Top 5 best note-taking apps in 2022
My requirements
- A single app (or as minimal number as possible)
- Cross-Platform
- Cross-device
- Start-up speed
- Search capabilities
- Accommodate physical notes
- Distraction-free
- Safety & Privacy
- Cheap / Completely Free
Use cases
- Productivity system
- Journalling
- Library of my thoughts / Second brain
- One single app (or) as minimal number of apps as possible. One app that should take care of all my note-taking needs. But, soon I found out you need a set of 2-3 apps (more on that later)
- Cross-platform – Should work across platforms (ios, android, windows & mac)
- Cross-device usability & Sync. It should work across devices seamlessly (desktop, tablets and mobile) with good syncing capabilities
- Start-up speed & Search – Quickly open and find what I need to and start adding notes. I should also be easily search for the things I need to find
- Support for physical notes – Should accommodate scans of physically written notes. I like to jot down notes physically sometimes. When you are in a meeting, you don’t want to be typing stuff. I have a mild OCD, that makes it difficult to proceed if let’s say a sentence was not formed properly or there was a misspelling. With physical notes, there is less chance of this happening and if you review it reasonably quickly, you will be able to make out what you meant when you wrote down something on paper.
- Intuitive & Distraction free – should provide a clean writing experience free of distractions
- Safety & Privacy – I should be able to trust that my notes will not be lost once I write them (auto-save). Privacy and transferability are also important for me.
- Cheap – I’d like to spend as little money as possible and better if the tool(s) are totally free
Use cases:
- Productivity system
- A GTD based process to capture thoughts and actions quickly so that I can keep my mind free for creating thoughts and ideas
- Review the captured items and add them to my list of things to do
- If you have not heard about GTD (Getting Things Done), I highly recommend reading David Allen’s book. Some parts may get tedious, but you can read the first half of the book and get the most essential ideas (I persisted and read through it – Will post on the summary of the book later)
- Household tracking
- Finance
- Subscriptions
- Reminders of payments
- Meeting notes
- Mental wellbeing
- Journaling
- Reflections on Stoic philosophy
- A second brain / library of my thoughts to refer to
- Learnings & Ideas – my own reflections on things that I read / watch / listen to
- From books, websites, videos, audio books, podcasts
- Knowledge I gather by doing things at work or in my life
- What worked, and what did not
- Mind-map and think through ideas
- Learnings & Ideas – my own reflections on things that I read / watch / listen to
Top 5 best note-taking apps
1. Evernote
Evernote is a great app to start with. I hesitated with Evernote at the start. I heard some stories about being locked-in and potentially losing your notes if you were to migrate to a new app (which later turned out to be less of a problem).
The second hesitation was with the price. You need the paid version to use it cross-platform. Evernote allows users to have upto 2 devices (one of which can be the web app). While this works for some people, it would not work for me.
After reading through a ton of reviews and personal stories, I took the plunge and I’m happy for it. The price we pay is a worthwhile investment if you are paying yearly
The Good thing about Evernote is that it has been around for a long time and I can trust that the improvements they have made are useful to the users (not all of them, certainly most of them).
This is the best information dump, library, and quick reference I have used. It is quick to open, very good-looking and does what it is supposed to do. I know that I can easily search for anything and get to writing notes.
The OCR capabilities make it a breeze to scan documents and search for things. And did I say it was good looking and distraction free?
Pros:
- Fantastic Search capability
- Accommodates hand-written notes (OCR)
- Distraction-free
Cons:
- Not great at bidirectional linking
- Auto-calculations (for tracking) – non-existent
- Migration pains
- Free version limited to 2 devices
- Sync creates duplicates
2. Obsidian
Obsidian is truly a do-it-all app. It can serve as the go-to app for all your note taking needs (if you set it up the right way).
It can be the One App to rule them all. But, it takes some work to set it up the way you want to. All that you create are stored locally or on a location you specify. You have complete control.
I discovered Obsidian when I was looking for a bi-directional connected note taking app. This is where all your notes can be linked to one another and as there was a lot of buzz around it when and when I first started, I have to admit that I was overwhelmed. There are tons of plugins and lots of things you can do with Obsidian.
They call themselves a knowledge base – which it is true in every sense. And the free plugins available, allow you to make it behave exactly the way you want it to.
(I will detail my current set-up and I what I use it for later)
My set up took some trial and error and if I install it on a new device, with self-written instructions (which are stored in Evernote BTW 🙂 ), I can set it up in under 5 minutes.
The great thing about obsidian is its fully free and you will need the paid version – only for sync. You can skip the paid version and sync with your dropbox using a plugin (RemotelySave) – works like a charm
Pros:
- Can do it all
- Free (fully functional app and the cost is only for sync)
- Local first storage
- Sync – can be done for free with dropbox integration plugin (works very well)
- Great bi-directional linking
- Great for uninterrupted writing (I get into a flow often)
Cons:
- Can be intimidating at start
- Need to force yourself to use as little of the fancy stuff as possible
- Needs some set-up time (trial & error to figure out what you need)
3. Bullet Journal
Okay I know, I am deviating a bit here. This is not really an app (although they do have one). Here, I’m referring to the bullet journal note taking system. If you have not read the book, I highly recommend doing so.
Its a comprehensive system of how to take notes and act upon them, so that nothing gets missed. For managing my day to day actions, this is a must-have for me. Eventhough I use digital apps to accompany my Bullet Journal practice, this is my main daily driver. The only reason this is in the 3rd place is because there are apps that can emulate this system and they have some advantages over a physical notes system.
This is very easy to get started with – All you need is a simple dotted notebook and a decent pen. Its simple, intuitive, no distractions and you can refer back to anything you want to easily.
Pros:
- Minimal
- Distraction-free
- Start-up speed (well there isn’t any except for refering to index)
- Can do it all (albeit with some hacks)
- Physical notes (great for meetings)
Cons:
- Not digital
- Search capabilities non existent (although can be mitigated by pairing with goodnotes)
- Slow – as hand written notes can take time
4. Notion
Notion is another very powerful app that can potentially do it all. I started with this and persisted for a good 3 months. Great for task management & productivity – nothing ever gets missed here.
It uses a block style editor that can nest blocks and pages inside one another and quite handy for certain types of use cases. You can use Notion as your singular point of managing everything that you do.
But, it takes some time to learn to use it the right way. I wasted a lot of time at the start in setting it up the most perfect way possible (OCD) and made the blunder of distracting myself from the core purpose of using a notes app.
Pros:
- Can do it all – very powerful
- Cross-platform & Cross-device
- Sync is great
- Free version is power packed
- Lots of resources to learn & it is quick to learn
- Unique – it does a lot of other apps are not capable of
- Great for Team work & Collaboration
- Fantastic for planning & can serve as a great tracker / planning tool
Cons:
- Pain with bi-directional linking (its possible but painful)
- No local storage (its all in notion’s cloud databases)
- Handwritten notes are a pain
- Can be distracting (can’t get into a writing flow often)
- Takes time to learn & can lose yourself often in setting up the right way
- Start-up can be slow
5. Apple Notes
For people who already are on the apple ecosystem and those who want to start with note-taking, there is no better place to start. Its simple, distraction-free and does what we expect of a basic note-taking app.
No frills, just get started and writing.
I love the fact that this can do most of what other more powerful apps can do; except for things like bi-directional linking (although there are hacks). Tags can work here well. and basically you can get started with Apple notes for note taking and figure out your needs before moving to more powerful apps.
Pros:
- Search is fantastic
- Great Quick capture
- Cheap / Free – If you are in Apple ecosystem – its very handy
- Images are accommodated (hence also hand-written notes & mid-maps)
- Safety of information (stored in apple cloud / devices & available offline)
- Distraction free
Cons:
- Bi-directional linking is a pain
- Not very powerful – cannot do it all
- Not cross-platform (available only on Apple ecosystem)
Conclusion
The overall winner from my perspective (if I have to single one out) is Evernote. Although, any one app from this list can be your daily driver and can serve you well to achieve your goals.
The logic is, it does most of the things well, and for someone to get started with note taking, Evernotes gives a perfect start. You just start writing – its simple, easy to use, intuitive (for most part).
If you want a more involved app, get into Obsidian. Its totally free, and all the data are in your control.
For something more minimal and distraction free, go for Bullet journal.
My system is a combination of 3:
- Evernote (for information dump, project related information & quick reference)
- Obsidian (for creative writing / ideas / bi-directional notes)
- Bullet Journal (for daily task management & reflections)
During this journey of finding the right one for me, I tried so many apps and what I learned is that, there are some which excel in Specific areas and there are some which do overall note-taking well. Some of the apps that I tried but did not make the list are – Simplenote, Zoho notebook, Joplin, Bear, Supernotes, Standard notes, Craft, etc.,
The best way to find out what works for you is to pick one and start writing. Over the course of time, you will figure out what your exact needs are and where your current app lacks. Once you reach that point, you will know where to head.
Good luck!