Best 10 Note-Taking Apps for Better Life Management

The world of note-taking applications can be daunting. There's such a range of note-taking applications now versus just a few years ago. PKM note-taking apps, traditional notes apps and even more lightweight ones for capturing reminders and daily snippets.

We've shortlisted these as great all-rounders, they all present unique features but all are the most accessible on our list of note-taking tools and good all-round tools for your notes to be captured, linked and expanded on.

Best Note-Taking Applications for Better Notes

Here's a list of the best note-taking applications sorted for

• NotePlan 3 - a combination of markdown, notes, calendar & tasks note-taking
• Notion - the most flexible note-taking application on the market with wide use
• Evernote - a more traditional note-taking application with tasks & calendar
• Microsoft OneNote - well built for student note-taking and a classic from Microsoft
• Amplenote -
• Logseq -
• Obsidian -
• UpNote -
• Zoho Notebook -
• Nimbus Notes -

Let's dig into the list of notes app for you below. The following tools are not list in order of quality as the needs of each notes apps are varying and wider.

Best 10 All-Round Note-Taking Apps

NotePlan 3

An all-in-one type note-taking tool with notes, calendar & tasks in one base.

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Best For

Mid-Level Note-Taker

Availability

iOS

Mac

Pricing

$

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking AppsPersonal Knowledge Management AppsOriginal Productivity Apps

Notion

An all-in-one workspaces for notes, projects, tasks, documents & lots more.

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Best For

Passionate All-In-One

Availability

Web

iOS

Android

Windows

Mac

Chrome Extension

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

All-In-One Productivity ToolsProject Management SoftwareAI Productivity Tools

Evernote

A general all-around note-taking app, including light tasks and calendar abilities.

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Best For

Traditional Note-Taking

Availability

Web

iOS

Android

Windows

Linux

Mac

Chrome Extension

Pricing

$

$

$

Type of Tool

To-Do List AppsNote Taking AppsAI Productivity Tools

Microsoft OneNote

Note-taking and organising app perfect for students, academics and general notes.

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Best For

Beginner Note-Taking

Availability

Web

iOS

Android

Windows

Mac

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking AppsAI Productivity Tools

Amplenote

A GTD users dream for managing notes, ranking your tasks and co-ordinating calendar.

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Best For

GTD Note Takers

Availability

Mac

iOS

Windows

Android

Linux

Pricing

$

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking AppsPersonal Knowledge Management Apps

Logseq

Logseq is a networked thought notes app with graph, backlinks & more.

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Best For

Advanced PKM note-takers

Availability

Mac

Linux

Windows

Android

iOS

Pricing

$

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking Apps

Obsidian

Locally stored tool for managing notes, ideas and thoughts - a fan favourite.

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Best For

Linking Notes

Availability

iOS

Windows

Linux

Mac

Android

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking AppsPersonal Knowledge Management Apps

UpNote

A simple way to handle notes, build notebooks, add to-dos and categorise ideas.

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Best For

Personal Note-Taking

Availability

iOS

Android

Windows

Linux

Mac

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking Apps

Zoho Notebook

A notebook app for creating all kinds of notes and organise them accordingly.

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Best For

Note-Taking

Availability

iOS

Web

Android

Windows

Linux

Mac

Chrome Extension

Pricing

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking Apps

Nimbus Note

Nimbus notes is great for an all round note-taking experience similar to Evernote.

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Best For

Feature-Rich Note Taking

Availability

iOS

Mac

Web

Android

Windows

Pricing

$

$

Type of Tool

Note Taking Apps

Do I Need a Note-Taking Application?

This all depends on what you need to capture. Note-taking applications tend to be good when used daily to bring together notes - or capturing things on the go.

Tools like Evernote and Obsidian in the list are different, but offer two great ways to take notes, Evernote more traditional - with the quick capture of documents, photos and short checklists, whilst Obsidian more networked, for the more advanced note-taker.

Matching something to your needs can be helpful for long-term note-taking, as moving between note-taking apps can be like moving house - stressful, expensive and tiring.

How to Choose the Best Note-Taking App for You

When choosing a note-taking app, it's important to understand the four personalities of a note-taker. These include the Organizer, the Collector, the Sketcher, and the Notetaker.

• The Organizer is someone who prefers to organize their notes in a structured way. They may want to use a note-taking app that offers a range of organizational tools, such as folders, tags, and labels.
• The Collector is someone who likes to collect lots of information. They may want to use a note-taking app that offers a range of options for saving and storing information, such as cloud storage and searchable notes.
• The Sketcher is someone who prefers to draw and create diagrams. They may want to use a note-taking app that offers a range of tools for drawing, such as shapes, arrows, and text boxes.
• The Notetaker is someone who prefers to take notes quickly and easily. They may want to use a note-taking app that offers a range of features for taking notes, such as voice dictation and text-to-speech transcription.

By understanding the four personalities of a note-taker, you can easily find a note-taking app that suits your needs. These concepts are so well explained by Anne-Laure Le Cunff of Ness Labs, in here piece about the types of note-taking users.

Focus on Research

Another option is to read through articles and reviews that compare different note-taking apps. This will give you a sense of what each app offers and how they differ from one another. Finally, you can always try out a few different apps to see which one you like best. Many note-taking apps offer free trials, so you can test them out before making a decision.

This is some good generalised advice on picking productivity tools:

For some people, Notion might be the house for everything, tasks, notes and calendar — but for others — a tool for each of them like for notes, for tasks and for calendar could be the perfect productivity set-up.

Still struggling?

If you're struggling to find note-taking apps that suit your needs, there are a few things you can do. First, consider what features are most important to you, followed by:

• Do you need an app that syncs across multiple devices?
• Do you want an app that integrates with other software you use?
• Are you looking for a simple, distraction-free interface?

Once you know what you're looking for, you can search for apps that meet your criteria.

We've got plenty of different types of productivity apps across the board on Tool Finder. Well worth exploring other note-taking apps or searching for another type for you.