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Top 5 platforms to boost your Digital Note Taking
- Nabilah Tai
- Jul 18
- 7 min read
Note taking has been one of the longest and most popularly used methods for studying across generations for decades. However, as we step into the digital age, note taking has evolved and integrated itself into the digital space. There are now dozens of apps available on the market to create notes, organise notes or even generate notes. Note taking can be intensely personal, with different people preferring various mediums or forms. Everyone has their own note taking rituals, whether that is writing things down or typing it into a document with just a few bullet points and text. So what is the best digital app for you? Here are the Top 5 Digital Note taking apps in 2025.
What makes the best note taking app?
Note taking apps have to be good at the features that they claims to have
Every note taking app has its speciality and unique style. If a note taking app is not good at what it claims to do, then it becomes clear that the app has no profound value to add to your set of digital tools. As simple as it may seem, many apps fail to fulfil this simple criteria. Look out for the apps just looking to get clicks and not delivering on their promises.
It has to be easy and quick to use
I’m sure that we have all experienced having to scramble to take notes spontaneously such as when we get an unexpected phone call. It's no secret that we need to be prepared to have our notes anywhere and at any time. So what good is an app that doesn't deliver on this? Penning down quick notes shouldn't be just scraps of papers or having to struggle with terrible user experience. It should be convenient and quick to use.
It has to be accessible and flexible
Adding on to what was said before, apps that do not require the internet could be useful when you are on the go. Whether that is when you are on the train or at a restaurant, your digital note taking tools should cater to your locational needs.
What are the Top 5 note taking apps?
Freeform : An effective collaborative tool to illustrate and map out concepts
Notion: Your digital workspace or digital ‘brain’ to organise your professional or personal life
Apple Notes: A highly integrated digital note taking app that can be used on any apple device
OneNote : A more corporate note taking app that has a more minimalistic and professional feel to it.
Obsidian: a highly customisable and expandable app that helps you to create an integrated digital workspace Obsidian like notion, is an app that strives to try and create your entire life in a digital sense, and it succeeds in doing so.
Which app should you choose?
Pros:
Freeform has a highly expandable and unstructured canvas, allowing for people to easily organise and map out ideas. It also offers a collaborative approach, with multiple people being able to work together on a singular board, making it a useful workplace tool. It also has a good integration of text and markup notes, allowing for someone to combine the two effortlessly. Offering various desired features such as inserting images also makes freeform a desirable tool.
Cons:
Freeform is a platform specific app for Apple. Thus, it may be difficult as a large workplace application especially considering that its main selling point is being a collaborative tool. Unless your school, institution or workspace is exclusively apple, freeform may not be the choice for you.
Pros:
Notion serves as almost a second brain, organising all your projects, schedules, and notes into a single platform. Notion serves as a collaborative tool as well, having team note taking features and databases available for you to create. Notion serves as a one stop shop for all; digital dashboard, project management, personal planning and more. It also embraces AI tools, with a lot of features dedicated to using AI to make your digital space easier and to lighten your workload as well. Notion also has a free version, making it cost friendly.
Cons:
If you are looking for just a note taking app, Notion might be a bit too overwhelming and unnecessary for you. In the case that you just need a platform to store and organise your notes, you may be better off with simpler apps such as goodnotes. If you are someone that wants Notion but with the added ability to customise your interface or have more features similar to evernote, Obsidian(also on this list) may be a better fit for you.
Pros:
Apple notes, while being platform specific as well, still has a huge benefit for apple users and that is the seamless integration, making it easy to access your notes from anywhere and from any device, which as discussed earlier, is an immense advantage for an app to have. Furthermore, being part of a large corporation allows it to consistently improve itself with features like tags, collaboration and the ability to combine audio and visuals into your notes as well. While one could argue that other apps like Bear have the same function while serving multiple operating systems, Apple notes still have a leg up for being free and built in.
Cons:
Getting Apple Notes to work for android devices is a lost cause and a waste of time. If you are a person that owns different types of devices, Apple Notes may not be the best service for you. However, if you own any Apple Device, Notes can be a quick and easy option for you to go to.
Pros:
Obsidian allows you to customise anything you want while providing you with the basic functions of any digital note taking app. It has everything imaginable such as AI Chatbots, a completely personalised approach to the interface, as well as organising your life and notes into one seamless platform. A unique feature of obsidian is the ability to cross link between notes using hyperlinks. This could be useful when dealing with large projects with many moving parts. It could also be useful if you have many components or perspectives to your notes that you need to explore. For example, If you need to compile a list of book reviews for a subject with a list of books, the hyperlinks could be used to separate the two parts. Just as a cherry on tip, obsidian is free for personal use. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, obsidian has the potential to change your digital workspace entirely.
Cons:
It requires you to have to be dedicated to discovering how to use its interface and tools effectively. If you are someone who feels that the learning curve that obsidian poses is not appealing or worth it, you should probably give this a miss.
Pros:
Microsoft OneNote is on the market to be the best notetaking app of all time. This is a must, especially if you are someone who is exploring the digital note taking space for the first time. OneNote is incredibly flexible, adapting to your preferred design for the interface as well as your specific needs. You can integrate images, toggle between using a stylus for both handwritten notes and text based notes, as well as the added benefit that it is compatible with any system. The canvas itself has no defined structure, allowing you to add the notes anywhere on the page and arrange it however you like, making it perfect for students who have to take long and different forms of notes such as mindmaps and lecture notes. Furthermore, in this evolving day and age the integration of AI through the collaboration with copilot serves as an additional bonus to an already comprehensive app. The most attractive benefit is that it is free, making it highly accessible. OneNote is also extremely integrated with other apps such as notion or google calendar, helping you create the perfect digital workspace for yourself and your needs.
Cons:
While OneNote seems perfect on paper, we have to consider the storage that it may take up. While it does feed off the free 5GB OneDrive storage, those with a large volume of notes or larger files may need additional storage which has to be purchased at a cost. Furthermore, it could slow down your system if the storage is exceptionally large in proportion.
Other apps to consider
Goodnotes: A digital note taking tool that prioritises handwritten notes with tools to aid the user to draw on their screens. It is suitable for those who feel that writing is the best and easiest method of note taking. However, it is important to note that you have to have the right tools to be able to utilise this tool effectively. It may be difficult for computer and phone users to make the greatest gain from this app as possible.
Joplin: A free app similar to Evernote that is useful when dealing with books and notes. However, joplin has a huge advantage over evernote as it supports markdown, meaning that it combines the note taking aspect of the book into the same file.
Which app should you choose?
If you value a simple but integrated platform, go for something that is more platform specific such as freeform or Apple Notes.
If you want to expand into the territory of creating a digital workspace or life, consider Notion or Obsidian
If you just want a simple yet integrated, personalised and specialised app for note taking Microsoft OneNote, Joplin or Goodnotes is the way to go.
Digital note taking is just as personal or detail oriented as handwritten or material notes so its important to find the best note taking app for you. Good note taking apps will feel natural and easy to incorporate into your daily life. In all, trial and error and see what works!
