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Microsoft OneNote Alternatives for Mac OS X

Looking for Microsoft OneNote alternatives? We've curated 22 top alternatives that offer similar functionality. Whether you need Mac OS X options, free plans, or open source solutions, explore our comprehensive list to find the perfect fit for your needs.

Evernote

Evernote

Freemium

Evernote is a popular cross-platform note-taking application designed to capture, organize, and manage your notes. It offers robust syncing capabilities across devices and includes features like web clipping, OCR for images, and integration with other services to streamline your productivity and information management.

Key Features

  • Seamless syncing across multiple platforms.
  • Powerful search function with OCR for images and PDFs.
  • Highly flexible organization using notebooks, stacks, and tags.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Seamless syncing across multiple platforms. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Zim

Zim

Open Source

Zim is a powerful, open-source graphical text editor designed for maintaining a personal wiki or notebook. It allows users to organize notes, ideas, and various types of information in a hierarchical, interlinked structure, similar to a wiki.

Key Features

  • Data stored in plain text files for maximum portability and longevity.
  • Excellent for organizing notes and ideas in a hierarchical and interlinked structure.
  • Lightweight and performs well on various systems.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Data stored in plain text files for maximum portability and longevity. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Simplenote

Simplenote

Open Source

Simplenote is a minimalist note-taking application designed for speed and efficiency. It provides a clean interface across multiple platforms, focusing on text-based notes with robust synchronization and versioning capabilities. Ideal for capturing ideas quickly and accessing them anywhere.

Key Features

  • Extremely fast and responsive interface.
  • Reliable and fast synchronization across multiple platforms.
  • Excellent version history for notes.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Extremely fast and responsive interface. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Tomboy

Tomboy

Open Source

Tomboy is a free and open-source desktop note-taking application designed for simplicity and efficiency across Linux, Unix, Windows, and macOS. It utilizes a wiki-like interface for easy linking between notes and offers features like automatic linking, full-text search, and local storage, making it an accessible and reliable tool for organizing your thoughts and tasks.

Key Features

  • Simple and user-friendly interface.
  • Excellent wiki-like linking feature for connecting notes.
  • Notes stored locally, ensuring data privacy and offline access.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Simple and user-friendly interface. compared to Microsoft OneNote
wikidPad

wikidPad

Open Source

wikidPad is a free and open-source wiki-like notebook application that allows you to store your thoughts, notes, and snippets of information in a highly organized and cross-referenced manner. Its strength lies in the effortless creation of links between pages, making it easy to navigate and connect related ideas.

Key Features

  • Effortless creation of cross-links between pages.
  • Data is stored locally, ensuring privacy and offline access.
  • Flexible organization using both hierarchy and linking.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Effortless creation of cross-links between pages. compared to Microsoft OneNote
NixNote

NixNote

Open Source

NixNote is an open-source, cross-platform desktop client for Evernote, offering a familiar interface and offline access to your notes.

Key Features

  • Open-source and free to use.
  • Provides excellent offline access to notes.
  • Familiar interface for Evernote users.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Open-source and free to use. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Notational Velocity

Notational Velocity

Open Source

Notational Velocity is a minimalist, keyboard-centric note-taking application for macOS.

Key Features

  • Extremely fast and responsive.
  • Minimalist interface is distraction-free.
  • Powerful and rapid incremental search.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Extremely fast and responsive. compared to Microsoft OneNote
KeepNote

KeepNote

Open Source

KeepNote is a versatile note-taking application designed for organizing information in a hierarchical structure. Available on Windows, Linux, and macOS X, it features robust organization tools, including a tree-like outline, wiki-like linking, and support for embedded files and images. Although discontinued, its local storage and rich features make it a compelling tool for detailed note-taking and research.

Key Features

  • Excellent hierarchical organization for complex information.
  • Wiki-like linking facilitates building a connected knowledge base.
  • Supports rich text formatting and embedded files/images.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Excellent hierarchical organization for complex information. compared to Microsoft OneNote
WizNote

WizNote

Freemium

WizNote is a feature-rich, cross-platform cloud-based note-taking application designed for individuals and teams. It offers robust tools for capturing, organizing, and sharing information, with a strong focus on productivity and knowledge management.

Key Features

  • Extensive feature set for note-taking and knowledge management.
  • Available on a wide range of platforms with reliable synchronization.
  • Powerful hierarchical folder structure and tagging for organization.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Extensive feature set for note-taking and knowledge management. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Quip

Quip

Commercial

Quip is a collaborative productivity suite combining document creation, spreadsheets, and chat into a single workspace. Designed for teams, it facilitates real-time collaboration, streamlining workflows and communication to enhance productivity across devices.

Key Features

  • Seamless real-time collaboration on documents and spreadsheets.
  • Integrated chat within documents keeps conversations contextual.
  • Excellent offline access and automatic syncing.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Seamless real-time collaboration on documents and spreadsheets. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Piggydb

Piggydb

Open Source

Piggydb is an open-source web notebook application designed for building and managing knowledge bases, either individually or collaboratively. It emphasizes structured organization through hierarchical tagging and concept mapping.

Key Features

  • Open source and self-hostable for data control and privacy.
  • Powerful hierarchical tagging for deep organization.
  • Fragment-based structure encourages interconnected knowledge.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Open source and self-hostable for data control and privacy. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Turtl

Turtl

Open Source

Turtl is a secure and private note-taking, bookmarking, and document storage application. It utilizes strong client-side encryption to ensure that only you and authorized collaborators can access your sensitive information, making it ideal for managing confidential projects and data.

Key Features

  • Strong client-side encryption ensures high level of data privacy.
  • Secure collaboration features for sensitive projects.
  • Seamless synchronization across multiple devices.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Strong client-side encryption ensures high level of data privacy. compared to Microsoft OneNote
TreeSheets

TreeSheets

Open Source

TreeSheets is a hierarchical data organizer and note-taking application that utilizes a unique tree-like grid structure to manage information in a highly visual and flexible manner. It supports various data types and offers features for brainstorming, list management, and spreadsheet-like organization within a unified interface.

Key Features

  • Unique and flexible hierarchical grid structure.
  • Highly visual organization aids comprehension.
  • Excellent for brainstorming and creative processes.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Unique and flexible hierarchical grid structure. compared to Microsoft OneNote
nvALT

nvALT

Open Source

nvALT is a lightweight, plain text note-taking application for macOS building upon the foundation of Notational Velocity. It excels at fast capture, searching, and retrieval of notes using a simple, keyboard-centric interface, with added support for Markdown and synchronization.

Key Features

  • Extremely fast note creation and retrieval
  • Powerful and instant integrated search
  • Excellent Markdown support for formatting

vs Microsoft OneNote

Extremely fast note creation and retrieval compared to Microsoft OneNote
Leanote

Leanote

Open Source

Leanote is a versatile self-hosted note-taking application that blends rich text editing with Markdown support. It offers seamless synchronization across multiple devices and features built-in blog publishing capabilities, making it a powerful tool for both personal information management and content creation.

Key Features

  • Self-hosting provides excellent data privacy and control.
  • Supports both rich text and Markdown editing.
  • Integrated blog publishing is a unique and useful feature.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Self-hosting provides excellent data privacy and control. compared to Microsoft OneNote
nvPY

nvPY

Open Source

nvPY is a minimalist, open-source note-taking application that seamlessly syncs with Simplenote. Designed for speed and simplicity, it provides a clean interface for focused writing and efficient note management through search and tags, echoing the user experience of Notational Velocity.

Key Features

  • Excellent speed and responsiveness.
  • Seamless and reliable Simplenote synchronization.
  • Powerful and fast search functionality.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Excellent speed and responsiveness. compared to Microsoft OneNote
lumio

lumio

Free

Lumio is a versatile online platform designed for organizing, curating, and managing web content, notes, and knowledge. It offers a visual and hierarchical structure for storing information, making it ideal for researchers, students, and teams needing to collect and share digital resources efficiently.

Key Features

  • Comprehensive features for content organization and knowledge management.
  • Supports both individual and collaborative use cases.
  • Offers offline access to saved content.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Comprehensive features for content organization and knowledge management. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Quiver

Quiver

Commercial

Quiver is a robust note-taking application designed for developers, offering a powerful and flexible platform for organizing, writing, and managing notes. It seamlessly integrates rich text, code snippets, markdown, and LaTeX within a single note, providing a unique blend of capabilities for technical users.

Key Features

  • Hybrid note format (rich text, Markdown, code, LaTeX)
  • Robust syntax highlighting for code
  • Excellent Markdown and LaTeX support with live preview

vs Microsoft OneNote

Hybrid note format (rich text, Markdown, code, LaTeX) compared to Microsoft OneNote
myBase

myBase

Commercial

myBase is a powerful, free-form database and information manager designed to organize diverse types of information including text, web pages, documents, and multimedia files within a flexible hierarchical structure.

Key Features

  • Highly flexible and free-form data organization structure.
  • Supports embedding and linking a wide variety of file types.
  • Robust search capabilities including tag-based search.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Highly flexible and free-form data organization structure. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Notebooks

Notebooks

Commercial

Notebooks is a versatile application designed for comprehensive note-taking and task management. It offers a hierarchical structure for organizing diverse content, including text notes, rich documents, PDFs, and tasks, across multiple platforms with robust synchronization capabilities.

Key Features

  • Highly flexible and deep hierarchical organization system.
  • Supports a wide variety of content types beyond plain text.
  • seamlessly integrates note-taking and task management.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Highly flexible and deep hierarchical organization system. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Elephant

Elephant

Open Source

Elephant is a portable, privacy-focused note-taking application featuring a classic, intuitive interface. It supports robust note organization, rich text formatting, markdown, and offline access. With capabilities like image insertion and secure cloud synchronization, Elephant is designed for users needing a reliable and versatile digital notebook.

Key Features

  • Strong emphasis on privacy and security with encryption and password protection.
  • Excellent portability, can be run from removable media.
  • Robust hierarchical organization with infinite depth.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Strong emphasis on privacy and security with encryption and password protection. compared to Microsoft OneNote
Notion

Notion

Freemium

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that combines notes, documents, wikis, project management, and databases into a single, highly flexible platform. It empowers teams and individuals to manage knowledge, plan projects, track tasks, and collaborate seamlessly, adapting to nearly any workflow or organizational structure.

Key Features

  • Extremely flexible and customizable, adapting to diverse workflows.
  • Powerful database features with multiple views (Kanban, Calendar, Table) for dynamic data management.
  • Excellent real-time collaboration capabilities for teams.

vs Microsoft OneNote

Extremely flexible and customizable, adapting to diverse workflows. compared to Microsoft OneNote

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