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15 Best Note Taking Apps In 2026 Complete Guide Blog Planwiz App

Bonisiwe Shabane
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15 best note taking apps in 2026 complete guide blog planwiz app

Looking for the best note-taking apps in 2026? Notion is the best overall for flexibility and organization. PlanWiz offers the most powerful free features with template-based planning, while GoodNotes and Notability deliver the best handwriting experience on iPad. Whether you’re a student managing lectures, a professional managing complex projects, or someone who just wants to capture ideas quickly, the right note-taking app transforms how you work. This comprehensive guide compares 15 apps with real testing data, detailed feature breakdowns, and honest recommendations to help you choose the perfect tool, free or paid, for your specific needs. To ensure accurate, reliable, and unbiased recommendations, I conducted extensive and systematic testing across a wide range of criteria, including functionality, performance, usability, cross-device compatibility, collaboration features, offline access, and real-world workflows, covering both...

All apps were tested under real-world conditions to see how they perform in daily workflows. We focused on both speed and reliability, tracking how well each app handled notes, media, and syncing across devices. This approach ensured that our recommendations reflect practical usage, not just feature lists. Everyone needs to write things down from time to time. Note-taking apps let you do just that, and they seamlessly sync your memos across all your other devices. However, their real advantage lies in how they help you organize and find information.

The best apps offer multiple structuring options, including folders or notebooks, as well as effective tagging and search features. In short, a good note-taking app is like having a personal internet where you can easily look up anything about your life. We've been testing note-taking apps for more than a decade, and our top picks include the extremely capable Microsoft OneNote and the open-source Joplin. But these aren't the only apps worth checking out, so read on for more of our top picks. Even as a free app, OneNote stands out. It has every feature you could want, from organizational structure to cross-platform syncing, voice notes, and OCR.

It also comes with the best web clipping tool we've seen. OneNote is the first application most people should consider when looking for a note-taking app. It's a no-brainer if you subscribe to any Microsoft 365 plan. People who don't want to pay: Oftentimes, free apps lack significant features compared with paid services, but Microsoft OneNote is an exception. The only major things you give up by not paying are the ability to store files locally on Windows and additional storage space. Most people: Note-taking is a personal activity, so no single app will work for everyone; however, Microsoft OneNote is flexible enough to suit practically anyone.

It offers apps for every major operating system, features an intuitive design, and boasts a plethora of features. The open-source Joplin is as close to a perfect note-taking app as you can get if you're looking for something relatively simple. It's completely free and stores your notes locally on your computer if you choose—though you can also pay to use Joplin's cloud storage. Notes you take in Joplin are yours in the same way that notes you take in a paper notebook are. This approach, until recently, had a downside: a lack of collaboration tools. That's changed, as Joplin now offers notebook sharing for those willing to pay a fee.

Overwhelmed by keeping track of ideas, tasks, and meetings? The right AI note-taking app can save you time, keep you organized, and transform your workflow. This guide will walk you through the 15 best AI note-taking apps to find the perfect one for your needs. Finding the right AI note-taking app is about choosing one that matches your workflow and simplifies your day-to-day tasks : If you rely on spoken content, accurate transcription is a must. The app you choose should reliably capture every word, even in fast-paced or complex conversations.

Look for tools with strong speech recognition capabilities that can handle different accents and nuances. You shouldn’t have to spend time editing or double-checking what the app captures—accuracy saves you time and ensures you have dependable notes. You jot down ideas during a Zoom call. Scribble a reminder on your phone between errands. Save a voice note while walking your dog. Then when it’s time to find that brilliant insight or important meeting detail… It’s gone.

Buried in digital clutter or lost in a forgotten app. That’s why note-taking apps are evolving. In 2025, the best note-taking tools don’t just help you store information. They help you make sense of it. They turn chaos into clarity. With smarter organization, AI-powered insights, and context-aware reminders, modern apps are built to actually think the way you do.

Here’s what I looked for when testing tools: Capture all your ideas with the best note taking apps for your smartphone When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Having one of the best note-taking apps at your disposal is a no-brainer. Inspiration can strike at any time, and when it does you'll naturally turn to a device that's close at hand.

Be it a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Sure almost all of your devices will have their own default note-taking app. Those are fantastic, and can be incredibly useful, but third party offerings have features and capabilities that will be a major boon to your productivity. Things like handwriting support for phones with styluses, AI tools that can neatly arrange or summarize your thoughts, and more. Whether you're taking shorthand, whipping a to-do list or just jotting down a reminder, there's an app out there that can meet your note-taking criteria. These are the best apps for note-taking that we've found for mobile devices.

Convert YouTube lectures into structured notes free with AI. Turn transcripts into organized study notes, Use a study guide maker workflow to turn notes into a study guide and practice When it comes to to-do and note-taking apps, I’ve always had a hard time choosing the right one for my needs. I want it all after all; A minimal and modern app that can handle all my notes, ideas, projects, and clients, while providing team sharing and co-working compatibilities, and all of that in a... But that sounds more like a dream rather than reality, or isn’t it?

In one of my latest blog posts, I talked about the number of installed apps that we are using, all of which are basically doing the same thing. One of my current goals is to lower the number of apps and software I am using as a method to reduce the digital clutter that is making my everyday routine a whole more... I’ve been using a different app for my to-do lists and tasks, another for keeping all my ideas organized, and another for managing my clients and where I left off with each of them. I wanted to find a note-taking app that could manage all of this in a single environment that is designed for both simple and more complex pages with checklists, reminders, notes, attachments, etc. Here’s what I was able to find out: what was my top and final choice, and the pros and cons of the 18 best and most popular to-do and note-taking apps in the world. Note-taking apps could as easily be categorized into three different sections; At first, we have simple to-do apps that are easy to use, fast, and without many options.

Then we have the classic note-taking apps, most of them providing more features and ways of organizing our notes and to-do lists using tags and folders.

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Looking For The Best Note-taking Apps In 2026? Notion Is

Looking for the best note-taking apps in 2026? Notion is the best overall for flexibility and organization. PlanWiz offers the most powerful free features with template-based planning, while GoodNotes and Notability deliver the best handwriting experience on iPad. Whether you’re a student managing lectures, a professional managing complex projects, or someone who just wants to capture ideas quickl...

All Apps Were Tested Under Real-world Conditions To See How

All apps were tested under real-world conditions to see how they perform in daily workflows. We focused on both speed and reliability, tracking how well each app handled notes, media, and syncing across devices. This approach ensured that our recommendations reflect practical usage, not just feature lists. Everyone needs to write things down from time to time. Note-taking apps let you do just that...

The Best Apps Offer Multiple Structuring Options, Including Folders Or

The best apps offer multiple structuring options, including folders or notebooks, as well as effective tagging and search features. In short, a good note-taking app is like having a personal internet where you can easily look up anything about your life. We've been testing note-taking apps for more than a decade, and our top picks include the extremely capable Microsoft OneNote and the open-source...

It Also Comes With The Best Web Clipping Tool We've

It also comes with the best web clipping tool we've seen. OneNote is the first application most people should consider when looking for a note-taking app. It's a no-brainer if you subscribe to any Microsoft 365 plan. People who don't want to pay: Oftentimes, free apps lack significant features compared with paid services, but Microsoft OneNote is an exception. The only major things you give up by ...

It Offers Apps For Every Major Operating System, Features An

It offers apps for every major operating system, features an intuitive design, and boasts a plethora of features. The open-source Joplin is as close to a perfect note-taking app as you can get if you're looking for something relatively simple. It's completely free and stores your notes locally on your computer if you choose—though you can also pay to use Joplin's cloud storage. Notes you take in J...