and save the notes
• Step 5) This way, you can easily make notes and save them without wasting ink and paper.

Using the best note taking app can further streamline your digital note organization with features like tagging, cloud backup, and real-time collaboration.

Verdict

I have tried dozens of note-taking apps to simplify my workflow, centralize tasks, and organize my thoughts across devices. If you are deciding on the most reliable tool for personal or collaborative note management, check my verdict.

• Zoho Projects: A secure and customizable solution with task-oriented note organization that aligns perfectly with project tracking.
• Notion: A comprehensive and user-friendly platform with phenomenal media handling and integration features that suit diverse productivity needs.
• Monday.com: A robust and top-rated workspace offering reliable collaboration, flexible templates, and excellent visibility into all note-based workflows.