Best notes app for Mac in 2026: 6 apps compared

At a glance

Prices are the maker's own page or the US App Store, read on 7 November 2026. Some makers charge less on their own website than in the App Store.

How I picked

I looked at what people ask before they switch: will it sync with my iPhone, will my notes still be mine in ten years, what does it cost a year, and lately, can ChatGPT or Claude use it. Handwriting apps like Goodnotes do a different job, so they're at the end.

The pictures of Pinto Notes, Apple Notes and Obsidian are my own, taken on a Mac running macOS 27. The pictures of Bear, Notion and Craft come from the companies that make them.

1. Pinto Notes: best if you use ChatGPT or Claude

Pinto Notes is a free notes app for Mac and iPhone that works like Apple Notes: folders, pinned notes, checklists, tables, and a note list sorted by date. The difference is that ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Codex and Incredible can search, read and edit the same notes, from your phone, the web or your Mac.

You approve each AI app once. When one changes a note, you see what changed, with Undo, and every earlier version stays in the note's history. That's what I'd want from any app before I let an AI near my notes.

It imports your Apple Notes on the Mac with their folders, and leaves Apple Notes as it was. Notes are stored as markdown and encrypted on your device before they sync, and the code is open source under the MIT license.

Where it falls short: it runs on Mac and iPhone only, with no Windows or Android, no handwriting, and no shared notes. It's also new, so it doesn't have the years of polish Apple Notes and Bear have.

Best for: anyone who already asks ChatGPT or Claude to plan things, and is tired of pasting notes back and forth.

2. Apple Notes: best if you want nothing new to install

Apple Notes is already on your Mac, iPhone and iPad, and it's better than its reputation. You get folders, tags, Smart Folders, tables, checklists, scanned documents, Apple Pencil sketches on iPad, and audio recordings with a live transcript. It exports notes as PDF or Markdown, and imports Markdown, text and Evernote files.

Notes sync through iCloud. By default Apple holds the keys to your notes on its servers; turn on Advanced Data Protection and Notes becomes end-to-end encrypted.

Where it falls short: it's Apple only (on Windows and Android you get iCloud.com in a browser), your notes live in Apple's database rather than files, and AI help stays on one Mac. The ChatGPT Mac app can read a note you have open (Work with Apps) but can't edit it, and Claude Desktop can read and add notes through Anthropic's Apple Notes extension: see can Claude read your Apple Notes?

Best for: people who live on Apple devices and want something free and solid.

3. Bear: best for writing

Bear is a Markdown notes app for Mac, iPhone and iPad, and the one I'd point a writer to. It's beautiful and fast, and organises notes with nested tags instead of folders. It has won an Apple Design Award.

Bear Free keeps notes on one device. Bear Pro adds iCloud sync, more themes and more export formats, for $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year after a 7-day trial. Sync respects Advanced Data Protection, though note titles and tag names stay unencrypted, and Pro lets you lock single notes with a password.

Bear 2.8 added a command line tool, a Claude connector and an MCP server, so Claude Desktop and Claude Code can work with your notes. All three run on the Mac only, and encrypted notes stay off limits to them.

Where it falls short: Apple only, sync costs money, and no AI on your phone or the web.

Best for: writers, students and anyone who likes Markdown and tags.

4. Obsidian: best for plain files and plugins

Obsidian keeps your notes as plain Markdown files in a folder on your disk, so you own them outright: any text editor can open them. It runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android, and it's free with no sign-up.

Its strength is links. You connect notes to each other, build your own wiki and see a graph of how it all fits together, and thousands of community plugins and themes let you shape it however you like. Sync is optional and paid, from $4 a month billed yearly, with end-to-end encryption, or you can sync the folder yourself.

For AI, Obsidian has a command line tool that lets agents work with your vault while the app runs on that computer, and community plugins add MCP servers. There's no official hosted connector, so using your vault from ChatGPT on the web or your phone takes extra setup. More in Obsidian MCP servers compared.

Where it falls short: it takes setup, plugins you rely on can stop being maintained, and sync or AI access means paying or tinkering.

Best for: people who want to own their files and enjoy building their own system.

5. Notion: best for teams

Notion is less a notes app than a workspace: pages, databases, wikis, project boards and docs, shared with your team. It runs on Mac, Windows, the web and phones, and works offline on desktop and mobile.

Notion AI answers questions across your workspace with citations, and the Business plan adds agents and AI meeting notes; Free and Plus get a trial. Notion also has an official MCP server, so Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor can work with your pages. On the App Store, Plus is $11.99 a month or $119.99 a year.

Where it falls short: heavy for quick personal notes, and your notes live on Notion's servers, so getting them out means an export.

Best for: teams, and people who want databases and project tracking next to their notes.

6. Craft: best-looking documents

Craft makes notes that look like finished documents, with cards, pages inside pages and tasks inside your docs. It's a native app rather than a web page in a window, it was an App Store Mac App of the Year, and it runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and the web, offline too.

AI is built in, with about 20 lifetime AI sessions on the free plan and more on paid plans, and Craft connects to Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code and other MCP apps. On the App Store, Plus is $9.99 a month or $95.99 a year.

Where it falls short: the free plan is limited, and your notes live on Craft's servers.

Best for: people who write plans, proposals and guides for other people to read.

Didn't make the list

• Evernote. Still capable, with strong search, its own AI assistant and an MCP connection. The free plan is now 50 notes, one notebook and one device; Starter is $14.99 a month or $99 a year.
• UpNote. Clean, cheap and on every platform, including Windows, Linux and Android: free up to 50 notes, then $1.99 a month or $39.99 once. No built-in AI and no official connector for ChatGPT or Claude, though it has URL automation.
• Microsoft OneNote. Free on the Mac App Store, with free-form pages you can type or draw anywhere on, and sync through OneDrive. A good pick if you live in Microsoft 365. It left our top six because it doesn't follow Mac conventions as closely as the apps above.
• Goodnotes and Notability. The handwriting apps. Goodnotes is free for up to 3 files, then from $11.99 a year, on Apple devices, Windows, Android and the web. Notability adds audio recording and AI study tools. Both are best on an iPad with a Pencil.

Which one should you pick?

• You use ChatGPT or Claude every week: Pinto Notes.
• You want free, built in, nothing new to learn: Apple Notes.
• You write a lot and love Markdown: Bear.
• You want plain files, Windows or Linux, or plugins: Obsidian.
• You work with a team: Notion.
• You make documents other people read: Craft.

Moving later is easier than it used to be. Apple Notes, Bear and Obsidian all export Markdown, and Pinto Notes brings over your Apple Notes with their folders: how to move from Apple Notes.

Sources

Read on 7 November 2026 on each maker's own pages: Apple Notes guide, iCloud data security, ChatGPT Work with Apps, Bear and its MCP server, Obsidian pricing, Notion pricing, Notion MCP, Craft pricing, Evernote plans, UpNote and Goodnotes pricing, plus the US App Store listings of Notion, Craft and OneNote.

Questions

Checked against the app on 7 November 2026.