The Best Note-Taking Apps for Students (Most Are Free)
Notion, OneNote, Obsidian, Apple Notes and GoodNotes compared for lectures, revision and group projects, including how to get Notion Plus free.
The best note-taking app is the one you'll actually open five minutes before the lecture starts. Fancy systems are fun to set up in September and abandoned by October.
So here are the strongest options for students, what each is best at, and how much they cost (spoiler: mostly nothing).
Quick picks
- Best all-rounder: Notion, free Plus plan for university students
- Best for handwriting on a tablet: GoodNotes, or OneNote for free
- Best free and simple: Microsoft OneNote
- Best for building knowledge over years: Obsidian
- Best if you just want to write things down: Apple Notes or Google Keep
Notion: best for organizing everything
Notion is part notes app, part planner. You can keep lecture notes, a deadline tracker, a reading list and group project pages all in one place, and link them together.
Student perk: if you're at an accredited college or university and sign up with your school email, you can get the Plus plan free, with unlimited file uploads and 30-day page history. You re-verify once a year. School (K-12) students aren't eligible.
Downside: it works best online, and the blank page can be intimidating. Start with a template.
Microsoft OneNote: best free all-rounder
OneNote is free, works on everything (Windows, Mac, iPad, phones, web) and feels like a digital ring binder: notebooks, sections and pages. You can type, draw, paste screenshots and record audio anywhere on the page.
Many universities provide Microsoft 365 for free, so check your student account. It's also excellent with a stylus.
Downside: the free-form canvas can get messy, and sync occasionally lags.
GoodNotes: best for handwritten notes on iPad
If you like writing by hand with an Apple Pencil, GoodNotes is the favourite. It's built for annotating lecture slides as PDFs, handwriting is searchable, and it feels close to real paper.
There's a free version with limits, and a paid upgrade. Check the current price in the App Store, as it varies by region.
Downside: mainly an Apple-device app, and not ideal for typed notes.
Obsidian: best for long-term thinkers
Obsidian stores your notes as plain text files on your own device and makes linking ideas between notes very easy. It's especially good for subjects where everything connects, like history, law, medicine or philosophy, and for anyone planning a dissertation.
It's free for personal use. We compare it in depth in Notion vs Obsidian.
Downside: a learning curve, and it's easy to spend more time customizing it than studying.
Apple Notes and Google Keep: best for simple
Already on your phone, free, instant. Apple Notes has grown surprisingly capable: folders, tags, checklists, scanning documents, and handwriting on iPad. Google Keep is great for quick lists and reminders, especially on Android.
Downside: not built for organizing a whole degree's worth of notes.
Study tips that matter more than the app
- Rewrite, don't copy. Putting ideas in your own words is where the learning happens.
- Turn notes into questions. After each lecture, write three questions your notes answer. Instant revision material.
- Keep one inbox. Whatever app you choose, put everything in one place first and organize it later.
- Use AI as a study buddy, not a ghostwriter. Paste your notes into a chatbot and ask it to quiz you. See how to learn with AI without fooling yourself. The advice works for any subject.
