OneNote continues to play an important role in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. However, the company hasn’t introduced any head-turning features or cleaned up the UI in a long time. The competition is marching ahead with a modular approach, templates, better organization, and more. Let’s talk about them.
1. Evernote
Before you dismiss Evernote and move to the next suggestion, hear us out. The 2021 Evernote is completely different from the one we used to get a few years ago. The company has cleaned up the mess and announced a brand-new Evernote for Android last year. The interface looks fresh, and it’s consistent among all the platforms. The usual Evernote strength with tags organization and powerful search remains the same. With the latest update, Evernote has completed redesigned the text editor with a multi-colored highlighter, new fonts, checkbox, and more. We like the new Notion-inspired drag and drop interface. You can move and arrange elements using the drag and drop inside a note. Evernote Home is also a neat add-on that allows you to access frequently-used notes, tags, and notebooks in a central place. Other features include offline notebook support, the ability to scan documents using Evernote scan, image search, and more. Premium features such as offline notebook, multi-device support, 10GB of monthly upload, and more behind a $70 per year paywall. Download Evernote for Android
2. Google Keep
Google Keep comes by default on every Android device. Google continues to improve the product with UI makeover, new features, and tight integration with other Google services. You’ll like default User Interface. Unsurprisingly, the app utilizes the company’s Material Theme 2.0 design language, and it sure looks better than the rivals on a small screen. As for organization, Google Keep offers Label that is similar to Evernote Tags. We like the color options on the offer. It’s effective and easily distinguishable from hundreds of notes. As for note-editing, users can add photos, drawings, checkboxes, and recording to a Keep note. Sharing is seamless as well. All your shared contacts can make changes to a note, and you can see the changes in real-time. Google Keep is completely free to use. Download Google Keep for Android
3. Simplenote
Created by WordPress developers, Simplenote takes a simple yet powerful approach to a note-taking system. You can add multiple tags to find the notes you are looking for. Simplenote is one of the few note-taking apps that offer full native Markdown support. If that’s important to you, then your search for a OneNote alternative ends here. We like how the app offers detailed note information such as note created/modified date, time, words and characters count. At any point, you can view the note history and restore an old draft. Simplenote is free to download and use. It’s available on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac. Download Simplenote for Android
4. Zoho Notebook
If you are invested in the Zoho ecosystem, then Zoho Notebook might be the logical choice for you. At first glance, it looks identical to Google Keep. Only by digging deeper will you see all the advanced features. For instance, you can add a bullet list, number list, checklist, table, quote, calendar date and time, and more to a note. Zoho offers a couple of ways to organize notes. You can either use tags or opt for the Favorites option to quickly access notes. We appreciate the export options. You can export a note as a PDF and even add a password to protect the file. Zoho supports the reminder function as well. Things will be interesting with updated interface that’s more in line with the current design trends. Zoho Notebook is completely free to use. Download Zoho Notebook for Android
5. Nimbus
Nimbus is yet another note-taking app that’s been around for a long time. It has one of the best UI and UX of all the note-taking apps on Android. All the relevant options are tucked at the bottom for better reachability. You can create multiple workspaces and categorize your notes. One can also create a folder and place all the relevant notes. As for note-editing, Nimbus allows you to add a checkbox, images, files, divider, quote, and more. It’s much better than anything else out there. Nimbus also allows you to add a reminder to a note. We like how users can utilize the Google Maps integration and add the current location to a note. It’s helpful for those using Nimbus as a journal. Other features include color tags, the ability to protect notes, powerful search, task management, and more. Nimbus offers a pro version at $50 per year. It unlocks premium functions like search for text in images, search for text in documents, business card recognition, priority support, and more. Download Nimbus for Android
Ditch OneNote on Android
With the lack of consumer-focused new features, Microsoft continues to take the back seat in the note-taking space with OneNote. Go through the apps list above and pick the perfect note-taking app for you. Most of the GT team is divided between Evernote and Google Keep. What about you? Share your opinion in the comments below. Next up: Getting confused between OneNote and Simplenote? Read the comparison post below to find all the differences between the two. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
