Best Note Taking Apps Under $10 a Month
Four of these note apps never ask for money at all: Apple Notes, Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote and Simplenote are $0 with no paid tier. Of the ones that do charge, the cheapest paid plans are Goodnotes at $1 a month and Notesnook at $1.67, and Notion is the edge case at exactly $10, in here because its free plan is unlimited for one person.
So the price column matters less than it looks. What separates these apps is what the free tier withholds (Evernote stops at 50 notes on one device, Notion and Capacities leave pages and blocks unlimited) and which devices you own. Bear and Apple Notes are Apple-only, Google Keep has no desktop app, and five of the thirteen run on Linux.
Our picks
- Plain text everywhere for nothing: Simplenote. $0 with apps, backups, syncing and sharing on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android, though it takes no attachments or images.
- Pen notes on a Surface or iPad, free: Microsoft OneNote. The full stand-alone app costs nothing on every platform, and its click-anywhere canvas takes typing, pen and screen clippings on one page.
- Keeping notes as files you own: Obsidian. Notes are plain Markdown files on your own disk, the app is free, and the $4 a month is only for the optional sync service.
- Encrypted notes on a free plan: Notesnook. Unlimited notes on unlimited devices with end-to-end encryption, and only attachment storage metered, at 50MB a month.
- Handwriting over PDFs: Goodnotes. Stylus writing on templates and imported PDFs, with a paid tier at $1 a month ($11.99 a year) that lifts the three-file limit.
At a glance
| Option | Monthly cost | Free plan | Free plan includes | Platforms | Note style | App Store rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10source | Free foreversource | Unlimited pages and blocks when you use it by yourselfsource | Windows, Mac, iOS & Androidsource | Blocks & databasessource | 4.8source | |
| $4source | Free foreversource | The whole app on every device, with only cloud sync and publishing paidsource | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS & Androidsource | Markdownsource | 4.5source | |
| $2.5source | Free foreversource | Local access to your notes, document scanning and export, but no iCloud syncsource | Apple devices onlysource | Markdownsource | 4.7source | |
| $8.25source | Free foreversource | 50 notes, 1 notebook, 1 device and 1 GB of monthly uploadssource | Windows, Mac, iOS & Androidsource | Rich textsource | 4.4source | |
| Freesource | Free foreversource | The whole app, included with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Prosource | Apple devices onlysource | Rich textsource | 4.8source | |
| Freesource | Free foreversource | Everything, with any Google account: notes, lists, photos, audio and reminderssource | Web & mobile onlysource | Rich textsource | 4.6source | |
| Freesource | Free foreversource | The full stand-alone app on Windows, Mac, iOS, iPad, Android and the websource | Windows, Mac, iOS & Androidsource | Freeform canvassource | 4.7source | |
| Freesource | Free foreversource | Everything: the apps, backups, syncing and sharingsource | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS & Androidsource | Markdownsource | 4.7source | |
| $1.99source | Free foreversource | Up to 50 notes with basic features, synced across all your devicessource | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS & Androidsource | Rich textsource | 4.7source | |
| $1.67source | Free foreversource | Unlimited notes on unlimited devices, encrypted, with 50MB of attachment storage a monthsource | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS & Androidsource | Rich textsource | 4.7source | |
| $9.99source | Free foreversource | Unlimited spaces, objects and blocks, synced across all devicessource | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS & Androidsource | Blocks & databasessource | 4.3source | |
| $6.4source | Free foreversource | Up to 1,500 blocks across all documents, 1 GB of storage and the essential featuressource | Windows, Mac, iOS & Androidsource | Blocks & databasessource | 4.8source | |
| $1source | Free foreversource | Up to 3 files with a 5MB import size, the note-taking tools and watermark-free exportsource | Windows, Mac, iOS & Androidsource | Handwriting & PDFsource | 4.7source |
Free plan limits you will hit first
Every app here has a tier you can use forever, so the Free plan includes column is where they part ways. Evernote's is the tightest: 50 notes, 1 notebook, 1 device and 1 GB of monthly uploads, which rules out sync until you pay $8.25 a month. UpNote also stops at 50 notes but syncs them across all your devices, which makes it a fair trial of the $1.99 plan. Goodnotes allows 3 files, and Craft allows 1,500 blocks across all documents with 1 GB of storage, a ceiling regular note-takers reach fairly quickly.
At the generous end, Notion gives unlimited pages and blocks to a solo user, Capacities gives unlimited spaces, objects and blocks with sync, and Notesnook meters only attachments. Bear's free version keeps your notes on one device; the $2.50 plan is what adds iCloud sync, extra themes and search inside PDFs and images.
Apple-only, web-only, or Linux too
Platforms is the column most likely to cross an app off. Bear and Apple Notes run only on Apple devices, so a Windows laptop or Android phone anywhere in your life rules them out. Google Keep is web and mobile only, with no desktop app. Obsidian, Simplenote, UpNote, Notesnook and Capacities are the five with a Linux desktop app, though Obsidian has no web version.
Note style is the other filter. Obsidian, Bear and Simplenote write in Markdown; Notion, Capacities and Craft build pages from blocks that can become databases; Goodnotes is the only handwriting-and-PDF app and OneNote the only freeform canvas.
What the monthly price pays for
Several figures buy less than the app's name suggests. Obsidian's $4 is Sync, not the app. Goodnotes' $1 is the Essential plan; cross-device sync and real-time collaboration sit on Pro at $35.99 a year. Most figures are the yearly-billing rate worked out per month, so Bear's $2.50 is $29.99 a year, while Capacities' $9.99 is a month-to-month Pro price, the one row not on a yearly rate.
The options in detail
Notion
Notion is a workspace app where every line is a block you can drag, nest, or turn into a database, which is why people use it for wikis and project trackers as well as notes. Its free plan is unusually generous for one person: unlimited pages and blocks, with only file uploads capped. That flexibility is also the usual complaint, since a blank Notion page asks you to design a system before you can start writing. Paid plans start higher than most of this list, so the free tier is the reason it belongs in an under-$10 comparison.
Obsidian
Obsidian works directly on a folder of plain Markdown files on your own disk, so your notes stay readable even if the app disappears. The app itself is free for personal and commercial use, and only the optional Sync and Publish services cost anything, with Sync being the usual way to get a vault onto a phone. A large community plugin ecosystem adds everything from kanban boards to graph and canvas views. The trade-off is setup: you choose the structure, the plugins and the sync method yourself, and there is no web version.
Bear
Bear is a Markdown notes app built only for Apple devices, and its appeal is the writing experience: a calm editor, a tag system instead of folders, and export to almost any format. The free version keeps notes on one device; the Pro subscription is what unlocks iCloud sync, the extra themes, and search inside PDFs and images. It has been a critical favourite on the Mac and iPhone for years and is among the cheapest paid tiers here. If you use Windows or Android at all, it is a non-starter.
Evernote
Evernote is the app that made web clipping and searchable scanned documents normal, and it still does both well, with AI transcription and semantic search layered on top. Its free tier is now the tightest here: 50 notes, one notebook and one device, which in practice means no sync until you pay. The Starter plan is the cheapest way back to real use and lands just under $10 a month on annual billing. Long-time users tend to weigh that against how much cheaper the newer apps on this list are.
Apple Notes
Notes is the app already on every iPhone, iPad and Mac, and it has quietly grown into a capable one: formatted text, checklists, tables, scanned documents, Apple Pencil sketches and password-locked notes. Syncing runs through iCloud with no account to create and nothing to pay. There is no Windows or Android app, and organisation stops at folders and tags, so people with large archives often outgrow it. For most Apple users it is the default that is very hard to beat on price.
Google Keep
Keep is Google's sticky-note app: coloured cards you pin, label and share, with photos, voice memos and reminders that can fire at a time or a place. It comes free with any Google account as part of the Docs suite, and it is the fastest app here for catching something before you forget it. There is no desktop app, only the web and mobile, and no document structure to speak of, so long-form writing belongs elsewhere. Its strength is capture rather than organisation.
Microsoft OneNote
OneNote is a free-form canvas: you click anywhere on a page and type, draw with a pen, or drop in a screen clipping, all filed into notebooks, sections and pages like a binder. Microsoft has given it away on every platform since 2014, and it also ships with Microsoft 365. It is the strongest free option for handwriting on a Surface or an iPad without buying a dedicated app. The canvas model can get messy, and searching a large notebook set is slower than in the tidier apps here.
Simplenote
Simplenote does one thing: plain text notes with Markdown preview, tags, instant search and version history, synced everywhere with no upsell attached. It is made by Automattic and is completely free across iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux and the browser, which is rare on this list. There are no attachments, no images, no folders and no formatting beyond Markdown. That restraint is the whole point for some people and a dealbreaker for others.
UpNote
UpNote is a rich-text notes app people usually find after tiring of subscriptions: the paid tier costs about two dollars a month, or a one-time lifetime purchase. The free version syncs across every device and only caps you at 50 notes, so you can judge it properly before deciding. The editor covers lists, images, attachments, quotes and code blocks, with notebooks, themes and a focus mode, and notes work offline. It is a small independent app, so it has none of the plugin ecosystems or third-party integrations of the bigger names.
Notesnook
Notesnook is an end-to-end encrypted notes app whose apps and sync server are both open source, aimed at people who want privacy without giving up a normal editor. Its free plan is the most generous of the encrypted apps here: unlimited notes on unlimited devices, with only attachment storage metered. Paid tiers buy storage rather than access, and cancelling leaves your notes readable, editable and exportable. Encryption costs it some conveniences, and it is a smaller app than the names it competes with.
Capacities
Capacities replaces folders with objects: a book, a person, a meeting each become a typed thing with its own properties, and everything links to everything else. The free tier is unlimited on spaces, objects and blocks with sync included, and the makers promise the core product will stay free. Pro adds an AI assistant, task management, calendar integration and version history for just under $10 a month. It is a newer app with a small user base, and the object model takes real effort before it starts paying off.
Craft
Craft is built around documents that look presentable when you share them: pages made of styled blocks and cards, which is how it won an Apple Design Award and Mac App of the Year. Everything works offline and syncs when you reconnect, and there are now Windows and Android apps alongside the Apple ones. The free plan is more of an extended trial than a permanent home, capped at 1,500 blocks across all your documents and 1 GB of storage. Regular note-takers reach that ceiling fairly quickly.
Goodnotes
Goodnotes is the handwriting app: you write with a stylus on templates or imported PDFs, and it searches, converts and reorganises the ink afterwards. Essential is the cheapest paid plan on this list at $11.99 a year, which removes the free tier's three-file limit and adds unlimited audio recording. It runs on iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android and the web, though the Apple Pencil experience is the one reviewers single out. Cross-device sync and real-time collaboration sit on the pricier Pro plan rather than Essential.
How we researched this
An app qualified if a person can really use it for under $10 a month: either a free tier with no end date, or a cheapest paid plan under $10. That rule is partly why the Free plan column reads Free forever on all thirteen rows, and why the four free giants sit beside small independent apps. Joplin fit on every other count but prices its cloud plan only in euros (€2.99 a month), and a dollar figure would have been our own conversion, so it stayed off. Roam Research, Notability and Reflect start at or above $10 a month with no lasting free tier. Logseq, Anytype, Standard Notes, Supernotes and Amplenote were on the candidate list and not pursued, two of them because their pricing pages would not load.
Prices were read from each app's pricing page in September 2026, and two of them (Bear and Goodnotes) are yearly prices we divided by twelve, with the yearly figure shown in the citation. Apple Notes has no pricing page of its own, so its row cites the App Store listing. Ratings are from Apple's US App Store, so Android and desktop users are not in them, and the sample sizes differ widely: Capacities has 113 ratings, OneNote over a million. Note-app plans are renamed and repriced often, and the tier names above are the ones in use in September 2026.