The 8 best Microsoft OneNote alternatives
Microsoft OneNote scores 7.8 out of 10 here, and its weak spots are specific: the interface differs on every platform, which is confusing. These are the apps that fix that, ranked by overall score.
Grape
Take the note. The AI does the filing, the studying and the searching.
Mac / Win / Linux / iOS / Android
Gains you: backlinks, graph view, daily notes / journal. Same territory: students & study.
$3/mo
Apple Notes
Already on your phone, and better than it has any right to be.
Mac / iOS / Web
Gains you: pins / favorites, ai image generation, ai job notifications. Same territory: genuinely free.
Free
GoodNotes
Handwriting on a tablet, done better than anyone else.
iOS / Mac / Win / Android / Web
Gains you: daily notes / journal, pins / favorites, semantic search. Same territory: handwriting & tablets.
$9.99/yr
RemNote
Take notes and generate the flashcards in the same keystroke.
Web / Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android
Gains you: backlinks, graph view, databases / boards. Same territory: students & study.
$8/mo
Heptabase
Notes on whiteboards, for when the outline is not the shape of the idea.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android / Web
Gains you: backlinks, graph view, databases / boards. Same territory: students & study.
$11.99/mo
Joplin
Open source, end-to-end encrypted, and it syncs wherever you tell it to.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android / Web · Open source
Gains you: backlinks, graph view, daily notes / journal. Same territory: genuinely free.
$3/mo
Noteshelf
Handwriting on every platform, with an AI that reads your pages.
iOS / Mac / Android / Win
Gains you: pins / favorites, semantic search, sync through your own cloud. Same territory: handwriting & tablets.
$9.99/mo
Logseq
A journal-first outliner with flashcards baked in, over local files.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android · Open source
Gains you: backlinks, graph view, databases / boards. Same territory: students & study.
Free
Still not sure?
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