NotePlan

A markdown vault and your calendar, living in the same window.

By NotePlan · since 2016 · noteplan.co

7.2

B · out of 10

NotePlan puts a daily note next to your actual Apple Calendar events and Reminders, so planning the day and writing about it happen in one place. Tasks are markdown checkboxes, links are wiki links, tags nest, and every note is a plain .md file in iCloud that you can open in anything. Weekly, monthly and yearly notes stack on top for people who plan further out than tomorrow.

How it scores

  • Features25% of score

    8.2

    Depth and breadth of what the app can do.

  • Ease of use20% of score

    7.8

    Speed, polish and how long it takes to feel at home.

  • AI15% of score

    6.0

    Quality and usefulness of the built-in AI, not just its presence.

  • Sync & reliability15% of score

    7.8

    How dependably notes move between devices.

  • Value15% of score

    6.6

    What you get for what you pay.

  • Platform coverage10% of score

    5.4

    How many places you can actually use it.

Pricing

$12/month · $99/year

No free tier.

A 7-day trial, then $12/month or $99/year. One subscription covers the Mac, iOS and web apps.

Platforms

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Linux
  • Web

47 tracked features supported

What it does well

  • Calendar events, tasks and notes finally share one timeline
  • Plain markdown files in your own iCloud folder, editable anywhere
  • Plugins, templates and a URL scheme make it genuinely programmable
  • Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly notes cover real planning horizons

Where it falls short

  • No Windows, Linux or Android app, so the web app carries everyone else
  • A hundred dollars a year is a lot next to Obsidian plus a sync plan
  • The task syntax takes a week before it stops feeling fiddly
  • Calendar integration leans on Apple, which limits it elsewhere

Our take

The best answer yet to keeping a markdown vault and a calendar in the same head. Priced for people who will live in it daily.

Best for: Mac and iPhone planners who want their notes and their day in one app.

Linked thinking / PKMAll-in-one workspace

Feature by feature

YesPartlyVia pluginNo

Capture & input

How notes get into the app in the first place.

  • Voice recordingPartly
  • Audio transcription
  • Speaker identification
  • Meeting recording
  • Handwriting / stylusPartly
  • Drawing canvas
  • OCR / handwriting search
  • Web clipper
  • Share extension
  • Quick capturePartly
  • Images
  • PDF & documentsPartly
  • Document scanning

Organization

How notes are structured, linked and found again.

  • Tags
  • Folders / notebooks
  • Multi-level folders
  • Internal links
  • Backlinks
  • Graph view
  • Databases / boardsPartly
  • Daily notes / journal
  • Note templates
  • Saved searches
  • Pins / favorites
  • Merge notes

AI

Assistants, generators and meaning-based search.

  • AI chat / writing assistant
  • AI agent with toolsPartly
  • Custom AI agents
  • Semantic searchPartly
  • AI web search
  • Connected apps for AI
  • Prompt templates
  • Custom AI instructions
  • AI memory
  • Scheduled AI tasks
  • Flashcard generator
  • Spaced repetition
  • Quiz generator
  • Fill in the blank
  • Mind maps
  • AI image generation
  • Infographic generator
  • Slide deck generator
  • AI mini apps
  • Brainrot video generator
  • AI audio overview
  • Bring your own model
  • AI job notifications

Writing & editing

What the editor itself can actually do.

  • Markdown
  • Rich textPartly
  • Code blocks
  • Math / LaTeXPartly
  • Tables
  • Find and replace
  • Version historyPartly
  • Note info

Sync & data ownership

Where your notes live and how easily they leave.

  • Cloud sync
  • Sync through your own cloud
  • Offline support
  • Offline-first / own your data
  • Self-hosting
  • End-to-end encryptionPartly
  • Locked notes
  • Daily backup
  • Import
  • Export
  • Public APIPartly
  • Command line tool
  • Remote MCP serverPartly
  • Plugins / extensions

Sharing & collaboration

Working with other people inside your notes.

  • Share with people
  • Real-time collaborationPartly
  • Comments
  • Public sharingPartly

Experience

The everyday polish around the writing surface.

  • Dark mode
  • Custom themes
  • Multi-language
  • Command palette
  • Split view
  • Focus mode
  • Home screen widgets
  • Apple Shortcuts

Compare with

All NotePlan alternatives

NotePlan vs Grape

Adds: AI memory, Flashcard generator

9.0

NotePlan vs Notion

The all-in-one workspace that swallowed the note app category.

8.5

NotePlan vs Obsidian

Plain markdown files on your disk, with a plugin ecosystem bolted on top.

8.4

NotePlan vs Craft

Documents that look designed before you touch anything.

8.1