Independent · sourced · Updated June 2026
Best Note Taking Apps (2026)
The cheapest note taking apps is Bear at $0/mo. 4 offer a free tier (Bear, Craft, Notion). This page compares 4 options on entry price, free tier, HIPAA/SOC 2 and best-for — every figure linked to its source, updated June 2026.
4 options compared on price, free tier, compliance and fit — ranked cheapest-first. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it; quote-only tiers show “—”, never a guess.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest: Bear at $0/mo (Free).
- Typical paid price: from $2.99/mo, median $7.25/mo, up to $10/mo — across 4 with published pricing.
- Free tier: Bear, Craft, Notion, Obsidian.
- HIPAA-ready: Notion.
- Tracked: 4 vendors, data current through 2026-06-15.
Comparison
| # | Note Taking App | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bear | $0/mo Free | Yes | — | — | Writers and minimalists on Apple devices | bear.app |
| 2 | Craft | $0/mo Starter (Free) | Yes | No | Yes | Apple-ecosystem power users (Mac, iPhone, iPad) | support.craft.do |
| 3 | Notion | $0/mo Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | All-in-one workspace teams | notion.com |
| 4 | Obsidian | $0/mo Free | Yes | — | — | Privacy-focused knowledge workers | obsidian.md |
Prices are the lowest published self-serve monthly rate as captured on the linked source. Annual-billing and usage details are on each vendor's record in our open dataset.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest note taking apps?
Bear has the lowest published entry price at $0/mo (Free), as of 2026-06-15.
How much does note taking apps cost per month?
Across the 4 note taking apps with published paid pricing, the median starting price is $7.25/mo, ranging from $2.99/mo to $10/mo, as of 2026-06-15. 4 also offer a free tier.
Which note taking apps have a free plan?
Bear, Craft, Notion, Obsidian offer a free tier.
Which note taking apps support HIPAA?
Notion state HIPAA support (a BAA). Always confirm current scope with the vendor.
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How we compiled this
Published self-serve pricing for note-taking and knowledge apps was collected directly from each provider's public pricing page on the accessedAt date and recorded in USD. Each plan was independently re-verified on 2026-06-13 by fetching the provider's live pricing page; only providers whose prices/discounts/limits could be confirmed on a real provider-controlled page are retained. Where a provider prices per seat/user/editor, monthlyUsd records that per-unit list price with billingModel per_seat and the annual-vs-monthly rates noted in the plan notes; flat-priced or per-account/per-site tiers record the flat monthly fee with billingModel flat. Quote-only / contact-sales / Enterprise tiers carry a null price rather than an estimate. These are not telephony products, so minutesIncluded, callsIncluded, overagePerMin and overagePerCall are null on every plan, and HIPAA/BAA/bilingual are null unless a provider states otherwise. Providers whose pricing pages render figures only client-side (no price visible in the served page) and could not be corroborated on a real provider page were dropped rather than retained on an unverifiable guess: Evernote, Coda, Capacities and Roam Research were dropped on this pass for that reason (Roam additionally showed conflicting third-party annual rates).
Last verified 2026-06-15. We re-check published prices and compliance on a recurring cadence and update this page when they change.
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