Comparison of note-taking software
The tables below compare features of notable note-taking software. These comparisons highlight differences in platform availability, synchronization capabilities, formatting options, storage limits, and integration with other applications. While some applications like Microsoft OneNote and Evernote offer robust features with cloud syncing across devices, others such as Simplenote prioritize minimalism and speed. Open-source tools like Joplin provide privacy-focused alternatives, allowing users to host their own notes and use end-to-end encryption. These tables aim to help users choose a note-taking tool that best fits their workflow, whether for academic, personal, or professional use. The tables below compare features of notable note-taking software.
 | This article may contain original research. (April 2026) |
 | This article or section possibly contains original synthesis. Source material should verifiably mention and relate to the main topic. (April 2026) |
The tables below compare features of notable note-taking software. These comparisons highlight differences in platform availability, synchronization capabilities, formatting options, storage limits, and integration with other applications. While some applications like Microsoft OneNote and Evernote offer robust features with cloud syncing across devices, others such as Simplenote prioritize minimalism and speed. Open-source tools like Joplin provide privacy-focused alternatives, allowing users to host their own notes and use end-to-end encryption. These tables aim to help users choose a note-taking tool that best fits their workflow, whether for academic, personal, or professional use.
The tables below compare features of notable note-taking software.
General information
[edit]| Name | Developer(s) | License | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| AllMyNotes Organizer | Vladonai Software | Freemium | Microsoft Windows |
| Bear | Shiny Frog | Freemium | macOS, iOS |
| CintaNotes | Cinta Software | Freemium | Microsoft Windows |
| ConnectedText | Eduardo Mauro | Shareware | Microsoft Windows |
| Day One | Bloom Built (Automattic) | Proprietary commercial | macOS, iOS, Android |
| Dropbox Paper | Dropbox | Freemium | Android, iOS, web-based |
| Evernote | Evernote Corporation | Freemium | Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows 7/8/10, Microsoft Windows Phone, and web-based |
| Gnote | Aurimas Černius | GPL-3.0-or-later | Linux |
| Google Keep | Freeware | Android, iOS, ChromeOS, browser based | |
| Joplin | laurent22 et al. | AGPL-3.0 or later | Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android |
| KeyNote | Marek Jedliński, Tranglos Software | MPL-2.0 | Microsoft Windows |
| Logseq | Logseq Inc | AGPL-3.0 or later | Windows, macOS, Android, Linux, iOS, BSD |
| Memonic | Nektoon AG | Freemium[Notes 1] | Android (not released yet), iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/Mobile web-based |
| Microsoft OneNote | Microsoft | Freemium[Notes 2] | Android, macOS, iOS, Microsoft Windows (desktop and mobile), PWA |
| MyInfo | Milenix Software | Shareware | Microsoft Windows |
| MyNotex | Massimo Nardello | GPL-3.0-or-later | Linux |
| Notational Velocity | Zachary Schneirov | GPL-3.0-or-later | macOS |
| Notes | Apple | Proprietary commercial | macOS, iOS, web-based |
| Notion | Notion Labs Inc. | Freemium | Android, macOS, iOS (iPad, iPhone), Microsoft Windows, web-based |
| Obsidian | Obsidian | Freemium | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android |
| Open-Sankoré | Sankoré | LGPL-2.0-only | Linux, macOS, Unix, Microsoft Windows |
| Org-mode (Emacs) | Carsten Dominik, et al. | GPL-3.0-or-later | Linux, macOS, Unix, Microsoft Windows |
| PDF Studio | Qoppa Software | Shareware | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, web-based |
| Personal Knowbase | Bitsmith Software | Proprietary commercial | Microsoft Windows |
| QOwnNotes | Patrizio Bekerle it | GPL-2.0-only | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows |
| Qiqqa | Quantisle Ltd. | Freemium | Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8, Web-based, Android |
| Roam | Roam Research | Proprietary commercial | macOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows[1] |
| Samsung Notes | Samsung Electronics | Proprietary commercial | Android, Microsoft Windows |
| Simplenote | Automattic inc. | Clients: GPL-2.0-only | Web app |
| TagSpaces | TagSpaces UG | AGPL-3.0-only | Web app |
| TiddlyWiki | Jeremy Ruston | BSD-3-Clause | Cross-platform (single HTML file, runs in browser, on a nodeJS server, on Android and IOS) |
| Tomboy | Alex Graveley | LGPL-2.1-only | Cross-platform (Mono/GTK+) |
| Ulysses | The Soulmen | Shareware | macOS, iOS |
| Whizfolders | AvniTech Solutions | Proprietary commercial | Microsoft Windows |
| Microsoft Windows Journal | Microsoft | Included with Windows | Windows XP Tablet PC edition, Windows Vista through Windows 10 v1511 |
| Zettlr | Hendrik Erz | GPL-3.0-or-later | macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux |
| Zim | Jaap Karssenberg | GPL-2.0-or-later | Cross-platform (Python, GTK+) |
| ZOHO Notebook | ZOHO Corporation | Freemium | Web app |
Basic features
[edit]| Name | Organizing principle(s) | Outline bulleting with indent | Tabbed sections | Sync | Web Clipping | PDF annotate and save [unclear] |
Whiteboard | Ink-pen input | Handwriting recognition | Spell check | Search | Replace in note | Printing | File save/export/import formats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AllMyNotes Organizer | Tree | Yes | No | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Proprietary, encrypted; import: plain text, RTF, CSV, images, HTML; exports: plain text, HTML, RTF, images |
| Bear | tags | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Proprietary, encrypted; export: plain text, markdown, textbundle, RTF, HTML, DOCX, PDF, JPG, ePub |
| CintaNotes | Notebooks, sections, tags | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Proprietary; export to Unicode text, XML and HTML |
| ConnectedText | Wiki, Tree and Categories | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Proprietary (SQL); Export to text, XML, CHM and HTML. Import from text, HTML, XML and RTF |
| Day One | Chronological, tags | Yes | No | Yes[Notes 3] | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes[Notes 4] | Markdown (in GUI), XML (data file); Export as: pdf, txt, md |
| Evernote | tags, Notebooks, Stacks | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial[Notes 5] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Imports and exports in Evernote XML.[2][3] |
| Gnote | Notebooks | ? | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | NoteXmlFormat, HTML, PDF |
| Google Keep | tags, colors | No | No | Yes | Partial[Notes 6] | No | Yes | No | ? | Partial[Notes 7] | Yes | ? | No | Proprietary; export to Google Doc and thence to PDF, Word, ODT etc. |
| Joplin | Nested notebooks, tree, tags | Yes | No | Yes | Browser Extension | No | No | Plug-In | No | Yes | Yes | Plug-In | Yes | Import/Export: JEX (proprietary), RAW (proprietary, directory), Markdown (optionally with front matter); Export: HTML, PDF; Import: Evernote ENEX |
| KeyNote NF | Notebooks, notes and tree | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Internal: combination of TXT and RTF; import/export: TXT, RTF, HTML, Treepad |
| Logseq | Notebooks, journal pages, blocks and pages | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Internal: There are two versions of the software: a markdown version and a database version; export: PDF, HTML. |
| Memonic | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Notes stored as XML; can attach any filetype |
| Microsoft OneNote | Notebooks, notebook sections, section groups, tags (could be applied to content blocks) | Yes | Yes | Yes[Notes 8] | Yes | Yes[Notes 9] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Imports: Evernote XML.[4] Exports: OneNote binary format.[5] |
| MyInfo | Notebooks, sections, notes, tree, tags, custom attributes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Proprietary, encrypted; import: plain text, RTF, CSV, MS Word, TreePad, images, web pages; exports: plain text, HTML, RTF, CSV, MS Word, TreePad |
| MyNotex | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Sqlite based, zipped attachments; export to HTML; copying as LaTeX; import text files, OpenOffice.org documents |
| Notes | notes, tree, tags | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sqlite based; export to PDF |
| Notion | Notebooks, notebook sections, section | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[Notes 6] | Yes[Notes 10] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Proprietary; export to PDF, HTML, Markdown, CSV |
| Obsidian | Wiki, Tree and Categories | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Plug-In | No | Plug-In[6] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Markdown, PDF |
| Okular | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes[Notes 10] | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | Yes | PDF, PS, TIFF, CHM, DjVu, DVI, XPS, ODF, others; export PDF+notes for sending to other Okular users |
| Open-Sankoré | tree, notebooks | No | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | Yes | Save/export: PDF, IWB, UBZ; Import: PDF, IWB, UBZ, images, image directories |
| Org-mode (Emacs) | tree, tags | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[7] | Yes | Plug-In[8] | Plug-In[9] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes[10] | Yes | LaTeX, HTML, DocBook, Taskjuggler, PDF, Freemind, XOXO, iCalendar |
| PDF Studio | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | |
| Personal Knowbase | tags | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Export to RTF, HTML, TXT, CSV |
| Qiqqa | tags, brainstorm | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Proprietary, PDF, Brainstorm; export to RTF and Word |
| Samsung Notes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| Simplenote | tags | Yes | No | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Export to XML |
| TagSpaces | tags, files, directories | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? | Yes | PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, ICO, WEBP, SVG, PDF, HTML, MHT, MHTML, MARKDOWN, TXT, XML, JSON, OGG, OGV, WEBM, ODT, ODS, ODP, ODG, EPUB, ZIP |
| TiddlyWiki | tags (wikiwords) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Via plugin | No | ? | No | Yes(via browser) | Yes | ? | Yes | HTML, json, txt,csv |
| Tomboy | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | NoteXmlFormat, HTML, PDF, wiki-formats |
| Ulysses | Notebooks, sections, tags | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rich text; export as HTML; import text files; markdown editing. |
| Microsoft Windows Journal | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | Yes[Notes 11] | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Proprietary |
| Zettlr | Tree, Tags, Wiki | Yes | ? | Yes[Notes 12] | No | No | No | No | No | Yes[Notes 13] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Markdown, Export and Import of Pandoc supported formats. |
| Zim | tags (wikiwords) | Yes | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, using installed web browser | Stored in modified DokuWiki Markdown; export: HTML, LaTeX, Pandoc Markdown, Sphinx RST (reStructuredText) |
| Name | Organizing principle(s) | Outline bulleting with indent | Tabbed sections | Sync | Web Clipping | PDF annotate and save | Whiteboard | Ink-pen input | Handwriting recognition | Spell check | Search | Replace | Printing | File save/export/import formats |
Advanced formatting and content
[edit]| Name | Drawing atop text [unclear] |
Text box, flow diagram [unclear] |
Text and paragraph formatting | Insert hyperlink [unclear] |
Insert image | Resize image | Insert table | Insert audio | Insert video | Attachment [unclear] |
Other objects | Remarks / other features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AllMyNotes Organizer | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Alarms, check-boxes, bullets, phones, advanced links, autosaving; last cursor position memory,passwords on tree folders,failure-resistant self-healing DB engine | |
| Bear | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | check-boxes, bullets, link to notes, encryption, document scanning, OCR search | |
| CintaNotes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | Yes | Links to notes | Tagging and searching for tags, tag hierarchy |
| ConnectedText | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Scripting of pages with Python and other scripting languages. | LaTeX, Scripts, RSS Feeds, Transclusion, Directed Graphs and Flowcharts by GraphViz, many other features. |
| Day One | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No | tags, bullets, numbering, line, programming code snippets | editable note metadata (date/time, location, weather, motion activity, music playing, step count) |
| Evernote | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[Notes 14] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Check-box, line, tags | Business and personal notes integrated in same client; businesses have control over business notes, but cannot see personal notes |
| Gnote | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | Port of Tomboy to C++; wiki-style linked notes |
| Google Keep | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Partial[Notes 15] | Yes | ? | No | Google Calendar reminders | Notes can be shared with other Google Keep users. |
| IPython Notebook | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Part of IPython shell; allows for programming code, output and annotation to be combined in single interactive environment |
| Joplin | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[Notes 16] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Links to other notes | Configurable editor layout with live preview of Markdown; Command pallette; Notes <--> Todo conversion; Plug-ins; Cloud sync available with various services, including a separate server self-hosted server; Configurable note history; Optional client side encryption; Custom CSS (imported from local or remote source) for rendered Markdown as well as app interface; |
| KeyNote NF | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes[Notes 17] | Yes | Yes[Notes 18] | No | No | Yes | OLE objects; "virtual nodes" which integrate and edit the content of external plain-text or rich-text files; internal links; mirror nodes. | Text processing; tree numbering and sorting; custom tree icons; node checkboxes; checkbox filtering; search filtering; reminder alarms; compressed or encrypted notebooks; auto-minimize and/or auto-lock when idle; quick access key for fast notes; additional scratchpad; autosave of up to 9 previous file versions; automatic clipboard capturing; read-only notebooks or notes; macros; templates; text shortcuts; plug-ins; bookmarks; custom keyboard shortcuts; program can be made portable through "Options" setting |
| Logseq | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Schedule/Deadline, TODO, LaTeX, arbitrary extensions | |
| Memonic | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Microsoft OneNote | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[Notes 19] | Yes | Yes | OLE, bullets, line, flags, formulas | No local storage of notebooks on Mac or versions past Office 2016[11] |
| MyInfo | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | OLE, bullets, numbering, page breaks, advanced links | Tags; filters; calendar; reminders |
| MyNotex | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Activity lists; tags; notes management by subject; encryption with AES or GPG; multilingual |
| Notational Velocity | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Instant open and searching |
| Notion | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bullets, numbering, checkboxes, reminders, calendars | |
| Obsidian | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bullets, numbering, checkboxes, canvases, HTML, LaTeX, internal links | |
| Okular | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Open-Sankoré | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | plug-ins, web pages, applications | Annotate live desktop applications and web pages; autosave; plug-in system; audio recording |
| Org-mode (Emacs) | Yes[12] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[13] | Yes | No | No | Yes | Advanced linking,[clarification needed] bullets, tags, checkboxes, full spreadsheet, embedding of programming code, formulas, markup | Major mode of Emacs; uses plain-text; includes ToDos, spreadsheet, deadlines, encryption, reminders, agenda, calendar |
| PDF Studio | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Personal Knowbase | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Passwords; portable[clarification needed] |
| Qiqqa | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | PDF, brainstorm, citations | |
| Samsung Notes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ||
| Simplenote | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | No | No | No | ||
| TagSpaces | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Tags, plugins | Plugins, you can present your local images, videos and music to your TV via ChromeCast. You can create a personal "wiki" for tracking of your projects, ideas or memories. |
| TiddlyWiki | ? | Yes(with plugin) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | HTML, LaTeX, markdown plugins | Plugins; user scripts |
| Tomboy | Partial | No | Partial | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Note Links, highlighting, fixed-width | Reminders; to do-lists; formulas in LaTeX |
| Microsoft Windows Journal | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Zettlr | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[Notes 20] | Yes | No | No | No | Bullets, numbering, checkboxes, HTML, LaTeX, internal links, citations | |
| Zim | No | Yes[Notes 21] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Plugins; Versioning; LaTeX integration (formulas, export); HTML export (including slideshow); GNOME's Zeitgeist integration; Lilypond music sheet integration | ASCII diagram drawing; Tags; Tasks; Table of Content navigation; SQLite3 search indexing; Autosaving; Last cursor position memory; Tabbed multi-documents |
| Name | Drawing atop text | Text box, flow diagram | Text and paragraph formatting | Insert hyperlink | Insert image | Resize image | Insert table | Insert audio | Insert video | Attachment | Other objects | Remarks / other features |
See also
[edit]- Comparison of text editors
- Comparison of web annotation systems
- Comparison of wiki software
- Comparison of word processors
- List of personal information managers
- List of text editors
- List of wiki software
- Outliner
- Personal information manager
- Personal knowledge base
- Personal wiki
Notes
[edit]- ^ Free users limited to 100 notes.
- ^ Depends on platform and version.
- ^ Data is synced between devices by Dropbox or iCloud.
- ^ Printable via exported pdf files.
- ^ No support for ink notes in Mac version. Cannot mix ink with text
- ^ a b Clips URLs and titles only. Web page content is not clipped
- ^ On Android and ChromeOS uses platform's spell checker.
- ^ All versions can sync with OneDrive and SharePoint. Versions later than Office 2016 can only use online notebooks and cannot use local notebooks.
- ^ OneNote 2010 and OneNote 2007 Service Pack 2 and beyond have it built in. A Save As PDF add-in is available for earlier versions of OneNote 2007. Can save to PDF with add-in.[1]
- ^ a b Saved in separate file.
- ^ Handwritten notes are searchable.
- ^ Sync of files and folders using external services.
- ^ Internal spell check or LanguageTool integration.
- ^ At least Microsoft Windows version (06/2016)
- ^ Lists only, with check-box facility.
- ^ Resize large images
- ^ As the RTF format stores pictures internally as bitmaps (.bmp), this leads to large notebook files.
- ^ Tables must be created in another program. After pasting the table into Keynote NF, one can edit the cells and add new rows, but changing the size of the columns and adding or removing columns is not possible. These operations can be done by pasting the table into another program (for example, MS Word).
- ^ Can also search in audio.
- ^ Resize upon initial insertion.
- ^ Using plugins
References
[edit]- ^ "Roam Research – A note taking tool for networked thought". Roam Research. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
- ^ "Import notes and notebooks – Evernote Help & Learning". 17 December 2024.
- ^ "Export notes and notebooks as ENEX or HTML – Evernote Help & Learning". 12 March 2025.
- ^ "Import content from Evernote to OneNote".
- ^ "Export and import OneNote notebooks".
- ^ "Excalidraw - Full featured sketching plugin in Obsidian". 29 April 2021.
- ^ Newell, Bob. "A Web Clipper of Sorts for Org-Mode". Retrieved 26 February 2023.
- ^ "Valentin Herrmann / org-xournalpp · GitLab". GitLab.
- ^ "raw and Scribble Notes in GNU Emacs". YouTube. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
- ^ "Query Replace". gnu.org. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions about OneNote in Office 2019". support.office.com.
- ^ depending what you mean, it can be:
M-x artist-mode
M-x picture-mode
el-easydraw - ^ (setq org-image-actual-width nil)
External links
[edit]- Sauve, Jean-Paul (Jan 9, 2014). "Taking Notes in Linux for Students". Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
Linux software comparison