Simplenote vs Joplin
Joplin takes it on the overall score, 7.5 to 6.6, but the row that matters is the one you care about. Add or swap apps and the URL follows.
Plain text, everywhere, free, and it has never once changed its mind.
Open source, end-to-end encrypted, and it syncs wherever you tell it to.
Verdict
Overall score
Weighted across the six axes below.
Best for
Our take
Scores
Features
Depth and breadth of what the app can do.
Ease of use
Speed, polish and how long it takes to feel at home.
AI
Quality and usefulness of the built-in AI, not just its presence.
Sync & reliability
How dependably notes move between devices.
Value
What you get for what you pay.
Platform coverage
How many places you can actually use it.
Pricing
Starting price
Paid plans
Pricing model
Free tier
One-time purchase
Open source
Platforms
Platforms supported
Windows
macOS
iOS
Android
Linux
Web
Capture & input
Features supported
Out of 82 tracked.
Voice recording
Record audio directly inside a note.
Audio transcription
Turn recorded or live speech into searchable text.
Speaker identification
The transcript says who said what, with a label per voice you can rename.
Meeting recording
Record both sides of a call from the computer audio and the mic, with no bot joining the meeting. Partial when a bot has to join, or only some meeting apps work.
Handwriting / stylus
Write by hand with a pen or stylus on a tablet.
Drawing canvas
A freeform canvas for sketches, diagrams and annotation.
OCR / handwriting search
Find text inside images, scans and handwritten notes.
Web clipper
Save articles and pages from the browser into the app.
Share extension
Send text, links and files into the app from anywhere on the phone.
Quick capture
A global shortcut or small floating window that saves a note while you stay in another app. Partial when it opens the full app instead, or only works from the phone lock screen or Control Center.
Images
Embed and manage images inside notes.
PDF & documents
Attach, view and mark up PDFs and office files.
Document scanning
Scan paper with the phone camera into a clean note.
Organization
Tags
Label notes with keywords across folders.
Folders / notebooks
Group notes into containers.
Multi-level folders
Nest folders inside folders, as deep as you want.
Internal links
Link one note to another, wiki style.
Backlinks
See every note that links back to the one you are reading.
Graph view
Visualise the whole vault as a network of connected notes.
Databases / boards
Turn notes into tables, boards and filtered views.
Daily notes / journal
A dated note created automatically each day.
Note templates
Reusable note structures you can spawn on demand.
Saved searches
Store a query and reuse it as a live view.
Pins / favorites
Keep the notes you use most within one click.
Merge notes
Combine two or more notes into one without copying and pasting.
AI
AI chat / writing assistant
Ask questions and rewrite text with an AI built into the app.
AI agent with tools
An agent that can act on your workspace, not just chat.
Custom AI agents
Build your own agents, each with its own instructions, model and tools, and pick the one to ask. Partial when an agent is only a saved persona that cannot use tools.
Semantic search
Search by meaning rather than exact keywords.
AI web search
The assistant can look things up on the live web and use what it finds in the answer. Partial when web search only finds sources to add, not answers.
Connected apps for AI
Sign in to other apps, like Notion, Linear, Slack or Google Drive, and the assistant can look things up in them or make changes there. Partial when only one outside app can be connected.
Prompt templates
Save reusable prompts to run against your notes.
Custom AI instructions
Standing instructions the AI follows every time, like tone, language or format.
AI memory
The assistant remembers what you told it in earlier chats, and you can read, edit or delete those memories.
Scheduled AI tasks
Give the AI a job to run at a set time or on a repeat, like a morning summary of new notes, and read what each run did. Partial when only a fixed digest the app writes runs on a schedule.
Flashcard generator
Turn notes into flashcards to study from.
Spaced repetition
Cards come back for review just before you would forget them, from a queue of what is due today. Partial when the app only repeats the cards you missed, with no due dates.
Quiz generator
Generate practice questions from your own material.
Fill in the blank
Hide words in a sentence and practice recalling them, as cloze cards you write or the AI generates from a note. Partial when you can only tape over part of a page and tap to reveal it.
Mind maps
Build or generate a mind map from a note.
AI image generation
Generate an image from a prompt, or from the note itself, and drop it into the page.
Infographic generator
Turn a note into a designed visual summary.
Slide deck generator
Turn a note into a slide deck with AI, then edit the slides yourself.
AI mini apps
Describe a small tool, like a tracker, a calculator or a practice game, and the AI builds a working app inside the note. Partial when the app opens outside the note or forgets its data.
Brainrot video generator
Generate short vertical videos from notes for revision.
AI audio overview
Generate a podcast-style spoken summary of your notes.
Bring your own model
Plug in your own API key or run a local model.
AI job notifications
Long AI jobs keep running after you leave the app, and a notification says when they are done. Partial when only one kind of job does, or the notice comes by email.
Writing & editing
Markdown
Write in markdown, and keep it as markdown.
Rich text
A formatted WYSIWYG editor with styles and blocks.
Code blocks
Syntax-highlighted code inside notes.
Math / LaTeX
Typeset equations with LaTeX.
Tables
Insert and edit tables in a note.
Find and replace
Find a word or phrase in the open note and replace it, one match at a time or all at once.
Version history
Roll a note back to an earlier state.
Note info
Word count, character count, created and modified dates.
Sync & data ownership
Cloud sync
Notes follow you across devices automatically.
Sync through your own cloud
Sync through a cloud drive you already have, like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive, instead of servers run by the app maker. A backup copy sent to a drive does not count.
Offline support
Read and write with no connection.
Offline-first / own your data
Local files are the source of truth, not a server.
Self-hosting
Run the sync server yourself.
End-to-end encryption
Only your devices can read your notes.
Locked notes
Lock a single note behind a password or biometrics. Partial when only a whole notebook, or the whole app, can be locked.
Daily backup
An automatic daily copy you never have to remember to make.
Import
Bring notes in from other apps.
Export
Get your notes out as markdown, PDF or HTML.
Public API
Read and write your notes programmatically.
Command line tool
An official command line tool that reads and writes your notes from a terminal or a script. Partial when it can only add notes, not read them.
Remote MCP server
An MCP server the app hosts, so Claude, ChatGPT or any agent can read and write your notes from anywhere. Partial when the server has to run on your own machine.
Plugins / extensions
Extend the app with community add-ons.
Sharing & collaboration
Share with people
Invite specific people to a note or folder and let them edit it. Partial when the people you invite can only read.
Real-time collaboration
Several people editing the same note at once.
Comments
Leave threaded comments on a note.
Public sharing
Publish a note to a public link or site.
Experience
Dark mode
A proper dark theme, not an inverted hack.
Custom themes
Restyle the app beyond light and dark.
Multi-language
The interface is localised beyond English.
Command palette
One shortcut opens a searchable list of every action in the app.
Split view
Open two notes side by side in one window and edit both. Partial when the second note only opens in a peek panel or a separate window.
Focus mode
A distraction-free mode that clears everything but the text you are writing off the screen. Collapsing the sidebar on its own does not count.
Home screen widgets
Capture or read notes from the device home screen.
Apple Shortcuts
Actions in the Shortcuts app on iPhone, iPad or Mac that create, find or add to notes, so an automation can use the app. Partial when the only action opens the app or a blank note.