Find an Evernote Alternative: 25+ apps for note-taking in 2018

Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote, part of the Microsoft Office Suite , is a digital notebook application that gives people one place to gather notes and information. It also offers shared notebooks, syncing between multiple computers and devices via Windows Live online storage, and optical character recognition (OCR) for getting text from pictures, business cards, etc. An online version, https://alternativeto .

• Can take notes, can draw, can make to-do lists, can add pictures, can add formulas! What more? Check it out it's also free. ugurozturk • Mar 2017 • 11 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Less restrained and cluttered than Evernote neithan • Jun 2017 • 6 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Easy to use, strong support backed by Microsoft, also got plenty of plugins and apps. Guest • Jan 2017 • 2 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• The clipper has to simple experience. The search is impossible. The interface has to be more usable danantferrari • Feb 2017 • 3 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It is not real cross-platform (Linux is not compatible). Guest • Aug 2017 • 4 agrees and 5 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It's completly free, it's synchronizable, it's integrate whit other ms office suite elementes, it have a best design. Guest • Nov 2017 • 1 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• OneNote is the most powerful note-taking app available. It in fact much more powerful and flexible than Evernote but is totally free. Guest • Jan 2018 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Now that it is completely free on all platforms (there is even a free Win10 UWP desktop app), not freemium as stated in this site, its functionality is almost the same. I miss not being able to store PDFs, but that's about it. Guest • Jun 2017 • 0 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Mac Windows Android iPhone Windows S ... Windows Phone iPad Apple Watch Android Wear Kindle Fire

855 Like

Google Keep

Google Keep is a service provided by Google which integrates note-taking and web surfing. Quickly capture what’s on your mind and recall it easily wherever you are. Create a checklist, enter a voice note or take a photo and annotate it. Everything you add is available instantly on all your devices – desktop and mobile.

• Google Keep is more like a sticky note where as Evernote is a digital filing system where everything is better organized. Guest • Jul 2016 • 39 agrees and 5 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Google Keep doesn't support text formating, only simple plain text. Evernote is more for MSWord-like notes. Guest • May 2016 • 20 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It's more for personal than professional use, but easy and fast to use. Drianmoller • Jan 2017 • 7 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It has barely any of the features. Could work if you only need to store simple text and photos but much more than that and it just gets hard to organise. Guest • Mar 2017 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Very good note searching. Good integration between desktop and mobile. Use google docs for rich formatting and large texts. Guest • Sep 2016 • 6 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Purpose of Google Keep is different. It's better for sticky notes and todo lists while Evernote is made for organizing your images/articles/notes etc. angel_koky • Aug 2017 Disagree   Agree
• Much simpler but still very powerful note keeping app. Keep is very easy to use and includes many powerful features. Guest • Aug 2017 Disagree   Agree
• Keep is good for sticky notes , short lists and quick reminders . Guest • Oct 2017 Disagree   Agree
• More useful and modern solution, as for me chadwood • May 2018 Disagree   Agree
• Keep is missing meaningful web-clipping capability. Guest • Sep 2018 Disagree   Agree
• The main reason I don't use Google Keep is that it doesn't have a Firefox plugin. Guest • Jul 2016 • 2 agrees and 6 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone Chrome OS Android Tablet iPad Chrome Android Wear

563 Like

Simplenote

Made by the company behind WordPress , Simplenote is an easy way to keep notes, lists, ideas, and more. Your notes stay updated across all your devices. No buttons to press. It just works. Your notes are synced across your devices when you create, add to or change them. Registration is required but the app and service are free.

• Very quick sync, responsive UI, works good across Windows, Linux and Android, although missing support for graphical notes and more text formatting options Guest • Nov 2016 • 10 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Not an archiver. Simplenote is for just that: simple markdown notes. Guest • Jun 2017 • 7 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Simplenote is a cross-platform app that allows you to take simple (as the name implies) text-based notes and sync them across your devices. There is markdown support, but little else. It's Evernote with almost everything but the note taking feature taken out. If that appeals to you, it's great. Also, thumbs up for open source and Linux support! JohnFastman • Dec 2016 • 8 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• No import/export, requires use of "markups" instead of keystrokes for style changes Guest • Jul 2016 • 6 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• True to its name, it is simple. Windows, Linux & Android all are supported. No media support. Text only. User2778798 • Jun 2017 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Simplenote is just about making simple text notes Guest • Oct 2016 • 6 agrees and 7 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone Android Tablet iPad Kindle Fire

387 Like

Zim

Zim brings the concept of a wiki to your desktop. Store information, link pages and edit with WYSISYG markup or directly typing some lightweight markup syntax and see it previewed as-you-type. Creating a new page is easy by either clicking on the "Create new note" button, by linking to a non-existing page or by writing a CamelCase name in any note.

• Great to store and organize notes, possibility ton includes pictures. You can synchronize your notes with your favorite cloud plateform, notes are saved in the .txt format. The problem is : you need to install an app (not available on android) to use effectively AND it uses a markdown different than other apps. Guest • Jan 2017 • 3 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Includes nested notes, Wiki-like linking, and conversion to HTML samuelhunter • Jan 2017 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• it's impossible to use it in sync Many time it lost files if more than one device is in use... also not at the same time. LordMax • Jul 2017 • 0 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD

361 Like

Standard Notes

Love Notes. Love Encryption. Standard Notes is a safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work. It's simple. Standard Notes is the easiest notes app you'll ever use. That means a more reliable, long-term experience. Encrypted writing is your best writing. You never really know the power of your words until you experience total-privacy for the first time.

• Multi-platform support- Linux included. Open Source code. End-to-end encryption. No device limit. 100 per cent free. TBOTO • Apr 2017 • 8 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Does not support images or attachments, only text. Guest • May 2018 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Open-source, free, great experience, and support for almost every platform. zane • Nov 2017 • 4 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It is built from the ground-up to last 100 years - so a very different development model. Core software is plain text, and extended through plugins for Markdown and other rich text. scooterdog • Feb 2018 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It's secure and private, support nice plugins like markdown format. mm140 • Feb 2018 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Privacy, sanity, and no feature creep or bloat, plus a dark theme! techno • Apr 2018 Disagree   Agree
• Solid, simple and secure note taking app that works across platforms. D2MS • Sep 2018 Disagree   Agree

Freemium $ $ $ Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone Chrome OS Android Tablet iPad Self-Hosted

268 Like

Turtl

Whether it's bookmarks or passwords, files or shopping lists...Turtl organizes it all and makes it easy to find later. Sync across your devices. Leave nothing behind. Turtl uses high-end cryptography to protect your data. Whether you're worried about information leaks, competitive advantage, or blanket government surveillance, Turtl works hard to make sure only you, and those you choose, can see your data.

• Turtl stores your info encrypted, unlike Evernote. Much more private. Guest • Oct 2016 • 11 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Turtl is presently more of a bookmark sync utility than Evernote replacement. (For an open source Evernote replacement see TagSpaces). Unlike Evernote, Turtl is open source and use end-to-end encryption so that you can store simple notes and online bookmarks with full privacy, even from the Turtl developers. A browser plugin works together with the client to capture links. It's still being developed but already a good choice for cross-platform bookmark/note syncing. JohnFastman • Dec 2016 • 6 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• you can easily share boards of bookmarks & notes you can synch files & images it's cross platform & free Guest • Dec 2016 • 6 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Windows versions do not work properly. There is very little documentation and a poor forum. AnonAT • Mar 2017 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Turtl has a great potential to be a full alternative to evernote in the future. But that will take time, still waiting for import feature from other services like evernote,simplenote etc. kbabir • Feb 2017 Disagree   Agree
• Client-side AES encryption (private), open-source and free syncing. Markdown support, attachments, bookmarks, browser plugins and apps for Win, OsX, Linux and Android. Best used for simple notes, but it's infinitely better than, say Simplenote and much more private than Evernote. Guest • Mar 2017 • 1 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Android Android Tablet ... Self-Hosted Chrome Firefox

98 Like

CherryTree

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

• CherryTree is a great alternative, particularly if you're also looking for the notebook/wiki setup (think of it as a newer, less buggy Zim). SQLite storage, optional encryption, hierarchical node structure, syntax highlighting (for code documentation), customizable keyboard shortcuts, cross-platform, etc. Guest • Yesterday Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Windows Linux PortableApps.com

166 Like

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, can be copied, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor. The notes are in Markdown format. Notes exported from Evernote via .enex files can be imported into Joplin, including the formatted content (which is converted to Markdown), resources (images, attachments, etc.

• - good functionality for - note taking - task managemet - file attachments surehand53 • Jun 2018 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• PRO: - markdown ? - let you encrypt your notes - save them on your computer(backup with thirdparty backupsoftware) - free, Open Source - crossplatform CON: - no OCR Guest • Jul 2018 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Already very good, and the progress during the last few months has been STUNNING! So many new releases with massive new features. This is one to watch. pragmattica • Jun 2018 Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Android iPhone ... Chrome OS Android Tablet iPad Chrome Firefox

53 Like

Paperwork

Paperwork aims to be an open-source, self-hosted alternative to services like Evernote , Microsoft OneNote or Google Keep . Paperwork is written in PHP, utilising the beautiful Laravel 4 framework. It provides a modern web UI, built on top of AngularJS & Bootstrap 3, as well as an open API for third party integration. For the back-end part a MySQL database stores everything.

• Easily the most advanced alternative to Evernote. Basically has all the functionality of Evernote's web app, plus it's free and open source. The downside is that it's self-hosted, which means that if you're a beginner with setting stuff you you'll find it hard to get going. If that's the case, see if TagSpaces or Elephant might do what you want. JohnFastman • Dec 2016 • 2 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Web Self-Hosted PHP Cloudron

76 Like

TagSpaces

TagSpaces is an open source personal data manager. It helps you organize and browse your files on every platform. Cross-platform file tagging and file finding Organize your photos, ebooks, music, recipes or invoices in the same way on almost every platform. We currently support Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, Firefox and Chrome With the help of tags you can do research better or you can manage projects using the GTD methodology.

• Note taking is only a small part - tagging of local files is the main purpose. Guest • Jan 2017 • 10 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• TagSpaces is built as an Evernote alternative for note taking and information management Danilo_Venom • Oct 2016 • 9 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Superb, open-source, free, cross-platform organizer or files and notes. Still a work in progress, but already extremely useful. No automatic giving up of private data to the cloud; instead you can sync whichever folder you like to the cloud using your favourite service. Very highly recommended. JohnFastman • Dec 2016 • 6 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Freemium $ $ $ Open Source Mac Windows Linux Android iPhone ... Android Tablet Self-Hosted Chrome Firefox

113 Like

Notion

With so many tools, it's hard to keep everyone on the same page. Notion is a new tool that unifies them all. It's like Google Docs, but everything is organized and discoverable by your team. Real collaboration in real-time. Tired of your clunky wiki? With Notion, adding all types of content is as easy as drag & drop. Drag. Drop. Work as fluidly as you think. Love using Trello? Notion brings the same visual organization to every page.

• Bear is a better option if you do not need to share notes with others to collaborate. Notion is the best option overall in terms of functionality, but the interface takes some getting use to. Guest • Jan 2018 Disagree   Agree

Freemium $ $ $ Mac Windows Web Android iPhone ... iPad

73 Like

Nimbus Note

Nimbus Note is an easy way to take notes and capture text/pictures from Web pages. Need to quickly create a note or clip part of a web page—such as text, pictures, or links? No problem! Nimbus Note allows you to create new notes directly from the browser and save any web page. This is especially convenient when doing research , for example.

• Nimbus Note is practically an Evernote clone - and a great app too (I use it often). jasoncomely • Sep 2015 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• No Linux, no Mac client, no Firefox plugin. Your data rests unencrypted on US-based data centers in readable format. So all the privacy concerns of Evernote minus some of the convenience. JohnFastman • Jan 2017 • 6 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• this is the closest program I have found that is a direct replacement for Evernote in both function and "feel". Support staff is excellent. There is even an Evernote Importer built in! bibjasjs • Aug 2016 • 3 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Nimbus Note looks similar, and with similar functionality to Evernote, and a bit faster too. conceptual • Jan 2017 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Nimbus Note is for PC users, very simillar to Evernote. It is possible to import all information at once. If you are fine with 100 MB synced data it is free for any number of devices. It has very good online web interface, Windows app is nice, work offline but has some bugs in text editor (formatting) and has no updates for a long period. I cannot recommend Windows Metro App, it is unusable. For users, who prefer MS or Google and want to use images in their notes, is it possible way. Guest • Jul 2017 Disagree   Agree
• Can import from Evernote including tags and images. xeam404 • Jul 2016 • 1 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Freemium Windows Web Android iPhone Chrome OS ... Windows Phone Chrome Chromium

50 Like

Leanote

Leanote provides services for note and blog. You can use "note" as your personal notebook, if you want to share with friends, just publish note or notebook to the blog. The code of Leanote can be found on Github but you have to pay to get the app from the official website, hence this freemium license.

• Probably the most complete open source, self-hosted or paid-for Evernote alternative in terms of functionality. Sadly, the English instructions aren't easy to find or that clear. But it works phenomenally well as an Evernote alternative. JohnFastman • Jan 2017 • 6 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It supports, markdown, sequence diagram, flowchart, math, and syncing. The desktop clients (Win/MacOs) also export to HTML and PDF. It support Nested notebooks. I doesn't have web clipper, and this is fine as I don't need it. I like to structure my notes using Markdown. Many of instructions are in Chinese and some are in English. If you drop in question in English (in the forum), someone would reply in English. The team is in the progress of translating Chinese manual to English. iwankelaiah • Oct 2017 Disagree   Agree

Freemium Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone Android Tablet iPad Self-Hosted

39 Like

Notezilla

Take quick notes on Post-It(r) like sticky notes on Windows desktop, stick those notes to websites, documents & folders. Set reminder alarm to each sticky note. To avoid desktop clutter, you can organize those sticky notes inside folders. Send sticky notes to another computer over local network (LAN) or Internet, Sync sticky notes between computers using the Notezilla.

• Completely different application. Great for quick notes to stick to the desktop or an application, but not good for storing web pages, photos, etc. Guest • Jul 2016 • 6 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Notezilla is far more convenient, simple & easier then evernote. Love Notezilla, worth trying Guest • Aug 2016 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• I love the Windows desktop sticky feature. Super handy! Guest • Jul 2016 • 2 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Commercial Windows Web Android iPhone Android Tablet ... iPad

393 Like

wikidPad

wikidPad is a Wiki-like notebook for storing your thoughts, ideas, todo lists, contacts, or anything else you can think of to write down. What makes wikidPad different from other notepad applications is the ease with which you can cross-link your information. Links in a wiki are created by typing in WikiWords. A WikiWord is any mixed case word typed into the editor. TodoList or JohnDoe are example WikiWords.

• If you like hierarchical ("logical") organization and still want to cross reference. Wikidpad is the number 1 choice for you. iwanaanderson • Dec 2016 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD

155 Like

OpenNote

OpenNote was built to be an open web based alternative to Microsoft OneNote and Evernote . Features Full WYSIWYG editor Touch friendly and mouse friendly ui Upload manager (not enabled in demo :) ) Light weight Multi user support Search PDO Connector/(MySql and SQLite Database Support) Move Folders(Cut and paste) Rename/Delete Folders(Click on folder title to get menu.)

• Keeps your data out of 3rd party hands, and I like that. Add this to a freedombox and you're off to the privacy races :-) Guest • Jul 2015 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Free Open Source Self-Hosted

118 Like

Bear

Bear is a beautiful and flexible writing app for note-taking and prose, both on the go for iOS devices and for the Mac OS desktop. KEY FEATURES - Stay organized by linking notes to each other. - Use hashtags to organize and add context to notes. - Notes are stored in plain text, easily portable. - Focus mode to keep you on track. - Advanced markdown with full in-line image support - Powerful search to easily find notes with Search Triggers.

• - simple note taking - many useful functions surehand53 • Jun 2018 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• Bear is a writing app while Evernote is mainly designed around holding notes and other data. Guest • Jul 2017 • 3 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree
• It's free, includes everything that Evernote has and even has nice export capabilities. Guest • Jun 2017 • 0 agrees and 5 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Freemium $ $ $ Mac iPhone iPad

42 Like

Dynalist

Dynalist is a web app that lets you break down and organize your thoughts in the format of lists.

Freemium $ $ $ Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone

69 Like

Tomboy

Have you ever felt the frustration at not being able to locate a website you wanted to check out, or find an email you found interesting, or remember an idea about the direction of the political landscape in post-industrial Australia? Or are you one of those desperate souls with home-made, buggy, or not-quite-perfect notes systems? Time for Tomboy. We bet you'll be surprised at how well a little application can make life less cluttered and run more smoothly.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD

226 Like

CintaNotes

CintaNotes is an ultra-ergonomic, productivity-boosting notetaking app for Windows. It will help you collect, organize, and find any information.

• It also grabs text from other sources with a keyboard shortcut and stores it as a note. Text from web pages is also stored with it's source URL. astral_cyborg • Nov 2016 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Freemium Windows PortableApps.com

204 Like

Flamory

Flamory remembers things, so you don't have to. Make snapshots of web pages, files and desktop apps. You can find snapshots later using full-text search and thumbnails. Paste them anywhere as links or screenshots. When history recording is enabled, snapshots will be created automatically. Here is how this will speed up your web research: Step 1 - Keep focused on the research, let Flamory take notes. Flamory saves a copy of every web page you visit.

Free Personal Windows Internet Explorer Chrome Microsoft Office Powerpoint Microsoft Office Word ... Adobe Reader Notepad++ Firefox Adobe Acrobat

110 Like

nvALT

nvALT is a fork of the original Notational Velocity with some additional features and interface modifications by Brett Terpstra and ElasticThreads.

Free Open Source Mac

53 Like

Alternote

Gorgeous note-taking app for Mac with Evernote integration. Alternote has pixel-perfect interface, robust search, distraction-free mode and lots more. It is designed to be the most convenient and natural way to make notes, collect information, write down your ideas, feelings and memories

• I'm a Mac user and even I can't see the point of this. It's typical commercial eye-candy. Evernote already has a Mac-native client. So are you really going to pay for this to get a choice of 6 backgrounds (tomatoes?) and "distraction free" writing? Do you feel that distracted when you write in Evernote's normal client? JohnFastman • Jan 2017 • 2 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree

Commercial Mac

85 Like

QOwnNotes

QOwnNotes is the open source plain-text notepad with markdown support and todo-list manager for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, that works together with the notes application of ownCloud. So you are able to write down your thoughts with QOwnNotes and edit or search for them later from your mobile device (like with CloudNotes) or the ownCloud web-service. The notes are stored as plain text files and are synced with ownCloud's file sync functionality.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Qt

38 Like

Omni Notes

Note taking open-source application aimed to have both a simple interface but keeping smart behavior.

Free Open Source Android

37 Like