When comparing Org mode for Emacs vs Boostnote, the Slant community recommends Boostnote for most people. In the question“What are the best note taking apps for UNIX-like systems?” Boostnote is ranked 8th while Org mode for Emacs is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Boostnote is:
Supports Windows, macOS and Linux.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Can be as simple or as complex as you want
Org mode started out as a simple outlining/note taking app. Then each outline heading can optionally be a TODO list item. And if you desire, you can add SCHEDULE and DEADLINE dates. (Schedule being the date you'd like to start the item.) You can customize the TODO states to add things like DELEGATED, WAITING, BLOCKED, etc.
Pro Libre/open source
Pro Cross platform
Emacs runs on all platforms, Windows, Linux, OSX, even Android and IOS
Pro Exports data to PDF, LaTeX, HMTL and other
You can even build presentation or blog from your data
Pro Supports tables with formules (quite powerful!)
Pro Plain text data storage
Future-proof.
Pro Inline image displaying
Pro Free but copyrighted
Pro Fast interaction
Once muscle-memory sets in, can be much faster to use than a point & click program.
Pro Uses Emacs
Pro All apps
Pro Cross platform support
Supports Windows, macOS and Linux.
Pro Markdown support
Pro Free
Pro Open source
See here.
Pro Great for developers
Boostnote is great for developers looking to take programming notes with code snippets and such.
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.
Pro Works offline
Boostnote doesn't require an internet connection to work. You can write notes offline and sync later.
Pro Global search, tag feature
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.
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.
Cons
Con Obtuse documentation
The documentation assumes a level of understanding of basic Emacs usage that not all users may have.
Con Complicated to get started
Con Difficult to use as a database
For example, if you need to quickly populate client details on quotes, unfortunately its easier to find, copy & paste.
Con Not suitable for normal users
Not even a majority of software developers can be bothered to use Emacs (or VI, for that matter).
Con PDF export can be difficult
Latex assumes you're a (compliant) student, have to do a lot of research to get what you want out of it.
Con Uses Emacs (for those who prefer vi, menus, etc.)
Con Some of the features are not consistent
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.
Con Can't work in "real" offline mode
Con Very poor syncing
Data loss may occur on syncing.