What is the best cross-platform note taking app?

Question

73

Options
Considered

1.3K

User
Recs.

Jan 18, 2019

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 2 of 70 OptionsWhy?

Best cross-platform note taking app	Price	Platforms	Collaborative
92 Simplenote	Free	Android / iOS / OSX / Windows / Linux	yes
92 Google Keep	FREE	Android / iOS / Chrome / Web / Desktop	Yes
88 Org-mode	-	-	-
86 Evernote	$0-$89.99/Y	Android / iOS / WP / OSX / Windows / WebOS	yes
84 Quip	$30/M	-	-

See Full List

Google Keep

Top Pro

Easy to use

1-step to take a note on Android: tap 'take a note'. Web version: cursor is on the note itself. See More

Top Con

Google can access and mine your data

You have to be okay with Google analyzing and using your data in order to use Keep. See More

Anders Øyvind Urke-Sætre's Experience

Simple to use. Available wherever I go. Free. See More

Specs

Top Con

No Windows Mobile app

No Windows Mobile app, and it is unlikely to ever be produced. See More

See All

68 Other Options Considered

Org-mode

Top Pro

Consolidates all your information

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

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

Lokman Afandy's Experience

even though there is limitation for free users, this apps still the best among its competitors especially its ability to sort pages, insert media, and detailed statistic such as page size or total word count, images in the pages See More

Specs

Top Pro

Self-hosted and indefinitely accessible

All content is stored within the same html file as the interface. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

Not for the uninitiated, you need to learn Wiki markup, learn TiddlyWiki itself, and learn the lingo of those active on its Google+ Forum, the primary place from where support can be obtained. The people are a friendly lot though, most willing to help, but like many other of the technologically inclined assuming too easily that you understand most of their language whilst it actually seems to be riddled with mysterious jargon and abbreviations such as CSS, Config etc. Initially this may give the impression that TiddlyWiki is not at all intended for general use but mainly for usage by people such as the developers of TiddlyWiki themselves (that would be a mistake, especially since with the advent of TiddlyWiki 5 and its further development great progress has been made to make TiddlyWiki very much more user friendly. This is a great application, well worth that learning curve, and offering much more functions than note taking alone.) See More

MethodicalHadad's Experience

TiddlyWiki has been my go-to for note taking for years and years. I use it to organize nearly every aspect of my life, and it's been fantastically reliable. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android

Top Pro

Text can be added anywhere like a whiteboard

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

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

Chris Cochrun's Experience

Love using OneNote more than any note app I've tried. Because if it's freeform whiteboard style canvas, you can basically use it for and endless amount of things. One single page can be the most powerful tool you have and with the ability to tag anything with any kind of tag you basically can search across your hierarchy into other sections or pages to find relevant notes. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows / OSX / iOS / Android / Web

Collaborative:Yes

Top Pro

Comprehensive organization methods

Can have multiple 'tabs' at the top like in a web browser with many notes within each 'tab'. 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

menace97's Experience

Very useful and simple to use. It is one of the applications I use throughout the day for a variety of functions. 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

Not open-source

Top Pro

Only the essentials

Only basic features are added to Elephant so users aren't overloaded with the interface. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Minimalistic interface

The 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

Pasted URLs are kept as-is

When you have to link to, for example, a website, you can't attach the URL of the site to a word. You have to post the full URL instead. You can't have, for example, 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

HappyFlins's Experience

I use Workflowy nearly every day. See More

Specs

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

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

See All

MindMup

Top Pro

Custom theme support

Typora has clean yet beautiful built-in themes and allows for users to create new themes using CSS. See More

Specs

Platforms:Mac OSX; Windows; Linux

Preview:WYSIWYG

License:Proprietary

Export:HTML; HTML (pure); PDF; Word; OpenOffice; RTF; Epub; LaTeX; Media Wiki; ReStructuredText; Textile; OPML

Top Pro

Open source

All code is freely available on GitHub, licensed under GPLv3. See More

Top Con

Very difficult self-hosting

There is no real guide from Turtl for setting up the server. You need Quicklisp, commonlisp, rethinkdb,libuv, to name a few. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Android

Top Pro

Great for developers

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

Top Con

Android app not stable

There many reports on crashing when syncing to dropbox. See More

Hao Jiang's Experience

I started to use it yesterday, it was kinda troublesome to migrate from evernote but the experience on Boostnote is good. It's cross-platform and support markdown which is the most important thing for me. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows/MacOS/Linux/Andoid/iOS

Top Pro

Ability to create documents and organize by folder, and search by title

Stephen Zeoli's Experience

Dynalist is one of the most useful tools in my information management tool kit. See More

Specs

Platforms:All major platforms (Web/Windows/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android)

Editors, components, actions, and themes. See More

See All

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score 135 · Accepted Answer

Simplenote

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

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

Lokman Afandy's Experience

Unable to insert image is biggest flaw for this apps See More

Specs

Platforms:Android / iOS / OSX / Windows / Linux

Collaborative:yes

API:No

Top Pro

Very simple and clean interface

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

Top Con

Limited ways to reorder notes

What is the best cross-platform note taking app?

The Best 2 of 70 OptionsWhy?

Simplenote

My Recommendation for Simplenote

My Recommendation for Simplenote

Geared towards fast usage

Search is limited to one tag

Very simple and clean interface

Limited ways to reorder notes

Works offline

No support for file attachments

"Time machine" style revision control on the notes

No 32-bit version

Markdown support via web interface

No widgets on Android

Desktop app is open source

No reminders

Can export your data

No way to import notes from anywhere

Linux client available

The search function doesn't see tags

Wide range of great clients with great sync

No way to bulk-apply a tag

Excellent iOS app

No notification when changes made on a shared note

Collaborative features

Save-to-disk feature is poor

Excellent desktop client in the form of nvAlt

No integrated social media sharing

Lack of color impacts usability

Google Keep

My Recommendation for Google Keep

My Recommendation for Google Keep

Easy to use

Google can access and mine your data

Super fast to use

No text formatting

Unlimited and seamless sync across all Google connected devices, from mobile to desktop

Messy if you have lots of notes

Works as a great bookmarking tool as links added can optionally include a preview image

Not free/libre

Automatic saving

Can be taken down some day

Useful Android home screen widget

Google account required

Can share and collaboratively edit any item including lists

Organization is limited to just multiple tags for notes

Notes can be grouped via labels

No notifications when tasks are added to shared lists

Notes can be color-coded

No ability to undo changes

Really well implemented speech-to-text

Synchronization bugs

Notes can include photo and audio attachments

Not distributed

Supports drawing or writing notes by hand

No dedicated app for windows, linux, mac (except unofficial)

Both location- and time-based reminders

No integrated social media sharing

Drag and drop sorting

Cannot share groups of notes (e.g., labels)

Archives finished tasks

Does not integrate with Google Calendar or Tasks

Includes character recognition for text in images

Scrolling through notes is horrible

Cross platform

Slow to save the updates

Notes can be grouped via labels

Not good at all for longer notes

Too simplistic of an approach

Can be difficult to discover the features

Does not offer themes

There is a label limit up to 50

Delay between to-do entries

No API

Notes get lost/deleted and can NOT be recovered

No BlackBerry 10 app

No Windows Mobile app

68 Other Options Considered

Org-mode