University of Kwazulu-Natal

I Tested Every Ai Note Taking App So You Don T Have To Here Medium

Bonisiwe Shabane
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i tested every ai note taking app so you don t have to here medium

Join 100,000+ students using ApexVision AI I spent 150 hours testing 10 top AI note-taking apps. Here’s what actually works for students, meetings, and lectures. I didn’t just skim the websites or read “top 10” lists. I went hands-on with every app. Here’s what I did:

Note accuracy ranged from 80% to 97%. Otter nailed speaker ID. Tactiq was fastest for summaries. Notion AI made my notes searchable and organized (and I even integrated it with ApexVision AI for a few group projects—worked surprisingly well). I used Otter.ai for 40 hours: Zoom lectures, in-person classes, and team meetings. It transcribes in real-time and syncs between my phone and laptop in seconds.

I even tried recording a noisy group study session—Otter kept up (mostly). Although many of the best note-taking apps share a unified look and a similar broad feature set, some are now incorporating AI in innovative ways that help them stand out. Using AI for taking notes makes sense, no matter whether you want to brainstorm ideas, collect and archive information, or simply connect the dots. AI chatbots can even help you expand on your notes, find related information, pick out action items, or summarize just about anything. PCMag has been covering note-taking apps for more than a decade, so you can trust that our picks are actually worth using. When dealing with anything AI-related, remember to fact-check everything.

With a fine-grained organizational structure, a generous free version, and an abundance of features, OneNote is a superbly versatile and complete note-taking app. Notion is a good note-taking app for collaborating and is packed with features, including excellent AI integration, but it's overly complicated and doesn't work offline. November 20, 2025: With this update, we removed Personal AI from our lineup of recommended AI note-taking tools. We have vetted the other picks for currency and availability. Albus is a colorful note-taking app with a distinctive interface. Once you give your board a name, Albus automatically populates a box on the left side of the screen with suggested prompts.

It also provides an infinite canvas for creating sticky notes with text and images. When you need to brainstorm freely, it's a great resource. You can also ask follow-up questions in each sticky note and edit them as needed. Albus offers a free version, with paid packages starting at $20 per month. Between work meetings, lectures, research, and spontaneous ideas, most of us end up with dozens of notes scattered across devices and platforms.And let’s be honest: how often do we actually go back and use... That’s where AI note-taking tools come in.

Instead of being just another place to dump information, these apps actively help you summarize, search, prioritize, and even remind you of what matters - automatically. In this guide, we’ll break down the best AI note-taking apps of 2025, ranked by real-world use cases - from students and researchers to ADHD professionals and founders.We’ll compare features like summarization, smart search,... The Best AI Note-taking apps in 2025 are: Saner.AI, NotebookLM, and Notion Saner.AI is a proactive AI assistant designed to be your second brain. It helps you capture messy thoughts, organize tasks, search your notes, and plan your day - without the overwhelm. What makes it stand out is how naturally it fits into the way our brains work, especially if you're juggling multiple inputs or have an ADHD-prone workflow.

Step-by-step Atlas workflow for AI note-taking. Students and teachers turn lectures, webpages, and PDFs into Convert PDFs and slide decks into structured notes, summaries, quizzes, and flashcards using AI tools. Although many of the best note-taking apps share a unified look and a similar broad feature set, some are now incorporating AI in innovative ways that help them stand out. Using AI for taking notes makes sense, no matter whether you want to brainstorm ideas, collect and archive information, or simply connect the dots. AI chatbots can even help you expand on your notes, find related information, pick out action items, or summarize just about anything.

PCMag has been covering note-taking apps for more than a decade, so you can trust that our picks are actually worth using. When dealing with anything AI-related, remember to fact-check everything. With a fine-grained organizational structure, a generous free version, and an abundance of features, OneNote is a superbly versatile and complete note-taking app. Notion is a good note-taking app for collaborating and is packed with features, including excellent AI integration, but it's overly complicated and doesn't work offline. November 20, 2025: With this update, we removed Personal AI from our lineup of recommended AI note-taking tools. We have vetted the other picks for currency and availability.

Albus is a colorful note-taking app with a distinctive interface. Once you give your board a name, Albus automatically populates a box on the left side of the screen with suggested prompts. It also provides an infinite canvas for creating sticky notes with text and images. When you need to brainstorm freely, it's a great resource. You can also ask follow-up questions in each sticky note and edit them as needed. Albus offers a free version, with paid packages starting at $20 per month.

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. With a fine-grained organizational structure, a generous free version, and an abundance of features, OneNote is a superbly versatile and complete note-taking app. Joplin is the ideal note-taking app for users who value simplicity, local storage capabilities, and dedicated apps on every major platform. Evernote is a powerful note-taking app with advanced AI features, best-in-class tools for jotting down your thoughts, and an exceptionally clear design, though it comes at a premium price. Obsidian is a highly adaptable and free note-taking app for power users who don't need collaboration features. Digital alternatives that will help you stay organized across devices Taking notes with pen and paper works just fine for some, but if you have a smartphone or tablet, using an app designed for...

Here are 10 of the best to consider, whether you're using a Windows or Mac computer, an Android device, iOS, Chrome OS, or another operating system. Works with most popular platforms and devices. Meetings don’t end with notes anymore. They end with summaries, action items, and a follow-up email written by your AI note taker before you’ve even left Zoom. Somewhere between your goodbye wave and “see you next week,” an algorithm has already captured every word, tagged every decision, and turned your chaos into clarity. The age of frantic typing is over.

Evernote walked so Notion, and now Sybill could run. The best AI note taking apps in 2026 don’t just record what’s said. They understand what’s meant. They detect tone, intent, even hesitation. Your AI is no longer your assistant. It’s your second brain.

And that second brain doesn’t just live in apps. Digital note takers like the reMarkable 2, iPad Pro, and Boox Tab Ultra now think as fast as you write. You can sketch, speak, or brainstorm out loud, and your AI audio note taker quietly turns it all into searchable, structured insights in a jiffy. That’s why this guide cuts through the noise to reveal the best AI note taking apps and devices in 2026. You’ll see what actually works for students, professionals, and hybrid teams, and what’s just hype. By the end, you’ll know exactly which AI recorder note taker deserves a spot in your workflow.

In 2026, note-taking has officially crossed into workflow automation territory. More than 75% of professionals now rely on AI-assisted note-taking for work, study, or creative projects. The reason is simple: it saves time, reduces errors, and keeps you focused on listening instead of typing. Unite.AI is committed to rigorous editorial standards. We may receive compensation when you click on links to products we review. Please view our affiliate disclosure.

AI-powered note-taking apps have become essential for anyone overwhelmed by meetings, calls, and a growing stream of information. Unlike pure transcription software—which focuses on producing accurate word-for-word transcripts—AI note-taking tools go several steps further. They record your meetings, generate real-time summaries, highlight decisions and action items, track themes, and integrate directly with your workflow so important insights never slip through the cracks. These tools function like smart meeting assistants: they join your calls automatically, capture every discussion, and transform raw conversation into structured, shareable documentation. Many can sync highlights to your CRM, push tasks to your project management platform, or send summaries to Slack channels—dramatically reducing the time teams spend on follow-up and manual note-taking. With features like speaker analytics, searchable archives, multi-language support, and AI-driven insights, today’s AI note-takers offer far more than basic transcription.

In this guide, we break down the 10 best AI note-taking apps available today. Whether you’re a solo professional, a growing startup, or part of a large enterprise, these tools can help you work smarter by capturing key moments, improving meeting productivity, and making follow-ups effortless. MeetGeek is an AI meeting assistant that automatically joins your scheduled calls to record, transcribe, and summarize them for you. It delivers highly accurate transcripts and even supports 30+ languages for transcription, benefiting global teams. After each Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams call, MeetGeek’s AI generates a personalized summary with key points and action items, allowing you to catch up on an hour-long meeting in minutes. You can also use MeetGeek via its mobile app for recording in-person meetings or calls on the go.

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With a fine-grained organizational structure, a generous free version, and an abundance of features, OneNote is a superbly versatile and complete note-taking app. Notion is a good note-taking app for collaborating and is packed with features, including excellent AI integration, but it's overly complicated and doesn't work offline. November 20, 2025: With this update, we removed Personal AI from ou...

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It also provides an infinite canvas for creating sticky notes with text and images. When you need to brainstorm freely, it's a great resource. You can also ask follow-up questions in each sticky note and edit them as needed. Albus offers a free version, with paid packages starting at $20 per month. Between work meetings, lectures, research, and spontaneous ideas, most of us end up with dozens of n...