Best Free Note Taking App

249+ iOS apps curated and reviewed

4.7 avg rating
20 free apps
Updated August 2026

Freenotes® is the household name in free note taking app, but it's far from the only option. We track 249+ alternatives and competitors on iOS — many free, many higher-rated than you'd expect.

Compare top Free Note Taking App (August 2026)

#AppPriceRatingAdsIn-App PurchasesUpdated
1Freenotes®: AI Notes TakingFreenotes®: AI Notes TakingFree4.7★ (59K)NoYesSep 2026
2Microsoft OneNoteMicrosoft OneNoteFree4.7★ (1.1M)NoYesSep 2026
3Otter Transcribe Voice NotesOtter Transcribe Voice NotesFree4.8★ (76K)NoYesSep 2026
4Google Keep - Notes and listsGoogle Keep - Notes and listsFree4.6★ (29K)NoNoSep 2026
5NotesNotesFree4.8★ (620K)NoNoSep 2026
6Summary - AI Note TakerSummary - AI Note TakerFree4.7★ (49K)NoYesSep 2026
7Notepad - Simple Notes & MemoNotepad - Simple Notes & MemoFree4.8★ (6.4K)YesYesSep 2026
8Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDFGoodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDFFree4.7★ (449K)NoYesSep 2026

Top Picks for Free Note Taking App

Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking#1

Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking by Free Notes AI Note Taker LTD

Docs PDF Memo Planner Pencil
Editor's Choice
📊 Productivity
4.7😊(59K ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking screenshot 1
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This AI-powered digital notepad transforms your device into an intelligent workspace. It offers handwriting recognition, PDF annotation, and AI assistance for summarizing documents, answering questions, and aiding in study. Organize notes, sketch ideas, and sync across devices for a seamless paperless experience.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Completely free app with no ads or in-app purchases
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 📚 Comprehensive note-taking features (layers, templates, stickers, etc.)
  • 🎨 Highly customizable (colors, fonts, covers, etc.)
  • 🗂️ Excellent organization tools (folders, notebooks, etc.)
  • 💻 Seamless integration with iPad and Apple Pencil
  • 🔥 Regularly updated with new features and improvements

Room to Improve

  • 🐛 Occasional issues with syncing and iCloud backup
  • 🖌️ Limited customization options for pen/pencil settings
  • 🔍 Lack of handwriting recognition and search
  • 🔗 No support for external links or clickable content
  • 🔀 Difficulty in rearranging or splitting notebooks
Microsoft OneNote#2

Microsoft OneNote by Microsoft Corporation

Capture Notes, Ideas and Memos
Strong Contender
📊 Productivity
4.7😐(1.1M ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
#70in Productivity
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Capture thoughts, ideas, and plans in a digital notepad. Organize, search, and secure your notes, memos, and sketches. Sync across devices for access anywhere, anytime. Collaborate with others on shared notepads.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Simple, works well
  • 👍 Great for planning
  • 👍 Powerful note-taking app
  • 👍 Invaluable tool for note taking
  • 👍 Used for years, couldn't be without this app
  • 👍 Helps keep up with college
  • 👍 A+ for getting life organized
  • 👍 Best app to get organized
  • 👍 Excellent across ALMOST all platforms
  • 👍 Excellent for work and school
  • 👍 Wonderful app (better than Evernote)
  • 👍 Paperless uni student
  • 👍 EVERYTHING in one place & mega easy to find
  • 👍 Amazing. Especially since it's free
  • 👍 Awesome app
  • 👍 Using it for years

Room to Improve

  • 🔨 Could be better
  • 🔨 Formatting issues on mobile app
  • 🔨 Buggy widget, no dark app icon
  • 🐛 Glitchy, crashes often
  • 🐛 Terrible sync speeds
  • 🐛 The drawing tool switches to text tool without being selected
  • 🐛 Crashes since iOS 17
  • 🐛 Dude, please fix scrolling issue
  • 🐛 Bugs, lots of bugs
  • 🐛 Terrible on iPad, very slow
  • 🐛 Glitchy af now
  • 🐛 Strokes vanish randomly when writing with Apple Pencil
  • 🐛 No easy way to select large amounts of only highlighting
  • 🐛 Unbelievably unreliable
  • 🐛 Wildly inconsistent syncing
  • 🐛 Very glitchy, too risky
  • 🐛 App crashing
Otter Transcribe Voice Notes#3

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes by Otter.ai, Inc.

AI Note Taking, Memo Recorder
Worth Considering
📊 Productivity
4.8😊(76K ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
#17in Productivity
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This app offers real-time voice transcription for meetings, lectures, and conversations. It acts as an AI assistant, capturing slides, generating summaries, and allowing for collaborative editing and sharing of notes. Available in multiple languages and on web.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Excellent transcription accuracy
  • 👍 Convenient features like speaker identification and timestamps
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient transcription process
  • 👍 Versatile for various use cases (meetings, interviews, lectures)
  • 👍 Helpful for deaf/hard of hearing users
  • 👍 Seamless integration between mobile and desktop

Room to Improve

  • 🐛 Occasional transcription errors, especially with technical terms
  • 💰 Concerns about increasing subscription costs and reduced free minutes
  • 🐛 Buggy behavior and crashes reported by some users
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns around data usage for model training

More Free Note Taking App apps to explore

FAQ about Free Note Taking App

What is the best free note taking app for iPhone?
Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking tops our free note taking app ranking as of August 2026, with a 4.7-star average from 59K App Store ratings, and it's free to download.
Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking has no ads and offers in-app purchases, according to its App Store listing as of August 2026.
We track 249+ free note taking app on the iOS App Store as of August 2026, ranked by rating, recency, and analysis of real user reviews.