Free note taking apps that can be downloaded to your PC, Windows 8, OSX, iPad, iPhone and Android phones. Choose from hundreds of features on any one of these apps you like. There are some free note taking apps for doctors, some free note taking apps for students, some free note taking apps for business persons, and there are some free note taking apps for food lovers too.
Free note taking apps for students are an essential software addition to your computer. Students have so many activities to balance between school homework, extracurricular activities, and family life. These free note taking apps for students will help you live a well-organized life by keeping all of your notes in one place. Some of these note taking applications are even compatible with other electronic devices, creating even more options for jotting down personal thoughts or homework instructions.
Notion
One of the simplest and sophisticated note-taking apps in the market, Notion helps you better organize your personal and professional life. The app is your one-stop solution to streamline projects, collaborate with team, and save and share notes and documents.
One of the most appealing features that I noticed about the app is it being a highly collaborative platform in which you can invite as many participants as you want. Moreover, your notes and tasks are organized in an array of categories that are displayed as a collapsible menu to one side.
Even though, the app’s many templates can be quite useful, however, for a first-time user, Notion can be quite an intimidating tool. As soon as you open a new note, be ready to be bombarded with different types of templates that make it a confusing matter for the user.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Notion Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
Workflowy
Workflowy is a notes/project management hybrid, but it works best for notes. Workflowy takes the idea of an outline to an extreme. Rather than create smaller cards for each of your notes (like a notepad), Workflowy drills further and further down into an outline, creating a hierarchical structure right from the start.
Workflowy offers extreme flexibility. Novelists use to plan books; managers can create quick tasks and checklists to pass onto their team.
From there, you can add tags and more organizational tools emerge.
With its new mobile apps, Workflowy is definitely worth a try.
Not sure about Workflowy? Check out our blog on Workflowy alternatives.
PRO: Easy to see zoom in and out from the big picture to smaller details
CON: Sometimes users can be frustrated by its plain approach–it’s almost too simple. The blank page can be daunting after all. But you can set favorites and more to navigate.
Availability: All devices
OneNote
Note-taking app from Microsoft, OneNote is a simple app without many bells and whistles. You can manage your notes and documents in different categories, or Notebooks, and further arrange them into sections and pages (something we’re already familiar with). Other features include To-do tags, audio recording, single-click web content saving, and many more.
One-note is best for people who avoid too many complex or fancy features. Moreover, you can sync your notes on different devices and various other apps. Even the templates are simple and basic that anyone can use. You can also collaborate with your team, group or students and share notes with each other.
On one hand as OneNote is simple and easy-to-use, it does come off as too basic for some of its features. There’s a lack of formatting features for the notes, several people cannot edit the same document simultaneously, and the spectrum integrated apps is not very vast. If you can live with absence of these features, then OneNote would be your best choice.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- OneNote Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: No
Google Keep
Google Keep is just what the name says – to keep your nites, documents, and reminders, etc. saved for later use. It’s a simple cloud-based app by Google that allows you to jot down your thought process on-the-go or as a team.
With Google Keep, you can create an infinite number of notes and to-do lists, give them labels and color codes, share and collaborate the notes with others, and access them from any other device. You can even record voice memo and the app will transcribe and save it for you.
I did, however, feel a few things lacking in the app as there is no desktop app, no text formatting feature, and no integration with other apps which is a bit off putting. Nevertheless, Google Keep is a great app if you’re requirement is basic note-taking without having to pay anything.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser,
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Google Keep Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: No
Slite
A note-taking app with focus on team collaboration, Slite allows teams of infinite numbers to share and collaborate on notes. Different members of a team or group can create spaces on the app for their shared notes that they can collectively edit or discuss upon.
Apart from the collaborative editing, commenting, and revision history among team members, Slite also allows you to create private notes for your personal use only. There are many templates to get started with as well as the feature to import your documents from other apps and platforms.
As a team collaborative note-taking app, Slite does miss out on some important features like project or task management, calendar and video conferencing features. Other than that, it is a very useful app for a well-coordinated team work.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Slite Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
Grammarly
Grammarly is hailed as one of the most useful tools for proofreading and grammar-checking. If you’re already using Grammarly for proofreading, you might as well use it for note-taking too. The app allows you to save notes in your account and even upload documents from your computer.
The notes that you save as displayed as tiles on your homepage from where you can either delete or download them. You can sync your account with five different devices and there’s a huge 150K word limit for notes. Also, you can integrate it with mainstream browsers, native apps for Windows and macOS, Google Docs, and MS Word and Outlook.
Grammarly being essentially a proofreading app, it has no special features for note-taking. Though you can save notes and search them later by name, but that’s pretty much it in the basic account. The premium account does give you a little more room to play. Still, alongside its main usage as a proofreading tool, it can work as a simple note-taking app.
- Desktop Compatibility: Browser, Windows, MacOS
- Mobile Compatibility: iOS, Android
- Grammarly Price: Free
- Premium app/subscriptions?: Yes (Check pricing)
Notepad by ClickUp
The Notepad by ClickUp is a Chrome extension that you can download and then use across the web. It stays in the bottom corner of your choice, creating a simple way for you to jot down reminders or do research as you’re browsing.
Just click on the purple notepad icon at the bottom of your screen, and your entire list of notes is right there. And with rich text editing, you can format, emphasize or even use markdown right there in your browser.
This is the notepad program designed for those who want to maximize their productivity. Why? Because it connects right to your *favorite* project management software, ClickUp!
Another feature? Use the Notepad as part of the ClickUp mobile app as well. You can record meeting notes, make checklists and then create tasks instantly from your notes. No other note taking app or project management platform offers you this type of flexibility.
Sync your Chrome extension with your mobile app and desktop application. ClickUp works wherever you need to go.
ClickUp is the only project management software program that has this option…and your same notes will transfer from your browser right into ClickUp.
PRO: Easy to use to take notes on the web, perfect for students and personal use.
CON: Frequently rolls out new features it can be hard to keep up!
Availability: Chrome browser and with ClickUp
Bear
Though only available on Apple products, Bear is a note taking app to be reckoned with. It has a simple left to right interface with a main menu, a note snippet display of your most recent notes, and then the actual note taking area.
One of its key features is its organizational system. Use hashtags to categorize, then use a slash command to create even more subfolders. You can do this from anywhere in the note. This is a simple way to organize and categorize your notes.
The new folders then automatically appear in your main menu. It also uses other markdown text editor shortcuts to link your notes together. Very intuitive!
Pros: Hashtags and categorization from anywhere in the note
Cons: Not enough separate workspaces or different levels of categories. This Reddit thread has more.
Availability: iOS
Conclusion
In today’s fast-paced world it has become pertinent to keep yourself organized. And what best way to do that than through digital note-taking. Note-taking apps help you in collecting your thoughts, keeping an organized schedule, and even sharing your documents with other people.
In this post, we have rounded up some of the most reliable and feature-filled note taking apps. You’ll find their best and worst aspects in the write-up so as to help you decide the most suitable one for your needs.