Compare the Top Note-Taking Apps for Mac as of November 2025 - Page 3

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    TheBrain

    TheBrain

    TheBrain Technologies

    Where can you really go on your computer today to hash out a new idea, current event, or expand your plans in a meaningful way? TheBrain lets you digitize your mind so you can literally see your thinking and refine your ideas. Each of your Thoughts comes to life on-screen with connections to other related Thoughts, creating a context for thinking and action. Your Brain can store an unlimited amount of all kinds of information. Write notes for all your ideas. Save files, web pages, images and even emails into TheBrain for instant access. Adding things is as simple as drag and drop. Activate any idea or file in seconds. TheBrain not only brings up the right idea but lets you see how it relates to everything else… so you are prepared for anything. This means you can shift contexts quickly and get an immediate visual briefing by viewing connected topics.
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    Alternote

    Alternote

    Alternote

    We are absolutely sure you are going to love it. Alternote is designed to be the most convenient and natural way to make notes, collect information, write down your ideas, feelings and memories. Interface slightly dims as you start typing. Now just focus on writing. Change sidebar background, color scheme and font settings as you like. Search through note title and contents as-you-type. Start searching just as you launch Alternote, no more focusing search field. Alternote is an alternative Evernote client for Mac. You can use Evernote mobile apps and clippers. All your data will be in sync. You will make use of every pixel of Alternote. It’s retina-ready and has smooth, optimized scrolling. No matter how long your note is. Alternote is totally secure. There are no Alternote servers in the chain, just you, your Mac and Evernote backend. Text styling controls don’t bother you and appear when you select something.
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    Simplenote

    Simplenote

    Simplenote

    Notes stay updated across all your devices, automatically and in real time. There’s no “sync” button: It just works. Add tags to find notes quickly with instant searching. Share a to-do list, post some instructions, or publish your notes online. Notes are backed up with every change, so you can see what you noted last week or last month. Write, preview, and publish your notes in markdown format. Apps, backups, syncing, sharing – it’s all completely free. You can browse the notes you want to import or drag and drop a file into the import window. The app takes care of the rest. If you’re importing notes with markdown formatting and you’d like to keep them that way, check the enable markdown on all notes box and they’ll be automatically configured as markdown notes in simplenote.
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    KeepNote

    KeepNote

    KeepNote

    With KeepNote, you can store your class notes, todo lists, research notes, journal entries, paper outlines, etc in a simple notebook hierarchy with rich-text formatting, images, and more. Using full-text search, you can retrieve any note for later reference. KeepNote is designed to be cross-platform (implemented in Python and PyGTK) and stores your notes in simple and easy to manipulate file formats (HTML and XML). Archiving and transferring your notes is as easy as zipping or copying a folder. In KeepNote, you can customize the icons that appear next to your notes. To change a note's icon, right-click on the note and locate the Change Icon menu. You will then see a list of icons to choose from (see left screenshot below). You can use this feature to mark notes that are your favorite (heart), important (start, exclamation mark) or done (check mark).
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    Org Mode

    Org Mode

    Org Mode

    Org is implemented on top of Outline mode, which makes it possible to keep the content of large files well structured. Visibility cycling and structure editing help to work with the tree. Tables are easily created with a built-in table editor. Plain text URL-like links connect to websites, emails, Usenet messages, BBDB entries, and any files related to the projects. Org develops organizational tasks around notes files that contain lists or information about projects as plain text. Project planning and task management make use of metadata which is part of an outline node. Based on this data, specific entries can be extracted in queries and create dynamic agenda views that also integrate the Emacs calendar and diary. Org can be used to implement many different project planning schemes, such as David Allen’s GTD system. Org files can serve as a single source authoring system with export to many different formats such as HTML, LaTeX, Open Document, and Markdown.
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    Quick Draft

    Quick Draft

    Quick Draft

    Sometimes you just need a place to jot down a quick note or draft an email or text on the fly. Write your draft and immediately copy or share to another app. When you come back, keep working or delete the note and start over. Quick Draft is intentionally simple. There’s no document storage but Quick Draft syncs your scratchpad with iCloud across your devices. Quick Draft Pro for iOS/iPadOS and macOS supports URL schemes with basic x-callback-URL support. Jot down some simple todos or your grocery list. Use the checkbox button or standard Markdown checkboxes to activate interactivity. From there, tap to mark as completed. Quick Draft is intentionally simple. Quick Draft syncs with iCloud across your devices. Be sure to also download Quick Draft for iOS and iPadOS. You can prepend to the contents of your scratchpad and append to the contents of your scratchpad.
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    Laverna

    Laverna

    Laverna

    Laverna has a simple and robust markdown editor, which can help you write faster than ever before with our live markdown preview. The editor can be switched to distraction free mode where you can focus solely on writing notes. Make your notes available on any device with your Dropbox & RemoteStorage account. Keep simple to do lists organized in notes and notebooks. You can manage your notes without ever lifting your hands from your keyboard. Keep snippets of code to have access to them anytime and anywhere. Do you prefer to stay anonymous? You do not need to go through registration process to start using Laverna. You can export your notes from Laverna and import them back anytime. You are not tied to using it forever. Every line of code can be reviewed on GitHub and is available under MPL-2.0 license. Available anytime and anywhere, keep your notes private.
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    Craft

    Craft

    Craft Docs

    Craft is a rich text editor that is easy and frictionless to use. It also supports markdown, code blocks, images, videos, and attaching PDF files or rich link previews. Adding content is very simple - just tap on an empty area and start typing. You can also drag and drop the input field on both Mac (from the sidebar) and iOS (from the bottom bar) in order to drop content at a specific location. If you are using a keyboard, you can also just press space when a block is focused to insert a new block below. You can also add Code, Math Formula (TeX), and plaintext snippets. To do so, you can use the same methods as you would do when adding images. Craft allows you to style your content in a beautiful and simple way. We've created a set of styles that won’t overwhelm, but by combining these, you can still perfectly express yourself - and all of these work great both in dark or in light mode.
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    cherrytree

    cherrytree

    cherrytree

    A hierarchical note taking application, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file. Written by Giuseppe Penone (aka giuspen) and Evgenii Gurianov (aka txe). The user manual online html and downloadable ctb written by Ellie Borden. Syntax highlighting supporting several programming languages. Embedded files handling: insertion in the text, save to disk. Hyperlinks associated to text and images (links to webpages, links to nodes/nodes + anchors, links to files, links to folders). Cross application copy/paste (tested with libreoffice and gmail): supported single images, single codeboxes, single tables and a compound selection of rich text, images, codeboxes and tables. Copying a list of files from the file manager and pasting in cherrytree will create a list of links to files, images are recognized and inserted in the text.
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    MindForger

    MindForger

    MindForger

    Where do you keep your private remarks like ideas, personal plans, exam preparation notes, gift tips, how-tos, dreams, business visions, finance strategies, meeting minutes and auto coaching notes? Loads of documents, sketches and remarks spread around the file system, cloud, web and Post-it notes? Are you affraid of your knowledge privacy? Are you able to find particular remarks once you create them? Do you know how are the remarks mutually related when you browse, read or write them? MindForger aims to mimic human mind, learning, recalling, recognition, associations, forgetting, in order to achieve synergy with your mind to make your searching, reading and writing more productive. MindForger ensures that you own your personal data. It respects privacy and enables security of your knowledge. MindForger seeks knowledge hidden in your remarks to enable its mining. MindForger starts where editors and search engines end. It thinks as you search, browse, read and write.
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    Carbo

    Carbo

    Creaceed

    Carbo is an application for people who love handwriting. Just use your favorite pen and paper as you usually do, without any constraint. Carbo will let you capture, edit, and organize your notes, design sketches, and whiteboard drawings, bringing handwriting into the digital age. Your digital notebook is now available on Mac, along with iPhone & iPad. Built on Mac Catalyst with Optimized for Mac technology (macOS 11 Big Sur), Carbo 2 brings a true Mac experience. Carbo now makes the most of each Apple device: iPhone can be used to capture notes on the go, iPad and Apple Pencil can be used to create notes on the device, and finally, the Mac is used to access, edit, and use these in a productive setup. Carbo introduces a unique pixel-free technology that preserves all the expressiveness of the original drawing. Carbo's hybrid capture and rendering method, halfway between bitmap and vector, allows gorgeous visualization of handwritten contents, especially on Retina displays.
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    Antnotes

    Antnotes

    Antnotes

    Antnotes app is a handy replacement of standard stickies application with more features and customization options. We did our best to retain the simplicity and ease of use but add more complicated features like notes archive, import and export, ability to attach note to specific application or numerous customization options. You can enjoy Antnotes for free with most of it’s basic features you will ever need, however you can also buy the full-featured version. Buying it will also encourage us for future development and improvement of Antnotes. For each note you can change size, placement on screen, background color, text font and color, make it translucent (transparent) or pinned (so it floats atop of all other windows). Note can be rolled-up to the thin stripe so you can see the title which doesn’t take much space on your screen. All standard rich text editing features apply: you can make text bold, italic and underline, insert images and links, drag text and files to the note.
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    Hashnotes

    Hashnotes

    AntLogic

    Hashnotes is a handy notebook with hashtags and mentions, which allows you to create and manage your notes as fast as never before. Within Hashnotes you can keep an unlimited number of notes, organized using the tags. Manage your notes as fast as never before, using hashtags to organize notes. Use color and text formatting tag like #blue, #green, #bold to set the note’s title appearance. Use the search field to quickly look up for a specific note or a tag. Unlimited number of notes, stored in plaintext on your Mac.
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    Hurd.ai

    Hurd.ai

    Hurd.ai

    Capture every word of lectures, meetings, and conversations with Hurd.ai. Focus on what’s being said while Hurd.ai takes notes, tags, and summarizes transcripts for you. Focus on being in the moment with Hurd.ai, stay present and attentive to what’s being said without worrying about taking notes or missing key points. Other popular services charge by the minute or have usage limits. Hurd.ai allows unlimited recordings without restriction. Harness the power of AI machine learning technology to convert audio files into searchable text you can highlight, filter, and group. Save time and energy while Hurd.ai automatically titles, tags, and summarizes transcripts for you. Use the inline editing tool to add to your transcript.