Where do you put your thoughts, your ideas, or the name of a movie someone recommended? If you write them down or otherwise capture them, you get an accurate record that you can always refer to rather than rely on a faulty memory. The place to put all this information and more is in a note taking app.

In addition to all of the free apps that Apple gives to every Mac owner, both the Mac App Store and independent developers provide tools that make using your computer easier — and a little more fun. The PC Study Bible is both powerful and affordable, with five library options graduating in price from $37.95 for the Discovery Reference Library to $449.95 for the Advanced Reference Library. This software is designed for conservative believers, packed with Bible-based commentaries and reference works.

Note taking apps are the digital equivalent of notebooks, and because they're digital, they can do more for you than paper ever could. For starters, note taking apps can store your notes in the cloud and sync them across multiple devices. As long as you have the internet, you have your notes. Second, note taking apps have search functionality. In a matter of seconds, you can find whatever notes you need, even if they are years old. Third, the best note taking apps let you snap pictures and save them as notes, upload files, record audio, and clip pages from the web. I've never seen a paper notebook that lets you dictate notes using your voice, either.

Editor's Note: Originally published in October 2015 by author Jimmy Daly and then updated in April 2017, we've updated this post with new selections and app descriptions.

What Makes a Great Note Taking App?

To find the best note taking apps, we started with a list of about 35 contenders and whittled our way down to the 10 best based on a few criteria.

All the apps chosen for this list met a standard for being easy to set up and use. We also considered each app's feature set in light of what the app promised to do or deliver. For example, Simplenote made the list of the best note taking apps even though it doesn't have a long list of features. The reason is Simplenote aims to provide a distraction-free note taking environment, and it achieves that promise by not overwhelming its interface with excessive tools. Conversely, both Microsoft OneNote and Evernote earned high marks for having a wealth of excellent features, which is what they advertise.

Other factors for consideration included value, particularly because many of the best note taking apps charge a subscription fee for unbridled access to all the features. We also have a strong preference for apps that work across all the major platforms, including web.

One final point for consideration was whether the app offered a unique experience. Some note taking apps are designed to be used with a stylus, letting you sketch, write by hand, annotate images and documents, and so forth on your phone, tablet, or touch-enabled computer. Others let you store your notes locally to give you greater privacy and security. When an app had a unique factor, we compared it to similar apps and selected one to represent that subcategory. For example, in the subcategory of apps for sketching, we chose Paper. As you read, look for the line beginning 'Best for…' to see what makes each app among the best.

Apps For Mac

A word on apps we did not include: Any app labeled a word processor or text editor was not considered. Those apps are excellent for writing, but they don't give you a simple and quick way to make a note when you're on the go, which note taking apps do. We also did not consider journaling apps, which typically remind you to write or help you add detail about your day. Read more about how Zapier chooses apps to include in articles.

Below are summaries of the best note taking apps, including highlights about what makes them different from one another.

The Best Note Taking Apps

Bear (iOS, macOS)
Boostnote (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows)
Evernote (Android, iOS, macOS, web, Windows)
Microsoft OneNote (Android, iOS, macOS, web, Windows)
Milanote (web)
Paper (iOS)
Quip (Android, iOS, macOS, web, Windows)
Simplenote (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, Windows)
Squid (Android and compatible Chromebooks)
Zoho Notebook (Android, iOS, macOS, web, Windows)

Bear (iOS, macOS)

Best note taking app for working in Markup on Apple devices

The Apple-only notes app Bear could easily be mistaken for a distraction-free writing app. It supports Markdown formatting in lieu of presenting an excess of menu options (although it does allow you to work with fully viewable inline images). Bear also offers a focus mode that strips away unnecessary bells and whistles from your view. You can add tags to organize your notes by simply using hashtags within the note body. And Bear stores all your notes as plain text, which keeps the app lightweight.

Other features include an info panel for each note showing word count and other metadata, as well as web clipping, or the ability to automatically copy the contents of web pages to one of your notebooks via a browser extension.

There are some showstoppers worth knowing about before you choose Bear. For one, it doesn't have a web app, so you can't simply log into Bear from any internet connected device. The developers who make the app have said that a web app is in the works, but they have yet to pin down a release date. Second, Bear runs on Apple devices only, so it's not a good option for cross-platform folks. Third, storage and syncing go through iCloud, so you're really at the mercy of (read: storage limitations of) Apple, not Bear. Finally, the free account comes with some limitations that make it less than ideal as a note taking app (no syncing, limited export formats), so be prepared to pay for a Pro subscription. At $14.99 per year, it's quite reasonably priced. Overall, it's a low-cost note taking app best suited for Apple device owners who are looking for a pared-down experience.

Price: free with limitations; $1.49/month or $14.99/year for Pro

Boostnote (Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows)

Best note taking app for taking notes as a programmer

Boostnote is a free, open source note taking app made for programmers. What makes it special for programmers? When you create a new note, you choose either Markdown note, used for creating any kind of text document, or snippet note, which simply gives you a text editor for code. When creating and editing Markdown notes, Boostnote puts an extra panel on the right side of your window to preview the formatting of the note as you write. You can create any kind of notes you want in this note type. Markdown notes even support LaTeX blocks, for those writing hefty mathematical formulas. https://marketingnew.amebaownd.com/posts/17208171. Snippet notes, however, look like code in an ordinary code editor, with visual cues you'd expect, such as line numbering and color-coding of text.

With Boostnotes, you can work with text snippets, too. Text snippets are lines of text you tend to use repeatedly, whether boilerplate or particular lines of code. Other excellent features include customizable hotkeys, the ability to change the font, and dozens of light and dark visual themes for the interface.

Storage is entirely in your hands with Boostnote, so you can keep your notes saved locally and 100 percent offline, or you can pop them into a file storage and syncing service of your choosing to make them accessible to you everywhere.

Price: free; contributions accepted

Evernote (Android, iOS, macOS, web, Windows)

Best note taking app for taking and searching for notes of all kinds

Evernote was an early leader in the digital note taking space. In many ways, it shaped expectations about what a note taking app should do and how it should look. It's one of the most capable services you'll find, supporting a wide variety of note types (text, images, audio memo, sketches, scanned documents, checklists, clipped web pages) and with excellent tools for organizing and searching your notes as well. It has apps for all the major platforms, and with a Business account, you can even use Evernote for real-time chat and collaboration with

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