Introduction:
To talk about note-taking apps, what flashes in your mind is to write, draw, sketch, legal, annotate, etc in your digital document. However, the advanced technology of note-taking apps has widened your experience with iCloud storage, multimedia integration, live recording, real-time team collaboration & document sharing, organizing digital notes, multiple device syncing, etc.

So, if you are a Mac user and want everything under one roof to capture data from different sources or events, try the top 7 best note-taking apps for Mac with a comprehensive comparison and potential perks.

Top 7 Best Note-Taking Apps for Mac

If you are confused about selecting an ideal Mac note-taking app, here you will get the most demanding top 7 best note-taking apps for Mac free with their attractions, functions, and performance.

Note-Taking App Best For Price Top Features
Apple Notes All-integrated functions for smart & simple execution Free & $0.99/ month for 50GB
  • Link multiple notes for index-esque entries for different topics
  • Collaboration of notes with many iCloud users
  • Taking notes through Siri
OneNote Unlimited editing & customizations with various advanced functions Free & for Office 365 personal subscribers $6.99/month
  • Image insertion
  • Sophisticated calculation option
  • Web links insertion
Obsidian Rich with flexibility, customization, plug-ins & organization of notes Free & $25 one-time/ $50/year/person for commercial use
  • Direct encryption & synchronization of notes between devices 
  • Quick sharing or publishing of notes on the internet or with others
  • From the drop-down lists of notes, you can select a note to link with the current note
Notability All-in-one app note customization, organization & iCloud synchronization One-time purchase at $10.50 & annual subscription at $14.99
  • Notes can be saved as PDF
  • Notes can be saved in third-party services & servers like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc
  • Flawless audio-video recording option
Notion Affordable, customizable & editable app for multitasking Free & $10/month or $8/year
  • Explore data filtering options for different views
  • Manage & organize your work with custom tables of multiple categories
  • Use Lab Notes to arrange a gallery of various projects
Evernote Beginners-friendly app with professional potential Free & Personal plan at $14.99/month & Professional plan at $17.99/month
  • High-resolution image integration 200 MB maximum note size
  • Business card scanning option with PDF annotation
  • Swift account switching between one to four accounts
Bear Suitable for everyone with multi-purpose note-taking functions Free & $2.99/month
  • End-to-end encryption with private iCloud synchronization 
  • Multiple document format support like PDF, DOCX, HTML, etc
  • OCR search support for text searching in photos & PDFs

Apple Notes

Apple has integrated the best free note-taking app for Mac, focusing on Cloud services revenue. It offers plenty of professional perks to add, organize, edit, share, etc, multiple notes and documents with real-time collaboration.

Fundamental Features

  • Multiple tables & checklist adding option
  • "Smart Lists" functions for auto conversation of notes to folders
  • Add PDF document with annotation option
  • Languages search option with attachment function
  • Secure note with end-to-end encryption

Pros:

  • Multiple templates 
  • Instant AI prompts
  • Scan document 
  • Uploading images

Cons:

  • It is not compatible with Windows & Android
  • Limited formatting without version history

Performance: 4/5

OneNote

Microsoft's new addition of OneNote is the best note-taking app for Mac, with endless editing tools. With the ultimate opportunity of collecting, organizing, or sharing notes, this app lets you explore free 7GB Microsoft server storage with unlimited data uploading and downloading options.

Fundamental Features

  • Real-time simultaneous sharing & editing of notes by multiple people
  • Offline access to documents
  • Create an unlimited number of notebooks with an unlimited number of pages
  • High-end formatting with style, highlighting, lists, font, etc, with data & table insertion option
  • This app is compatible with Mac, Windows & mobile devices

Pros:

  • Resizing boxes like text, drag & drop, etc
  • The app works more like a pasteboard than a word-processing document
  • Multiple sections to organize notes
  • Notebook selecting option with preview list

Cons:

  • No option to add PDF files or other documents created with other app
  • There is no option to save or reuse changes you do in styles

Performance: 4.5/5

Obsidian

Obsidian is one of the best free note-taking apps for Mac with maximum flexibility and customization. This is designed especially for desktops, including Windows, Mac & Linux. It also works with mobile platforms. Here, you can explore multiple plug-ins and theme ecosystems.

Fundamental Features

  • Add anything such as attachments, videos, PDFs, etc
  • Markdown Language supports formatting
  • This tool supports all the standard keyboard shortcuts
  • The app lets you see the real-time changes on your desktop
  • Multiple options to organize notes, including files, folders, Mac's Finder, File Explorer, etc

Pros:

  • Create a network of documents 
  • Split window option for viewing multiple notes
  • Sort notes alphabetically
  • Add tags according to requirements

Cons:

  • The free plan is for personal use only
  • It doesn't offer any cloud storage

Performance: 4/5

Notability

Notability is the best note-taking app for Mac with ultimate iCloud synchronization of unlimited digital notes. It lets you explore your digital writing with multiple pen inputs. You can try various customization in your digital notes, from writing and drawing to highlighting and marking.

Fundamental Features

  • Customize writing with multiple pen colors, widths & font options
  • Audio-note recording option with tandem support
  • Sync Mac with other iOS devices through iCloud
  • Add & customize any image, other files, or screenshots
  • Organize notes with subjects with color codes & dividers

Pros:

  • Impressive text-finding option in images or notes to highlight
  • Best suited for professionals & students
  • Direct writing option on the PowerPoint slider
  • Create charts, graphs, tables, etc to organize notes

Cons:

  • While minimizing the app, the preview images Dock got disappeared
  • There are some issues with full-screen mode

Performance: 4.7/5

Notion

Notion is an all-in-one note-taking app when you are looking for the best note-taking app for Mac free. This cloud-based powerful app makes it easy and simple to customize notes for personal or business use. With an extensive note-organizing capacity and data archive ability, this app is in high-demand.

Fundamental Features

  • Select various designs & data management element
  • Maintain the privacy of your sensitive data with a blurring option
  • The best app to track data
  • Sculpt the application according to your workflow
  • Tweak or update your inputs according to your requirements

Pros:

  • Create a simple data structure with multiple columns
  • Add custom graphics to give uniqueness to every page
  • Mix multiple data on one page, such as PDFs, kanban charts, etc
  • You can add bookmarks, YouTube videos, etc to your page

Cons:

  • Limited project management features
  • Average data security option

Performance: 4.1/5

Evernote

Evernote is a high-end, best free note-taking app for Mac with a powerful search option. The seamless syncing and effortless note-taking functions with flexible features will make this app extremely efficient and appealing. Despite being a beginner-friendly application, this tool offers everything for professional note-taking requirements.

Fundamental Features

  • Customize & organize the homepage with various pinned notes & scratch pad widgets
  • Google Calendar integration with a maximum of five accounts 
  • Location-based note-finding option with Geographic search function
  • Offline note accessing option on mobile devices
  • Extensive upload limits with 20GB monthly note upload

Pros:

  • To review previous changes, try the Note History option
  • Easy search for PDFs, presentations, Office documents, etc
  • Fast image recognition with text-adding option
  • Extensive editing with shortcuts, tags adding, various colors, formatting, etc

Cons:

  • Expensive paid plans
  • Difficulty in sharing information

Performance: 4.4/5

Bear

Bear is the best note-taking app for Mac with a straightforward interface. This lightweight app will meet multiple personal and professional note-taking purposes with various flexible functions. This is a budget-friendly tool for smart note-importing & exporting options.

Fundamental Features

  • Advanced app with Web Clipper & Sketching support
  • Markdown app to write, capture & organize digital notes
  • Seamless workflow with text, images, table, multiple projects, etc
  • Smart organizer with online & offline note-sharing & accessing the option
  • Add esthetics & appeal to your note with multiple attractive themes

Pros:

  • Resize images with a rich media preview option
  • Select attractive tags from 250 icons
  • Structure your notes with headings, folding sections & hiding others
  • Automatic iCloud syncing across multiple devices

Cons:

  • Video recording is not supported
  • Extremely basic & light features

Performance: 4.5/5

Bonus Part: A Comprehensive PDF Editor

While adding, exporting, or importing any PDF file to your note, you probably need to customize the document to meet and fit the specific note-taking requirements. With the smart SwifDoo PDF reader, you can keep your note-taking experience one step ahead with advancement.

SwifDoo PDF: All-in-One Free PDF Tool
  • Annotate PDFs by adding notes, bookmarks, etc.
  • Convert PDFs to Word, Excel, and other editable files
  • Edit, compress, organize, and split PDFs
Free Download
Windows 11/10/8.1/7/XP

Even though the SwifDoo perks are available on the Windows platform, you will soon be relieved that you can explore the entire SwifDoo features and functions on the Mac & iOS platform. So, let's see what you can explore with SwifDoo software.

Flexible Features

  • Potential PDF editor with text adding/deleting option with multiple colors, sizes, fonts, etc, editing support 
  • Smart PDF converter with multiple format support like Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, PNG, BMP, etc
  • Appealing PDF viewer with various themes, display modes
  • Read PDF loudly with PDF translation option
  • Customize device storage with batch compression of PDF files
  • Merge or split multiple files
  • Add an electronic signature to own your PDF document

Conclusion

Being a Mac user, if you feel like using the safest and smartest note-taking app for your personal and professional purposes, you can try any of the best note-taking apps for Mac from the lists mentioned above. While selecting the app, prioritize your preference and try SwifDoo PDF readers to personalize your data & document with an advanced appeal.

Monica

Columnist