"

October 2023

Productivity Hacks

The Best Note-Taking Apps 2024 [Updated]

With the ever-increasing amount of information, tasks, and responsibilities in our personal and professional lives, it is crucial to have tools and methods to keep a clear head while managing it all. To start off 2024 strong and organized, we have accumulated the best note-taking apps, helping you to keep on top of it all.

Leo
Founder Associate
Overview

Note-taking apps have become more and more popular by providing a space to scribble down ideas and thoughts, contributing to a greater overview of tasks, decisions, and important information. While some might still prefer pen and paper, the surge for digital solutions through note-taking apps is ever-increasing.

The Perks of Digital Note-Taking

But why the sudden change? Here are some aspects of digital note-taking, that might make you an advocate for note-taking apps yourself:

1. Never lose your notes again - they are saved in the cloud

2. Never run out of fresh pages

3. Organize and search for important information within seconds

4. Always have your notes with you on your computer, phone or tablet

5. Sync notes across all your devices

6. Share notes with friends or colleagues with one simple click

A picture of someone taking notes digitally on one of the best note-taking apps

Note-Taking App Requirements

Your note-taking style will probably differ from your friends and colleagues, thus note-taking can be quite individual. As a consequence, it is important to know what you are looking for when searching for the best note-taking app, that fits the way you take notes.

While some prefer having a pen in their hand for note-taking, others like to type their ideas down – or simply prefer not having to take notes at all but rather use AI note-taking apps for their daily work.

But regardless of your preferences, let's discuss what features a good note-taking app should present:

User-Friendly Interface:

Notes apps should have an intuitive user interface, so you can easily start taking notes without going through a masterclass beforehand.

Organization Tools:

Note-taking apps should offer a variety of tools for organizing notes, such as folders, tags, and a search function that allows you to quickly find specific notes.

Synchronization:

Great note-taking apps should sync notes seamlessly across devices to ensure that users have access to their notes wherever they go.

Collaboration Features:

Sharing is caring, thus notes apps should allow you to share your notes, collaborate, and leave comments for others.

Offline Access:

The ability to access and edit your notes offline is crucial for anyone who might not have a steady internet connection at all times. Who wants to worry about this anyways, if you only look to scribble down a quick idea?

A picture of a group of people discussing advanced features for the best note-taking app

The 7 Best Note-Taking Apps

The vast amount of note-taking apps on the market can be quite overwhelming. A quick search through Google will make you aware of how many note-taking apps are currently on the market, where each of these note-taking tools promises to be the best and upcoming note-taking app in 2024. Knowing where to start and how to sort the wheat from the chaff can be quite difficult.

So which note-taking apps are truly life-changing in holding all those ideas and thoughts from your mind?

In this blog post, we will discuss the 7 best digital note-taking apps of 2024, diving deeper into key features and pricing options, as well as ways to enhance your note-taking by integrating artificial intelligence (AI).

Whether you are a student, a business professional, or just need to take notes occasionally, one of these apps will be the right note-taking app for you! So let's dive right into our favorite note-taking apps, by first showing you a quick comparison:

An picture of a comparison between the 7 best note-taking apps 2024

1. jamie

Let's start off with what you might need a note-taking app most likely for: Meetings. Statistically speaking, we spend between 10 to 30 hours a week in meetings, in which important information is shared, projects and tasks are defined, and more.

Who can keep track of all this information without taking notes?

However, ensuring that your notes are not missing important information, while actively participating in your meetings can be quite difficult. So why not try a less traditional, but way more efficient way of note-taking in meetings, that will save you 10+ hours of work each week: jamie.

An image of the note-taking app jamie, which showcases how notes are structures, as well as the phrase "Summarize Any Meeting".

Let us introduce you to jamie, an up-and-coming note-taking app that uses AI to generate meeting notes. jamie is the best note-taking software for people, who want to dedicate their time spent in meetings to more important things other than note-taking.

To create notes, simply press "Start jamie" and you will receive topic-based text notes at the end of your meeting, that are made up of action items, a summary, and a transcript. It really is that easy to have well-written notes of meetings.

User-friendly interface

Using jamie is really straightforward, whenever you want to use jamie for one of your meetings, you can press "start jamie" either directly in your jamie App or by using our jamie co-pilot, one of our advanced features, which allows you to get notified to start jamie, when an event in your Google or Outlook calendar, is taking place.

jamie aims to have a simple and straightforward user interface, where navigation feels like a breeze.

All relevant information, e.g. upcoming events, past meeting summaries, and more, can be found on your jamie dashboard, thus providing you with a greater overview of your notes and else.

Furthermore, our summary settings allow you to fully customize your notes: the depth of meeting notes, the structure of your summaries, and any custom words that your company might use frequently in their meetings.

Organizational tools

All the notes that jamie generates from your meetings are displayed in a folder that stores your note history. You can use tags to organize your meetings, thus making the search for specific notes a more straightforward and convenient undertaking.

In case you are looking for something specific, we have recently made one of our features called "Ask jamie Anything" available to all users. Gone are the days of going through each of your notes to find a certain piece of information that just doesn't seem to pop up.

Instead: ask jamie

Simply write your question, e.g. "What did I say in the last Marketing meeting about our first Social Media campaign of 2024", into the "Ask jamie..." text box, and jamie will look this up for you. No need to waste precious time on looking through your notes anymore.

A picture of the AI note-taking tool jamie and its newest feature "Ask jamie Anything"

For more information, click here

Collaboration: Sharing Notes

After a meeting is done with jamie, sharing can be done by creating a public link, or by simply using the copy-paste function of your computer. Other meeting attendees and/or colleagues can access your summary through the public link you shared, which can be opened in any web browser.

The best part? Any notes-related changes that you have made within the meeting note will automatically be synced with the public link, even after you have shared the link with others. Your colleagues can simply refresh the page and can see the changes you made.

A picture of the the sharing notes function of the best note-taking app jamie

Accessible from Anywhere

jamie allows for note syncing across your devices. As your notes are linked to your account and not stored on your device, you can easily have jamie connected to multiple devices and access your notes from anywhere and any device.

Accessibility: Desktop App, (mobile apps for iOS and Android coming soon)

Pricing: jamie offers a variety of different pricing options. Users can use jamie on a free version, or choose one of our paid options starting from 24€/month, for more credits and meeting minutes each month.

jamie & other Note-Taking Apps

While jamie will save you more than 10 hours each week to write notes for important meetings, you might also want to have an app at hand that helps you keep all those ideas and thoughts popping up in your mind when you are on the go and quickly want to jot something down.

This is why we will now introduce you to 6 note-taking apps, that will exactly help you do that. But reading this article should not make you choose between one app or the other. At least not when it comes to jamie. By combining the best note-taking app for you with jamie, you can take note-taking to the next level.

All you have to do is paste all your notes from important meetings in the note-taking app of your choice and there you go, combining two apps that complement one another will make you an even better note-taker yourself. It really can be that easy.

If you want to find out more about how it can be used in your daily life, feel free to visit our website, contact us at hey@meetjamie.ai, or simply find out for yourself with a free 7-day trial period.

A picture of woman taking notes on a note-taking app her laptop, while another mobile device is next to her on the table.

2. Evernote

Evernote is one of the “oldest” but still most popular note-taking apps on the market, and that has a reason. It allows you to take notes and organize them in many ways, making it perfect for students, business professionals, and anyone who needs to take notes occasionally.

Some of Evernote's key features include the option for basic note-taking, as well as audio notes, to add images and include video attachments in your notes. Through notebooks and tags, you can also organize your notes or build individual, more complex workflows, making finding notes more straightforward and effortless.

Moreover, Evernote supports syncing notes across multiple devices, including mobile devices, making access to your notes an easy undertaking, regardless of where and when.

An image of the note taking app Evernote, showing a list of tasks and notes on a mobile and desktop device.
Image credits: Evernote

Accessibility: Web app, Windows, macOS, iOS, & Android

businessesPricing: Evernote offers different pricing plans for individuals and businesses. You can get started with its free plan that includes some limited features and limited monthly upload capacity. If you want to use all of Evernote's features or even want to collaborate with your team, then you can choose between three paid plans: Personal (12.99€/month), Professional (14.99€/month), & Evernote Teams (€19.99/user/month).

3. GoodNotes

GoodNotes stands out amongst the other tools on our list of best note-taking apps, as it seems to find a compromise between traditional paper notebooks and the convenience of having all notes online.

This notes app offers an intuitive user interface that allows you to find a space for your thoughts, sketches, and handwritten notes on your iPad or tablet, without having to give up on the idea of having a notepad at hand. Thus, it comes as no surprise that this note-taking app is especially popular among students, teachers, and professionals. But that doesn't mean that only those professions are going to benefit from this notes app.

GoodNotes is also not limited to empty pages that you need to fill yourself. Simply import any PDF and spill your ideas on these pages. Something doesn't sit where it belongs? Then crop it out and move it someplace better.

The app's seamless synchronization across multiple devices ensures your notes are never out of reach, while organizational tools such as folders, and tags, allow you to find specific information with ease.

The possibilities are endless here, so simply embrace your note-taking skills here.

An image of one of our best note-taking apps of 2024: GoodNotes, which displays a document with sketches and handwritten notes
Image credits: GoodNotes

The Power of AI

Did you ask yourself: Do search functions even work for handwritten notes? Yes, they do, GoodNotes has introduced its own AI feature, which will make work suggestions while you are writing, detect and correct misspelled words, and support the search through your notes and scanned documents.

A picture of the three use cases of GoodNotes's AI feature: word suggestions, word corrections and search function.
Image credits: GoodNotes

Tip: If you still need the feeling of writing on actual paper, try using paper-like screen protectors for your iPad or tablet. Although you are not actually writing on paper, it sure feels like you are.

Accessibility: desktop app (macOS & Windows), mobile app (iOS & Android)

Pricing: GoodNotes differentiates its pricing options for different operating systems. Thus, we have included an overview of all pricing options here:

Overview of the pricing options of the best note-taking app for handwritten notes, called "GoodNote"

4. Google Keep

Google Keep is probably the simplest free note-taking app out there. You can think of it as a space where you can save all your ideas in the form of quick notes, which appear as Post-its on the user interface.

Notes can have labels, be pinned to the top, or be given a specific color to distinguish more easily between notes. Google Keep also allows you to set reminders, so you don't forget time-sensitive aspects of your work.

An image of the note taking app Google Keep, showing a Sticky Notes with tasks, To-do lists and images.
Image credits: Google

In addition to text notes, Google Keep lets you add voice notes to its note-taking application, which makes it easy to secure ideas and thoughts when you are busy and don't have time to take detailed notes. Additionally, it has speech-to-text capabilities, allowing you to transcribe notes verbally rather than writing them down while you're on the road.

As part of the Google Suit, notes are stored on your Google Drive, allowing you to have access from any place, at any time. Furthermore, it connects with Google Calendar and other Google Apps, such as Google Docs, making the user experience very smooth and effortless.

For example, using the Keeps notepad in your Google Docs allows you to jot down article ideas, which can then be added to your document, so there is no need for switching back and forth between apps.

A picture of the web application of Google Keep, with multiple quick notes displayed on the interface
Image credits: Google

Accessibility: web app, mobile app (iOS & Android)

Pricing: Google Keep can be used on a free version by everyone with a Google account. There are no premium versions or features. The only requirement is to have a Google account that can be connected to Google Keep. So if you are already using Google Suite and you are looking for a very simple and free note-taking app, this might be a good choice.

Free Plan Limitations: Google Keep is closely tied to your Google Account, and its storage is shared with other Google services like Google Drive. If you exceed the free storage space of 15GB with your notes and other data, you may need to free up space by deleting items or purchasing additional storage.

5. Microsoft OneNote

Another free note-taking app is Microsoft OneNote. It's easy to use and compared to other Microsoft applications rather intuitive. When taking notes, OneNote is highly flexible. Each Notebook is organized into parts that include subsections known as pages.

Each page serves as a blank canvas where you may add whatever type of remark you choose. You can also drag and drop an image into the document. However, it is quite limited when it comes to text formatting.

An image of the OneNote navigation panes, showing a list of notebooks and the list of sections and pages within a notebook titled Work Notebook
Image credits: Microsoft

Accessibility: web app, desktop app (macOS & Windows), mobile app (iOS & Android)

Pricing: When it comes to pricing, OneNote offers different pricing points. As of now, the notes app does not offer a free version or a free trial. OneNote, among other apps, is part of the 365 Microsoft 365 bundle, thus, your company might already have a license for you to use. Nevertheless, plans start at $6/user/month (Business Basic) and can go up to $22/user/month (Business Premium).

6. Apple Notes

We can not talk about the best note-taking app without mentioning Apple Notes. The software is free and preinstalled on all Apple devices (macOS, iOS). This makes Apple Notes probably the most convenient note-taking app for Apple users.

It does a great job of letting you type or capture notes on the go. The sketching tool in the application works well and makes it simple to add drawings and images to your notes.

The greatest benefit of Apple Notes is its deep integration and compatibility with Apple's operating system. You can simply move between notes on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac.

Although it's completely free, the drawback is that it can only be used by Apple users, thus the use case of this note-taking app can be quite limited.

An image of the free note taking app Apple Notes, showing a dashboard with multiple notes.
Image credits: Apple

Accessibility: macOS, iOS (Apple users)

Pricing: It is free to all Apple users.

Free Plan Limitations: Similarly to Google Keep, all your notes are saved into Apple's iCloud, so once your storage limit is reached, users might have to upgrade to use it across different devices.

5. Notion

Unlike other tools that we have mentioned, Notion isn't intended to simulate the feeling of handwriting or writing anything down on the go. However, it is a great note-taking app and hence we had to add it to our list.

The majority of the applications we've examined so far are for taking notes for yourself. In Notion, one of the main benefits is that you can exchange ideas and work together on notes, allowing for real-time collaboration.

Every page is organized in block-like elements, allowing you to enrich your text through To-do lists, toggle lists, and more. In fact, Notion is so much more than just a note-taking app.

It essentially combines three tools into one: an effective and reliable note-taking app (which is why it is on this list), a task and project management software, and a reference wiki. So it's up to you to decide on how to use those three elements.

An image of the note taking app Notion, showing a To-do list on both desktop and a mobile device
Image credits: Notion

Accessibility: web app, desktop app (macOS & Windows), mobile app (iOS & Android)

Pricing: For individuals, Notion offers a free plan with some limited features and functionalities. However, if you want to use all its features or collaborate with a team, the pricing lies at 4€ (for individuals) or 8€ per user (for teams).

Which note-taking app should you choose?

Note-taking is as individual as it can get. When choosing the best note-taking app for you you should ask yourself some of the following questions: Do you require the ability to upload other forms of material, including video, or are basic notes sufficient? Do you additionally require a variety of advanced features or the ability to attach files and connect or access your notes on multiple platforms? How much are you willing to pay for the best note-taking app for you?

A picture of a person taking notes on her laptop.

A good note-taking tool will take your needs into account, allowing you to take notes digitally in the method that works best for you. The greatest note-taking app will thus be the one that seems most natural to you.

Our tip is to try out a few of them and get into note-taking mode. That is what counts. So why not start now:

Test jamie for free.

This is a screenshot of the AI-meeting note tool jamie. It captures relevant talking points automatically and creates a meeting summary with no effort.

Blog posts you might like?

See all posts