Introduction: The 'Free' Trap vs. the Genuine Free Tier
Every note-taking app on the market advertises a free plan. But the gap between what these plans actually deliver is so wide that the word 'free' has become nearly meaningless without a footnote. One app's free tier gives you unlimited notes, handwriting support, audio recording, and cross-platform sync for zero dollars. Another caps you at 50 notes, restricts you to a single device, and throttles your uploads to 250 MB per month — a limit you can burn through in a single afternoon of clipping web articles.
This guide cuts through the marketing to answer one question: Which free plans are actually usable for daily work, and which ones are just trials dressed up as free tiers? We cover seven apps — OneNote, Google Keep, Apple Notes, Notion, Obsidian, Joplin, and Simplenote — plus two plans you should approach with caution (Evernote and Standard Notes). The goal is not to crown a single winner. The best free app depends entirely on your workflow: how you capture information, where you need it available, and which trade-offs you can live with.
Quick-Reference Comparison Table: Free Plans at a Glance
The table below summarizes the concrete limits of each app's free tier. Use it to quickly eliminate options that don't meet your baseline requirements before diving into the detailed analysis.
| App | Note / Block Limit | Storage Cap | Device Limit | File Upload Limit | Sync / Offline | Core Features Locked? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OneNote | Unlimited notes | 5 GB (OneDrive) | Unlimited devices | 100 MB per file | Free sync; offline available | No — all core features free |
| Google Keep | Unlimited notes | 15 GB (shared with Google Drive) | Unlimited devices | Images only (no file attachments) | Free sync; offline on mobile | No — no paid tier exists |
| Apple Notes | Unlimited notes | 5 GB (shared iCloud) | Apple devices only | No file attachments | Free iCloud sync; offline available | No — all core features free |
| Notion | Unlimited blocks & pages | Unlimited (no storage cap for text) | Unlimited devices | 5 MB per file | Online-dependent; limited offline | No — solo use is fully free |
| Obsidian | Unlimited notes (local) | Bring your own storage | Unlimited devices | No limit (local files) | Sync costs $4/mo or DIY | No — core app free; sync is paid |
| Joplin | Unlimited notes | Bring your own storage | Unlimited devices | No limit (local files) | Manual sync (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV) | No — fully free and open source |
| Simplenote | Unlimited notes | Unlimited | Unlimited devices | No images or attachments | Free sync; offline available | No — 100% free forever |
| Evernote | 50 notes max | 250 MB / month upload | 1 device | 25 MB per note | Free sync; offline on mobile | Yes — most features require paid plan |
| Standard Notes | Unlimited notes | Unlimited (text only) | Unlimited devices | No attachments (text only) | Free E2EE sync | Yes — rich text, markdown, and attachments require $90/yr |
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