Best Notes App for Mac (2026): Picks by Note Style

For most people, the best notes app for Mac is Apple Notes. It's free, it's already installed, and it syncs to your iPhone through iCloud. Pick something else when you want a particular style of note:

• Bear for Markdown notes organized with tags.
• Obsidian for notes kept in local Markdown vaults.
• Notion for notes that sit next to projects and team pages.
• Drafts or Tot for fast capture.
• Gubb for a scratchpad that also handles to-do lists, Kanban boards, quick math and clipboard history.

Quick answer: the best notes app for Mac by note style

• Synced notebook: Apple Notes is best for free notes on your Mac and iPhone. Bear is best if you want Markdown and tags on Apple devices.
• Local Markdown vault: Obsidian is best when you want your notes stored locally in a format you control.
• All-purpose workspace: Notion is best when your notes live alongside projects and teammates.
• Quick capture: Drafts is best for capturing text and then acting on it. Tot is best for a small seven-page scratchpad.
• Scratchpad with built-in tools: Gubb is best for a single window that handles notes, checklists, boards, sums and clipboard history, and it has a one-time price.

We make Gubb, so weigh our view accordingly. We've tried to be fair to every app here. Gubb sits last in this list because it only fits one style of note-taking.

How we chose

You may use a notes app for years, so we looked at what decides whether one fits you, not at feature counts:

• Where your notes live. Local files, a local database or a cloud account. This decides how easily you can leave later.
• Access from your iPhone. Some apps sync for free, some charge for sync, and some don't sync at all.
• Price model. Free, one-time purchase or subscription.
• Capture speed. How quickly you can get a thought down before you lose it.
• Structure. Tags, Markdown, checklists and boards.

Prices and platform details come from each app's official pages, or from third-party reviews where we say so. All prices are as of November 2026 and in US dollars.

Summary table

Apple Notes: best free synced option

Apple Notes comes with every Mac and syncs through iCloud to your iPhone and iPad. For a lot of people, that settles it.

What it does well:

• Checklists you can tick off, plus attachments such as PDFs, photos, maps and links.
• A document scanner, and notes you can lock.
• Audio recorded straight into a note, which is then transcribed.
• Inline math: typing something like 5 * 3 = shows the answer.
• Reviews list tags, Smart Folders, collaboration, links between notes, and Markdown import and export.
• Apple Intelligence features on Macs with M-series chips.

What it lacks: it only runs on Apple's platforms, so it's awkward if you also use a Windows PC (see Apple Notes on Windows). The sources we checked don't show Kanban boards, clipboard history or timers. Apple Intelligence features need newer hardware.

Price: free, as of November 2026.

Pick it if you want notes on your Mac and iPhone with no setup and no cost. If it already works for you, you probably don't need anything else on this page. If it doesn't, our list of Apple Notes alternatives covers more options.

Bear: best for Markdown notes organized with tags

Bear is a Markdown notes app for Apple devices. You organize notes with #tags and links between notes.

What it does well:

• The core features are free.
• Bear Pro adds private iCloud sync across your devices.
• Pro also adds per-note encryption, unlocked with a password or Face ID/Touch ID.
• Bear Web is in beta. Bear says it arrives by the end of November 2026.
  • Its search runs on your device and works offline.
  • Its Info panel shows note stats, a table of contents and backlinks.

What it lacks:

• Syncing between your Mac and iPhone needs a Pro subscription.
• There is no one-time purchase.
• There is no Windows app. Outside Apple devices, Bear Web is the option, and it is included with Pro.
• The sources we checked don't mention Kanban boards, clipboard history or timers.

Price (as of November 2026):

• From November 24, 2026, Bear Pro costs $3.99 a month or $39.99 a year, including Bear Web.
• The yearly plan has a 7-day free trial.
• Before November 24, third-party sites list $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year.

Pick it if you only use Apple devices, like writing in Markdown and want to organize by tag.

Obsidian: best for notes kept as local Markdown files

Obsidian is a Markdown app that stores your notes in local "vaults." Markdown is plain text, so other apps can open your notes if you ever move.

What it does well:

• The core app is free, and sources agree you don't need a license to use it for work.
• Version 1.14 added opening individual Markdown files, a Kanban view for Bases, and highlight colors.
• Optional Obsidian Sync adds sync across devices, end-to-end encryption, version history and shared vaults.
• It updates often. The changelog shows desktop 1.14.4 on October 5, 2026, and mobile 1.15.1 on November 12, 2026.

What it lacks: Obsidian's own Sync and its Publish feature (for turning notes into a website) are separate subscriptions. It's a full note system, so a new vault leaves you to decide how to organize things.

Price (as of November 2026, from third-party sources):

• The app is free.
• Sync is $4 per user per month billed yearly, or $5 monthly.
• Publish is $8 per site per month billed yearly, or $10 monthly.
• Catalyst (early access) is a $25 one-time payment.

Pick it if you want local notes in an open format and you're willing to set up a structure. For a direct comparison with the built-in option, see Apple Notes vs Obsidian.

Notion: best all-purpose workspace

Notion is a workspace for pages, notes and team work, with desktop and mobile apps. Your notes can live in the same workspace as your projects and shared pages.

What it does well:

• A free plan.
• Offline mode on the desktop and mobile apps since August 2025.
• The Business plan adds Notion Agent, AI Meeting Notes, Enterprise Search, SAML SSO, private teamspaces and finer permissions.

What it lacks: offline access is per page and not automatic. You have to mark each page as "Available offline" in the ··· menu. AI and admin features are on paid plans charged per member.

Price (as of November 2026, from third-party sources):

• Free.
• Plus: $10 per member per month, billed yearly.
• Business: $20 billed yearly, or $24 monthly.
• Enterprise: priced through sales.

Pick it if your notes are part of bigger projects or shared with a team. For a personal note or a quick jot, it gives you more structure than you need.

Drafts and Tot: best quick capture

Both apps are built around getting text down fast and dealing with it later. They suit people who write many small notes rather than a few long ones. Our guide to quick notes on Mac also covers the built-in options.

Drafts

Drafts is a quick-capture text app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. New drafts land in an Inbox. Once you've dealt with one, you move it to the Archive or the Trash, much like email.

What it does well:

• The free tier includes unlimited drafts and sync.
• Actions let you do things with captured text, including actions from the Drafts Directory.
• The release notes mention dictation that continues in the background.

What it lacks: it's Apple-only, with no Windows or web version listed. Advanced features need Drafts Pro, which is a subscription.

Price: Drafts' own pages list Pro at $2.99 a month. They give the yearly price as either $24.99 or $19.99. Both pages are several years old, so check the current price before you buy (as of November 2026 we couldn't confirm it).

Pick it if you capture text on your iPhone and Mac and want to send it to other apps afterwards. See Drafts vs Apple Notes if you're deciding between the two.

Tot

Tot, from The Iconfactory, is a "tiny text companion" with seven pages for short bits of text. The fixed page count is deliberate and suits short-lived notes.

What it does well:

• It syncs your text between Mac and iPhone through iCloud.
• It supports rich or plain text and converts text to Markdown.
• Common text actions are on the keyboard.
• It shows word and character counts as you type.
• There are versions for iPhone and iPad (Tot Pocket) and Apple Watch (Tot Mini).

What it lacks: seven pages is the limit. It's Apple-only, and the Mac app needs macOS 14 or later.

Price (as of November 2026): free to download and try. Premium features are a $19.99 in-app purchase on the Mac, and a separate $19.99 purchase on iPhone and iPad. Both appear to be one-time purchases.

Pick it if you want a tiny, synced scratchpad and a seven-page limit suits you. More options are in our Tot alternatives list.

Gubb: best scratchpad with built-in tools

Gubb is our app. It's a small single window for jotting things down. Typed commands turn a note into a to-do list or a Kanban board, or switch on inline math and conversions. The same window has clipboard history, a timer and break reminders. Gubb runs on Mac (Intel and Apple silicon) and is also on the Microsoft Store for Windows.
What it does well:

• Markdown-style typing. Type #, -, 1., [ ] or ``` at the start of a line and press Space. You get a heading, a list, a checklist item or a code block. Notes save automatically as you type.
• To-dos and boards inside notes.
  • A line containing only gubb@todo becomes a to-do list with due dates, priorities and subtasks.
  • A line containing only gubb@board becomes a Kanban board. It starts with "To Do", "In Progress" and "Done" columns, and you drag cards between them.
• Math and conversions while you write.
  • After gubb@math, any line ending in = gets its result: 12*3 = becomes 12*3 = 36.
  • gubb@conversions handles units like 10 ft to m, and works offline.
  • gubb@currency converts lines like 100 USD to EUR using live rates, so it needs internet.
• Clipboard history in the same window.
  • It keeps text you copy anywhere on the Mac, with search, favorites and "Paste to note".
  • Recording starts the first time you open the panel.
  • It keeps up to 1,000 unpinned items.
• Timer and breaks.
  • A countdown and a stopwatch. The Pomodoro mode is a 25-minute countdown by default, with no automatic work/break cycles.
  • Optional break reminders, off by default. When on, micro breaks last 20 seconds by default.
• Voice into a note. With a downloaded Whisper model, Speech to Text records and transcribes on your Mac, straight into the open note.
• Pin on top and menu bar icon. You can keep the window above other apps, and click the menu bar icon to show or hide it.
• Local storage, no account. Notes are stored in a local database on your Mac, and there are no analytics. Some things do use the internet:
  • currency rates
  • Whisper model downloads
  • license checks
  • update checks
  • a font stylesheet from Google Fonts at launch

What it lacks:

• No sync and no iPhone or iPad app. Your notes live on one computer.
• No folders, tags, images, attachments or tables in notes.
• Limited search. It matches note titles and previews first, and only searches full note text when nothing in a title or preview matches.
• No trash. Deleting a note is immediate, with no confirmation.
• No global hotkey. You open Gubb from the menu bar icon or the Dock.
• Weak export today. Notes are stored in a database, not as Markdown files. The Markdown and Plain Text exports currently contain raw editor data rather than readable text. Don't treat Gubb as your long-term archive.
• Limited voice. Local transcription is English-only and transcribes only the first 30 seconds of each recording.
• Nothing is encrypted. Clipboard history stores anything copied as text, including passwords copied from a password manager.

Price (as of November 2026):

• $59 one-time for a lifetime license from gubb.net, with no subscription.
• The license activates on up to three devices.
• The license is checked online. If Gubb can't verify it for 30 days, it asks you to reconnect.
• The direct download has a 7-day free trial with no account.
• Gubb is also on the Mac App Store, which has no trial.

Pick it if you keep a scratch window open all day for jotting, checklists, quick sums and finding something you copied an hour ago. It also suits you if you'd rather not pay for a separate clipboard manager and timer.

You can pair it with a synced app: draft in Gubb, press ⌘⇧C (Command-Shift-C) to copy the whole note as plain text, then paste it into Apple Notes or Obsidian to keep. Skip it if you need your notes on your phone.

The help center covers the editor in detail. To try it, download the 7-day trial.

How to choose

• You want notes on your Mac and iPhone and don't want to pay: Apple Notes.
• You write in Markdown and organize with tags, all on Apple devices: Bear. Budget for Pro if you need sync.
• You want your notes in local Markdown vaults you control: Obsidian.
• Your notes are part of projects or shared with a team: Notion.
• You capture lots of short text on your phone and send it elsewhere: Drafts.
• You want a tiny synced scratchpad with a hard limit on clutter: Tot.
• You want one desktop window for jotting, checklists, boards, sums and clipboard history, with a one-time price and no sync: Gubb. See also our Kanban board apps for Mac and Mac apps without a subscription.

You don't have to pick only one. One split that works: a synced notebook for things you keep, plus a scratchpad for things you'll throw away within a day.

FAQ

Is Apple Notes good enough?

For most people, yes. It's free, syncs through iCloud and handles checklists, attachments and scanned documents. Look elsewhere if you need a Windows app, your notes as Markdown, or tools like boards and clipboard history.

Which Mac notes apps don't need a subscription?

Apple Notes is free. Obsidian's core app is free, though its Sync and Publish are subscriptions. Tot's premium features appear to be a one-time $19.99 per platform, and Gubb is $59 one-time. Bear, Drafts and Notion sell their paid tiers as subscriptions, as of November 2026.

Which app keeps notes as Markdown on my Mac?

Obsidian, which stores notes in local vaults and can open individual Markdown files. Gubb lets you type with Markdown shortcuts, but it stores notes in a local database, not as .md files.

Does Gubb sync to my iPhone?

No. Gubb has no sync, no account and no iPhone or iPad app. If you need a note on your phone, copy it with ⌘⇧C and paste it into a synced app.