OneNote is a well-known Microsoft product for taking notes. Safe to say, it can do more than any other app on the list. OneNote feels like a paper (especially a desktop/tablet version), where you can click anywhere on the page and start creating. Want to draw a little smiley in the bottom of the page? Just choose a pen tool and go ahead. Want to quickly write something over a picture? Just click where you need, and start typing. No need to ‘tab and space’ your way there.

Did I forget to mention that it’s absolutely free? Yes, you heard me right. No limitations whatsoever, use every available feature — be it text editing, doodling and hand-writing or even scanning.

The good

Cross-platform with OneDrive sync

A lot of text formatting options

Cool drawing tools

Absolutely free, no string attached

The bad

Can sometimes load slowly

Requires Microsoft account

The only limitation is the size of your OneDrive (5GB for non-paying users)

Look-alikes:

Notability

It’s quite similar to OneNote in terms of look and feel — it mimics the real notebook, in which you can write, draw… well — take notes.The downside here is that it’s only available on AppStore and is a paid app. Squid

Squid resembles Notability, but is on the other side of the barricades — Android devices only. It is free to use, but has some premium features like some additional tools and synchronization.

I wasn’t sure if I should include Notion into this list, but here we are. It’s not a simple note-taking app, but rather a ‘all-in-one’ workplace. It features a concept of ‘pages’, where you can nest one into another. Page can be anything you like: a simple text, a calendar, a kanban board and even a database (basically a spreadsheet). So Notion is also useful for managing your tasks. It is a cross-platform tool, meaning you can use it in any browser and on any device. It can be accessed while you’re offline — Notion caches your pages when you have access to network, and syncs the changes made in offline mode.

The good

Rich formatting options

Has plenty of helpful templates for pages

Cross-platform

Allows embedding of many things (including google docs and spreadsheets)

The bad

Free plan has a limit of 1000 ‘blocks’ (basically every text piece, picture, etc.), but devs promise it amounts to ⅓ of “Moby-Dick”

Can be overwhelming at first

Look-alikes:

Dropbox Paper

Paper feels like a limited version of Notion. It’s free, but requires Dropbox account. So if you’re already a Dropbox user, you may like it. Quip

Again, Quip feels very similar to Notion in terms of ‘all-in-one’ workspace, letting you work with docs, spreadsheets and slides in one place. While Quip gives a more polished feel, it doesn’t have any free plans. Otherwise they’re quite on par with Notion.

Google Keep