Free Note-Taking Apps 2026: Which Ones Actually Stay Free?

"Free note taking app" is a search with three honest answers and a lot of bait. Here is the 2026 field sorted by what free actually means, with caps read from each vendor on November 1, 2026.

Free forever, no cap

Apple Notes. On every Apple device, syncs through iCloud, handles Pencil, PDFs, scans, tags and shared notes. The limit is Apple hardware; the iCloud web app is the only way in from Windows.

Google Keep. Cards, checklists, reminders, labels, image text. No paywall exists. The trade is structure: no folders, no long documents, and search gets slow in the thousands.

Microsoft OneNote. The most complete free app on this list: notebooks, sections, ink, attachments, web clipping, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and web. Free with a Microsoft account; storage grows with Microsoft 365. Heavier than the rest.

Simplenote. Plain text, tags, instant search, free sync, open source. If a note never needs a picture, it is close to perfect.

Standard Notes. End-to-end encrypted plain text for free; rich editors and longer history are on the paid plans. Choose it for privacy first.

Free with homework

Joplin. Open source, Markdown, imports Evernote .enex, optional end-to-end encryption. Sync is your job: Dropbox, OneDrive or WebDAV are free routes; Joplin Cloud is paid.

Obsidian. Free for personal use, your notes are Markdown files in a folder, and the plugin ecosystem is enormous. Official Sync and Publish are paid; many people sync the folder with iCloud or their own cloud instead.

Free until you grow

Notion. The personal plan is free and generous. You pay when you add a team, need big uploads or want Notion AI. Offline on mobile is partial, and quick capture is slow for a notes habit.

Evernote. The free plan is 50 notes, 1 notebook, 5 spaces, 20 tags, 200 attachments, 1 synced device and 1 GB. The next plan, Starter, gives 1,000 notes and 3 devices for roughly $99 a year (Evernote shows prices only at checkout). Treat the free plan as a trial.

Noteshik. The free plan holds 60 notes with folders, notebooks, tags, checklists, images, voice-to-text and offline use, across web, Windows, macOS, Google Play and Amazon Fire tablets. Past that, Pro is $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year and includes AI summaries, ask-your-notes and auto-tagging; Premium is $8.99 a month or $54.99 a year. Notes are encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit, and export to PDF, DOCX, HTML or Markdown is always available. It imports Evernote (.enex), Notion, Obsidian, Joplin and Markdown.

Side by side

| App | Free cap | Paid step | Platforms | |---|---|---|---| | Apple Notes | None | iCloud storage | Apple | | Google Keep | None | None | Web, Android, iOS | | OneNote | None | Microsoft 365 | All | | Simplenote | None | None | All | | Standard Notes | None on plain text | Paid editors | All | | Joplin | None; sync is yours | Joplin Cloud | All | | Obsidian | None for personal use | Sync, Publish | All | | Notion | Personal plan | Plus, AI | All | | Evernote | 50 notes, 1 device | Starter about $99/yr | All | | Noteshik | 60 notes | $24.99/yr | Web, Windows, macOS, Android, Fire |

How to pick a free app you will not regret in six months

1. Count your notes. Under 50 and you never attach files: any of the free-forever apps.
2. Decide if you will ever pay. If the answer is maybe, pick an app whose paid step is small. $24.99 a year is a different decision from $99.
3. Check the exit. Can you export everything? Apple Notes, Google Keep and Notion make it awkward; OneNote, Joplin, Obsidian, Simplenote and Noteshik make it easy.
4. Test on your worst device. The old laptop or the Fire tablet decides whether you keep the habit.

Noteshik is the one on this list built around the second and third points: a real free plan, a small paid step, and export on every plan.

Related reading

• Best Evernote alternatives 2026
• Best free note app for Android
• Best note app for Amazon Fire tablets