Best Note-Taking Apps in 2026: Free, Private and Open-Source Options Compared

The best note taking app depends on how you take notes. Google Keep is the quickest for short notes and checklists, Obsidian and Logseq suit linked Markdown notes, Notion and AppFlowy suit all-in-one workspaces, and Standard Notes, Joplin and Notesnook are the picks when encryption and privacy matter most.

The twelve apps below are grouped by the job they do, so you can jump to the style that fits you, and the table flags which are open source, which can be self-hosted and which have a free plan. For deeper lists, see the guides to Notion alternatives, Obsidian alternatives and Evernote alternatives, and a direct comparison in Notion vs Obsidian.

How we picked

Each app had to cover the basics: capture a note, organize it and find it again. We then sorted them by working style rather than popularity, and kept open-source tools only when their repositories show recent activity. Licences are quoted as Enlisted lists them, feature claims come from each product's own pages, and prices stay out of the text because plans change. How Enlisted ranks tools explains the wider method.

Best for quick capture

These apps are for the note you want to write in ten seconds: a list, a reminder, a half-formed thought.

Google Keep: best for quick notes, checklists and reminders

Google Keep is a lightweight note-taking app from Google for short notes, checklists and reminders that sync across devices through a Google account. Google's site says you can add notes, lists, photos, drawings and audio, organize them with colors, labels and pins, set reminders, keep notes updated offline and edit notes together in real time. Notes can also be exported to Docs.

It is free with a Google account, and you can export your data through Google's download service. It is not meant for long documents or linked notes.

• Best for: shopping lists, to-dos and quick ideas you want on every device.
• Watch out for: it is hosted only and closed source, and it lacks the structure of a notebook or knowledge-base app.

Memos: best self-hosted timeline for fleeting notes

Memos is an open-source, self-hosted notes timeline for capturing quick thoughts in Markdown. You write first and organize later: there are no titles or folders to choose, and each memo lands on a chronological feed that you search by text, tag or day.

New memos are private, and you choose per memo whether to keep it to yourself, share it with signed-in users or invite specific people, or publish it with a link. The code is MIT-licensed and free to run, the project advertises no telemetry and a complete data export, and your only cost is the server. You can read more on its Memos page.

• Best for: people who want a Keep-style capture stream on their own server.
• Watch out for: you have to host it, and there is no vendor-run cloud version listed on Enlisted.

Best for linked Markdown notes

If you want notes that connect to each other and stay as plain files, start here.

Obsidian: best for linked notes that stay as files on your computer

Obsidian treats a folder of Markdown files on your computer as the notebook, so nothing is locked inside a database and the app works without a connection. Links between notes feed a graph view, and its site lists thousands of plugins and themes, a Canvas for visual layouts and a Web Clipper for saving pages.

The core app is free without limits, work use included. Sync, which is end-to-end encrypted and keeps version history, and Publish, which turns notes into a website, are optional paid services. Details are on Obsidian's listing, and Enlisted keeps a list of Obsidian alternatives too.

• Best for: long-term personal knowledge bases, study notes and writing projects.
• Watch out for: the app is closed source, and its own help says live collaborative editing of one file is not supported yet.

Logseq: best open-source outliner for journaling and research

Logseq turns every note into a bullet in an outline, and any bullet can link to another page, so a daily journal entry and a long-running project end up connected. It reads and writes Markdown or Org-mode files, can live in a Git repository, and is free open-source software under AGPL-3.0, with a plugin API and themes. See the Logseq page.

• Best for: outline thinkers who want open-source software that keeps their data on their own device.
• Watch out for: a newer database-based version is still in beta, with real-time collaboration in alpha, so keep your own backups, as its maintainers advise.

Best all-in-one workspaces

These apps combine notes with databases, tasks and team features.

Notion: best for a shared workspace with databases

Notion is a hosted workspace where notes sit beside wikis, tasks and databases, which is why teams reach for it first. Its help center says a database is a collection of pages that can be shown as a table, list, calendar, board or gallery, then filtered, sorted and grouped.

There is a free plan for individuals, paid plans are billed per member, and the desktop and mobile apps can keep selected pages available offline, with limits listed in the help center. For other options, see Notion alternatives.

• Best for: teams and families that want notes, wikis and project tracking under one login.
• Watch out for: it is closed source and cloud only, so you cannot host it yourself.

AppFlowy: best open-source stand-in for Notion

AppFlowy suits people who like Notion's mix of documents, wikis and tasks but want the option to run it on their own server. Apps are available for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, and the code is AGPL-3.0. You can start on the free hosted plan, move to Pro, or self-host. The AppFlowy page has the details.

• Best for: groups that want a Notion-style workspace with control over where the data lives.
• Watch out for: AI features are part of the workspace, so confirm how they are configured if keeping data away from AI services is your goal.

AFFiNE: best for notes and whiteboards that share one canvas

AFFiNE lets documents, a free-form whiteboard and table views share the same blocks, so a meeting note can turn into a planning board without switching apps. Data is stored on your device first, with real-time collaboration and an AI assistant on top. There is a free local plan with a basic cloud tier, paid plans above it, and support for self-hosting. See the AFFiNE page.

• Best for: people who would otherwise pair a notes app with a whiteboard tool.
• Watch out for: the licence is listed as Other rather than a standard open-source licence, so read it before you modify or redistribute the code.

Best for privacy and encryption

These apps treat your notes as private by default.

Standard Notes: best for notes only you can read

Standard Notes does one thing: it keeps notes end-to-end encrypted by default and syncs them across an unlimited number of devices. Apps cover web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, and the code is public under AGPL-3.0, so you can inspect it or host the sync server yourself.

The free Standard plan includes encryption and device sync, and paid plans add extras. A companion service called Listed can turn notes into an online publication. More on the Standard Notes page.

• Best for: people who want a quiet, private notes app and nothing else.
• Watch out for: it is a notes app rather than a workspace, and the extras sit in the paid plans.

Joplin: best free notebooks with sync you choose

Joplin keeps your notes on your own devices and syncs them through storage you already have. Notes are Markdown, grouped into notebooks and tags, with apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Sync targets include Nextcloud, Dropbox and OneDrive, all with end-to-end encryption, or the paid Joplin Cloud.

Plugins, themes and a web clipper are available, and it can import notes exported from Evernote. The Joplin page shows its licence and plans.

• Best for: a free all-rounder for private Markdown notes on phone and computer.
• Watch out for: there are no team databases or wikis, and Joplin Cloud is a paid service even though the app is free.

Notesnook: best free encrypted notes with a web clipper

Notesnook encrypts each note on your device before it syncs, using XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2 according to its README, and its web, desktop and mobile clients are open source under GPL-3.0. Its site lists apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and the web, and says unlimited notes are free.

Also listed are a web clipper, Markdown support, app lock, reminders and importers for Evernote, Google Keep and Obsidian. See the Notesnook page.

• Best for: an everyday private notes app with a free tier and a clipper.
• Watch out for: more storage means a paid plan, and its site lists a self-hosted sync server as still in progress.

Best for web clipping and classic notebooks

Evernote: best for a long-running notebook with web clipping

Evernote is a long-running note-taking app for collecting notes, documents and web clippings and finding them later across devices. Its site lists web clipper extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari, tasks, search, document scanning and desktop, mobile and web apps.

It is a hosted, proprietary service. Enlisted's pricing data shows a free plan with tight limits, so check the current plan page before relying on it. See Evernote alternatives if you are comparing.

• Best for: people who clip many web pages and want one searchable archive.
• Watch out for: the free plan is limited, and the service is closed source with no self-hosted option.

Bear: best Markdown notes app for Apple devices

Bear is a proprietary notes and writing app for Apple devices that uses Markdown and organizes notes with tags, including nested tags, rather than folders. It runs natively on Macs and iPhones and is known for a calm interface.

Enlisted lists a free plan with local access to your notes, and an optional Bear Pro subscription. See the Bear page for the current feature list.

• Best for: Apple users who write often and want a clean Markdown editor.
• Watch out for: it only runs on Apple devices, and it is closed source.

Which note-taking apps are free?

"Free" means different things here, so it helps to separate the app from the services around it.

• Free to use, with optional paid sync: Obsidian's core app is free without limits, and Sync and Publish are optional paid services. Joplin is free and open source, while Joplin Cloud is a paid sync service.
• Free and open source, you provide hosting or sync: Logseq and Memos have no paid tiers, and Joplin can sync through Nextcloud, Dropbox or OneDrive.
• Free plans with limits: Notion has a free plan for individuals, AppFlowy has a free plan, Standard Notes has a free Standard plan with encryption and sync, and Notesnook offers unlimited encrypted notes for free.
• Free with a catch: Google Keep is free with a Google account but hosted only, and Evernote's free plan is limited in notes, storage and devices.

Exact limits change, so check each pricing page before you commit. The live pricing section at the end of this page lists plans side by side.

How to choose the best note taking app

Ask these questions in order, and the choice usually narrows to one or two apps.

1. Where should your notes live? If you want files on your own device, look at Obsidian, Logseq, Joplin or Standard Notes. If you are happy with a hosted service, Notion, Google Keep and Evernote are simplest.
2. Do you need to work with a team? Notion and AppFlowy are built for shared workspaces. AFFiNE adds real-time collaboration, while Obsidian and Logseq are mainly for individuals.
3. How private does it need to be? For end-to-end encryption, pick Standard Notes, Notesnook or Joplin with encrypted sync.
4. Do you link ideas together? Pick Obsidian or Logseq. If you only keep lists and reminders, Google Keep or Memos is enough.
5. Do you want to avoid lock-in? Prefer apps that store plain Markdown files, such as Obsidian, Joplin and Logseq, since you can move them to another tool later.

More note-taking apps worth a look

• Deeper knowledge bases: SiYuan links individual blocks and is local-first, Trilium Notes suits very large note trees, and Anytype is an encrypted, offline-first knowledge base.
• Hosted apps with polish: Craft, Capacities and Reflect are cloud-based apps with linked or typed notes.
• Built-in apps: Apple Notes comes built into Apple devices, and Microsoft OneNote has a free web version, according to Microsoft's listing.
• Research and AI: NotebookLM answers questions from sources you upload, and Open Notebook is a self-hosted take on the same idea.
• Writers and developers: MarkText is a Markdown editor, and Foam keeps notes as Markdown in VS Code.

Browse the full note-taking category, or see the best productivity apps if your notes are one part of a larger toolkit.