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Best Note Taking Writing Apps in 2025

Showing 35 writing apps that match your search.

Notes are just the beginning. Create and annotate anything, from study guides to storyboards. We've got an intuitive, minimal interface for you to start in seconds.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking, Book, Story, Journal, and Free

Website: https://notability.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$8.99 one-time payment

Presentation mode

PDF import and annotation

Multimedia notes

Custom stickers

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Also rated 4.7 β˜… on the App Store

Ever scribbled ideas on a piece of paper and drawn lines between related thoughts? Then you already know what Scapple does. It's a virtual sheet of paper that lets you make notes anywhere and connect them using lines or arrows.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Outlining, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, and Blog

Website: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scapple/overview

Base price:

$20.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

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Write notes anywhere

Connect notes using drag and drop

Completely freeform

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Also rated 5.0 β˜… on TechRadar

Drafts opens to a new page with the keyboard ready so you can type immediately. Go hands-free with Dictation. Drafts lets you get things down before you forget without fiddling folders, naming, etc.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://getdrafts.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

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Dictation

Tags for organization

Customizable ediitng

Fast sync

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Also rated 4.8 β˜… on the App Store

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Black Note is the black theme's notepad. It's the simple notes app.

Platforms: Android

Best for: Note-taking, Story, Book, Blog, Journal, Poetry, and Free

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=notepad.not...

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

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Dark mode only

Sticky notes

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Also rated 4.8 β˜… on Google Play

Create beautiful handwritten notes, sketch your ideas, record audio, and organize your notes like never before.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, and Blog

Website: https://www.noteshelf.net/

Base price:

$9.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

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Create your own diary

Search your handwritten notes

Syncs across devices

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Also rated 4.4 β˜… on the App Store

Take digital handwritten notes for class, work, or fun!

Platforms: Android, Chrome

Best for: Note-taking, Essay, and Free

Website: https://www.squidnotes.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

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Infinite pages

Vector graphics engine

Active pen technology

Annotate and markup PDFs

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Also rated 4.3 β˜… on Google Play

Diarly is built for the best journaling experience. With every feature you will need and a beautiful interface, starting a journal has never been so simple.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: https://diarly.app/

Base price:

$2.00 monthly

Premium price:

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Built-in gallery and maps

Timeline

Notes

Custom fonts and templates

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Also rated 4.8 β˜… on the App Store

The human brain is non-linear: we jump from idea to idea, all the time. Your second brain should work the same. In Obsidian, making and following connections is frictionless. Tend to your notes like a gardener; at the end of the day, sit back and marvel at your own knowledge graph.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Outlining, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, Blog, and Free

Website: https://obsidian.md/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$25.00 one-time payment

Link pages

Graph view

Customizable with backlinked notes

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Also rated 4.5 β˜… on TechRadar

Get organized. Stay creative. Milanote is an easy-to-use tool to organize your ideas and projects into visual boards.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, PC, Windows, Mac, Android, Chrome, Online

Best for: Note-taking, Outlining, Book, Story, Journal, and Free

Website: https://milanote.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$9.99 monthly

Boards for notes and to-dos

Web clipper

Collaborative functionalities

Integration across platforms

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Also rated 3.0 β˜… on PC Magazine

Simple. Effective. Personal. Keep life moments and ideas always with you. Diaro is here to help.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, and Free

Website: https://diaroapp.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

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Search entires by tags or location

Sync across devices

Multi window mode

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Also rated 4.6 β˜… on Google Play

Super-clean writing space with a lot of configurability that stays out of sight when you don’t need it.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking, Drafting, Book, Story, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://papereditor.app/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

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Plain-text writing environment

Syncs with iCloud

Works across Apple devices

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Also rated 4.2 β˜… on the App Store

Ideas, stories, and life’s events. Capture them in a journal that’s easy to carry and offers more than bound sheets. Chronicle for iPad is about you and your words. Write comfortably and benefit from being able to find anything you wrote with built-in search.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: http://slidetorock.com/apps/Chronicle-for-iPad-journal.html

Base price:

$2.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

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Distraction-free writing

Password protect journal entries

Built-in search

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Also rated 4.5 β˜… on the App Store

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