Best Notes in 2026

A second brain, for you, forever. Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.

Key Obsidian features:

Local-first Markdown Support Bidirectional Linking Customizability

AI story outline analysis for authors, screenwriters, playwrights, and editors. Analyze your book, screenplay, or story outline for pacing, structure, character arcs, tension, plot logic, and weak spots before you draft.

Key Outline Analyzer features:

Outline Analysis Chapter breakdown Character Arc Review Act Structure Graph

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Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. The notes are searchable, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor. .

Key Joplin features:

Open Source Cross-Platform End-to-End Encryption Rich Text Support

Open Source free

A safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work.

Key Standard Notes features:

End-to-End Encryption Cross-Platform Support Open Source Extended Features via Subscription

Open Source

All-in-one workspace. One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized.

Key Notion features:

All-in-One Workspace Highly Customizable Collaboration Features Cross-Platform Availability

Bring your life's work together in one digital workspace. Evernote is the place to collect inspirational ideas, write meaningful words, and move your important projects forward.

Key Evernote features:

Cross-Platform Compatibility Organizational Tools Web Clipper Collaboration Features

Logseq is a local-first, non-linear, outliner notebook for organizing and sharing your personal knowledge base.

Key Logseq features:

Bidirectional Linking Graph View Markdown Support Local Storage

Open Source free

Notesnook is a simple and private note taking app that keeps your notes organized and synced on your phone, tablet and computer.

Key Notesnook features:

Notebooks & Tags Prioritise by Colors Rich Text Editor Tables & Lists

Open Source freemium $4.49 / Monthly (UI Themes & accents)

Get the OneNote app for free on your tablet, phone, and computer, so you can capture your ideas and to-do lists in one place wherever you are. Or try OneNote with Office for free.

Key OneNote features:

Cross-Platform Accessibility Collaboration Features Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem Flexible Organization

Trilium Notes is a hierarchical note taking application.

Key Trilium Notes features:

Hierarchical Note Organization Rich Text Editing Dynamic Note Linking Cross-Platform

Open Source

Capture notes, share them with others, and access them from your computer, phone or tablet. Free with a Google account.

Key Google Keep features:

Cross-Platform Accessibility Integration with Google Ecosystem Real-Time Collaboration Voice Notes

A hierarchical note taking application, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file.

Key CherryTree features:

Rich Text Formatting Hierarchical Note Structure Cross-Platform Support Syntax Highlighting

The simplest way to keep notes. Light, clean, and free. Simplenote is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, and the web.

Key Simplenote features:

Ease of Use Free of Cost Real-time Sync Multi-platform Support

Open Source

AI notes for meetings, PDFs, lectures, and web research—with private local transcription on Mac.

Key HyNote AI features:

Local transcription No meeting bot Multimodal capture

free $6.66 / Monthly