What Are The Top 5 Free Note Taking Apps For Small Businesses?

Whether you’re jotting down notes, tracking ideas, or managing simple tasks, a note-taking app is the perfect way to keep everything organized in one place—no matter where you are.

However, with so many simple and effective free note-taking apps available, it can be difficult to determine which is best for your business. Luckily, I’ve narrowed it down to the top 5 free options best suited for small business owners like yourself.

My top 5 free note-taking apps for small businesses are:

1. Google Keep.
2. Evernote.
3. Notion.
4. Notebook LM.
5. Microsoft Onenote.

If you’re a Google user after an easy-to-use, efficient note-taking app that integrates seamlessly with your Google Workspace, Google Keep is the perfect match for you.

Google Keep is a free and user-friendly web and mobile app designed for quickly jotting down thoughts, creating checklists, saving images, recording voice memos, and more.

Basically, you can create unlimited notes (up to 20,000 characters) that sync across all your devices, keeping everything easily accessible no matter where you are.

One of Google Keep’s standout features is its integration with other dynamic Google Apps, such as Google Calendar and Google Docs! 

With Google Keep, you can create text notes, checklists, voice memos, or photos and use labels, color-coding, and pinning features to manage notes effectively.

And the Drawing feature can help bring your visual ideas to life!

You also have the option of setting time or location-based reminders so that you and your team stay on top of tasks, no matter the time zone.

Plus, Google Keep allows for real-time collaboration, letting you share and edit notes with your team effortlessly!

For Google Workspace users looking for a straightforward yet effective note-taking solution, Google Keep has everything you need to stay organized and productive.

And when paired with Sheetify Projects, my Google Sheets template, it can even be used for effective project management! 

This dynamic duo allows you to capture and share project ideas with clients using Google Keep then track and manage those projects and tasks through Sheetify Projects.

It’s the perfect combination for staying organized and on top of all your work!

Find out more about Sheetify Projects here. 

When it comes to powerful free note-taking apps, Evernote is often at the top of the list—and there’s a good reason why!

This popular go-to note taking app effortlessly collects and organizes your ideas, notes, tasks, and documents in one easy-to-use app.

Evernote automatically syncs across your phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop—so your notes are always within reach wherever you go.

You can curate structured lists to stay organized and apply rich formatting features such as highlighting, bolding, italicizing, and underlining text to make your notes stand out.

But that’s not all! You can tag notes, embed links, add images and videos, or build tables for more dynamic content.

Integrating with tools like Google Drive and Slack has also never been easier, allowing you to seamlessly incorporate your notes into your existing workflow.

Plus, Evernote’s AI-driven search feature makes finding anything—whether PDFs, images, or documents—quick and painless.

Evernote is the perfect solution for small businesses needing to organize a large number of notes!

Whether you’re looking to collaborate with your team or just stay on top of your ideas, Evernote has you covered.

Notion is a free note-taking and collaboration workspace that combines various tools into a single platform.

Whether you’re working independently or with a team, Notion is an adaptable tool that combines the best features of note-taking apps, task managers, and wikis.

Thanks to the versatile interface and drag-and-drop editor, you can take your notes to the next level, quickly incorporating text, images, videos, bookmarks, and even code!

The app’s flexibility lets you tailor your workspace to fit personal preferences or team needs, whether setting privacy levels for sensitive information or sharing team content.

Notion also offers various templates to help you get started. But what really sets it apart is its powerful collaboration tools.

Real-time editing and commenting make it easy to brainstorm, provide feedback, and keep everyone aligned—no matter where your team is located!

Plus, you can create custom databases to track projects, tasks, and meetings and add properties like dates, checkboxes, and tags to ensure your information is easily searchable.

For teams looking for a dynamic, all-in-one note-taking tool that prioritizes collaboration and productivity, Notion is the one that has it all.

NotebookLM is so much more than a simple platform for jotting down notes or business ideas. 

Powered by Google’s Gemini AI, NotebookLM seriously elevates note-taking to a whole new level, transforming how you conduct research and capture insights!

It’s essentially a dynamic, AI-driven research assistant that helps you streamline your workflows and enhance productivity.

Simply upload sources like website links, PDFs, YouTube videos, and Google Docs into your centralized notebook and let the AI organize and analyze the content for you.

NotebookLM can handle up to 50 sources (each with 500,000 words), allowing you to manage up to 25 million words in one place!

It quickly generates summaries, outlines, study guides, FAQs, and briefing documents, allowing you to work smarter, not harder.

In addition to its powerful research capabilities, NotebookLM makes note-taking effortless.

Whether you’re brainstorming, recording thoughts, or drafting actionable notes related to your sources, you can capture ideas instantly.

Additionally, you can ‘Pin’ your most important notes to keep them front and center at all times.

Whether you're a student, academic, or business owner looking to conduct business research, this free note-taking research app is a must-try!

Microsoft OneNote is a powerful and flexible digital note-taking app that’s free to download and install as part of the Microsoft Office suite. 

OneNote is like the Microsoft version of Google Keep, allowing you to create, organize, and store notes on the same platform as Outlook, Microsoft Word, and Excel. 

On OneNote, you can type, write, draw, and even record audio or video notes in one adaptable space.

Your notes are neatly organized into notebooks, each with sections and pages. This gives you a clear structure for anything from to-do lists to detailed project planning!

OneNote also supports a variety of content types, including text, images, screenshots, tables, audio recordings, and video clips.

And like Google Keep, you can also draw directly on the page, making it perfect for those visual thinkers.

Available as a web or mobile app, you can easily jot down personal notes or manage business tasks wherever you are!

And thanks to its seamless integration with Microsoft cloud services like OneDrive, your notes are automatically synced across your devices.

For collaboration, OneNote also shines! You can share notebooks with team members or clients, allowing multiple people to add and edit content in real time.

Whether you're organizing research, brainstorming, or planning projects, Microsoft OneNote is by far the best free note-taking app for Microsoft users.

Note-taking apps are a game-changer for all small business owners looking to streamline productivity and organization.

As a small business owner myself, I know how easily great ideas can come and go in the blink of an eye.

But having a reliable app to capture those moments when they happen is key to staying organized and on top of your tasks!

Here’s why note-taking apps are so valuable for small businesses:

Capture ideas anytime, anywhere: A note-taking app lets you jot down thoughts quickly. Whether at your desk or on the go, nothing slips through the cracks!

Easy-to-use organizational features: Folders, tags, and search functions allow you to quickly find notes without hassle. 

Collaboration made seamless: Many note-taking apps allow you to work with your team in real-time, share documents, and leave comments within the same app. 

Boost productivity: By centralizing your ideas, tasks, and reminders in one place, note-taking apps reduce the number of scattered files, helping you stay focused. 

Automatic synch across all devices: With cloud-based syncing, your notes are accessible across all your devices, so you can stay productive wherever you are! 

Easy integration with other tools: Many note apps integrate with project management tools, calendars, and task managers, making it easier to action tasks without switching between apps. 

For small teams looking to stay agile, organized, and on top of their game at all times, note-taking apps are the perfect solution for turning scattered ideas into actionable plans.

Want to take control of your small business processes?

Check out my three Sheetify business toolkits that allow you to effortlessly manage and streamline your customer, financial, and project-related activities inside Google Sheets!

All three Sheetify business toolkits easily integrate with Google Keep, the best note-taking app for Google users.

Find out how you can use Google Keep and Sheetify products here.