Pick a Notes App by How You Actually Take Notes
Published · updated · 4 min read
Key takeaways
- Obsidian stores plain markdown files on your own device and works fully offline.
- Notion is the best choice when other people edit the same page with you.
- Apple Notes is free, instant and Apple-only — no databases, no cross-platform reach.
- Evernote's strengths are OCR search and web clipping; its free tier is heavily restricted.
- A notes app that writes standard files can be moved; a proprietary one cannot.
The ranking at a glance
| # | Tool | Pricing | Twinover Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notion | freemium | 9.0 |
| 2 | Obsidian | freemium | 8.9 |
| 3 | Apple Notes | free | 8.2 |
| 4 | Evernote | freemium | 7.4 |
The question nobody asks: where do the files live?
Obsidian keeps your notes as plain markdown files in a folder you control. Apple Notes stores them in iCloud in its own format. Notion and Evernote keep them on the company's servers. If the company changes prices, shuts down, or you simply want your notes in a different tool in five years, only one of those four options is a copy-and-paste away.
Solo thinking versus shared pages
If your notes are for you, speed and offline reliability matter most, and Obsidian or Apple Notes win on both. If your notes are pages other people read and edit — a team wiki, a project doc, a shared list — Notion is the only one here built for that, with databases, permissions and live editing.
- Team wiki or shared database: Notion (free personal, Plus $10/user/mo)
- Personal knowledge base you own: Obsidian (free for personal use)
- Quick capture across Apple devices: Apple Notes (free)
- Archive of clippings and scans: Evernote
Offline is not a nostalgia feature
Obsidian runs with no network at all and opens instantly, because it is reading local files. Notion is weakest exactly there — big workspaces feel slow, and offline support is limited. If you write on trains, planes or in places with bad signal, that is a deciding factor rather than a nice-to-have.
The clipping and scanning niche
Evernote still does two things very well: searching text inside scanned images and PDFs, and clipping web pages. If your habit is saving receipts, documents and articles, that OCR search is worth the subscription even if you write your notes elsewhere. Its Personal plan is $14.99/mo and the free tier is heavily restricted.
What each one costs
Apple Notes is free and included. Obsidian is free for personal use, with Sync at $4/mo and Publish at $8/mo if you want those services. Notion is free for individuals and $10/user/mo on Plus. Evernote is the most expensive relative to what it adds for most people.
- Free and enough: Apple Notes, Obsidian (personal), Notion (individual)
- Worth paying for: Notion for teams, Obsidian Sync if you use several devices
- Only for a specific habit: Evernote for clipping, OCR and document archives
A rule that survives the next five years
Whatever you choose, keep the notes in a form you can read without the app. That usually means markdown or plain text as the long-term store, with whatever app you like on top. It also means the export button is more important than the feature list.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best free notes app?
- For Apple users, Apple Notes is free, fast and syncs automatically. For people who want structure and ownership, Obsidian is free for personal use and stores notes as plain markdown files you can open in any editor.
- Should I use Notion or Obsidian for a personal knowledge base?
- Obsidian, if you want speed, offline access and files you own. Notion, if your notes are shared with other people or need databases and views. The two are optimised for opposite things, which is why people often end up using both.
- Is Evernote still worth paying for?
- Only for a specific habit: saving scanned documents, receipts and web clippings and searching text inside them. For writing notes, free tools now cover most of what Evernote does, and Evernote's free tier is heavily restricted.
- How do I stop my notes being locked into one app?
- Choose a tool whose storage format is readable outside the app — markdown or plain text — and test the export once a year. Notion and Evernote can export, but the output loses structure, so the safest long-term store is a folder of plain files.