The benefits of taking notes can’t be stressed enough. For instance, taking notes can help you remember all those points that were discussed in a work meeting. These notes can act as a guideline for you and your team. Gone are the days when notes were taken by hand. In this digital age, people often use note-taking apps to make notes, and OneNote is often considered as one of the best apps. However, if you are looking for OneNote alternative or if you are not a big OneNote fan, this post is for you.
Why Do You Need OneNote Alternative for Windows 10?
Surely, Microsoft OneNote is a well-known and widely used note-taking app, yet not all can use this best app to take notes. With that said, for beginners, the OneNote app isn’t easy to use. Also, to sync data across devices having a Microsoft account is a must.
Besides, this OneNote just takes an ample amount of space and consumes many resources. Due to this or because of any other reasons, if want to give some other app are trying, you are reading the correct post.
In this article, we will discuss the top 10 best alternatives to Microsoft OneNote that can be easily used as its alternative and are software like OneNote.
Best OneNote Alternatives in 2022
1. Evernote
Supported Platforms: Windows, Android, Android Wear, Web, macOS, iOS, watchOS, &, Chrome OS
Price: Evernote Basic (Free), Evernote Premium ($69.99/year), Evernote Business ($14.99/user/month)
First on our list of best OneNote alternatives is Evernote. This alternative to OneNote is probably the best replacement for Microsoft OneNote. Using Evernote, you can structure your content according to your choice without redoing it for years.
Also, the way Evernote allows organizing notes into a different notebook is amazing. Using this software like OneNote you can create heaps of notebook in a smart way and manage multiple notes in one place easily. Moreover, Evernote makes notes sharing and collaboration with friends, colleagues, and anyone easy. Currently is not only the best OneNote alternative but is also the best note-taking app that can be used by everyone.
Space the new addition to Evernote is amazing and it makes team collaboration easy.
Other noteworthy features are:
- Web-clipper
- Audio and text notes
- Optical character recognition
- Secure note, and more.
2. Simplenote
Supported Platforms:Android, iOS, Web, Windows, macOS, Linux(.deb), Linux(.tar.gz)
Price: Free
Simplenote, as the name explains, is an easy to use app, to take notes. This free OneNote alternative offers a clean user interface and the way it lets you take notes is simply amazing. Also, syncing across devices is flawless. Using Simplenote best free OneNote alternative you can create a to-do list, reminder, notes, and more. Unlike Microsoft OneNote, it is simple to use and even offers dark mode.
Alongside, Simplenote lets you brainstorm ideas, and is light on system resources, the biggest advantage of Simplenote over Microsoft OneNote.
Plus, Simplenote lets you tag notes, thereby making notes organization easy. Lastly, this OneNote alternative for Windows is among a few apps compatible with Linux and is free.
3. Notion
Supported Platforms: Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, and Web
Price: Free, starts at $4/month/user
Although a new app to take down notes, it has made a prominent place for itself. This simple to use software like OneNote helps create projects, allocate to team members, add diversified documents, etc. Moreover, like OneNote, this versatile app makes creating notes super easy. Also, you can use tags to organize notes. Besides this, Notion also offers note history, checklists, team collaboration, list items, and more.
Its ‘/’ command feature for me is very useful, using it adding things like calendar, headings, sub-headings, tables, etc has become easy. Also, you can create flexible notes and add anything thereby helping create great internal linking.
Other noteworthy features:
- Embed support for video sharing, social media platforms.
- Rich link preview
In a nutshell, we can say Notion is a powerful alternative to OneNote that Windows users can enjoy using.
4. Laverna
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux x32, Linux x64
Price: Free
Concerned about data privacy? Don’t want tech giants like Microsoft to fiddle with your data?
Use Laverna, the privacy-focused, end-to-end encrypted note-taking app, that helps keep your data secure from onlookers and private companies that you don’t trust. Although a free Microsoft OneNote alternative, yet is efficient and secure. Using this free alternative to OneNote, you can easily create text-based notes and sync across devices.
Though not advanced like OneNote, yet Laverna, the free OneNote alternative has made its place due to extraordinary features like markdown editing, one you cannot find in OneNote. This means you can easily edit text and see a real-time preview thereby, easily making formatting corrections. Other noteworthy features are:
- To-do list
- Code highlighting
5. CintaNotes
Supported Platforms: Windows
Price: Free, starts at $39 for advanced users
Specifically, designed for Windows users, this best OneNote alternative for Windows helps take notes from anywhere and automatically organizes them. Using CintaNotes you can capture text from any application, attach files and images to notes. Moreover, this Microsoft OneNote alternative makes data synchronization across devices easy. You can also store notes into notebooks, tag notes using hierarchic tags, and do a full-text search.
The design of this OneNote alternative is kept simple and it offers everything you need from a note-taking app. In fact, it backs up all the notes hourly, daily, and weekly.
6. Google Keep
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Web, and Chrome OS
Price: Free
Fact
Google Keep isn’t available for Windows yet using its web version and the additional Chrome extension you can use the OneNote alternative. Additionally, the synchronization works with in-house cloud Google Drive, and you need a Google account to use Google Keep.
When a thing is backed by Google, there’s no doubt about its efficiency, hence Google Keep is considered as one of the best alternatives for OneNote. Also, the way Google Keep displays notes is amazing and it makes them look interesting. Alongside, you can also scan notes’ content without opening them. This color code feature is a bonus to me as it helps in note categorization.
Also, Google Keep easily collaborates with Google products and comes with an intuitive interface. This means you can easily switch emails to notes or can create drafts within notes. Moreover, Google Keep allows for creating to-do lists, attach photos, reminders, etc. Lastly, like Microsoft OneNote, you get a web clipper and this makes Google Keep the best OneNote alternative.
7. Zoho Notebook
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Web
Price: Free
Another feature-rich free OneNote alternative that you can use on different devices is Zoho Notebook. This best software like OneNote is simple to use and can be considered as the offspring of Google Keep & Evernote. Using it, you can easily create a Notebook with covers, create text & voice-notes, insert pictures, etc. Like Google Keep, it too offers a web clipping tool and comes with color-coded notes.
Zoho also allows syncing notes across devices. Wherewith Evernote, you have a restriction of syncing across only 2 devices, with Zoho top note-taking app a great alternative to OneNote, there’s no device limit. This makes Zoho a worth trying OneNote alternative that suits everyone.
8. Elephant
Supported Platforms: Windows
Price: Free
Elephant is a free alternative to OneNote and it offers an organizational structure like Evernote. It also helps in creating single notes, saving them thereby creating notebooks. This OneNote alternative moreover syncs data over devices and cloud.
Also, you can sync data with third-party apps like Dropbox, and others. In addition to this, the downside of Elephant when compared with OneNote is that the sync is not as seamless as with OneNote.
9. Turtl
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
Price: Free
Another privacy-focused; free OneNote alternative is Turtl. This software like OneNote provides a vault to keep notes, passwords, bookmarks, pictures, documents, and other sensitive data secure. The password created during account creating is used to build a cryptographic key to encrypt data.
In addition to this, the best part about Turtl is the management and sharing of notes within notebooks. It also allows using a board within a board. Surely, it isn’t as authoritative as OneNote but it’s suitable for those who are looking for privacy.
10. Keep It
Supported Platforms: macOS, iOS
Price: $49.99
Last on our list for the best OneNote alternative is Keep It. Compatible with macOS and iOS Keep It is a powerful alternative to OneNote, and it allows easy organization and creation of notes. Also, it is light on system resources, doesn’t heats up the device.
It also contains checklists, bullets, images, and more. Moreover, using iCloud you can easily sync notes and share them across devices.
FAQ –
What is replacing Microsoft OneNote?
Microsoft OneNote is being replaced by Evernote, Simplenote, and other OneNote alternatives mentioned in the post.
Is there a free version of Microsoft OneNote?
Yes, a free version of Microsoft OneNote is available but it has a space limit. This means you get only 15GB of space for free.
Does Google have an alternative to OneNote?
Yes, Google Keep is an amazing alternative to OneNote. Using it, you can sync notes and organize them in a color-coded manner.
Is OneNote free?
Yes, it is free but there is a storage limit restriction.
Which one is better Evernote or OneNote?
Evernote is surely better than OneNote as there is no storage limit. Moreover, it is easy to use.
Is OneNote worth using?
For those who love using Microsoft and want to sync across devices, OneNote is an amazing note-taking app. But sometimes for beginners using it becomes difficult.
What are the benefits of OneNote?
- Real-time collaboration
- Secures sensitive data
- Notes organization is made quick and easy
- Easy integration with other software