Comparison of Notetaking Software: History
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The tables below compare features of notable note-taking software.

  • note-taking

1. General Information

Name Developer(s) License Platforms
AllMyNotes Organizer Vladonai Software Proprietary, Freemium Microsoft Windows
BasKet Note Pads KDE Open source (GPL) Unix-like (KDE)
CintaNotes Cinta Software Proprietary, Freemium Microsoft Windows
ConnectedText Eduardo Mauro Proprietary, Commercial Microsoft Windows
Day One Bloom Built Proprietary, Commercial macOS, iOS
DéjàClick AlertSite Proprietary, Commercial Linux, macOS, Unix, Microsoft Windows (Mozilla add-on)
Dropbox Paper Dropbox Proprietary, Freemium Android, IOS, web-based
Evernote Evernote Corporation Proprietary, Freemium for personal use, per-seat licensing for business Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows 7/8/10, Microsoft Windows Phone, and web-based
Gnote Aurimas Černius Open source (GPL v3) Linux
Google Keep Google Proprietary, no-cost Android, iOS, Chrome OS, browser based
KeyNote NF Marek Jedliński, Tranglos Software Open source (MPL) Microsoft Windows
Memonic Nektoon AG Proprietary, Freemium[1] Android (not released yet), iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/Mobile web-based
Microsoft OneNote Microsoft Proprietary, Shareware/Freeware/Freemium[2] Android, macOS, iOS (iPad, iPhone), Microsoft Windows 7/8/10, Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2/2012R2/2016, Microsoft Windows Phone 8/8.1/10, web-based, mobile web
MyInfo Milenix Software Proprietary, Shareware Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7
MyNotex Massimo Nardello Open source (GPL) Linux
Notational Velocity Zachary Schneirov Open source (GPL v3) macOS
Notes Apple Proprietary macOS, iOS, web-based
Notizen .NET ? No-cost, unknown license Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7
Okular Okular Team (KDE) Open source (GPL) KDE-enabled Linux, Unix, Microsoft Windows, macOS, *BSD[3]
Open-Sankoré Sankoré Open source (GPL) Linux, macOS, Unix, Microsoft Windows
Org-mode (Emacs) Carsten Dominik, et al. Open source (GPL) Linux, macOS, Unix, Microsoft Windows (Emacs mode)
Outline Gorillized Corporation Proprietary, Commercial macOS, iOS
PDF Studio Qoppa Software Proprietary, Shareware Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, web-based
Personal Knowbase Bitsmith Software Proprietary, Commercial Microsoft Windows
QOwnNotes Patrizio Bekerle Open source (GPL) GNU/Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows
Qiqqa Quantisle Ltd. Proprietary, Freemium Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8, Web-based, Android
Simplenote Automattic inc. Open source Cross-platform
TagSpaces TagSpaces UG Open source (AGPL) Cross-platform (browser, web-based)
TiddlyWiki Jeremy Ruston Open source (BSD) Cross-platform (single html file, runs in browser, on a nodeJS server, on Android and IOS)
Tomboy Alex Graveley Open source (LGPL) Cross-platform (Mono/GTK+)
TreeDBNotes ? Proprietary, Freemium Microsoft Windows
Ulysses The Soulmen SaaS macOS, iOS
Whizfolders AvniTech Solutions Proprietary, Commercial Microsoft Windows
WikidPad Michael Butscher Open source (BSD) Cross-platform (Python)
Microsoft Windows Journal Microsoft Proprietary, Commercial Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC edition, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows 7/8/10 (included with OS)
Zim Jaap Karssenberg Open source (GPL) Cross-platform (Python, GTK+)
ZOHO Notebook ZOHO Corporation Proprietary, Commercial, Freemium Self-hosted. SaaS.

2. Basic Features

Name Organizing principle(s) Outline bulleting with indent Tabbed sections Sync PDF annotate and save
[unclear]		 White­board Ink-pen input Handwriting recognition Spell check Search Replace Printing File save/export/import formats
AllMyNotes Organizer Tree Yes No Yes No No No No Yes Yes ? Yes Proprietary, encrypted; import: plain text, RTF, CSV, images, HTML; exports: plain text, HTML, RTF, images
BasKet Note Pads Tree, tags ? No No No Yes No No Yes Yes ? No Rich text; export as HTML; import text files
CintaNotes Notebooks, sections, tags Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes ? Yes Proprietary; export to Unicode text, XML and HTML
ConnectedText Wiki, Tree and Categories Yes Yes No No No No No Yes Yes ? Yes Proprietary (SQL); Export to text, XML, CHM and HTML. Import from text, HTML, XML and RTF
Day One Chronological, tags Yes No Yes[4] No No No No Yes Yes ? Yes[5] Markdown (in GUI), XML (data file); Export as: pdf, txt, md
DéjàClick ? ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? Yes[6] XML; notes may include rich text or HTML
Org-mode (Emacs) tree, tags Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes ? Yes LaTeX, HTML, DocBook, Taskjuggler, PDF, Freemind, XOXO, iCalendar
Evernote tags, Notebooks, Stacks Yes No Yes Yes No Partial[7] Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Notes stored as XML; both free and paid versions allow notes of any file type
Gnote Notebooks ? No Yes Yes No ? ? Yes Yes ? Yes NoteXmlFormat, HTML, PDF
Google Keep tags, colors No No Yes No Yes No ? Partial[8] Yes ? No Proprietary; export to Google Doc and thence to PDF, Word, ODT etc.
KeyNote NF Notebooks, notes and tree Yes Yes No No No No No Yes Yes ? Yes Internal: combination of TXT and RTF; import/export: TXT, RTF, HTML, Treepad
Memonic ? ? No Yes Yes No No ? ? ? ? Yes Notes stored as XML; can attach any filetype
Microsoft OneNote Notebooks, sections, pages Yes Yes Yes[9] Yes[10] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Open, XML,[11] import from web pages and other applications[clarification needed]
MyInfo ? Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes ? Yes Proprietary, encrypted; import: plain text, RTF, CSV, MS Word, images, web pages; exports: plain text, HTML, RTF, CSV, MS Word
MyNotex ? ? ? Yes No No No No ? Yes ? Yes Sqlite based, zipped attachments; export to HTML; copying as LaTeX; import text files, OpenOffice.org documents
Notizen .NET tree ? No No No No No No ? Yes ? No TXT (ANSI/Unicode), RTF, ALX
Okular ? ? ? No Yes[12] No No No ? ? ? Yes PDF, PS, TIFF, CHM, DjVu, DVI, XPS, ODF, others; export PDF+notes for sending to other Okular users
Open-Sankoré tree, notebooks No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No ? Yes Save/export: PDF, IWB, UBZ; Import: PDF, IWB, UBZ, images, image directories
Outline Tree-structured notebooks, sections, pages Yes Yes Yes[13] Yes No Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes MS OneNote format, export/import as PDF
PDF Studio ? ? ? ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? Yes PDF
Personal Knowbase tags ? ? ? No No ? ? ? ? ? Yes Export to RTF, HTML, TXT, CSV
Qiqqa tags, brainstorm No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes ? Yes Proprietary, PDF, Brainstorm; export to RTF and Word
Simplenote tags Yes No Yes No No No No Yes Yes ? Yes Export to XML
TagSpaces tags, files, directories Yes No No No No No No No Yes ? Yes PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, ICO, WEBP, SVG, PDF, HTML, MHT, MHTML, MARKDOWN, TXT, XML, JSON, OGG, OGV, WEBM, ODT, ODS, ODP, ODG, EPUB, ZIP
TiddlyWiki tags (wikiwords) Yes Yes Yes Via plugin No ? No Yes(via browser) Yes ? Yes HTML, json, txt,csv
Tomboy ? Yes ? Yes No No No No Yes Yes ? Yes NoteXmlFormat, HTML, PDF, wiki-formats
TreeDBNotes tree Yes Yes ? ? ? No No Yes Yes ? Yes RTF, HTML, txt
Ulysses Notebooks, sections, tags Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Rich text; export as HTML; import text files; markdown editing.
WikidPad tags (wikiwords) ? No No No No No No ? ? ? Yes HTML
Microsoft Windows Journal ? ? No ? No ? Yes Yes[14] ? ? ? Yes Proprietary
Zim tags (wikiwords) Yes No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes, using installed web browser Stored in modified DokuWiki Markdown; export: HTML, LaTeX, Pandoc Markdown, Sphinx RST (reStructuredText)
Name Organizing principle(s) Outline bulleting with indent Tabbed sections Sync PDF annotate and save White­board Ink-pen input Handwriting recognition Spell check Search Replace Printing File save/export/import formats

3. Advanced Formatting and Content

Name Drawing atop text
[unclear]		 Text box, flow diagram
[unclear]		 Text and paragraph formatting Insert hyperlink
[unclear]		 Insert image Resize image Insert table Insert audio Insert video Insert SWF Attachment
[unclear]		 Other objects Remarks / other features
AllMyNotes Organizer No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Alarms, check-boxes, bullets, phones, advanced links, autosaving; last cursor position memory,passwords on tree folders,failure-resistant self-healing DB engine  
BasKet Note Pads ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? No No No No Yes tags (check boxes, etc.) Adding, managing notes by category, autosave
Cherrytree ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? Yes ?  
CintaNotes No No Yes Yes No ? No No No No Yes Links to notes Tagging and searching for tags, tag hierarchy
ConnectedText No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No Yes No Yes Scripting of pages with Python and other scripting languages. LaTex, Scripts, RSS Feeds, Transclusion, Directed Graphs and Flowcharts by GraphViz, many other features.
Day One No No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No Yes No No tags, bullets, numbering, line, programming code snippets editable note metadata (date/time, location, weather, motion activity, music playing, step count)
DéjàClick ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Annotate live web pages via DéjàNotes and share scripts
Org-mode (Emacs) ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No No No Yes Advanced linking,[clarification needed] bullets, tags, checkboxes, full spreadsheet, embedding of programming code, formulas, markup Major mode of Emacs; uses plain-text; includes ToDos, spreadsheet, deadlines, encryption, reminders, agenda, calendar
Evernote No No Yes Yes Yes Yes (at least Microsoft Windows version (06/2016)) Yes Yes Yes No Yes Check-box, line, tags Business and personal notes integrated in same client; businesses have control over business notes, but cannot see personal notes
Gnote No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No ? Port of Tomboy to C++; wiki-style linked notes
Google Keep No No Yes Yes Yes ? Partial[15] Yes ? No No Google Calendar reminders Notes can be shared with other Google Keep users.
IPython Notebook ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Part of IPython shell; allows for programming code, output and annotation to be combined in single interactive environment
KeyNote NF No No Yes Yes Yes[16] Yes Yes[17] No No No Yes OLE objects; "virtual nodes" which integrate and edit the content of external plain-text or rich-text files; internal links; mirror nodes. Text processing; tree numbering and sorting; custom tree icons; node checkboxes; checkbox filtering; search filtering; reminder alarms; compressed or encrypted notebooks; auto-minimize and/or auto-lock when idle; quick access key for fast notes; additional scratchpad; autosave of up to 9 previous file versions; automatic clipboard capturing; read-only notebooks or notes; macros; templates; text shortcuts; plug-ins; bookmarks; custom keyboard shortcuts; program can be made portable through "Options" setting
Memonic ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  
Microsoft OneNote Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[18] Yes Yes Yes OLE, bullets, line, flags, formulas No local storage of notebooks on Mac
MyInfo ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No No Yes OLE, bullets, numbering, page breaks, advanced links Tags; filters; calendar; reminders
MyNotex ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Activity lists; tags; notes management by subject; encryption with AES or GPG; multilingual
Notational Velocity ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Instant open and searching
Okular ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  
Open-Sankoré Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes plug-ins, web pages, applications Annotate live desktop applications and web pages; autosave; plug-in system; audio recording
Outline Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No No No Yes Tags Password protection, insert web pages, local storage, MS OneNote compatibility, text highlighting, bulleted and numbered lists, free placement of notes on a page
PDF Studio ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  
Personal Knowbase ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Passwords; portable[clarification needed]
Qiqqa Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? No No No No No PDF, brainstorm, citations  
TagSpaces No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Tags, plugins Plugins, you can present your local images, videos and music to your TV via ChromeCast. You can create a personal "wiki" for tracking of your projects, ideas or memories.
Simplenote No No Yes Yes No ? No No No No No    
TiddlyWiki ? Yes(with plugin) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes HTML, LaTeX, markdown plugins Plugins; user scripts
Tomboy Partial No Partial Yes No No No No No No No Note Links, highlighting, fixed-width Reminders; to do-lists; formulas in LaTeX
TreeDBNotes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No No Yes Yes ?  
WikidPad ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? personal wiki software
Microsoft Windows Journal ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  
Zim No Yes[19] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Plugins; Versioning; LaTeX integration (formulas, export); HTML export (including slideshow); GNOME's Zeitgeist integration; Lilypond music sheet integration ASCII diagram drawing; Tags; Tasks; Table of Content navigation; SQLite3 search indexing; Autosaving; Last cursor position memory; Tabbed multi-documents
Name Drawing atop text Text box, flow diagram Text and paragraph formatting Insert hyperlink Insert image Resize image Insert table Insert audio Insert video Insert SWF Attachment Other objects Remarks / other features

The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Software:Comparison_of_notetaking_software

References

  1. Free users limited to 100 notes.
  2. Depends on platform and version.
  3. "Okular home page". http://okular.kde.org/. Retrieved 19 June 2013. "... Okular works on multiple platforms, including but not limited to Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X [macOS], *BSD, etc." 
  4. Data is synced between devices by Dropbox or iCloud.
  5. Printable via exported pdf files.
  6. Note may be printed and saved as web pages via the Firefox browser.
  7. No support for ink notes in Mac version. Cannot mix ink with text
  8. On android and Chrome OS uses platform's spell checker.
  9. Can sync with OneDrive and SharePoint.
  10. OneNote 2010 and OneNote 2007 Service Pack 2 and beyond have it built in. A Save As PDF add-in is available for earlier versions of OneNote 2007. Can save to PDF with add-in.
  11. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd924743(v=office.12).aspx
  12. Saved in separate file.
  13. Notes can be synced between devices via Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint and iCloud.
  14. Handwritten notes are searchable.
  15. Lists only, with check-box facility.
  16. As the RTF format stores pictures internally as bitmaps (.bmp), this leads to large notebook files.
  17. Tables must be created in another program. After pasting the table into Keynote NF, one can edit the cells and add new rows, but changing the size of the columns and adding or removing columns is not possible. These operations can be done by pasting the table into another program (for example, MS Word).
  18. Can also search in audio.
  19. Using plugins
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