What is the best free note taking app for Android?

Google Keep, for most people. It has nothing to buy, syncs to your other devices and finds the words in a photo of a receipt. If you want notebooks, PDFs and a desktop app, take Joplin.

Is Google Keep completely free?

Yes, the notes are. Keep has nothing to buy in Google Play, but its Gemini extras, such as Help me create a list, need a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan or a Pixel phone.

Which free note app for Android has no ads?

Any of the nine here. Google Play marks Evernote's app Contains ads, and that kept it off the list.

Can I use a note app on Android without an account?

Yes. Obsidian needs no sign-up, and Markor keeps plain text files on your phone with no account at all. OneNote and Simplenote both ask you to sign in.

Is Evernote free on Android?

It has a free plan, but a small one. Evernote's plan page caps it at 50 notes and one notebook, synced on one device, and its Play listing carries the Contains ads label.

How do I get my notes out of a free app later?

Check the export before you commit. Keep goes out through Google's data download, Simplenote exports from its Android settings, Notesnook exports to PDF, HTML, Markdown or plain text, and Obsidian and Markor notes are already files.

9 best free note taking apps for Android in 2026

How we chose

Start with Google Keep: for most people it's the best free note taking app for Android. Nothing in it costs money. Your notes reach your computer and your watch, and on Android its search reads the words in your photos. If you'd rather have notebooks, PDFs and a real desktop app, take Joplin: it's free, it's open source, and it keeps working when you lose signal. Each of the other seven beats both at one job.

"Free" hides a lot. Some apps sell nothing at all. Some are free until you want sync. Others give you a small plan and sell the rest. So we put five questions to every app:

What do you get for nothing, and where is the first paywall?
Does it sync your phone with a computer at no cost?
Can a note hold a photo or a PDF, or only text?
Does it make you sign up before your first note?
If you leave, how do your notes come out?

We read every price and limit on the maker's own site, help pages or Google Play listing on 30 October 2026. We didn't install the apps or time them, so there are no star ratings or test scores here. Prices are in US dollars unless the maker charges in euros. Writing with a pen is a different job, and the best note taking apps for an Android stylus cover it.

The 9 best free note taking apps for Android

Stop at the first one that sounds like the notes you write.

1. Google Keep: best for most people

Google Keep has no paid tier and nothing to buy in Google Play. Type a note, tick off a list, snap a photo or speak a voice memo. It all syncs to your phone, tablet, computer and Wear OS watch. Reminders bring a list back at the hour you set, and a shared note lets the whole house work from one shopping list.

On Android, Keep's search help says typing a word printed on a receipt finds the photo of it. That works in English only. On a computer, Keep is a browser tab; Google's requirements page lists Chrome and Firefox, plus Edge on Windows and Safari on a Mac. The AI extras cost money. Google's Gemini help for Keep puts Help me create a list behind a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan or a Pixel phone. Weighing Keep against an older rival? Read Evernote vs Google Keep.

Pick it if your notes are lists and things to remember this week. Skip it if you want notebooks inside notebooks, because Keep sorts notes with labels and colours.

2. Samsung Notes: best on a Galaxy phone

Samsung Notes comes on Galaxy phones and tablets. Its Play listing has nothing to buy and declares no data collected. Inside one note you can type, write by hand, add photos and record your voice. You can also lock a private note behind a password, or write on a PDF with the S Pen.

Samsung's support page covers folders and subfolders, and handwriting you convert to typed text. A finished note exports as a PDF, a Word file or a PowerPoint. The same page says syncing to Microsoft OneNote is gone. Notes sync through Samsung Cloud now.

Pick it if you own a Galaxy and want typing and handwriting in one free app. Skip it if your next phone won't be a Galaxy. Samsung's help only covers Galaxy phones, tablets and Galaxy Book laptops.

3. Simplenote: best for plain text on every device

Simplenote is made by Automattic, and its home page says the apps cost nothing. So do the backups, the sync and sharing. It runs on Android, iPhone, Mac, Windows, Linux and the web, and you sign in with an email address or a WordPress.com account. Tags and pins keep things in order. Markdown handles formatting, and a passcode locks the app.

Simplenote's help page puts no cap on how many notes you write. Offline editing works once your notes have downloaded, and Settings in the Android app exports the lot. The catch is in the same help page: notes hold text only. No images. No PDFs.

Pick it if you write in words and want the same notes on a Windows laptop and a Mac. Skip it if half your notes are photos, because Simplenote won't store one.

4. Joplin: best free notebooks you can take anywhere

Joplin is open source, and its Play listing promises no tracking and no ads. Notes sit in notebooks with tags. A single note holds photos, PDFs, videos and other files, and to-dos can carry a reminder. Search reads the text inside PDFs and images. It's built to work offline first, then syncs with end-to-end encryption once you're back online.

Joplin's site lists apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Sync runs through Joplin Cloud, Dropbox or OneDrive. The app is free. You pay only if you want Joplin Cloud, from EUR 2.99 a month or EUR 28.69 a year for 2 GB as of October 2026.

Pick it if you want notebooks, scanned pages and a desktop app without paying, and you already have Dropbox or OneDrive. Skip it if you want sync to start the minute you sign in. On the free route, you connect the sync service yourself.

5. Microsoft OneNote: best if you already use Microsoft 365

OneNote files pages into notebooks and sections. On Android you type or write with a pen. Scan a paper page and it pulls out the text, or dictate in 27 languages. The app is free on Android 9.0 or later and needs a free Microsoft account.

Microsoft 365 Basic's plan table lists OneNote as free on the web, iOS and Android. If your cloud space runs out, Basic adds 100 GB for US$19.99 a year.

Pick it if school or work already runs on Microsoft and you want your notes beside it. Skip it if you'd rather not sign in. OneNote asks for a Microsoft account before your first word.

6. Obsidian: best for notes kept as files

Obsidian's pricing page says it's free without limits, with no sign-up. The Android app works on a folder of plain Markdown files on your phone. Every note is a file. Any text editor opens it. Community plugins and themes change how the app looks and works, and Obsidian's download page has apps for Windows, Mac, Linux and iOS.

You pay for one thing: Obsidian Sync, at US$4 a month billed yearly or US$5 month to month, with end-to-end encryption and version history. Torn between this and Notion? Read Obsidian vs Notion before you set up a vault.

Pick it if you want notes as files nobody can lock away. Skip it if you want your phone and laptop in step at no cost and no setup. The sync that works out of the box is the paid one.

7. Notesnook: best for private notes

Notesnook encrypts every note on your phone before it reaches the cloud, and you can't switch that off. The free plan has no limit on notes or devices. You get 50 notebooks and 50 tags, and no ads or trackers. The apps and the sync server are open source, and a note exports as PDF, HTML, Markdown or plain text.

Notesnook's pricing page caps free uploads at 50 MB a month, 10 MB a file. Paid plans start at $19.99 a year, per the Play listing, and add task lists and recurring reminders on top of storage. App lock and the private vault come with Pro.

Pick it if privacy is why you're shopping. Skip it if you want a PIN on the app at no cost. App lock is a Pro feature.

8. Markor: best with no account at all

Markor is a free, open source text editor for Android. It works completely offline and shows no ads. Notes and to-do lists are plain Markdown or todo.txt files in a folder you pick, so any other text app opens them. Markor's GitHub page says it stays off the internet unless your own notes point to something online, and it can lock a file with a password.

Sync is another app's job. The listing names Syncthing, Nextcloud and Dropbox among the tools that work with it. Its Play listing hasn't changed since March 2025.

Pick it if you want notes on your phone and in nobody's cloud. Skip it if you want photos or reminders without adding a second app.

9. Notion: best when notes grow into plans

Notion's pricing page lists a Free plan at $0 for individuals organising personal projects and life. A page is built from blocks: to-do boxes, bullet points, paragraphs. A trip idea grows into a packing list and a day-by-day plan on the same page. Notion also makes desktop apps for Mac and Windows.

The free plan caps each upload at 5 MB and keeps 7 days of page history. For offline use, you pick which pages to download. Plus costs $10 a seat a month as of October 2026, and students and teachers get Plus free on a one-person workspace.

Pick it if your notes keep turning into plans and reading lists. Skip it if you jot notes with no signal, because the free plan keeps only the pages you've picked offline.

What each free version gives you

App	Free version	Paid from (Oct 2026)	Also on
Google Keep	Everything	Nothing to buy	Web, Wear OS
Samsung Notes	Everything	Nothing to buy	Galaxy only
Simplenote	Text only	Nothing to buy	iPhone, Mac, Windows
Joplin	App, own sync	EUR 2.99 a month	Windows, Mac, iPhone
OneNote	Web and mobile	US$19.99 a year	Web, iPhone
Obsidian	Everything	US$4 a month	Windows, Mac, iPhone
Notesnook	50 notebooks	$19.99 a year	Windows, Mac, web
Markor	Everything	Nothing to buy	Android only
Notion	5 MB uploads	$10 a seat a month	Mac, Windows

Three kinds of free

All nine start at $0. The catch just sits somewhere different in each.

Nothing to buy. Google Keep, Samsung Notes, Simplenote and Markor have no paid version at all. You pay in other ways: Keep's AI extras cost money, Samsung Notes needs a Galaxy, and Simplenote stores text only.
A free app with a paid add-on. Joplin, Obsidian and OneNote are free for as long as you use them. The money goes on their own sync or on more cloud space, and Joplin also syncs through Dropbox or OneDrive.
A free plan with a cap. Notesnook and Notion give you a capped plan, then sell the next step. Notesnook caps storage. Notion caps upload size and page history.

Evernote has the tightest cap of all. Evernote's plan page limits the free plan to 50 notes and one notebook, synced on one device. Google Play also marks its Android app Contains ads. No app on our list carries that label, and it kept Evernote off.

Test an app in ten minutes

Try your top two side by side before you move anything over:

Write a note with a title, a short list and a phone number. Close the app without saving.
Switch on airplane mode. Edit that note and start a second one. Switch the signal back on and check both reach your computer.
Photograph a receipt or a letter, then search for a word printed on it.
Search for a word you typed three notes ago.
Export one note and open the file in another app.
Find the first screen that asks you to pay. Read what it's selling.

Fail step 2 or step 5 and the app is out. Step 2 is the day you lose a note in a lift. Step 5 is the day you want to leave.

Getting your notes back out

A free app is only free if you can leave it. The way out of each one:

Google Keep: Keep's export help sends you to Google's data download.
Samsung Notes: one note at a time, as a PDF, Word file or PowerPoint.
Simplenote: the Android app exports everything from Settings.
Joplin: notes are saved in an open format another app can read.
Obsidian and Markor: there's nothing to export. Your notes are already files.
Notesnook: PDF, HTML, Markdown or plain text, plus encrypted backups.

Do it once in your first week, with real notes in the app. Opening the file somewhere else is the only proof the door works.

Which one fits your day

Find the line that sounds like you:

Lists, reminders and the household shop: Google Keep.
A Galaxy phone and a habit of writing by hand: Samsung Notes.
Words only, on every computer: Simplenote.
Notebooks and scanned PDFs, nothing to pay: Joplin.
Microsoft at school or work: OneNote.
Notes as files you keep for good: Obsidian. No account wanted? Markor.
Notes encrypted before they leave the phone: Notesnook.
Notes that turn into plans: Notion.

Most of your notes are spoken? The best voice notes apps start there. Keep two apps at most, one for quick capture and one for long notes. A third app is where a note goes missing.

Half your notes are really things to do? ActivityTracker installs from Chrome on an Android phone, one search looks through every note, and a checklist in a note turns into tasks, one for each unticked line.

See how notes work

Maya's first week

Made-up example: Maya moves flat in November and starts an evening Spanish class the same week. Her phone is a Pixel, her laptop runs Windows, and she won't pay for a notes app.

Sunday: she runs the ten-minute test on Google Keep and Joplin. Both pass airplane mode. Joplin finds the word "deposit" in a photo of her tenancy letter, and Keep finds "Ikea" on a receipt.

Monday: the moving list goes in Keep. She shares it with her flatmate, who ticks off "book the van" that night.

Tuesday: her Spanish notes go in a Joplin notebook called Spanish, with a photo of the board and the teacher's PDF. She connects Joplin to the OneDrive her laptop already uses.

Friday: 14 notes in Keep, 6 in Joplin, nothing paid. She exports one Spanish note, opens the file on her laptop and keeps both apps.