Notes and writing14 picks
The best note-taking apps for Mac and iPhone
Obsidian is the notes app most Mac and iPhone users should pick, and it costs nothing unless you add Sync.
ObsidianPick it if you want your notes as plain files you own, with links and plugins to shape your own system.Free to startObsidian saves linked notes as plain Markdown files on your own device, free, with Sync at $4 a month billed yearly. Bear is the friendlier pick for private notes sorted by tags, and Notion suits people who want databases and trackers. If you write with an Apple Pencil, Goodnotes or Notability fit far better than any typed notes app.
How we chose
- 1Who owns the files your notes live in
- 2Typed notes or Apple Pencil handwriting
- 3Sync between Mac, iPhone and iPad
Compare at a glance
Tap a name to jump to its write-up.
| App | Price | How you pay | Mac | iPhone | iPad | Watch | App Store | Developer | Setapp | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obsidian | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.5 | |||||||
 Bear | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.7 | |||||||
 Notion | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.8 | |||||||
 Goodnotes | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.7 | |||||||
 Notability | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.8 | |||||||
 Drafts | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.8 | |||||||
 Craft | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.8 | |||||||
 Logseq | Free, open source | Free | Too few ratings | |||||||
 Capacities | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | Too few ratings | |||||||
 Anytype | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.5 | |||||||
 MindNode | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.6 | |||||||
 NotePlan | From $12 | Subscription | 4.8 | |||||||
 Tot | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.4 | |||||||
 Reflect | Free, open source | Free | Too few ratings |
Swipe the table sideways to see more
The picks, in order
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Pick it if you want your notes as plain files you own, with links and plugins to shape your own system.
Notes locked inside an app's own format are hard to move when that app changes its prices or shuts down. Obsidian keeps every note as a plain Markdown file in a folder you own, then adds links between notes, a graph view and community plugins. It is free on Mac, iPhone and iPad with no account, but official Sync costs $4 a month, and Apple Notes is simpler if you never want to configure anything.
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Pick this if you want good-looking private notes that sort themselves with hashtags and need no account.
Type a hashtag anywhere in a note and it files itself, with nested tags replacing folders and links turning your notes into a personal wiki. Bear writes in Markdown and needs no account, which few notes apps with this polish can say. Syncing between devices needs Bear Pro at $29.99 a year, and there are no shared notes, so Apple Notes is better for lists you edit with someone else.
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Pick it if your notes double as trackers and project boards, like a reading list or content calendar.
Most people end up with tasks in 1 app, notes in another and a spreadsheet for the rest, and Notion puts all 3 into pages built from 50+ kinds of blocks. Templates give you a reading list or project tracker fast, and Notion AI answers questions about your pages. It is free for 1 person but takes time to set up, and Anytype is the pick if you want your data kept on your device.
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Pick this if you write with an Apple Pencil in class or meetings and mark up lots of PDFs and slides.
A recorded lecture or meeting becomes a transcript and summary right beside your handwritten notes in Goodnotes. The core is still writing with Apple Pencil in paper-style notebooks, marking up PDFs and filling in planners on iPad, iPhone and Mac. The free plan stops at 3 notebooks, so plan on Essential at $11.99 a year, or look at Notability if you would rather pay $49.99 once for its Classic version.
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Pick it if you handwrite lecture notes and want the recorded audio tied to what you wrote.
Record a lecture while you handwrite, and the audio stays synced to the moment you wrote each part of the note. That is why so many students run Notability on an iPad, and it also marks up PDFs and mixes typing with ink on one page. The free plan stops at 5 notes and audio recording starts on the $15.99-a-year Plus plan; the $49.99 Classic purchase is the way to avoid a subscription.
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Pick this if you capture quick ideas all day and send each one on to another app.
If ideas hit you mid-walk or mid-meeting, Drafts opens straight to a blank page with the keyboard up, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Actions then send that text to Messages, Reminders, email or dozens of other apps in 1 tap. Writing and sync are free with no limits, and Pro at $19.99 a year is only for building your own actions, though Apple Notes stays better for organizing what you keep.
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Pick it if your notes turn into client-facing docs you share as a polished web page.
Plain notes look like a wall of text when you send them to a client. Craft lays them out as clean pages you can nest, link and share as a web page, with tasks, Collections and an AI assistant that answers from your own notes. The free plan stops at 1,500 blocks, and Plus is cheaper on craft.do at $6.40 a month billed yearly than in the App Store, or included with Setapp.
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Pick this if you think in bullet points and want free, open source linked notes with a daily journal.
Free and open source with no paid tier, this outliner treats every bullet as a note you can link, tag and pull into other pages, with a journal page for each day and backlinks that show where an idea came up before. Tasks, flashcards and PDF notes are built in. Its new database version and sync are still in beta, so it's the wrong pick for anyone who needs polished iPhone sync today.
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Pick it if you'd rather organize notes as people, books and ideas than as folders.
Write a note about a person, a book or a project and Capacities saves it as an object with its own fields, linked to every other note that mentions it. Backlinks show everywhere a thing comes up, and a daily note catches loose thoughts before you sort them. Unlike Obsidian, it does not keep notes as plain Markdown files on your disk, and the AI assistant and tasks need the $11.99 a month Pro plan.
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Pick this if you like how Notion works but want everything encrypted on your own devices.
Notion keeps your workspace on its servers; Anytype keeps it on your device, encrypted with keys only you hold, and syncs peer to peer. You still get a block editor, templates, and table, kanban and gallery views, and it works with no internet at all. The trade-off is space: the free plan has only 100 MB of remote storage, so heavy file users end up on a paid plan from $4 a month.
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Pick it if you think visually and want a mind map that turns into an outline.
Apple's Freeform gives you a blank canvas, but MindNode builds a real mind map you can fold, connect and flip into a tidy outline. It keeps files encrypted in your own iCloud across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro, and the free version makes and edits maps. Outline editing, notes, Reminders tasks and AI need Plus at $24.99 a year, or you can get MindNode Classic through Setapp.
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Pick this if you want a daily note with your tasks and calendar on the same page.
Apple Notes and Calendar live in separate apps, while NotePlan gives every day its own Markdown note with your Calendar events and Reminders beside it. Drag a task onto the timeline and it becomes a time block, notes link both ways, and everything stays as plain Markdown files in your own iCloud. At $99 a year it costs less than half of Sunsama, Setapp subscribers already have it, and Logseq does daily notes free.
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Pick it if you only need 7 small scratchpads for text you keep close, synced over iCloud.
It holds exactly 7 pages of text, one per colored dot, and that cap keeps it from turning into another cluttered notes app. The dots sync over iCloud across Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and on the Mac you can run it from the menu bar. The full version is $19.99 once on Mac and again on iPhone, and Drafts is the free pick for unlimited notes.
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Pick this if you want simple daily notes with backlinks on the Mac, saved as plain files in your own folder.
If you think in daily notes and backlinks but want your notes as plain Markdown files, this open-source Mac app keeps them in a folder you choose, synced through iCloud Drive or Git. It's free with no account, and the AI assistant runs on your own API key, billed by your provider. The iPhone and iPad app costs $9.99 a month, though, while Obsidian does the same Markdown-and-backlinks job for free.
Head to head
Stuck between 2 of these? Each comparison lines up price, devices and who should pick which.
- Obsidian vs BearPick this if you want good-looking private notes that sort themselves with hashtags and need no account.
- Obsidian vs NotionPick it if your notes double as trackers and project boards, like a reading list or content calendar.
- Bear vs NotionPick it if your notes double as trackers and project boards, like a reading list or content calendar.
