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Best Onenote Alternatives for 2023

Launched 2003
159 features catalogued in the NoteApps database
Free
Last new feature added December 2022

Onenote is the grandfather of all note taking apps, for better and worse. Since launching nearly 20 years ago (!), Onenote has built a rich set of features, but it has struggled to keep pace with newer note taking alternatives that were built with mobile in mind.

As our analysis of Onenote shows, Onenote has historically never lacked for features. To the contrary, the most common laments one hears from Onenote users tend to be "too many features to navigate through" and "too slow to find the desired note."

In terms of feature coverage, Onenote's strength is in the numerous types of formatting that can be embedded in notes, including Microsoft Office documents. When it comes to collaboration, backlinks, or note publishing, the weaknesses of being the oldest note app on the market become more apparent.

The Can't-Go-Wrong Onenote Alternatives

For users who want a blend of Onenote's best features, our research highlights four apps that stand apart as favorite destinations for past Onenote users.

GoodNotes
GoodNotes vs OneNote full comparison
65 features catalogued • Launched 2011

Better than OneNote

  • Better overall pen experience with richer customization options
  • Superior PDF reading and annotating features
  • Robust page size options & export formats

Room for Improvement

  • Fewer text formatting options and no tables
  • No infinite canvas for your notes like in OneNote
  • No Windows, Linux or Android version
GoodNotes 5 is the Apple-only OneNote alternative for people that want powerful handwriting and document annotation. What GoodNotes lacks cross-platform availability, it makes up with a better executed digital pen experience. Where the infinite size, unlimited-zoom canvas makes OneNote great for detailed diagrams, the fixed-size note format in GoodNotes doesn't lock you in and offers plenty more export options.
Evernote
Evernote vs OneNote full comparison
168 features catalogued • Launched 2008

Better than OneNote

  • Better note organization via hierarchical tags
  • More polished search, including OCR and note quick-open
  • Better web clipping

Room for Improvement

  • Significantly fewer drawing capabilites compared to OneNote
  • Slower than OneNote in most of our tests
  • Free version lacks features and imposes a device limit
If drawing and handwriting are not at the core of your note-taking flow, then Evernote is one of the no-brainer options on the market for you. Evernote brings to the table a truly powerful web clipper, very capable searching and tags that can be infinitely nested, which places it amongst the most competent note-taking apps for capturing and organizing content.
Notion
Notion vs OneNote full comparison
185 features catalogued • Launched 2016

Better than OneNote

  • DIY potential via databases and table formulas
  • Superior note collaboration and publishing
  • Large collection of community-sourced note templates

Room for Improvement

  • No drawing or handwriting supported
  • So-so mobile app ratings
  • Limited offline use
If you're switching from OneNote, expect much more than just a note taker. Through its unique blend of collaboration, publishing and table manipulation features, Notion can be a co-op wiki, a personal blog website, a database for your book library and even a task manager. For OneNote users on the iPad, if drawing pictures and diagrams is not central to your work flow, iOS 14 has got you covered with its Scribble feature.
Craft
Craft vs OneNote full comparison
146 features catalogued • Launched 2019

Better than OneNote

  • Modern, award-winning design
  • Best iPad app among note apps tested
  • Bidirectional linking available

Room for Improvement

  • No Windows, Linux or Android version (web version in beta)
  • No image OCR
  • No table support
If you're in the Mac ecosystem, Craft offers many features beloved by Onenote users, including PDF annotation, native drawing faculties, and drag-and-drop text positioning. Craft was created almost 20 years after the Onenote's debut, and Craft's celebrated design proves how much progress has been made in 20 years.

🧐 Personalized OneNote alternative recommendations

Choose a platform and at least one feature group below. Results will be sorted by which note apps share the most features with OneNote, with precedence given to apps that offer a superset of the features you expect.

All OneNote Alternative Note Apps Analyzed

As of February 2023, NoteApps.info has indexed 31 note taking apps across 281 features in 17 feature domains. We prioritize new note apps and features to analyze based on the votes of our community. This lets us provide you a data-backed take on which note apps will best suit your individual tastes.

Amplenote
Launched 2019
Apple Notes
Launched 2011
Asana
Launched 2012
Bear
Launched 2016
Bundled Notes
Launched 2020
ClickUp
Launched 2017
Coda
Launched 2014
Craft
Launched 2019
Evernote
Launched 2008
GoodNotes
Launched 2011
Google Keep
Launched 2013
Joplin
Launched 2017
Logseq
Launched 2020
Mem
Launched 2019
Nimbus Note
Launched 2015
Notability
Launched 2010
Notejoy
Launched 2017
Notion
Launched 2016
Obsidian
Launched 2020
Dropbox Paper
Launched 2015
Reflect
Launched 2021
RemNote
Launched 2020
Roam Research
Launched 2019
Standard Notes
Launched 2016
Supernotes
Launched 2020
Tana
Launched 2022
Taskade
Launched 2017
Things
Launched 2009
TiddlyWiki
Launched 2004
Workflowy
Launched 2010

A general summary of each app compared to OneNote is provided from Google results below.

How the most popular note taking apps compare to OneNote generally

Want to dig beyond personalized note app recommendations? Here's how the rest of the field compares to OneNote as of 2023. All note apps are sorted alphabetically.

Amplenote logo
Amplenote

Amplenote isn't especially similar to Onenote. The two share support for several formatting features, and both allow deep hierarchies to be used to organize notes. Amplenote supports more robust security features, note publishing, backlinking, transclusion, and other modern note taking features that Onenote lacks. The biggest reason to switch from Onenote to Amplenote is if you use your note taking app to organize your to-do list. While to-do lists are an afterthought in Onenote, they're central to Amplenote.

Apple Notes logo
Apple Notes

Guiding Tech provides a nicely detailed rundown with lots of screenshots at https://www.guidingtech.com/apple-notes-vs-onen....

Their conclusion is that "If you use a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad heavily, then you might be comfortable in Apple's ecosystem with the Apple Notes. However, you should give Microsoft OneNote a shot to experience if you're missing out on something. Especially the capability to store website clips."

Asana logo
Asana

Most of the user-review websites place these two apps in pretty similar territory as of late 2020. The biggest advantage of Asana is its team integration and the ability to send tasks to team members.

Bear logo
Bear

Guiding Tech offers a comparison of the two at https://www.guidingtech.com/onenote-vs-bear-not.... Their conclusion is "Both OneNote and Bear Notes are excellent note-taking apps. If you want something free and works across all platforms, then go with OneNote. Bear Notes offer better UI, robust organization with tags, and a bunch of theme options to spice up the software experience. As for now, I’m sliding with OneNote..."

Coda logo
Coda

There aren't a lot of resources on the internet that directly compare these two apps, since their use case tends to be quite different. Coda is a much different product than Onenote in that it focuses on teams, collaborative writing, and spreadsheets. Onenote is a tool better suited for individual use. The fact that Coda was launched almost 15 years after Onenote is apparently in the design & speed advantages enjoyed by Coda.

Evernote logo
Evernote

This comparison is battle of the two original heavyweights from the first generation note taking apps. ComputerWorld weighs in on how they compare here https://www.computerworld.com/article/2488890/d... In support of Evernote, they repeatedly mention how great its Web Clipper is compared to Onenote.

Joplin logo
Joplin

A great review from late 2020 is available at https://osgav.run/post/onenote-vs-joplin.html. It points out how much more automation-friendly Joplin is, and how the local storage prevents situations where note content can be lost due to Microsoft shenanigans.

Nimbus Note logo
Nimbus Note

Nimbus has created a dedicated page to list out the advantages they hold over Onenote, check it out here https://nimbusweb.me/nimbusnote-vs-onenote.php. As they summarize, "Slowed down by OneNote’s dated, clunky interface? Need more integrations that actually work? Switch to Nimbus!"

Notejoy logo
Notejoy

NoteJoy has created a page dedicated to listing their advantages over Onenote, you can review it for yourself here https://notejoy.com/onenote-alternative. They summarize by saying "Notejoy is a fast and beautiful way for teams to capture, share, and organize their notes. Unlike OneNote, Notejoy is built to be collaborative from the ground up."

Notion logo
Notion

Guiding Tech compares Onenote to Notion here https://www.guidingtech.com/notion-vs-onenote-c.... They state "Notion is positioning itself as a cross between note-taking app (OneNote), to-do lists (Todoist), Kanban (Trello), calendar (Google Calendar) and database management (Airtable) apps. It’s a nice concept. Notion is powerful and suited for power users. That said, security is still not there yet"

Obsidian logo
Obsidian

Slant.co https://www.slant.co/versus/2130/37045/~microso... (beware the ad payload in Chrome) gives Obsidian higher marks than Onenote in every category they rate. In particular, they call Obsidian "the #1 Personal Knowledge Base" app, whereas Onenote comes in at #11 on that front.

Dropbox Paper logo
Dropbox Paper

Guiding Tech provides a screenshot-rich comparison of the apps at https://www.guidingtech.com/dropbox-paper-vs-on.... In support of Dropbox Paper, they summarize its advantage saying "If collaborating with peers, think business and enterprise solutions, is your priority and you need something less flashy with third-party app support, go for Dropbox Paper."

Roam Research logo
Roam Research

Onenote and Roam are about as apples-to-oranges as you can find from two apps. Roam is built to make networked note taking possible, which enables new modes of thought. For users that don't need to create content in a flat note (Roam is implemented exclusively through a hierarchy, like Workflowy), Roam offers modern accouterments Onenote lacks.

Supernotes logo
Supernotes

SuperNotes themselves tackles the advantages they afford relative to Onenote: https://supernotes.app/alternative-to-onenote. The top factors they mention:
1. Fast, like really fast
2. Easy to learn
3. Collaboration

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Personalized Alternatives

  • Best Note Taking Apps of 2022
  • Best Evernote alternatives
  • Best Onenote alternatives
  • Best Notion alternatives
  • Best Roam Research alternatives
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