Free Microsoft OneNote Alternatives

It's simple enough when you need to write small notes or to-do quickly, with a clean interface, but it's also powerful with cloud sync, cross platform (Linux included), and support formatting, images and attachments.

Your data is YOUR data. I'm able to keep my data on my own Nextcloud server. Not on Microsoft OneDrive. And, it can be encrypted as well (mine is).

it doesn't have pen input support

Joplin doesn't allow files to be attached, it doesn't support colors, and you have to learn a special programming language to use it.

it is a markdown editor with integrated sync for nextcloud

You Fan usw it on Linux. Persona who search for Open Source appriciate that very much.

Better interface and privacy with the same functionality of OneNote

With this app you can organize everything including your daily activity or special event.

Wonderful. Every file is a .txt file, so you're in total control.

Local, Wysiwyg, drag and drop, Quicknote, Webcite-function.

GUI is pretty different, plus as mentioned by other people. Most functionality isn't the same. Also, looks like smth from the age of Win'98.

I like Zim as it stores information in an open source and flat file format directly using the computer file system. So you can the software as a kind of file explorer with the difference that you have a note associated with each folder of your computer. From my point of view, it is really structuring my numeric environment. After discovering it, I would not return to OneNote and other kinds of note taking apps I tried.

Zim is essentially a desktop wiki. Searching of notes is great and there are lots of plugins, e.g. you can have latex equations included, R-plots, gnuplots, along with pictures etc.; syncing is via cloud storage such as dropbox. It is available across platforms but as a linux desktop user I find it particular useful.

Zim is more like simplenote, or a desktop wiki. It is missing most of the functionality of onenote.

It's better because It saves your notes in your system not in cloud, plus it also have a great to-do system. easy to use

Better visualization and flexible organization. Keeps your information in a multi-hierarchical wiki, not in notes,

Biggest feature of Onenote is drawing & typing everywhere, which Notion doesn't support. Notion is good to store highly structured data, while Onenote is more like a digital paper.

Notion is aesthetic, powerful and highly flexible. You can mix different types of contents within one page. Markdown formatting for texts. Sub-pages for wiki-like or hierarchical organization. Databases for a of lot data; a database comes with multiple possible views and you can choose the one that best suits your data.

infinite nesting, cross platform, powerful edting and embed tools

Encrypted, very lightweight and not owned by Microsoft.

The free version is only plain text editing - can't even paste images or use bold and italics. There simply aren't enough features in the free one to determine whether I like it enough to pay for premium.

Very, VERY BASIC, its open source and free but its basic and the features it offers are paid compared to one note's free model

Don't have sections or pages, just notes.

Extremely feature-light. Does only the bare minimum to be considered a notes app, whereas OneNote does much more.

OneNote is way more powerful

its not OneNote, but its as close as I´ve found on linux. This finally frees me from Windows. Just started using it, but already i can see it will do. Now if only it accepts photos, voice clips, videos and webpages I can call it a day!

Powerfull and SQLite3 database based, excellent.

Does not have pen support

hierarchical Nodes and Subnode with icons, quick tool bar, simple as well rich text format, import export option, extremely light weight set up, easy backup, adjustable font size with mouse button, complete set of editting tools, customizable lay out, stable, supports text upto million of words, word count, password protected, multiple data basis, free and easy to use.

Doesn't have detailed sorting like a notebook or various notebooks

The hierarchy is fantastic!

It is more like Simple Note which is bare bones & not comparable to OneNote. No dragable containers, no ocr or voice recording. Also lacks sync.

Easy to use, and easy to search.

Evernote is clunky, overwhelming, and slow. It has a lot of cool features that used to be relatively unique, but it's grown stagnant. Also the mobile version is pretty buggy.

It is far and away lacking many features of onenote, most noticeably the ability to have sections and subsections of notes in binders. Making it not good for keeping ORGANIZED notes.

Evernote's handwriting is seriously lacking. Especially on the android platform.

Whilst Evernote is a wonderful lightweight note organizer, Onenote it is a FAR cry from.

No insert latex formulas in document

The possibility of inserting sections is missing.

It doesnt feature writing with a pen on screen. (Wacom etc.)

It is more akin to Apple's iNotes, albeit a little less feature rich (No sketches, folders, etc.). In terms of functionality, Simplenote and iNotes is not a viable alternative to OneNote.

Simplenote is more similar to Notepad than Onenote. It's basically a plain text editor that lets you store your notes online. Some of the very basic features of OneNote can be approximated, such as inclusion of images, links and text formatting, but it requires learning markdown, which is extremely cumbersome to use and time consuming to learn. Simplenote has only rudimentary organization and search features. Better than Notepad. Not even close to Outlook.

No support for web clippings. No separation of Notebooks. Really not like OneNote at all

Not even the same category

No drawing, no hand writing.

Simplenote is great for super simple plaintext notetaking but it only has one feature in common with OneNote which is syncing. Not an alternative

With Xournal++ you own your notes and can save them wherever you want - you are not forced to store them somewhere in the cloud as it's the case with OneNote

Nearly similar interface. Lightweight, open source with latex support and voice notes. Flexible layout which was missing in xournal.

In the version available for Chromebooks, the option for typed text is not working.

Cross-platform and well supporting stylus pens, Xournalpp implements most if not all funcionalities of OneNote, including recording audio alongside pen strokes. Plus, it's free and open source!

It is full open source, Supports handwriting (stylus) Allows to create annotations on PDF-s (OneNote doesn't)

Very similar to OneNote, has pretty much all the same features. Plus Cross-Platform and has LaTeX support.

works great on linux, and has stylus support