r/NoteTaking

Ive been looking everywhere. what i need is:

RELIABLE sync between laptop and mobile [obsidian git is just not working for me and the syncthing thing doesnt look reliable]

version history just incase something happens
end to end encryption [goodbye notion]

UNLIMITED storage and note capacity

can handle long notes with no lag, im using it to write a novel

has folders

all features stated above being FREE

Dont recomend google docs, its horrendous too as its very buggy for me.

If anyone can help id really appreciate it. what do you guys use?

Hi everyone,

​I’m starting a Master's program in Environmental Science and Technology this September and I'm trying to lock down my digital note-taking setup. My main workflow will involve taking handwritten notes, annotating massive PDFs, and recording fast-paced lectures (so having a feature where the audio syncs to my handwriting in real-time is an absolute must).

​I’m currently looking at prices in the Indian market (I've converted them to USD for easier comparison). Here is my shortlist:

​1. Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+ (13.1")

​Price: ~$620 USD (S-Pen included)

​My thoughts: I love the massive A4-sized screen for split-screening a textbook and my notes. Does the audio-sync feature in Samsung Notes hold up to iPad apps?

​2. Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus (12.7")

​Price: ~$730 USD (Stylus and Keyboard included)

​My thoughts: The hardware is insane for the price (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage). However, I am worried the native Android note-taking apps won't be as polished for audio-syncing as iOS apps.

​3. Apple iPad 10th Gen + USB-C Pencil

​Price: ~$510 USD total

​My thoughts: The cheapest entry into Notability and GoodNotes, which I know are the gold standard for audio-synced lectures. But the 10.9-inch screen seems a bit cramped for split-screen multitasking.

​4. Apple iPad Air 11" M3 + USB-C Pencil

​Price: ~$750 USD total

​My thoughts: Great processor, but I feel like paying this much for an 11-inch screen just to take notes might be overkill.

​Has anyone used Samsung Notes or third-party Android apps for serious lecture recording, or is the iPad ecosystem (Notability/GoodNotes) still too good to pass up for a grad student? Which of these options gives the best value for this specific workflow?

​Thanks in advance!

I’m going to be starting college soon and plan to get a master’s in Chemical Engineering. I have an iPad that I plan to use for handwriting notes and drawing diagrams/charts and stuff, but idk what notes app to use.

I’m currently trying to decide between Goodnotes, Notability, and Noteful, but I’ve also heard some good stuff about Notes+, Prodrafts, and OneNote.

I don’t mind paying a subscription but I would definitely prefer a one time purchase. I have a feeling voice memo-to-notes syncing will be really useful as I sometimes space out when lectures go on for a long time.

What notes app would you guys suggest? I’m completely open to apps other than the ones above.

TL;DR I’m starting college for Chemical Engineering and need a good iPad app for handwriting notes and syncing recorded lectures to my notes.

I am genuinely asking this. Every application I have seen for using an AI in note taking is either already solved by a non-AI application or is handled cheaper by just spending a small amount of initial start time.

Why do you use AI in your notes?

Hi! I am an incoming pharmacy student. Which should I pick? I plan to do annotate, active recall, and take down notes. I do not really use any ai features (unless it is amazing). I also plan to use the audio recording feature. Last, i have the ipad M2 so the battery life is whack. Which is better for battery? Thanks.

Choosing between noteful and notes+

Since it seems like this subreddit is an ad magnet, I’ve decided to restrict rule 3 even further.

No advertising of paid apps is allowed. FOSS (free open source software) or completely free programs are allowed to share their work.

Freemium and paid app ad posts will be removed as I and other mods see them.

four years of notes, thousands of entries. Project stuff, book highlights, meeting summaries, random ideas. I was good at collecting. Not so good at using any of it. The problem was retrieval. I had folders, tags, backlinks, the whole neat little archive. Then when I needed something, I could not remember where I put it and gave up. i switched to letting Linkly AI handle finding things. It indexes my local note folders and exposes search, outline, and read through MCP.

Now I write notes normally instead of organizing for some perfect future system. Later, the index can find the right note even if I forgot the file name.

small change, but the notes feel alive again. kinda funny how much that matters.

I have maybe eight years of stuff in Evernote. Text notes, web clips, PDFs, all of that is fine and searchable. The thing I never figured out was the voice memos.

Over the years I dumped dozens of meeting recordings and random voice notes into notes thinking I would deal with them later. Later never came, and none of it was searchable or useful when it is just an audio attachment stuck inside a note. I would remember that I recorded something important, search for it, find the note, and then have to listen to fourteen minutes of audio to find the one sentence I needed.

So the real problem was not the tool, it was that I had been hoarding recordings I never turned into text. The notes I actually reuse are the ones I can search. Everything still trapped in audio might as well not exist.

I ended up spending a Saturday running the whole audio pile through vomo ai batch by batch, turning each recording into a transcript with speaker labels and a short summary, then pasting the searchable text back into my notes. The audio stays on my phone, the useful part lives with my notes. That was the actual fix.

If you have a pile of audio sitting in your notes, figure out your transcription plan before it gets bigger, not after. That was the part that cost me a whole weekend and I did not even see it coming.

Has anyone else dealt with this, and what did you actually use that worked?

I have nearly a decade of notes which makes switching feel painful. Lately been finding myself searching for evernote alternatives not because i need more features but because my workflow has changed a lot since I started using it.

"Tested six AI meeting note takers across client calls, internal syncs, and 1:1s over the last quarter. Different teams cared about different things, so a single winner is the wrong framing. Here's where each one landed for us.

For teams carrying any real compliance or security scope, the pick was fellow ai. Fellow ai is built for security first deployments: no visible bot joining Zoom, Teams, or Meet, SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA certified with a contractual no training on customer data clause in the DPA, plus admin controls down to zero day retention and a super admin API for audit logs. Native integrations cover Slack, HubSpot, Asana, Notion, and Zapier, with a verified Claude connector live.

Fireflies is what people gravitate to for CRM heavy sales workflows. Transcription quality is solid and the integration story is mature, so it plays well if your team already lives in HubSpot or Salesforce. The admin governance side felt thinner to me during the trial but I wasn't pushing it that hard either.

Otter leans consumer and is what individual users default to when picking on their own. Works fine for personal use cases like classes, solo interviews, or freelance work, but it's less of a fit if you need real admin controls or a contract that survives a procurement review at a larger org.

Granola plays in similar territory but with a more polished prosumer feel and a cleaner UI. Built more for the solo PM, founder, or independent operator than for a 50 person team trying to standardize meeting workflows across the org.

Fathom is the free option in this category and earns the spot. Plenty of small teams use it happily and it's reasonable for anyone without a security review process gating their software purchases, plus the freemium tier is generous enough to matter.

Tactiq is the lightweight pick of the bunch. Less workflow integration, more just show me what was said with a clean UI. Good if that's all you need and you're not trying to pipe meeting data into other tools downstream like a CRM or PM platform.

Landed on fellow ai because the admin side made the difference for our team. Your mileage will vary entirely by what your IT or compliance group requires going in."

I've always preferred taking notes in physical notebooks because I like the freedom to organize things however I want. I can write anywhere on the page, draw arrows, add random thoughts in the margins, and not worry about keeping everything perfectly neat. They also give me less back pain than sitting at my desk for long periods.

That said, I'm thinking about switching to digital notes because they're much more practical. I like the idea of being able to edit, rearrange, and expand my notes without making them look messy.

The catch is that I only use a laptop, and I strongly prefer typing over handwriting.

I'm looking for a note-taking app that doesn't force me into a linear document like Google Docs. I'd love something with an open canvas where I can place text anywhere on the page, but I don't want to have to create separate text boxes every single time I type.

Does a note-taking app like this exist? What would you recommend? If there's something close but not exactly what I'm describing, I'd love to hear about that too.

I also don't think I expressed what I'm looking for very clearly. Feel free to ask me any questions if you need clarification.

Serious question.I used to fill notebooks every week

because it made me feel productive.Then I cleaned my desk a few days ago and realized I hadn't looked at half of those notes in months.Kind of a depressing moment.Now I mostly write down decisions or things I personally need to doo. Everything else, I'd rather have recorded somewhere just in case.Someone here recommended trying a dedicated recorder a while back, so I've been messing around with recpoint recently.It's honestly been fine. Not perfect though.Speaker separation gets confused once in a while if people interrupt each other, and I still double-check important stuff before forwarding notes to anyone.On the plus side, the 3000 free transcription minutes after logging into the app made it pretty easy to test without spending anything upfront.I'm curious if people still keep detailed handwritten notes or if everyone has quietly moved on to something else.

I spent weeks convincing myself to buy the iPad 11th Gen, waited for GOAT & Prime Day like an idiot... and then Apple hiked the price right before the sale. Peak consumer experience, Thanks, I guess. 💀

So now I'm back to square one.

Budget: ₹35k (can stretch a little if it's genuinely worth it, but I'd prefer to keep the stylus within the budget too).

My priorities (highest → lowest)

1. Stylus experience – This is non-negotiable. Low latency, natural handwriting, solid palm rejection, and something that feels good for hours of note-taking.
2. Drawing – I sketch occasionally, so a smooth drawing experience is important.
3. Performance & longevity – I don't want this thing slowing down after a year. Hoping it'll comfortably last 3–5 years.
4. Multitasking – Split-screen, multiple apps, PDFs + notes + browser, etc.
5. Note-taking & PDF annotation – This will be its primary use.
6. Watching lectures & media
7. Gaming – Casual gaming only, so it's the lowest priority.

I'm not in the Apple ecosystem, and I'm not loyal to Android either. I genuinely just want the best tablet for my use case.

I'd love to hear from people who've actually used these tablets for college, note-taking, or drawing, not just watched YouTube reviews.

Please help me avoid ₹35k worth of buyer's remorse. 😭