Best Note Taking Free Apps

4.8😊(457K ratings)

FreeIn-App Purchases

#80in Productivity

Notability: AI Notes & Planner screenshot 1

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Capture, organize, and enhance your thoughts with a versatile digital notebook. Seamlessly blend handwriting, typing, and multimedia to annotate documents, record lectures, and generate summaries. Ideal for students and professionals seeking to boost productivity and learning.

What We Love

🚀 Great app for note-taking
👍 Smooth handwriting experience
📝 Excellent organization and file management
🎙️ Useful audio recording feature
🔍 Handwriting recognition and search
🌈 Customizable colors and themes

Room to Improve

🐛 Sync issues with iCloud
🔍 Limited search and organization options
🖍️ Frustrating highlighter behavior
🔒 Concerns about subscription model
🔧 Buggy after recent updates

Goodnotes: AI Notes, Docs, PDF by Goodnotes Limited

Note taking, Planner & Journal

Strong Contender

4.7😊(455K ratings)

FreeIn-App Purchases

#86in Productivity

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Capture ideas, enhance productivity, and unlock insights with advanced AI features. This app offers tools for professionals, students, and creatives, including infinite whiteboards, AI-powered transcription and summarization, and customizable digital notebooks.

What We Love

🚀 Excellent note-taking experience
👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
🚀 Smooth writing with Apple Pencil
📁 Powerful organization with folders and notebooks
🖼️ Ability to annotate PDFs and documents
🌈 Customizable paper styles and covers

Room to Improve

🐛 Glitches and crashes
🔍 Syncing and iCloud issues
🔍 Lack of flexibility with text input
🔍 Limited eraser and highlighting options
🔍 Subpar performance on Mac app

Otter Transcribe Voice Notes by Otter.ai, Inc.

AI Note Taking, Memo Recorder

Worth Considering

Freenotes®: AI Notes Taking

4.8😊(79K ratings)

FreeIn-App Purchases

#9in 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 Note Taking Free apps to explore

Docs PDF Memo Planner Pencil

AI Summaries and Chat with PDFsAI Homework and Study HelperHandwritten Note Organization

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.

(61K)

Capture Notes, Ideas and Memos

Microsoft OneNote

Capture thoughts and ideasDigital sketchbookOrganize and search notes

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.

(1.1M)

Summary - AI Note Taker

Transcribe audio to text

One-tap audio recordingAccurate transcription with speaker labelsAI-powered summaries and key points

This app records, transcribes, and summarizes audio conversations, making meetings and lectures more productive. It uses AI to generate accurate transcripts with speaker labels and provides instant answers to questions about the content. Users can easily export and share notes.

(51K)

Notepad: Easy Notes & Memos

Simple Notebook & Writing Pad

Create to-do lists with checkboxesUnlimited text notesHandwritten notes with Apple Pencil

Capture thoughts, create to-do lists, and organize ideas with a versatile digital notebook. Supports handwriting, text notes, and secure cloud syncing. Personalize your experience with custom themes and icons.

(28K)

Take note of almost anything

Notes

Add attachments (PDFs, images, links)Scan paper documentsCreate checklists

Capture your thoughts, ideas, and important information with a versatile note-taking app. Attach various file types, scan documents, create checklists, and even sketch directly within your notes. Organize with folders, tags, and smart searches, and collaborate with others on shared notes.

Google Keep - Notes and lists

(641K)

free

Notes and lists

Capture notes, lists, photos, and audioOrganize with labels and colorsSet time and location-based reminders

Capture, edit, and share notes and lists across all your devices. Organize with labels and colors, and set time or location-based reminders. Collaborate with others in real-time for shared tasks.

Transcribe audio to text

Smart voice dictationLive audio transcriptionAdvanced AI summarizer

This app transforms your phone into an intelligent AI note taker and voice recorder. It accurately transcribes meetings, lectures, and interviews into text, summaries, and actionable notes. Organize your digital notebook and access recordings anytime.

(4.7K)

Simple notes, todos and memos

Simplenote

Simple note-taking experienceCross-device syncingCollaboration and sharing

Capture ideas, create to-do lists, and jot down thoughts effortlessly. Organize your notes with tags and pins, and find them instantly with search. Your content syncs across all devices for free, ensuring it's always accessible.

Noteful: Notes & PDF Markup

(4.3K)

free

Highlight. Write. Learn.

Handwritten notes with Apple PencilPDF and document annotationOrganize notes with tags

This app revolutionizes paperless note-taking on iPad, allowing for handwritten notes, document annotation, and knowledge organization. It offers a fluid writing experience, PDF markup, powerful tagging, and audio recording synced with notes.

Notebook, Endless Paper, PDF

🌟 Lifestyle

Sticky Notes: Free Note Taking

To Do List & Notepad Reminders

Handwritten notesAudio recordingsPhoto attachments

Capture ideas, create to-do lists, and set reminders with this versatile note-taking app. Supports handwritten notes, audio recordings, photos, and text. Organize notes with folders and share them easily.

AI Notebook - Note Taking App

(6K)

subscription

AI Note Taker, AI Notes

Dont Keep - minimal note taker

The most minimal note taker

🔧 Utilities

AI Note Taker : Voice Recorder

Meeting & Lecture Note Taking

fun notes & idea organizer

SmartNotes: Simple Note Taking

Clean notes with categories

Refresh Mood with Cute Fonts.

Note - Handwriting-Style

Handwriting-style fontsSimple and intuitive UICustomizable theme colors

Capture thoughts and ideas with the natural feel of handwriting. This app offers a simple interface, unique handwritten fonts, and customizable themes to add warmth and personality to your notes. Create unlimited memos without restrictions.

🔧 Utilities