Notion Template Store Blog Articles

• Notion vs Evernote vs OneNote: Which Note-Taking App is Best for You?
• Choosing the right note-taking app can transform how you capture ideas and organize information.
• Notion, Evernote, and OneNote each have unique strengths.

Notion vs Evernote vs OneNote: Which Note-Taking App is Best for

You?

Choosing the right note-taking app can transform how you capture ideas and organize information. Notion, Evernote, and OneNote each have unique strengths. Notion is a flexible all-in-one workspace great for building team wikis and project docs. Evernote is a straightforward note app known for its quick capture and powerful search. OneNote acts like an endless digital notebook with rich formatting and offline support.

In this article, we’ll compare Notion vs Evernote vs OneNote so you can decide which fits your style and needs. Image: An Evernote note capturing text, images, and audio. Evernote’s interface is optimized for quick note-taking on the go. Evernote is famous for its ease of jotting down ideas. It lets you quickly clip web articles, scan documents, attach images, record audio notes, and even doodle sketches. As a result, Evernote excels at capturing everything that comes to mind without leaving the app .

It has strong mobile apps and built-in OCR to search text in images. If you want a simple notebook that "just works" right out of the box, Evernote makes a solid Evernote alternative – especially since it still offers great tagging and powerful search commands . However , Evernote’s free plan is limited (only 50 notes and 250MB/month) and it lacks built-in task/project features. Notion, on the other hand, takes a more open-ended approach. It’s not just a note-taker but a full all-in-one workspace .

You can create pages and databases, link them together , and customize layouts with blocks. This flexibility means Notion can act as a notes app, a project tracker , a wiki, a database – whatever you need. In practice, Notion excels at team collaboration and knowledge management . You can invite others to edit, leave comments, and build a shared space.

Unlike Evernote, Notion requires a bit of setup: you often start by creating a note database, then add properties (like tags, dates, status) and views to organize it. There’s a slight learning curve, but the payoff is huge control. Notion’s free plan is very generous (unlimited pages and storage, limited to 5MB file uploads) , making it an appealing Evernote alternative for those who want more structure and collaboration without immediate cost.

However , Notion’s mobile app can be slower with large databases and it doesn’t (yet) support handwriting or recording audio directly . OneNote sits somewhere in between. It behaves like a classic digital notebook with sections and pages. In OneNote you can click anywhere on a page and type or draw – it’s very freeform. This makes OneNote great for visual thinkers: you can mix typed text, images, freehand drawings, math equations, even embed videos or Excel snippets anywhere on the page .

OneNote also supports handwriting and has a nifty math solver (you can write “334+626” and it answers you). Another big advantage: OneNote works completely offline and syncs via OneDrive when online. You can even password-protect specific sections for privacy. In fact, the OneNote desktop app on Windows is very powerful for note-taking, offering things like version history and deep formatting . If you’re already in the Microsoft ecosystem (Office, Windows), OneNote is often free and easy to start.

However , OneNote’s free cloud storage is limited (5 GB on OneDrive)1

, and its interface can feel a bit dated. Collaboration in OneNote is basic (shared notebooks) but doesn’t have the same team workflow features as Notion.

In summary

Evernote is best for quick, simple note capture: clip from web, scan receipts, record voice. Its organization (notebooks, tags) and search are robust . Use it if you need a classic note-taking app that works the same everywhere. Notion is best for building a personalized system: tasks, docs, CRM, knowledge base, etc. It shines for teams and for linking different types of content. Use it if you need structure and collaboration, and don’t mind some setup (or using a template).

OneNote is best for free-form notes and office users: draw anywhere, jot diagrams, and work offline. Use it if you prefer a canvas-like notebook and heavy formatting or if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription. There’s no one-size-fits-all “best” app – it depends on how you think and what you need. If you want note- taking alone , Evernote or OneNote might win out for speed and simplicity. If you want note-taking plus task/projects and teamwork , Notion is likely the winner .

Think of Evernote as a digital notepad, OneNote as a flexible multi-page notebook, and Notion as a full productivity platform. Try each for a week or two; often people end up using more than one. The good news is Notion, Evernote, and OneNote each offer free tiers, so you can test-drive them and compare. No matter which you pick, you’ll be stepping up your note- taking game – it’s all about how you integrate it into your workflow.

Next step

If you want to turn this into a reusable workspace, save your best blocks as a page template, name your properties consistently, and test your setup on mobile. Small tweaks like clearer statuses, fewer views, and better naming make a template feel instantly premium.

Try the free tools to estimate time saved and plan your next build, or head back to the Articles page to keep learning.