The 7 note-taking apps I tested while freelancing, and the 2 that survived
After six months of bouncing between apps, I narrowed it down to two: Notion for structured project work and client collaboration, and Obsidian for private thinking, drafting, and long-term knowledge building. Everything else either buckled under pressure or asked for more money than the value delivered.
The call came at 8:47 on a Tuesday. A client I had not spoken to in four months wanted to revive a dormant project. He asked a specific question about a research link I had sent him in February. I opened my laptop at the kitchen table, still in pajamas, and searched my notes. Nothing. The link lived somewhere in a Slack thread, maybe an email, possibly a screenshot on my phone. I found it twenty minutes later, buried in a Google Keep card from three months prior, sandwiched between a grocery list and a screenshot of a flight confirmation. The client waited. I looked unprofessional. That morning cost me more than the annual price of any note app on this list.
I had been using Apple Notes since 2019. It worked for quick grocery lists and password hints. It failed completely when my freelance workload grew past two concurrent clients. The search was slow. There was no tagging. Moving notes between folders felt like dragging files through mud. I needed something that could hold project briefs, meeting transcripts, research links, draft outlines, and client feedback in one searchable place. Apple Notes could not do that without becoming a graveyard of untitled documents.
So I tested seven apps over six months. I used each one as my primary workspace for at least three weeks. I imported real client data. I took actual meeting notes. I tried to find things I had written two months earlier. Most apps disappointed me in predictable ways. Two survived the test and now live in my daily workflow permanently.
Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one, I get a small commission at no cost to you. I only link things I actually use, or things I’d recommend to a friend who was not clicking anything.
Why your note app matters more than your task manager
Freelancers live in information chaos. Every client dumps a different format on you. PDFs, Google Docs, Figma links, Loom videos, Slack threads, email chains, spreadsheet exports. Your job is to turn that noise into deliverables. The app that holds your raw material is the app you open twenty times a day. If it is slow, disorganized, or hard to search, you bleed time.
I learned this during a three-week sprint in March. Four active clients. Two proposals in flight. One late invoice I needed to reference. I spent an entire afternoon in my old note app trying to find a single line from a discovery call. The call had happened six weeks prior. I remembered the gist. I could picture the moment. The note app offered nothing. I had to email the client and ask them to repeat information they had already given me. That email felt amateur. The client noticed.
A good note app solves three problems for freelancers:
- Capture speed. The best thought you have is the one you record before you forget it. If opening the app takes five seconds, you will skip it.
- Retrieval confidence. You need to trust that searching for “logo feedback March” will surface the right note in under two seconds. Every failed search erodes trust.
- Structural flexibility. Some notes are quick bullets. Others are ten-thousand-word research documents. Your app should handle both without making either feel like a workaround.
I judged every app on those three criteria. Here is what happened.
Notion: the workspace that swallowed my projects whole
Notion is the app I open first every morning. It houses my project dashboards, client wikis, content calendars, and proposal drafts. I pay for the Plus plan at roughly $10 per month when billed annually. That price is low for what it does.
The feature that won me over was databases. I have a single database called “Active Projects” with properties for client name, status, due date, rate, and links to related notes. Each row connects to a full project page where I dump research, meeting notes, and draft copy. That structure means I never lose context. I open one page and see everything related to one client.
The search is solid. Notion indexes text inside pages, databases, and even PDF attachments. I type “Katie feedback” and the note from our March call appears instantly. The mobile app has improved dramatically in the past year. It used to feel like a sad companion to the desktop version. Now I can add quick captures on the train without wanting to throw my phone.
Notion has real weaknesses. The offline mode is patchy. If I lose WiFi on a flight, I can read cached pages but editing feels risky. The app can also get slow once a workspace grows past a few hundred pages. My workspace currently has 287 pages. Loading the sidebar takes a noticeable beat. And the formatting options are endless, which means I have wasted entire afternoons tweaking column widths instead of writing.
The free plan is generous for solo users. You get unlimited pages, file uploads up to 5MB, and version history for a week. Most freelancers will outgrow the file size limit quickly. A single client logo export or video file breaks that ceiling. The Plus plan removes the limit and adds guest permissions, which I use to share read-only project dashboards with clients.
I recommend Notion if your freelance work involves structured projects, multiple clients, and any kind of content pipeline. Writers, designers, marketers, and consultants all fit here. If you only need quick capture and nothing else, Notion will feel like overkill. It requires setup time. You have to build the systems. The payoff is huge, but only if you put in the upfront work.
Obsidian: the fastest writing tool I have ever used
Obsidian lives in a different part of my workflow. I use it for thinking, not organizing. Every article I write, every long-term strategy document, every personal journal entry goes into Obsidian. The app is free for personal use. I pay $8 per month for Obsidian Sync so my vault stays current across my laptop, iPad, and phone.
The core idea is simple. Every note is a plain text Markdown file stored locally on your device. There is no cloud lock-in. There is no proprietary format. If Obsidian disappeared tomorrow, I would still have 412 Markdown files on my hard drive that any text editor could open. That matters to me. I have been burned by apps that shut down or jacked up prices. Obsidian cannot do either of those things to my data.
The linking feature is what separates Obsidian from every other writing app. I type double brackets around a word, [[Client Name]], and Obsidian creates a link to that note. If the note does not exist yet, it creates it automatically. Over time, a web of connections forms. I can open the graph view and see which clients, topics, and projects connect to each other. That visual map has helped me spot patterns I would have missed in a folder hierarchy.
The speed is ridiculous. The app launches in under a second. Opening a note is instant. There is no loading spinner, no cloud sync delay, no waiting for a database to index. On a five-year-old MacBook Air, Obsidian feels faster than Apple Notes on a new iPhone. That responsiveness changes how often I capture thoughts. When friction is zero, I write more.
The downside is the learning curve. Obsidian does not hold your hand. Plugins extend the app, and there are over a thousand of them. I spent my first two weeks installing and uninstalling plugins, tweaking themes, and reading forum posts about CSS snippets. It was fun. It was also a complete waste of billable hours. My advice: start with zero plugins. Use the core app for a month. Then add one plugin at a time when you hit a real limitation.
Another downside: collaboration is basically impossible. Obsidian files live on your device. You can share a vault through Sync, but two people editing the same note will create conflicts. I do not use Obsidian for client-facing documents. I write drafts there, then export them to Google Docs or Notion when it is time to share.
I recommend Obsidian for freelancers who write a lot, who value privacy, and who do not mind a little technical setup in exchange for total control over their notes. Developers, writers, researchers, and strategists fit here. If you need to share notes with clients or collaborate in real time, skip Obsidian.
The apps that did not make the cut
I tested five other apps with real client data. Each one failed for a specific reason that might not matter to you. It mattered deeply to me anyway.
Apple Notes was my default for years. It is fast, free, and synced across every Apple device I own. The problem is organization. I had 340 notes and no reliable way to tag, link, or cross-reference them. Search works for recent items. Anything older than two months disappears into the void. If you own zero non-Apple devices and only need simple capture, Apple Notes is fine. For serious freelance work, it is a liability.
Bear is beautiful. The typography is gorgeous. The tagging system is clever. I wanted to love it. But Bear is Apple-only, and I switch between a MacBook and a Windows desktop regularly. The developers have promised a web version for years. It has not arrived. Paying $3 per month for an app that locks me into one ecosystem felt like a bad bet. I uninstalled it after a month.
Evernote used to be the king of note apps. I had an account in 2017. I logged in again for this test and discovered the free tier is now a joke. Fifty notes. One device. No offline access on mobile. The paid tiers start at $15 per month and climb fast. The web clipper is still best-in-class. The rest of the app feels bloated and expensive. I exported my old notes to Obsidian and closed the account permanently.
Google Keep works for shopping lists and quick reminders. It does not work for project research, long drafts, or anything that needs structure. Notes are sticky cards with labels. That is it. No folders. No linking. No formatting beyond basic bullets and checkboxes. I kept it on my phone for grocery lists and removed it from my workflow entirely.
Craft is slick. The visual design is stunning. The block-based editor feels modern. But Craft costs $6 per month for features that Notion and Obsidian offer for free or cheaper. The export options are limited. The community is small. I could not find a single freelancer friend who used it, which made troubleshooting lonely. It is a nice app for personal journaling. For client work, it feels like a flashy dead end.
The non-affiliate alternative: Joplin
If you want the Obsidian experience without any of the plugin complexity, try Joplin. It is free, open-source, and stores notes as Markdown files you fully own. The interface is less polished than Obsidian. The mobile app is adequate without being great. Joplin syncs through your own cloud storage, like Dropbox or Nextcloud, which means you never pay a subscription to the note app itself. I know two freelance developers who swear by it. I prefer Obsidian’s speed and linking. Joplin is the honest pick for people who hate subscriptions.
How I set up my two-app system
My current workflow splits cleanly between Notion and Obsidian. Here is exactly how I use each one.
Notion handles:
- Active project dashboards with deadlines, rates, and status columns
- Client onboarding documents and shared wikis
- Content calendars and editorial pipelines
- Meeting notes that need to be shared with the client afterward
- Invoice tracking and quarterly revenue summaries
Obsidian handles:
- First drafts of every article, proposal, and strategy doc
- Personal journaling and weekly reviews
- Research notes that need linking and cross-referencing
- Book summaries and idea capture from podcasts
- Anything I want to keep private and local
The handoff between them is simple. When a draft in Obsidian is ready for client eyes, I export it as Markdown and paste it into a Notion page. When a project in Notion wraps up, I export the final notes as PDFs for archiving and move any reusable insights into Obsidian for long-term storage. It sounds like extra work. It takes about thirty seconds per handoff. The mental clarity of knowing exactly where to look for anything is worth far more than that time.
Who should keep using Apple Notes
Some freelancers do not need a complex note system. If you serve one or two retainer clients, if your projects are repetitive and well-defined, and if you rarely need to reference research older than a month, Apple Notes or Google Keep is probably enough. Adding Notion or Obsidian will feel like buying a sports car for grocery runs. The complexity will slow you down instead of speeding you up.
Parents with limited work windows also fit here. If you have ninety minutes between school pickup and dinner, you do not want to spend ten of them clicking through a database. Simple capture wins.
Questions freelancers ask about note-taking apps
Do freelancers actually need a dedicated note-taking app?
Yes, once you manage more than a few clients. Spreadsheets and random text files collapse under the weight of project research, meeting notes, and deadline tracking. The question is whether your current system will betray you at the worst possible moment, like mine did on that Tuesday morning call.
Is Notion or Obsidian better for freelancers?
Notion wins if you need databases, sharing, and structured workspaces. Obsidian wins if you want speed, privacy, and a writing-first experience with local files you fully own. I use both because my work has two modes: organized collaboration and private thinking. Most freelancers will feel strongly drawn to one or the other.
Can I use Apple Notes for freelance work?
Apple Notes works for simple capture and light organization, but it lacks tags, backlinks, and reliable export options that become essential as your freelance business grows. I used it for three years. The breaking point was a single missing note that cost me twenty minutes and a slice of client trust.
What is the best free note-taking app for freelancers?
Notion’s free plan is the most capable for structured work. Obsidian is free forever for personal use. Both beat Apple Notes and Google Keep for serious freelance documentation. If you need something simpler and completely free without setup, Joplin is the honest fallback.
Pick the app that matches your work style
I spent too long searching for one perfect note app. It does not exist. Notion and Obsidian each solve different problems, and using both has been the single biggest productivity upgrade in my freelance career. If I had to start over with one app, I would choose Notion. The database structure, client sharing, and project dashboards are harder to replicate elsewhere. Obsidian is the app I would miss more, though. The speed and privacy are irreplaceable once you get used to them.
Start with the free tier of whichever app sounds closer to your needs. Use it for a real project, not a demo. Pay attention to the moments where you feel frustrated or where you lose something. Those moments tell you the truth about whether the tool fits your work.
If you are also trying to organize your time, read my guide to the best calendar app for freelancers. For project-heavy workflows, the best project management software for freelancers covers the tools that handle deadlines and team coordination. Writers should check the best writing software for freelance writers for drafting tools that complement any note system.
Open Notion or Obsidian today. Import one current project. See how it feels after three days of real use. That test will tell you more than any review ever could.