Taking notes isn’t as easy as it sounds. It is not just about writing down everything that you think or hear. Taking notes is about staying focused, being interactive, and recalling information that otherwise is lost.
Now, earlier, whenever you’ve had an idea or hear one you would simply take out a sheet of paper and get to writing. But since we’re in the age of advancement and invention, we have a dizzying array of tools and apps for creating, organizing, saving and sharing notes—at home, at work, and even on the go.
In fact, creating and managing notes using note taking software is an amazing experience. The only complication here is “How do you choose which one to use?”
There are so many different tools and apps available in the market for note taking that it’s hard to find out the best note taking apps for you, your devices, and your price range.
Luckily, we’ve done the research. Read on to explore our list of the best note taking apps that are currently available. From the writing experience to sharing capabilities—here are the best that you can find.
Table of Contents
What is a note taking app?
A note taking app allows you to save, organize, share, and collaborate on important information and ideas in a single place.
The app helps to ensure that all data is kept within your fingertips without the need for search through various documents to obtain a single piece of information. Below mentioned are some of the key advantages of using a note taking app.
A note taking app:
- Emphasizes and organizes information
- Ensures interactive discussions
- Creates a condensed record of everything
- Gives you what you need, when you need it
- Saves a lot of time
Create notes, collaborate on them, and work smarter. Do it all with one tool—ProofHub!
List of best apps for note taking:
Here’s the list of 10 best note taking apps and tools that will help you save your important ideas, thoughts, and information secure, in one place, with anytime and anywhere access.
1. ProofHub
About ProofHub
ProofHub isn’t just one of those regular note-taking apps or a simple file management system; it is more of an all-in-one project management and team collaboration software with note-taking being one of its core capabilities. The Notes feature in ProofHub is easy to use and perfect for jotting down almost every important piece of information related to a project. You can keep a record of your daily minutes of meetings and save all your ideas securely. One of the best things about ProofHub’s notes is that you can share them directly with someone else and even let them make contributions to those notes.
As a note-taking app, ProofHub makes it easy for you to create notes for almost anything. You can assign a specific color to each note to make it easily identifiable. Additionally, you can add comments, attach files to a note, and store multiple notes together in a Notebook to keep things neatly organized.
Apart from note-taking, you can also accomplish various aspects of project management and team collaboration using ProofHub. You can use custom workflows and boards, create multiple tasks with deadlines, assign them to your team members, define custom roles, and proof files online. Other key highlights of ProofHub include time tracking, custom project reports, instant messaging & group chat, and real-time notifications for everything happening within different projects.
ProofHub Pros
- Intuitive interface with little to no learning curve
- Delivers robust performance and comes with the ability to handle multiple projects and a virtually unlimited number of notes
- Pin notebooks to make them easily accessible
- Allows you to keep track of all the changes made to your notes
- Mark notes as private to safeguard all your important information from unwanted access
- Look for notes easily using advanced search and download notes in PDF format
- Straightforward pricing and no per-user fees make it a favorable choice for teams of all sizes
ProofHub Cons
- Powerful but limited number of app integrations
ProofHub Pricing
- Ultimate Control plan is available for $89 per month (limited time offer) (billed annually) with unlimited projects and unlimited users
- Essential plan is available for $45 per month (billed annually) with unlimited users
*ProofHub comes with an initial free trial (including all features) and offers special discounts for nonprofits.
2. Evernote
About Evernote
Evernote is basically a note taking app that almost every professional has heard of or used at some point. It’s a popular app that helps professionals like you to capture and prioritize ideas, projects, and to-do lists, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Evernote Pros
- Supports multiple file formats
- Can be used as a canner for mobile
- Has optical character recognition
- Offers access to web clipper for browsers
Evernote Cons
- Not so good in terms of organization
- Offers no markdown support
- A bit pricey
Evernote Pricing
- Evernote Premium is available at $2.68 per month
- Evernote Business is available at $14.99 per user per month
Further Reading: Evernote Alternatives: 12 Note-Taking Apps You Should Be Using Today
What is better ProofHub or Evernote?
ProofHub Vs Evernote
| ProofHub | Evernote |
| Overview: ProofHub is an all-in-one software suite for growing teams and businesses. With ProofHub, a team gets all the tools it needs to plan, collaborate, assign, track, and deliver work faster, together. Best for:
and more… List of features: Discussions, To-do lists and tasks, Workflows & Boards, Events & milestones, Gantt charts, Customization of the file upload window, Reports, Custom roles, Files, Proofing, Time tracking, Notes, Chat, Security options, Customization, Multiple languages, Advanced search, Custom domain SSL, API, and Mobile compatibility Integrations: Freshbooks, Google Calendar, iCal, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive Supported devices: Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone/iPad, Mac, We Available support: Email, Live support, Training, Tickets | Overview: Evernote is an app designed for note taking, organizing, task management, and archiving. Best for:
List of features: Web clipping support, Mobile and Web interface, Web clipper browser extensions, Edit rich text and sketches, Geolocation, Content available on any device, Snap photos, record audio, save documents, Save favorite webpages, Shapes, arrows and quick sketches, Sketch on a page and sync notes to any device, Share notes and collaborate on files, Annotation and markup, Feedback sharing Integrations: No information available Supported devices: Windows, Android, iPhone/iPad, Mac Available support: Email, Live support, Training |
Is ProofHub the best note taking alternatives to Evernote? Yes, indeed! Try it today.
3. Microsoft OneNote
About Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is the ultimate note-taker for modern businesses. Microsoft OneNote helps you securely save your personal and project-related information in one place. It’s certainly one of the most powerful apps for capturing digital notes and keeping them organized.
Microsoft OneNote Pros
- Free for basically all platforms
Microsoft OneNote Cons
- Lacks note sorting option
- The interface looks a little messy
- Limited tagging capabilities
Microsoft OneNote Pricing
- OneNote is free when you get an Office 365 subscription. You can’t purchase it separately.
4. Google Keep
About Google Keep
Google Keep is a simple note taking app that is perfect for saving and organizing random notes anywhere, anytime. With Google Keep, you can create an unlimited number of notes, with up to 20,000 characters, and you can create labels to organize them.
Google Keep Pros
- It is as simple as you can imagine
- It’s available for free on every platform
Google Keep Cons
- No hierarchical organization
Google Keep Pricing
- Google Keep doesn’t cost a penny. It is one of the best free note keeping apps for personal and professional use.
Organize all ideas and information in one place with ProofHub. Sign up for free!
5. Slite
About Slite
Slite is a perfect tool for collaborative documentation. It serves as a combined workspace for teams to write and organize their knowledge. With Slite, your every information becomes organized and retrievable.
Slite Pros
- The free version works well for students
- Has the best hybrid markdown text editor
Slite Cons
- Not so fast
- Nested hierarchy
- Slightly frustrating user experience
Slite Pricing
- The freemium version is available with 50 shared notes per month, unlimited private notes, and unlimited members
- The Standard version is available for $6.67 per user per month with all features
6. Notion
About Notion
Notion is an all-in-one workspace for notes, docs, projects, tasks, databases, and knowledge base. With Notion, you and your team can write, plan, collaborate, and get organized using just one tool.
Notion Pros
- Easily-duplicated template
- Multi-layered collection of pages
- Powerful tables
- Hybrid editor
- Nested hierarchical organization
Notion Cons
- The free version has limited features and is really just a demo
Notion Pricing
In addition to the freemium version, Notion offers three plans:
- Notion Personal $4 flat price per month (1 member only)
- Notion Team $8 per member per month
- Notion Enterprise $20 per member per month
7. Zoho Notebook
About Zoho Notebook
Zoho Notebook is a completely free note taking app that allows teams to create unlimited notes and notebooks in the cloud. In addition to note taking, Zoho Notebook is also a great app for real-time collaboration. It makes storing and sharing information easy, quick, and very specific.
Zoho Notebook Pros
- Allows recording audio notes
- Enables you to add images, checklists, or audio, all in the same note automatically
- Syncs notes with all devices and cloud
Zoho Notebook Cons
- No image editing option
- Limited amount of fonts
- Lacks the more advanced features
Zoho Notebook Pricing
- Zoho Notebook is free to use application
8. Dropbox Paper
About Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Paper, or simply Paper, is a collaborative document-editing service developed by Dropbox. With Dropbox Paper, create, review, revise, manage, and organize—all in shared documents.
Dropbox Paper Pros
- Well-designed interface
- Strong security features
- Available for all platforms
- Syncs beautifully across various devices
Dropbox Paper Cons
- Upload speed often choke modems out
Dropbox Paper Pricing
- Not provided by the vendor
9. Simplenote
About Simplenote
If you are looking for an easy and quick way to create notes, Simplenote is the app for you. It focuses on making the process of note-taking painless and effective. You can create notes on the go and record ideas and information that may help you to accomplish your tasks quickly.
Simplenote Pros
- Attach tags with notes to make it easy to find them
- Publish notes online
- The Markdown format makes it convenient to write, preview, and publish notes
Simplenote Cons
- No rich text formatting options
- Cannot attach files with notes
- Not suitable for medium and large-sized organizations
Simplenote Pricing
- Simplenote is completely free of cost
10. Standard Notes
About Standard Notes
Stand Notes is yet another reliable app that allows you to take notes effortlessly and become more efficient at work. It is an open-source notes app that comes with industry-standard encryption to make sure that all your ideas and thoughts are completely safe. You can jot down all the information quickly and the cross-platform sync makes it easy to access notes from different devices.
Standard Notes Pros
- Minimalistic user interface promotes simplicity in terms of usage
- App available for all major platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, and Linux
- Supports Note versioning
Standard Notes Cons
- Features available in the free version are very limited
- Quite basic compared to many other leading note-taking apps
Standard Notes Pricing
- The Free version of Standard Notes costs no money
- The Extended version is available at $2.48 per user per month with access to some advanced features
Hunting for the perfect note-taking app? Go ahead and get started with ProofHub—for FREE!
What makes a great note taking app?
Considering the many options that are available in the market, it often becomes difficult to pick the best one for your needs. Now, in terms of the note taking app, here are the three parameters that you can and you should use to compare different note taking apps available to you and select the most appropriate one.
Best Writing Experience
The best note taking apps focus on their UI. They provide you with the most pleasurable writing experience, across all devices and platforms.
Best Organization
The second most important feature to look for in a note taking software is organization. Make sure that the app you choose offers a wide range of views, custom searches, filters, and tags to help you keep all your notes and notebooks organized.
Best General Note Taking
The last and the most obvious feature to look for in a note taking app is the note taking. Just ensure that the app you pick does all the note taking and note-keeping part well enough.
Conclusion
Note taking is one of the most common needs of individuals as well as teams. Today, there are dozens if not hundreds of note taking apps available in the market. And the question of the hour is… Which note taking app will you choose? The apps we’ve listed in this post are called the best note taking apps for a reason. Go through these apps carefully to get a better understanding of which of these tools will work best for you and your teams.
What is note taking app?
Note taking apps are the kind of apps that let you keep everything from a small idea to a brief minutes of meeting in one place, on your desired device.
What is the best app for note taking?
The best note taking app will always emphasize on collecting and organizing short-term as well as long-term data in one place. Read this article to know the best options available.
What is better than Evernote?
Evernote is just a standalone note taking application. Read on to learn about popular all-round management solutions that are highliy likely to beat Evernote in terms of functionality and usability.
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