Software Alternatives & Reviews

Notability VS Simplenote

Compare Notability VS Simplenote and see what are their differences

Notability logo Notability

Combine handwriting, photos and typing in a single note to bring your projects to life. Use a wide range of note-taking and sketching tools to capture every detail. You can even add and annotate PDFs in Notability.

Simplenote logo Simplenote

The simplest way to keep notes. Light, clean, and free. Simplenote is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, and the web.
  • Notability Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-02
  • Simplenote Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-15

Notability videos

Notability on the iPad | Walkthrough & Review ✏️

More videos:

  • Review - NOTABILITY VS. GOODNOTES 5 - Best iPad Note-Taking App (2021)
  • Review - The ULTIMATE Notability vs GoodNotes 5 Comparison Video! (2022)

Simplenote videos

Simplenote Review

More videos:

  • Review - Simplenote: Note-taking Web/Mobile App | Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Notability and Simplenote)
Note Taking
13 13%
87% 87
Task Management
14 14%
86% 86
Todos
11 11%
89% 89
Project Management
11 11%
89% 89

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Notability and Simplenote

Notability Reviews

15 Best Notability Alternatives 2022
Notability is one of the most popular and reliable apps when it comes to creating handwritten, typed, or visual notes. Despite its notoriety, Notability is not without its shortcomings and may not be the best note-taking app for everyone.
Which App is Best for Taking Notes?
Notability also offers a unique audio recording option. You won’t find it in Good Notes. When using the app, users can record audio files while taking notes. When playing back audio, Notability will animate when the text was added to the page during the recording so that it’s easy to know what prompted you to write something down.
Source: medium.com

Simplenote Reviews

  1. Exceptional for what its doing

    Was looking for an alternative for OneNote, so I found it here. I like how simple the interface is and the UI is very simple. It's good for what it is, but there is no sorting/topic system which makes it difficult to find specific notes for specific topics. Other than that, it's a good note system.

    🏁 Competitors: OneNote, Evernote
    👍 Pros:    Lots of functionalities|Easy user interface|Easy to use|Simple
    👎 Cons:    No groups for notes|No sorting notes

20 Obsidian Alternatives: Top Note-Taking Tools to Consider
Simplenote is an excellent alternative to Obsidian thanks to its simplicity and clutter-free interface. It also features powerful syncing functionality to help you access your notes anytime.
Source: clickup.com
The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data
Simplenote is a text-only app that offers straightforward note-taking for anyone who just wants to, well, take notes.
10 Best Open Source Note-Taking Apps for Linux
Second, on the list is Simplenote. As the name implies, it is a simple if not the simplest way to keep all your notes on Linux systems, Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android as well as a web browser. It is free, open-source, supports tags, and sharable to-do lists, and comes with mark-down support. It syncs all your notes across devices and allows you to publish notes online.
Source: www.tecmint.com
15 Best Notability Alternatives 2022
With the tag function, you can organize your notes so they are easier and faster to find when you need them. All of Simplenote’s features are completely accessible to anyone and are free to use, whereas you will have to get a subscription to unlock all of Notability’s features such as unlimited editing, automatic backups, iCloud syncs, and more.
Best Evernote Alternatives in 2021 for Serious Note Takers
Simplenote‘s appeal is described in its name — it’s a simple app with a simple user interface. Simplenote offers a no-frills experience with minimal features, making it ideal for those who tend to get overwhelmed or distracted by all the options and functionality of other mobile note-taking mobile applications. If you’re looking for a distraction-free experience with simple...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Simplenote seems to be a lot more popular than Notability. While we know about 78 links to Simplenote, we've tracked only 5 mentions of Notability. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Notability mentions (5)

  • Why do they make it so complicated?
    You are using a third party app (https://notability.com) for notes. It’s very likely it has it set to sync with iCloud as a default - in order for you to be able to access said notes from other devices as well. Source: 10 months ago
  • Anyone else dislikes studying with soft copy notes?
    When I used ipad in sec school I found Notability to do wonders in making/editing notes, bonus if you have an apple pencil to go with it. Editing PDF, adding pics, arranging texts and diagrams, exporting, importing etc. Source: about 1 year ago
  • GoodNotes 5 is Now the Better Option than Notability
    If you were looking for a great writing option in the past, you often would have been recommended Goodnotes 5 or Notability, as often times it simply came down to personal preference. Both offered similar feature and worked great on the iPad with the Apple Pencil, so it was easy to see why both were pretty evenly matched with only a couple features or abilities to seperated them. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Pen down some thoughts in my journal after catching up with a designer friend.
    Oh nice! I think IPads have digital journals you can use so you can still doodle, draw maps, etc. Here’s one I found that’s highly rated: Notability. Source: about 1 year ago
  • What are your most used tools/products for essay writing?
    Notability - allows me to take notes on my iPad during lectures. Source: about 1 year ago

Simplenote mentions (78)

  • Ask HN: How do you store your knowledge?
    It's not perfect, but I use https://simplenote.com/ Someday I will build my own clone of Simplenote/Notational Velocity/Taskpaper/Drafts/Bkmks.com... 1. From mobile browser, share to Simplenote adds a new note with title + url. 2. Not often. 3. Not often. 4. Also Simplenote. Also used Notational Velocity: one note per JIRA ticket. 5. I wish Simplenote's tagging system were better (more like TaskPaper) - I wish it... - Source: Hacker News / 5 days ago
  • NvAlt: MultiMarkdown Notational Velocity fork with Markdown editing and preview
    Note nvUltra, the successor to this program, has been in development/private beta for several years[1,2]. I've been meaning to make my own web-based version of Notational Velocity that adds a few novel features of my own. (Plus inspiration from apps like TaskPaper and Drafts) There are a lot of Notational Velocity clones; currently my favorite is: https://simplenote.com/ [1]:... - Source: Hacker News / 6 days ago
  • Ask HN: Apple Notes has jumped the shark, what should I replace it with?
    I'm still happy with Apple Notes for its integration with all of Apple Apps, easy sharing with family members, etc. I have tamed it more as an ephemeral and quick Notes App. The notes that starts there are usually transferred to a more permanent and organized Plain-Text setup[1] (currently guardian-ed by Obsidian). If I had to replace Apple Notes, I'd look at either one of these; - https://simplenote.com -... - Source: Hacker News / 17 days ago
  • Ask HN: How do you organize your life?
    Write things down! All the weird things and ideas, put them into categories and write them down. This categories can also have a to do list. Use some kind of calendar. Try to not read the news on the internet too much. Use a RSS reader. Notes: Simplenote https://simplenote.com/ I use it with nvpy on Linux https://pypi.org/project/nvpy/ Calendar: https://www.rainlendar.net/ Tiny Tiny RSS Reader for selfhosting:... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Beaver Notes: A Privacy-Focused Open-Source Note-Taking App
    - How do I get my data OUT of this thing, if I decide it isn’t right for me? C) If you’re going to go down the “unlike other note-taking platforms” route, it might be valuable to explicitly help people make the comparison in terms of features/approaches/architecture/trade-offs etc. How should one compare this against [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md)? [Simplenote](https://simplenote.com)?... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Notability and Simplenote, you can also consider the following products

Evernote - 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.

OneNote - 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.

Workflowy - A better way to organize your mind.

Joplin - 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.

Somnote - More often than not, note-taking is a pressing, off the cuff movement that requests a quick and productive approach.

Standard Notes - A safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work