What is the best alternative to&#x20;Write?

Supports Windows, macOS and Linux. See More

861 247

score 605 · Answer 2

Boostnote

Top Pro

Cross platform support

Top Con

Some of the features are not consistent

Top Pro

Markdown support

Top Con

Must use third-party service for sync-ing (Dropbox, etc.)

Boostnote does not have sync-ing capabilities and relies on third-party services to fulfil notes storage. There are additional steps involved to set this up. See More

Top Pro

Free

Top Con

Can't work in "real" offline mode

Top Pro

Open source

See here. See More

Top Con

Very poor syncing

Data loss may occur on syncing. See More

Top Pro

Great for developers

Boostnote is great for developers looking to take programming notes with code snippets and such. See More

Top Pro

Supports code snippets and syntax highlighting

Boostnote has the ability to store code snippets and comes with syntax highlighting out of the box, supporting many languages. See More

Top Pro

Works offline

Boostnote doesn't require an internet connection to work. You can write notes offline and sync later. See More

Top Pro

Global search, tag feature

Top Pro

Comes with many themes

Boostnote comes with many themes out of the box, most of which are popular themes and color schemes for code editors: e.g. 3024, base16, solarized, tomorrow. See More

Top Pro

vim/emacs key bindings available

Boostnote supports vim/emacs key bindings. If you're a developer familiar with either of them, navigation should be easy to pick up. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows/MacOS/Linux/Android/IOS

605 54

score 222 · Answer 3

Workflowy

Top Pro

Outline-style hierarchy with zoom

Any sublist can be viewed as a top-level list. This sounds simple but makes WorkFlowy extremely powerful. For example, the same line item, "write my book," can simultaneously be a to-do in a task list and the container for an entire working document. See More

Top Con

Doesn't work well in mobile browsers

The functionality of the mobile version of the site is a bit limited, while new features have been added such as the ability to move lines of text, even that is limited on Android to only being functional on Chrome. See More

Top Pro

Minimalistic interface

Interface has no clutter. It allows focusing on thoughts to note down. This keeps things simple and easy to understand, which can help keep everything organized in an intuitive manner. See More

Top Con

Offline desktop app requires Chrome

The offline desktop requires installing Google Chrome first before the WorkFlowy app can be installed. This is not good news for non-Chrome users especially users who frequently uses Firefox or Safari as their default browsers, in which Chrome app also suffers memory leak and battery issues. See More

Top Pro

Easy to see an overview and organize notes

All notes are part of a list, which makes it easy to organize everything. Nested lists allow for organizing notes into hierarchical categories of infinite depth. All lists can be folded. WorkFlowy also has tags and instant full-text search. See More

Top Con

Inconvenient interface

Notes automatically collapse, making them unreadable without user interaction. You cannot view multiple long notes at once. See More

Top Pro

Super fast sync between devices

While adding a list of to-do on web, it syncs with iPhone and iPad apps very quickly. This way you can jump between devices with no delay of up to date content. See More

Top Con

No public API

Top Pro

Quickly focus on a specific topic

Enables users to focus on specific topic area, which is referred to as "hoisting" within Workflowy. See More

Top Con

Cannot use link-text

You cannot have text link to a URL. When you link to a website you have to post the full URL instead. Instead of having the name of the website or article like, Slant, you instead have to post http://slant.co. It's especially annoying if you have a long URL that takes up a lot of space in the document. See More

Top Pro

Supports tags

Enables users to search by tags. See More

Top Con

No support for Right-To-Left languages

Mixed text is scrambled, and text-alignment is wrong. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform web and mobile

WorkFlowy can be accessed from either a browser or their apps, which include a Chrome app for desktops as well as an iOS and Android app. This makes it easy to access ones notes no matter the platform or device being used. See More

Top Con

Doesn't work on all mobile phones

Not compatible with Android OS version 4.1 and 4.2. See More

Top Pro

Deep nesting

Workflowy's 'everything is in a tree' interface makes it easy to keep expanding on topics, no matter where, or how deep in the hierarchy they are. See More

Top Con

Infrequent updates and new features

WorkFlowy works well but it is hardly ever updated, in comparison to Dynalist, which works in a very similar way but has more features and is updated weekly. See More

Top Pro

Tasks can be added and manipulated quickly

WorkFlowy allows entering many tasks very quickly – especially useful for meeting minutes or a "brain dump" when you have to type fast. After typing in all your thoughts, it's very easy to organize and sort multiple groups at once. See More

Top Con

Only supports one big text file

Although with Workflowy's focus feature this can work, you might prefer managing separate text files. See More

Top Pro

Import and export via OPML

OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is a commonly used standard for text exchange. With two-way support for OPML you are never locked into Workflowy. Importing/exporting via copy/paste of entire outlines is a snap. See More

Top Pro

Text formatting

You can have bold, italic, and underlined text. See More

Top Pro

Strong community

There are number of talented coders who help customize WorkFlowy with extensions and styles. It has an active blog and welcomes collaboration. See More

Top Pro

Daily digest email

WorkFlowy can send you an email with that day's activity. It's a great way to track progress. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web, Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS

API:Experimental (https://workflowy.com/s/workflowy-extension-api/6ziauXitmUj7idN2 )

Dark Theme:Paid feature

Simplenote takes a minimalist approach to its interface. There are no toolbars full of formatting options or extra features like notebooks to group notes. The entire desktop interface consists solely of a sidebar with your tags and trash filters, the list of existing notes with search, a button to add a new note and a simple view for looking an existing note or writing a new one. See More

222 51

score 479 · Answer 4

Simplenote

Top Pro

Very simple and clean interface

Top Con

No note encryption at rest

Notes are encrypted in transit, but remain unencrypted on Simplenote's servers. See More

Top Pro

Geared towards fast usage

Unlike alternatives (such as Evernote) that are laden with features, Simplenote is fast to use and sync. Reviews from the Verge, Lifehacker, and a variety of other sources all describe using the Simplenote apps as very fast. While it may not be as feature-rich as other apps, the responsiveness of the app and simple interface keep it easy to use while never slowing down the user when they need to quickly take a note. See More

Top Con

Limited ways to reorder notes

You are able to sort your notes alphabetically, date modified, or by last created. There is no way to drag and drop the notes to create a custom order. See More

Top Pro

Works offline

Users can edit and create documents offline, can then sync their content the next time they are online. This way a user can work even when there's no data connection without the worry of losing work. See More

Top Con

No reminders

You cannot set reminders to revisit a specific note or complete a task. See More

Top Pro

Desktop app is open source

The desktop version of Simplenote is hosted on the GitHub and since it is open source, it can allow developers to fork the code in order to improve the app. See More

Top Con

No support for file attachments

Simplenote doesn't provide support for embedded attachments. This can limit the use for some as many other note-taking apps do support this type of feature. See More

Top Pro

Can export your data

The program enables exporting of notes as text documents. See More

Top Con

Search is limited to one tag

There seems to be no way to find notes that have both tag X and tag Y. This isn't a big deal until you have a large library of notes, and want to cross-search for two things at the same time to vastly narrow down your search. See More

Top Pro

Collaborative features

Notes can be shared with others or worked on collaboratively. See More

Top Con

No way to import notes from anywhere

Top Pro

Open Source

All of the Simplenote apps are open source and ready for your contributions! You can find the source on GitHub: iOS: https://github.com/automattic/simplenote-ios Android: https://github.com/automattic/simplenote-android macOS: https://github.com/automattic/simplenote-macos Electron (Windows and Linux): https://github.com/automattic/simplenote-electron See More

Top Con

Web access only for updated browsers

They recently removed support for older browsers, and it's not working on the latest version of Waterfox. You need an updated version of a well-known browser. See More

Top Pro

"Time machine" style revision control on the notes

Each edit of a note is saved in order to allow the user to go back to a previous version of a document. This way, if mistakes are made or something is deleted, you can go back to the previous version without any hassle. See More

Top Con

No 32-bit version

Top Pro

Wide range of great clients with great sync

Official native apps are available on popular platforms such as Android, iPhone, iPad, Kindle, OS X, Windows and Linux. Open-source clients extend this support even more widely to various other platforms, such as webOS and the BlackBerry PlayBook. These apps embody the core philosophy of Simplenote: minimalism and focus on the note taking. There are multiple unofficial clients (including the excellent Notational Velocity and NValt, a fork of the app with markdown support and other goodies.) See More

Top Con

The search function doesn't see tags

If you search for 'foo' you won't find notes with tag foo. In that regard, tags are completely isolated from the search. See More

Top Pro

Markdown support via web interface

There is support for Markdown when using the web app. This can be convenient for those who want to use Markdown in a particular note. See More

Top Con

No way to bulk-apply a tag

This is a typical workflow action in other apps: Do a search, multi-select notes among the matches, then apply or de-apply one or more tags to all these notes at once. There's no way to do this in Simplenote. The only bulk operations are Delete and Pin-to-top. See More

Top Pro

Linux client available

Top Con

No notification when changes made on a shared note

Currently, there is no way to be alerted when a change is made by another contributor on a shared note. See More

Top Pro

Excellent iOS app

Top Con

Save-to-disk feature is poor

The only way to download your data off Simplenote is via a "download zip" feature that unfortunately loses all the semantic structure of your data (tags, for instance). See More

Top Pro

Excellent desktop client in the form of nvAlt

Top Con

No integrated social media sharing

The only way you can share notes with others is with a link you're given when you publish your note. There is no integrated social media sharing if you directly want to post your note to Twitter, Facebook, etc. See More

Top Con

Lack of color impacts usability

There are two themes available, the default theme and a dark theme. Both use only the single solid color (either white or black) for the background, so there is a lack of visual cues to separate what you're looking at. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

API:No

Collaborative:yes

OneNote allows you to arrange text freely on the digital paper mimicking the way it would be done with a real pen on real paper. See More

479 101

score 502 · Answer 5

Microsoft OneNote

Top Pro

Text can be added anywhere like a whiteboard

Top Con

Not available for Linux

There is no native Linux client for OneNote available, and most likely will never be created. Users can use the web based client, but a native app would be a better choice for those that use the app frequently. See More

Top Pro

Comprehensive organization methods

Can have multiple 'sections/tabs' at the top like in a web browser with many notes within each 'section/tab'. Also, there can be sections within section groups infinitely. The complete hierarchy looks like this: Notebooks > Section Groups ... Section Groups > Sections > Pages > Sub-pages > Sub-pages. See More

Top Con

Requires a Microsoft account

You need to have a Microsoft email to sign up for OneNote (Outlook, Hotmail, or Windows Live). See More

Top Pro

Supports hierarchical organization of information / notes

OneNote is designed to allow hierarchical organization of information. This is achieved with grouping into the following categories and UI elements (Notebooks, Sections, and Pages). Both Sections and Pages allow additional groupings that can be expanded / collapsed in list view. This can be incredibly helpful for quickly taking notes and organizing them for work or personal projects. For example, you could have a Notebook for "Cooking Recipes", with sections for "breakfast, dinner, desserts", where individual recipes would be page entries (i.e. the "Desserts" section would have pages for brownies, chocolate cheesecake etc). See More

Top Con

Not open-source

This application is proprietary, and thus cannot be modified or freely distributed. See More

Top Pro

Powerful table editor

Adding and resizing rows and columns is easy and flexible. This makes for an easy way to adjust a note as it grows in content size. See More

Top Con

The added flexibility means your notes may feel cluttered

Since you can place elements anywhere you'd like on your note, you have to pay attention to how you structure it. For some this added flexibility is a huge selling point, but for others it could become distracting and makes notes feel difficult to digest. See More

Top Pro

Insert files into your notes

You can add a variety of different files into your notes including images, video, audio, and more. See More

Top Con

Menu/ribbon can feel crammed

OneNote offers a lot of formatting options, which results in a lot of options being crammed into the ribbon. It can feel somewhat cluttered and takes a bit of time to get used to. See More

Top Pro

Strong search features let you quickly find what you're looking for

If you don't want to search through all of your notes, you can narrow it down by specifying the page, section, group, or notebook. You're not limited to just searching through your text either. You can search for text in images, video recordings, and audio (this is off by default). See More

Top Con

Sync isn't stable

Many users have reported synchronization issues. While not everyone will experience this, it can be difficult to troubleshoot, with some fixes resorting to editing registry keys in Windows when using the Windows client. See More

Top Pro

All indented lines under the first can be expanded and hidden

Which makes it easy to quickly look at the high level of notes, and then drill deep into each point. See More

Top Con

Text editing is weird (poor UX)

When clicking in the middle of a note, it adds something like a text-box positioned in the middle. If you move that field to the bottom right, it gets weirder. You can end-up with an empty note, having an empty text-box 1km to the bottom-right of it. See More

Top Pro

Add notes through email

You can choose what notebook the notes will save to. E-mail notes to your special Onenote e-mail and it will be accessible across all devices. See More

Top Con

Syncing issues

It tells you there are conflicts between a note on the PC and on the Android because of the timing of the synchronization but doesn't try to resolve itself. See More

Top Pro

Stylus and digitizer pen support

OneNote can be used on all touch capable devices via stylus or digitizer pen making for an intuitive and easy way to take notes by hand, which can often be faster or just preferred over typing. It has the best pen input out of any note taking app. See More

Top Con

Platform dependent

The newer versions for Windows and Mac are converging, using the Windows style layout (with a more more consistent and usable UI). The original OneNote for Mac for example is very different from OneNote for Windows. Because Microsoft has a vested interest in making sure the Windows version is superior, the Mac version tends to lag behind in terms of functionality. Tutorials and other forms of documentation available online generally apply only to the Windows version, which implies non-Windows versions are undocumented. Even worse, because the documentation rarely, if ever, indicates it only applies to Windows, it's easy to waste hours trying to make non-existent features work. As such, the documentation is "negative documentation" (i.e. worse than no documentation at all). See More

Top Pro

Very similar design for those used to Microsoft programs

If you have experience with other Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Office, you'll feel right at home with the design of OneNote thanks to the similarity of the menus. See More

Top Con

Doesn't automatically sort (by name, size, date)

You can't choose to sort automatically. Just do it manually. See More

Top Pro

Lots of options for customizing fonts

You can fully customize your default font (the color, type of font, and font size). You can override this styles with the same options (and more) in individual notes. See More

Top Con

No backup on Windows 10 free version

If you accidentally delete a section on the windows 10 free version of Onenote, there is no backup to fall back on. See More

Top Pro

Converts handwriting to text on Windows version

You can take handwritten notes on your mobile device with a stylus or digital pen and then convert the handwriting to text later on your Windows PC. See More

Top Con

Search function is lacking advanced features

e.g. Searching for "friend" will find "friendship" and "friendly" (because "friend" is at the beginning of the word); using this query will not find words such as "girlfriend" or "boyfriend." See More

Top Pro

Article Web Clipper available on desktop and mobile

Has a web clipper extension on Chrome and Edge that can be used for clipping whole articles and images. Web clipping of articles is also available on Chrome mobile through the "Share" option. See More

Top Con

Uninspired, bland user interface

Many of OneNote's competitors use Material Design and bold colors to create a minimal, clean looking interface. OneNote has a bit more of an outdated look and can feel over crowded at times. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Its available Windows Mobile, Windows Store, Android, a Desktop Version, and a Web app. Apple macOS and iOS are also supported. See More

Top Con

Annotations can’t be anchored to a photo

If you annotate a photo or some text, then insert some text above it, the annotations don’t necessarily move with the photo and get misplaced. See More

Top Pro

Table is sortable

Top Con

iPad version is behind the Windows version in features

Biggest issue for me is that you’re stuck with the default, example tags - you can’t import custom tags from your Windows copy, or create and delete tags. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with other Microsoft services

Integrates well with Outlook, Office, and OneDrive. See More

Top Con

Some features require external apps

Sort pages, find and replace, etc need external apps called onestatics. See More

Top Pro

Sharing and collaboration

You can share your notes by inviting people with an e-mail, or by giving them a direct URL. You have control over what kind of access the user has on your note (read only, edit) and can revoke it at any time. OneNote will alert you when a chance is made on your shared note. See More

Top Con

You cannot use local OneNote files with the version of OneNote that is included with Windows

There is a difference between the OneNote that is included with Windows 10 and the OneNote that comes with Microsoft Office. The version included with Windows cannot use local OneNote files and requires you to be online to access your notes. See here for this and other differences. See More

Top Pro

Offers flexible encryption

Unlike most other apps, you can selectively password protect, and fully encrypt, individual documents or entire folders. This is especially important to many people with data stored in the cloud. As of early this year, even the free version supports encryption. Microsoft has also enhanced their internal security methods for storing data on OneDrive (where OneNote performs sync), which makes it more secure than most of their competitors (including Evernote). See More

Top Pro

Mathematical calculations

You can perform mathematical calculations in OneNote like a calculator. e.g. 1+2=3, 85/4=21.25, 8!=40,320, 7^2=49 See More

Top Pro

Ink to Math

Handwritten mathematical equations can be converted to typed mathematical equations. Moreover, you can ask OneNote to solve the equation too. See More

Top Pro

Optical character recognition

You can copy / search text in images added to OneNote. See More

Top Pro

Page versioning

You can view the history of any page and revert to a previous version. See More

Top Pro

On Android, you can tap a badge to start a note

The badge on Android hovers over on your screen similar to Facebook Messenger's Chat Heads. You can tap it and instantly start jotting down your thoughts without having to flip to the app first. See More

Top Pro

Import and link calendar events and tasks in Outlook

This is great for taking meeting minutes. You can import all the meeting details, including a checklist of attendees and a link back to the original event in your Outlook calendar. You can tag all the actions coming out of a meeting and you can create linked tasks from them in Outlook. Much quicker and more effective than writing meeting minutes the traditional way. See More

Top Pro

Browser plugins allow easy saving of web pages

The ability to quickly file away web clippings is a key part of note taking. See More

Top Pro

Large variety of themes available

You have quite a few options for themes available with illustrated backgrounds. If you want something a bit more simple while still having personality, there are also several color themes. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows / OSX / iOS / Android / Web

Export:*.one, *.docx, *.doc, *.pdf, *.xps, *.mht

Offline access:Yes

Evernote is designed to store a lot of different types of information from a lot of different sources in one place. Using the Web Clipper, native integrations, or a service such as IFTTT (If This Then That) you can use Evernote to store all your ideas, notes (both handwritten and typed), tasks, reading lists, receipts, and more. See More

502 164

score 514 · Answer 6

Evernote

Top Pro

Consolidates all your information

Top Con

Free version limited to 2 devices

The free version has become very limited as a cloud based note taking app as there is now only sharing between two devices allowed. See More

Top Pro

Powerful features for organising your notes

Evernote is designed to make it easy to keep your notes well organized, which aids in quickly finding/browsing old information. You can put notes into a single notebook and use search to access old notes, or if you're so inclined, organize notes extensively with hierarchical notebooks and tags. See More

Top Con

Pay for offline use, search, and other functions

The free version of Evernote is highly limited. You have to pay if you want to access your notes without internet connection, search your notes or documents, or upload large amounts of data. The free version allows you to upload 60 MB of data per month, which is about 20 to 30 iPhone camera pictures. At a certain point, they started charging you for "advanced" capability, which includes searching your own attachments. See More

Top Pro

Can include images, and snippets from the web or a whole webpage via web clipper

With one click you can clip part or all of any webpage, including text, images, and links. Especially for those who use Google Chrome, this web clipper is a very rich add-on. The “simplified article” mode strips all graphical overhead from the page before adding the information to Evernote. It's also possible to add highlighting, tags, etc. before storing the note. See More

Top Con

Different features and functions per device

Desktop app has table creation. Android app lacks font color changes. Some functions can only be accessed on the desktop app. These include changing your default notebook. See More

Top Pro

Has OCR functionality to convert images to searchable text

A really cool and handy Evernote feature is the ability to automatically scan images for text. See More

Top Con

Security issues

Evernote had their entire database hacked and compromised including customer user passwords. They responded by locking valid users out of accounts and forcing password changes but are still vague about their own security policies. They do not have a good track record for data security. They also do not offer local personal encryption of entire Notebooks as Microsoft OneNote does. See More

Top Pro

"Reminders" are a great way to combine your to-dos and notes

One of the note types is a "reminder," which can act as a to-do list. You can add all the usual formatting to reminders, including audio. Evernote will provide alerts when they are due and house them in a special location within the app. See More

Top Con

Buggy

A program with more features is always prone to more bugs. Evernote is definitely not the most stable note-taking program available. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Evernote is easy to dive into because it doesn’t overwhelm you with advanced functionality from the start. As you get more accustomed to the app, you might want to delve deeper to see what benefits the more advanced features will offer. See More

Top Con

No official Linux app

Evernote does not offer an official Linux app, although there are some third party alternatives available. See More

Top Pro

Native and offline-capable apps on pretty much every platform

Evernote has apps for Windows 7 and 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, Mac, Android, iOS (both iPhone and iPad), Blackberry, and Windows Phone. It also has a fully functional web app and chrome plug-in. No matter what device or platform you're on, you will pretty much always be able to access Evernote. See More

Top Con

Constantly directs you to upgrading your account

The frequent reminders to upgrade your account can quickly become disruptive. You get notifications when using the app, and many of the features that show as available in the app are actually for paid accounts only (which, when you try to use them, will remind you to upgrade). See More

Top Pro

Multipurpose

In addition to general note taking and to-do list management, Evernote lets you search through scanned documents, handwritten text, and images; collaborate with others through shared notebooks; record audio notes; and more. See More

Top Con

Syncing is slow

Top Pro

Trustworthy to store data in the long term

With many utility tools being constantly shut down by their creators, it's really important to consider the long-term risks of picking a home for all your notes. Evernote is a $1 billion company with a track record of exceptional security and goals of becoming a "100 year old" company. See More

Top Con

Prices have doubled since Bending Spoon purchase

I used to pay 7 €/month, now it's 13. See More

Top Pro

Powerful note formatting

Evernote has an extensive range of formatting options and note types. You can create checklists, reminder alerts, audio notes, or add images and attachments. It also has an awesome speech-to-text feature if you prefer to dictate aloud. See More

Top Con

Very heavyweight for a to-do list

Evernote is a powerhouse program with many features. It uses a correspondingly large amount of memory to run. See More

Top Pro

Great selection for integrating with other apps

The Evernote app center page is nicely organized and has good quality integration of apps that can improve your productivity. See More

Top Con

Missing some basic functions

Top Pro

Focused, uncluttered user interface

Evernote has a very clean and intuitive interface that's simple to understand at a glance. See More

Top Con

Not distributed

One cannot run Evernote on own servers. This brings with it the risks normally associated with handing over critical applications to a large corporation. See More

Top Pro

Evernote is synchronized

Top Con

Bending Spoon have relocated to Europe and fired 129 people

Top Pro

Premium allows search in attached files and documents

With a premium account you are able to search through PDFs and Office Docs. See More

Top Con

Poor text formatting abilities

Text formatting in Evernote is buggy and unreliable. Bullets (outlining) are getting stuck or disappearing, tables are very static and prone to breaking and everything beyond the most basic formatting might cause an issue. See More

Top Pro

Innovative hacks

To save emails, just forward them to your Evernote email address generated on account creation. It is of course one of many such hacks. See More

Top Con

Basic and lacking handwriting function

Handwriting has basic functions, is attached as a picture See More

Top Pro

Flexible image manipulation

Permits photos that are taken, to be processed when in automatic mode and saved as a photo, black and white document, colour document, post it note or business card. The automated mode is also good at cropping the document effectively. See More

Top Con

Bloated and complex

Evernote is too big, has too many features. Note taking apps need absolutely clean interface to allow unobtrusive note taking and not a struggle to search for which buttons to click. It focuses on the search feature so much that it doesn't encourage or make it immediately easy to organize your notes and thoughts. It's essentially a sophisticated notes dump with good search. See More

Top Pro

Best web clipper

Can clip to the web from desktop or mobile, using simplified format or original formatting. Very quick and flexible, and enables you to highlight, take notes, tag, etc. See More

Top Con

New web editor does not support Firefox

As of now, Firefox users must download a separate extension to change their user agent to trick the Evernote site into giving them the beta, or install Chrome. See More

Top Pro

Can choose from a few themes

You can pick from a green theme, light, or dark theme. All are very clear and visually appealing. See More

Top Con

No recurring and snooze reminders

Perhaps because it is not truly a to-do list app, there is currently no support for recurring events or snooze reminders. The company claims to be working on this functionality. See More

Top Pro

Effective with pictures or snapshot of boards

Take a picture of your white board/paper board and you have it instantly in evernote everywhere, ready for additional notes and classification Scannable friend app is rather efficient to keep hand written note as well. See More

Top Con

Lacks search and replace capability

Top Pro

Skitch integration

If you're on iOS and have Skitch installed, you can quickly annotate your notes using Skitch. See More

Top Con

Rather poor user interface

Slow, not user friendly experience, complex, and somehow limited. See More

Top Pro

Has conflict management and undo

Allows undo/redo when editing (i.e. all changes are finalized upon saving). If conflicts between synchronized versions arise, both copies are saved in Evernote. See More

Top Con

Lacks right-to-left writing support

When you write in a right-to-left language (Arabic, for example), everything looks fine in the editor but the direction changes to the left again after saving the note. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

Since Evernote has so many features built in, it's hard to know where to find everything until reasonable amount of time has been spent with it. See More

Top Con

Easy to accidentally hit the wrong button on the mobile apps

The mobile apps have fairly small touch targets, making it easy to miss the button or accidentally press the wrong one. See More

Top Con

No ability to re-order notes other than sorting

Evernote has no way to re-order notes, nor even to change their display order. Sorting is the only option, and the "official" workaround (for years now) is to prefix note titles with line numbers manually so notes will sort and display as desired. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android / iOS / WP / OSX / Windows / WebOS

API:yes

Collaborative:yes

Export:ENEX, HTML, MHT

Using the tree structure, you can structure the content. See More

514 189

score 85 · Answer 7

SynapBook

Top Pro

Memo can be structured in tree form

Top Con

Does not support iOS

This app only supports Android and desktop OS, but not iOS. See More

Top Pro

Nice sticky memo UI

It can support pop-up notes which can be used like simple Windows Sticky memo app. See More

Top Pro

Both search-based Memo and organizing tree Note

Search-based notes and tree-oriented tree notes are supported separately, so can be used conveniently depending on the purpose. See More

Top Pro

Offline mode support

Basically, it is based on server synchronization, but it can be used offline. See More

Top Pro

Folding

Groups can be folded. See More

Top Pro

Various text styles and decorations

General styles (bold, font size), highlighter and separator line, and more. See More

Top Pro

Frequent updates

Bug fixes and additional new features rolled out frequently. See More

Top Pro

Free

Easy to use and easily understandable for everyone. See More

85 10

score 120 · Answer 8

Zenkit

Top Pro

Powerful and simple to use tool with a clean design

Top Pro

Many important data views

Data views include Mind-Map, Kanban-Board, Spreadsheet, List, and Calendar. Views can be switched easily. See More

Top Pro

Native apps

Native apps for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. See More

Specs

Platforms:Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iPhone

Languages:English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese (traditional), Korean, Russian

API:Yes

You cannot add comments in Cyrillic, or Hebrew, or any language that uses symbols other than the Latin alphabet. See More

120 13

score 18 · Answer 9

Memosnag

Top Con

Comments can only be written in Latin script

Top Pro

Extremely simple and intuitive

The plugin is very easy to use. The social-media-like page layout makes it easy to navigate, while the drag-drop functionality, used to organize your content, is highly intuitive as an Evernote alternative. See More

Top Con

Does not work well for note taking

Memosnag is only for saving/sharing content you've found online (sites, videos, etc.). See More

Top Pro

Automatic citations save time

Memosnag creates citations automatically, which saves the user a ton of time. See More

Top Pro

Lets you save pretty much everything online

Unlike other clippers, memosnag allows you to save pretty much everything online in one simple click. That includes images, YouTube videos, websites, etc, which makes it a good Evernote alternative in this area. See More

18 3

score 31 · Answer 10

Zoho Notebook

Top Pro

Completely free, ad-free, with unlimited devices

Zoho (the company behind Notebook) has been providing free, advertisement-free, productivity applications for over a decade, and this one is no different. See More

Top Con

Migrate from Evernote non functional

The migrate from Evernote function resulted in blank notes. The headers are there but blank notes See More

Top Pro

Cloud sync

As an Evernote alternative, Notebook securely stores notes to the cloud, allowing you to access notes on all of your mobile devices, while the sync is seamless. Also, web app support is coming soon. See More

Top Con

Available on limited platforms

Currently there is no web app or Windows version available. They are working on both, but there is no set release date. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

If you've ever used Evernote, then you know it has lot's of menus and that doing simple things requires lots of taps. Notebook is designed to be more functional, and lets you take and access notes quickly. See More

Top Pro

Pre-built checklist and audio notes

Rather than create a checklist within a text note, Notebook has a pre-built checklist card, which makes creating them really easy. Plus the items you check off move to the bottom of the note. Audio notes work the same way. Rather than treat audio notes like attachments (as Evernote does), Notebook has a pre-built audio note which is really nice, very similar to Evernote in that fashion, which makes it a good alternative. See More

Top Pro

Great UI

Specs

Platforms:Mac, iOS, Web, Android, Windows, Linux

31 5

score 517 · Answer 11

Turtl

Top Pro

Multiple Platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Firefox, Chrome)

Turtl has applications for all the major operating systems, as well as Android. In addition, there are extensions available for Firefox and Chrome that cooperate with the downloadable applications. See More

Top Con

No iOS app

While many other operating systems have a client, iOS does not have one yet (though it is planned). See More

Top Pro

Open source

The app is licensed under GPLv3 making it open source. This means that anyone can use the code and contribute. This also makes it easy to use on one's own server or for company solutions. See More

Top Con

No image embedding

Instead of image embeddings, there's a sort of poor man's substitute: image + description. If you add an image, you can create a description of any size and with all the formatting features. It can be used instead of image embedding but much more limited: only one image and only at the very top. See More

Top Pro

Good security

After assigning a password to your account in Turtl, a key is created to encrypt the entire account. No data is stored on their servers meaning they have no access to unencrypted content. This is a huge leg up when comparing to other Evernote alternatives. See More

Top Con

Internet dependent

Requires Internet connection to initiate offline mode, loses access to notes without Internet or server. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, Android

Notes are encrypted and secured so only you can decrypt them. See More

517 81

score 180 · Answer 12

Standard Notes

Top Pro

Encrypted

Top Con

Formatting enabled only as extension for money

Top Pro

Extensible

Editors, components, actions, and themes. See More

Top Pro

Open-source

Top Pro

Simple

Faster and lighter than most notes apps. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Available on Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux. See More

Top Pro

Themes

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, Web

Technology:TypeScript, Docker

Even the right-click menus on the web are the same as the app. See More

180 35

score 450 · Answer 13

Notion

Top Pro

Full-featured on desktop, mobile and web

Top Con

Not very fast using native apps

Can take time if you're switching between lots of pages often as it needs to load the data each time See More

Top Pro

Unlike anything else

One of the most complete applications one can use to build a personal dashboard (or professional) and migrate all other services to it. No more calendar, task, notes, financials, lists, writing and wiki apps, just Notion. See More

Top Con

Not always very intuitive

Column filters are not that intuitive to apply. See More

Top Pro

Pages within pages within pages, to infinity

You can have a ridiculous amount of information within a single note. Look at how it works, you'll be surprised! See More

Top Con

No true backup

True backup can only exist if it's automated and easily recoverable. Else, it's just an outdated copy or useless scrambled data. See More

Top Pro

Flexible contents storage and organization

You can upload files and embed online stuff in any hierarchical structure using pages, toggle lists, etc. See More

Top Con

Designed with teams in mind, and less formatting than Evernote

Evernote may be more individual-oriented and has more formatting and such options available, but whether that affects you is down to personal preference. Try both and see which you prefer. See More

Top Pro

Highly visual, with icons next to every new page and so on

This feature makes it very easy to find certain notes and such. And great for visual people as well. You could also add images as icons instead, if you like. See More

Top Con

Not yet a new protocol, as it could be! (or could it?)

Think of scuttlebutt or email. the best Evernote alternative would be a "web 3.0" of sorts. Something that would be just a simple file added to a computer and automatically replicated to other computers along with a website and any company could easily pick up the concept and make their own hosting, including some awesome google drive/host of sorts. See More

Top Pro

Blocks offer incredible flexibility

The basic unit of organization in Notion is the block, which can be a chunk of text, an image, a bullet point, or even a link to another page. Each page consists of these blocks, which can be easily reorganized, moved to other pages, converted into other content types, or generally manipulated in many useful ways. Because of blocks, restructuring information in Notion is way easier than in any other wiki or notebook app. See More

Top Pro

Does a great job with both notes and to-dos

To-dos in Notion aren't just dot point lists. You can drag and drop them into columns just like Trello (Kanban style), you can have sub-tasks, and you can easily mark things off as completed so they are no longer in your way. Notes are also powerful, with proper formatting and ways to manage and search for them, which makes it a great Evernote alternative. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

Works with Android, iOS, Windows, & Mac OSX. See More

Top Pro

Awesome for wikis

You can easily start writing a bunch of web pages, share it with co-workers and choose whether to publicize or keep your contents private. It's also easy to hyperlink pages. See More

Top Pro

Amazing view flexibility

You can create different views for a page's content and easily toggle between kanban, table, etc. (As long as the content is able to allow different views.) See More

Top Pro

Quick and effective search

Just type in a word and you'll have results in no time at all. See More

Top Pro

Attach files in tables

You can attach files in table cells, which is a feature missing in most spreadsheet-like applications. See More

Top Pro

Great spreadsheet functionality

You can use calculation/formula, links, attachment, inter-referencing of data from other pages or tables, embed documents and images in the table cells. See More

Top Pro

Renders Markdown Syntax

Add code blocks, Headers, bullet point, numbered lists, or To-Do boxes by typing using Markdown Syntax (instead of klunkily moving the mouse to formatting boxes) See More

Top Pro

Less headaches when editing pages

Lets you restore your page to a past edit. Also works with sub-pages and databases. Though it is worth mentioning that it's a paid feature. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web

Offline access:No

Markdown support:Export

Well-designed app. See More

450 88

score 116 · Answer 14

Bear

Top Pro

Beautiful interface

Top Con

Only subscription-based

Can not buy it straight up. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Top Con

No Tabs - can only view 1 note at a time

Top Pro

Instant markdown preview in the editor while preserving original MD code

Top Con

No inline editing and markup of pictures

The only option is to open in an editor (thereby creating a copy) and saving it again. See More

Top Pro

Easy tagging

For example: #tag/sub tag/foo/bar #tag2/foo/bar See More

Top Con

Sometimes there are sync problems between iOS and macOS

Top Pro

Flawless sync

It's everything Dropbox Paper promised to be, but without the embarrassment. The notes are always in sync between devices. See More

Top Pro

Lots of export formats

PDF, RTF, DOCX, HTML, TXT and MD. See More

Top Pro

Hashtag support

Adding a hashtag with a keyword tags the note to make it easy to search. See More

Top Pro

Simple to back up/export entire note database

Notes are exported as plain text, not a proprietary format, along with all embedded objects. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, OSX

If update on Linux then sync on Android, sometimes the Android sync will duplicate or remove some journal notes. Seems to be a bug in the Android app. The Linux app alone without sync with Android seems to work well using Dropbox. But don't expect changes you make on Android to sync properly back to Linux. See More

116 29

score 679 · Answer 15

Joplin

Top Pro

Offline access

Top Con

Sync issues with Android

Top Pro

Open source

Peace of mind that there is no malicious piece of software in the app. See More

Top Con

Sync issue under Linux

The Linux client has a bug that requires the user to click the mouse frequently in order for sync to proceed. This bug has been open for a while. See More

Top Pro

Encryption

Top Con

Gargantuan memory footprint

1GB+ of memory for taking notes. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. See More

Top Con

Old school interface

Top Pro

Supports file attachments

Top Con

Bloated

This project is suffering from feature creep and uses a lot of memory for a note-taking app. See More

Top Pro

Supports markdown

Top Con

App Image launches very slowly

On Linux, you can only install via App Image, which take 5+ seconds to launch. I can launch LibreOffice in under two seconds. See More

Top Pro

Supports tags for notes

Top Con

Sync issues on Windows

No way to change account settings and sync easily corrupted. See More

Top Pro

Web Clipper

Browser extension saves full pages, clean content, or screen selections to new notes. See More

Top Con

Weak tag searching

Joplin can currently only search for a single tag at a time. None of the boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are available for use in searches. This greatly diminishes the usefulness of tags in Joplin. See More

Top Pro

Optional CLI interface

Provides a CLI interface for terminal lovers. See More

Top Con

Can't create tags from the mobile app

Top Pro

Supports multiple languages

English, French, and Spanish, Italian, German, Czech and many others. See More

Top Pro

Active user forum with support from app creators

Support, troubleshooting, and new feature requests are easy to make at the user forum and you can contact the app creator directly. See More

Top Pro

Dropbox support

Can sync using Dropbox. See More

Top Pro

Nextcloud support

Top Pro

Timed alarm reminder for to-do lists

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

License:MIT

Export:Yes

Sync:File System, OneDrive, Next Cloud, WebDav, DropBox, JoplinCloud, s3 (Beta)

There are two primary columns: the board is shown on the left and all the other controls on the right. The main means of interaction is dragging and dropping to-do cards into the various lists. The board structure is very customizable, and includes a variety of features that help along the way: color-coding, due dates, card images, checklists with a graphics bar that allows following progress easily, and card aging for cards that haven’t been touched in a long time. See More

679 130

score 662 · Answer 16

Trello

Top Pro

Simple and easy to use interface

Top Con

Subtasks lack features

Every task can have a list of subtasks which more closely resembles a standard to-do list. These lack the functions that cards offer you. You cannot comment on a sub-list, give the sub-tasks due dates, or provide additional information. You are limited to only checking them off once completed. See More

Top Pro

Great real-time team collaboration features

Trello has permissions at the board level as well as the ability to assign multiple people to each card. There are a lot of sharing options available and boards can be made visible for the public. It's also possible to subscribe to a card to be notified of its progress. The simplicity of the UI makes collaboration easy because it’s very simple to see the progress of each card and who is responsible for it. It also updates constantly to reflect real-time changes in progress. The simplicity of the UI makes collaboration easy as it’s very simple to see the progress of each card and who is responsible for it. It also reflect changes on boards in real-time. See More

Top Con

No multi-board aggregation

If you have multiple boards with tasks on them there is no way to get all the tasks on one board in a way that changes on one board will update the other. See More

Top Pro

Highly flexible workflow

Trello calls items used in the workflow “cards.” Cards are double-sided and can contain subtasks as well as notes and other details. Card columns can be used to simulate a workflow by moving cards from left to right as they are completed, or as a way of indicating task priority. The workflow is highly flexible as the columns are completely customizable to suit the task flow. For example, tasks can be put through a workflow "idea > approved > in-progress > pending review > released" or simply "ideas > released" depending on the granularity level needed. This makes Trello a great solution to feature management as it's possible to set up boards to handle everything from agile sprints to a more generic to-do list, all with status management. See More

Top Con

Can't get one view of cards across all boards

However, you can view all cards assigned to you. See More

Top Pro

Free for unlimited users

Trello offers a very generous free version that has no ads, no restrictions on the number of users, and very little restriction on how the program can be used. The paid features are generally cosmetic, such as the ability to change the background, add stickers or integration with other tools. See More

Top Con

Not really a to do list

Trello is much more a workflow and project management program than a typical to-do app, which makes it overwhelmingly robust for those looking to jot down their shopping list. See More

Top Pro

Works well for visual thinkers

The UI is based around Kanban, so you can see all your tasks and their status clearly. See More

Top Con

You can't add more than 1 Power Up without paying for it

Top Pro

Functionality can be extended via plug-ins

Voting, view, and calendar plug-ins further increase the functionality. See More

Top Con

Can't create dependencies between cards

Top Pro

Markdown support with well-rendered images

Trello supports Markdown, meaning that HTML input is represented appropriately. Cards with attachments are also rendered well. For example, images are shown correctly on the card, bug links are detected etc. See More

Top Con

Project management system only

This is cumbersome to get started. See More

Top Pro

Sub-tasks

Each card can have one or even multiple task lists. See More

Top Con

Managing large projects may be difficult

Trello works best with medium to small projects and with very high-level overviews. It is less effective for projects that require very granular management due to the fact that it becomes considerably more difficult to keep track of various cards and priorities as they are pushed off the screen. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform and cross-sync

Trello works on all modern devices through the web application and has native apps for iOS, Android and Windows 8/10 devices. See More

Top Con

Impossible to use Pomodoro timer connected to Trello on iOS

Top Pro

Attach files to cards

Keep all of your files (images, documents, etc.) organized on their relevant cards. See More

Top Con

No quick deadline assignment

You have to open a Calendar every time to set a date without any quick options like today, tomorrow etc. See More

Top Pro

Easy-to-use

Top Con

Slow and requires a lot of mouse work to navigate

Top Pro

Best kanban for personal usage

Top Con

Light on features

Trello is focused on simplicity and as such forgoes certain common features that may or may not be important to you. See More

Top Pro

Excellent for groups using agile software development

The responsiveness and layers of customization make it easy for team members of various disciplines to collaborate on the same task board. See More

Top Pro

Great prioritization, Due date and Story point features

Can set different priorities to various tasks, set appropriate due dates and Story points - timing allotted to each task. See More

Top Pro

Good performance

Top Pro

Features to add voting on cards

Trello offers support for features to add voting on cards, often referred to as 'power-ups'. See More

Top Pro

Smooth media integration

Works like a charm. See More

Top Pro

Great native app for Android and iOS

Top Pro

Lots of API integrations

Top Pro

Action history log allows you to rapidly follow changes

There is a global history system which allows to rapidly follow changes. There is also a notification system if another user updates the board while you're watching it. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android / iOS / Windows / Web

662 146

score 55 · Answer 17

Pocket Informant

Top Pro

Manages much more than events

Pocket informant manages notes, tasks, and calendar info. See More

Top Con

Bit complicated for everyone

It is a feature oriented app for the people who love its multiple functions, but those that don't may find it complicated to use. See More

Top Pro

Integrates with Apple calendar & iCloud

Top Con

Restricted free version

The free version has many restrictions. The full version costs $14.99. See More

Top Pro

Great organizer

Almost everything is provided, from calendar to todo,'s as well as managing lists, all of which is organized via Pocket and syncs perfectly thru all devices. See More

Top Con

Lack of integration

Lack of integration. For those using several apps, integration is essential. See More

Top Pro

Getting Things Done (GTD) integration

Top Pro

Projects & checklists

Top Pro

Syncs across all devices

InformantSync ensures that your calendar / tasks / notes / etc. are all synced. See More

Top Pro

Displays weather

Temperature and other weather conditions are displayed each day. See More

Top Pro

Easy and great looking Calendar to work with

Adding events and making them visible between other events is easy. Streamlining your multiple events is implemented very well in this app. See More

Top Pro

Configurable views

Top Pro

Advanced filtering system

Events can be tagged, sorted by location, priority, or context. See More

Top Pro

Scalable

You can use it as a basic organizer or a complex project tool. See More

Top Pro

Seven Day side-by-side view puts the next 7 days in an easy to use format

It makes is extremely easy to view and provides great functionality for updates or creating new events. See More

Top Pro

Time zones and trips

Handles time zones automatically considering declared trips. See More

Top Pro

Calendar printing

Pocket Informant supports printing, meaning that a calendar can be printed after being loaded with information. See More