Top Mac Applications for Efficient Note-Taking
With the proliferation of digital tools, physical notebooks are becoming a thing of the past for many Mac users. The question isn't what note-taking method to choose, but rather which application among the numerous options excels at organizing and streamlining the process.
Note-taking, an essential aspect of life, can either be a chore or a seamless experience, depending on the tools employed. A less-than-optimal choice for a note-taking app can transform a simple task into a headache.
As technology evolves, various applications for Mac, iPad, and iOS have emerged, some incorporating AI, to ease the process of jotting down information. The strategic decision lies in finding an application that caters to a user's specific needs, whether it is the ability to scribble down quick thoughts or create elaborate notes for academic or professional purposes.
During the course of researching this piece, various note-taking applications were tested. Some applications were merely average, while others shone brilliantly and earned their place on this list of the top eight note-taking applications for Mac.
What Makes a Note-taking App Exceptional?
Before delving into the best note-taking applications available, it is essential to discuss the factors that contribute to an application's excellence. First, the application should be easy to navigate, with simplicity being paramount. Avoiding unnecessary complexity makes it effortless for users to utilize the available features.
Quality is more critical than quantity when it comes to an application's features. These features should serve a purpose and be effortless to grasp. When choosing an application, it is vital to focus on the functionalities required, as a single practical feature can be worth its weight in numerous unnecessary ones.
Lastly, pricing plays a crucial role in selecting a note-taking application. There is a wide range of pricing for these applications, each offering a unique set of features. Only the user can decide whether an application's cost is worth its features, having examined reviews from past users before making a purchase.
The Top Eight Note-taking Applications for Mac
macOS Notes
One of the most convenient ways to take notes on a Mac is using its built-in application - Notes. This convenient tool allows users to take notes while running other applications or websites in the background, making it an invaluable tool for research or multitasking.
Previously, the Notes app was a relatively basic free alternative amidst a sea of premium offerings. Although this remains true to some extent, Apple has made significant improvements to its functionality, including seamless syncing across all devices, shared collaborative notes, hashtag note categorizing, to-do list creation, and text highlighting for notes.
Pricing: Free
Notes occupies a middle ground between more comprehensive options like Evernote and OneNote, and simpler ones like Bear. While it lacks the flexibility offered by paid options, it remains the best option for users seeking a free solution. Recent updates have added features such as live audio transcription and inline math solving, making it an even more attractive choice.
Notion
Notion is a innovative online note-taking application that enables collaboration among users. In addition to the standard text editing features, Notion includes a hybrid editor, allowing users to customize their text and create tables to elevate their notes. Other beneficial features include the ability to embed images and media, along with hierarchical organization options for easy note retrieval.
Notion doubles as more than just a simple note-taking tool, offering a range of functionality depending on the user's needs. For those seeking a work or school-focused note-taking space, Notion's integration options such as AI content generation, summarization, and translation make it an ideal choice.
Pricing: Free
Notion's free plan is quite generous. Users can create an unlimited number of pages and blocks, sync across devices, and invite up to five guests, all without spending a penny. Upgrading to the Plus plan ($8/month, billed annually) provides benefits such as unlimited file uploads and guests. For teams, the Team plan also starts at $8/month per user and offers additional tools for staying organized.
Evernote
Evernote is currently one of the most popular note-taking applications in the world. The advantage of Evernote lies in its ability to read various file types, making it easy to integrate notes or important information from other applications. This versatile tool also lets users take and insert clippings from websites, making it simple to copy and paste lengthy texts.
While Evernote is far from a basic note-taking tool, it offers an ideal solution for those looking to add, organize, and centralize more than just text. Features such as AI Note Cleanup and AI Search make Evernote even more efficient.
Pricing: Free
Evernote's free plan is somewhat limited, with a maximum of 50 notes and one notebook, along with a 60MB monthly upload limit. If this isn't sufficient, the Personal plan ($14.99/month) grants users unlimited notes and notebooks, along with syncing across devices and 10GB of uploads per month. The Professional plan ($17.99/month) offers additional features such as calendar integration and support for tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Microsoft Teams, making it more suitable for work setups.
OneNote
OneNote, developed by Microsoft, was designed to emulate the experience of using a high-quality physical notebook. OneNote features tabs that facilitate effortless page switching, along with the option to color-code tabs to keep things neat and organized. One of the most appealing aspects of OneNote is its affordability: it's entirely free to use.
OneNote can be considered the closest match to Evernote, with a more familiar interface tailored for those who aren't fond of Evernote. It offers the ability to upload various types of media, organize it as desired for future reference, and share it with others. The primary difference between Evernote and OneNote is the presentation of information, with OneNote allowing users to transform their notes into a visually appealing magazine format.
Pricing: $100/year or $10/month
OneNote is available as a free, standalone app on macOS and iOS. It can be downloaded from the Mac App Store or directly from Microsoft without the need for a Microsoft 365 subscription. However, some advanced features, such as Microsoft Copilot integration, require a Microsoft 365 subscription. The Microsoft 365 Personal plan costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year, while the Family plan is priced at $12.99/month or $129.99/year.
Bear
Bear offers a minimal, user-friendly interface for organizing notes with tags and grouping them together. The standout feature of Bear is the ability to format notes using Markdown, simplifying the process for users familiar with this type of text markup.
While Bear does allow embedding of images and media, it is not the best option for users seeking to archive large quantities of media or to format it in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Those looking for a pure note-taking experience may find Bear to be the closest available option on the market today.
Pricing: $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr
Bear offers a free version with basic note-taking features, including Markdown support and tagging. Upgrading to Bear Pro ($2.99/month or $29.99/year) grants users additional features like syncing across devices and custom themes. A 14-day free trial is available for testing the premium features before subscribing.
Standard Notes
Standard Notes boasts exceptional security features, encrypting users' notes as they are written. Rest assured, only the note-taker can access and read these notes. Standard Notes also facilitates efficient organization, allowing users to tag notes and group them together, along with a search tool for finding keywords in previously written notes.
In addition to its security features, Standard Notes offers useful organization and retrieval options, including a daily photo feature for personal journals and a Daily Notebook space for personal diary storage.
Pricing: Free or $90 to $120/year
Standard Notes grants users free end-to-end encryption, unlimited notes, and multi-device sync. Upgrading to the Productivity Plan ($90/year) adds features like rich text editing, markdown, checklists, folders, and a year of note history. The Professional Plan ($120/year) provides 100GB of encrypted file storage, unlimited note history, and offline file access.
Slite
Slite offers an intuitive text-to-HTML conversion tool and enables users to embed images, videos, voice memos, and more into their notes. Slite provides a table of contents feature, which is particularly useful when taking extensive notes.
Slite is more than just a note-taking tool, doubling as a collaboration platform similar to project management applications like Asana. Slite integrates with popular platforms like Google Suite, Slack, and Loom, making it an invaluable tool for teamwork and collaboration.
Pricing: From $8/month
Slite no longer offers a free plan, but it does provide a 14-day free trial. The Standard plan starts at $8/month per user and includes unlimited docs, dashboards, and read-only sharing. The $12.50/month Premium plan adds advanced permissions, custom domains, and OpenID SSO for enterprise tools like Okta and Azure for a more tailored user experience.
Ulysses
Lastly, Ulysses is an exclusive application for Mac note-taking that allows users to write long-form notes without distraction. Ulysses features a focus mode that eliminates unnecessary pop-ups, notifications, and more while users are note-taking. Users can also publish their work directly to WordPress for storage or sharing purposes.
Ulysses stands out as the best note-taking platform for writers due to its minimal interface designed for distraction-free writing. The application's organization options, such as the ability to create notebooks and folders for various purposes, make it highly adaptable for a multitude of tasks.
Pricing: $6/mo or $40/yr
Ulysses does not offer a free option, but a reduced price is available for students. To take advantage of this offer, users simply need to apply through the provided link in the settings menu.
- The ease of navigating an application, with simplicity being paramount, contributes to its excellence, making it effortless for users to utilize available features.
- Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to an application's features, and these features should serve a purpose and be effortless to grasp, with a focus on the functionalities required.
- Mac's built-in application, Notes, allows users to take notes while running other applications or websites in the background, making it valuable for research or multitasking. Its recent updates have added features like live audio transcription and inline math solving, making it even more attractive.
- Notion is an innovative online note-taking application that caters to users seeking a work or school-focused note-taking space, offering a range of functionality, such as AI content generation, summarization, and translation.
- Ulysses is an exclusive Mac note-taking application designed for distraction-free writing, featuring a focus mode that eliminates unnecessary pop-ups, notifications, and more while users are note-taking, making it ideal for writers.
