By device
Best note-taking apps for Android
Android rewards apps that take capture seriously: a widget, a share target from any other app, and something usable on the train with no connection.
Top pick: Grape, at 8.8 out of 10 on this ranking. The most AI you can point at your own notes while keeping them on your own machine. Young, and it shows in the missing web app and in sharing that stops at email invites, but the study tools, the $9 AI plan and the lifetime license make it hard to ignore.
What we weighted
A widget worth the space
Capture from the home screen without opening anything.
Share from everywhere
Push a link, an image or a selection straight into a note.
Fine offline
Read and write with no signal, sync when it comes back.
Every app keeps its site-wide score, but the order here is a separate fit reading built from those three needs, so it is not the same list you get on the home page.
Grape
Take the note. The AI does the filing, the studying and the searching.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
Students and individual note-takers who want AI over their own notes, kept on their own device, and who now and then share a folder with a classmate or a colleague.
Fit
9.0 overall
$3/mo
Day One
A journal that has been quietly perfecting one job since 2011.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
Anyone keeping a personal journal who wants it to outlive the app.
Fit
7.7 overall
$49.99/yr
Zoho Notebook
A free Evernote-shaped app from a company that sells other things.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
People who liked old Evernote and refuse to pay for it.
Fit
7.2 overall
Free
Craft
Documents that look designed before you touch anything.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
People who share their notes and want them to look good.
Fit
8.1 overall
$10/mo
GoodNotes
Handwriting on a tablet, done better than anyone else.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
Students and anyone whose thinking happens with a stylus.
Fit
8.0 overall
$9.99/yr
Microsoft OneNote
An infinite paper notebook that has quietly been free for twenty years.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
Students and Windows users who want free handwriting plus typing on one page.
Fit
7.8 overall
Free
Noteshelf
Handwriting on every platform, with an AI that reads your pages.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
Stylus users who are not on an iPad, or not only on an iPad.
Fit
7.5 overall
$9.99/mo
Notesnook
Zero-knowledge encryption without giving up a modern editor.
For android: Offline support, Cloud sync, Export.
People who want Evernote-style notes with Signal-style privacy.
Fit
7.2 overall
$4.49/mo
Amplenote
Notes and tasks that argue with each other until your day is planned.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
People who want their notes to produce a daily plan.
Fit
7.5 overall
$7.99/mo
Evernote
The original everything-bucket, now considerably more expensive.
For android: Home screen widgets, Offline support, Cloud sync.
Researchers and clippers who live on the web and want everything searchable.
Fit
7.1 overall
$14.99/mo
Questions android ask
- Is Google Keep good enough?
- For lists, reminders and quick thoughts it is excellent and free. It falls apart as an archive, because there are no folders, no real hierarchy and search is all you get.
- What is the best Android note app for privacy?
- Notesnook and Standard Notes both encrypt end to end and have proper Android apps. Joplin does too if you are willing to arrange your own sync.
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