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Best Note-Taking Apps for Android in 2026: Keep vs OneNote vs Notion vs Obsidian

If you want one note app on Android in 2026 and you are not sure which, start with Google Keep: it is free, opens a blank note faster than any competitor, and is enough for lists, reminders, voice memos and shared household notes. Add Microsoft OneNote if you want real notebooks with handwriting, Samsung Notes if you own a Galaxy phone or tablet with an S Pen, and Obsidian only if you are building a long-term personal knowledge base and want your notes as plain files you control. The one app to think twice about is Evernote, whose free tier is now capped at 50 notes on a single device and whose Play listing carries an ads badge in 2026. App ratings, prices and store badges below were read from the Google Play listings in August and September 2026.

In short: the 2026 cheat sheet

Fastest capture, best default: Google Keep, free, 4.68 stars from over 2.5 million ratings.
Best free notebooks with handwriting: Microsoft OneNote, free, no note-count ceiling documented.
Best for S Pen owners: Samsung Notes, free, preinstalled on Galaxy devices, 4.78 stars.
Best for building a workspace: Notion, free for personal use, when notes become databases and wikis.
Best for owning your files: Obsidian, free app, notes stored as local Markdown files; paid sync optional.
One to avoid on its free tier: Evernote, now capped at 50 notes, 1 notebook and 1 device, with ads.

The comparison at a glance

App	Price	Best at	Free-tier limit that bites	Notes on privacy
Google Keep	Free	Quick capture, lists, reminders	No notebooks, only labels (50-label ceiling)	No end-to-end encryption claimed; Google holds the keys
Microsoft OneNote	Free	Notebooks, sections, handwriting	Needs a free Microsoft account; storage beyond free OneDrive means Microsoft 365 at $9.99/mo	Cloud notebooks sit in Microsoft’s account system
Samsung Notes	Free	S Pen handwriting and PDF markup	Galaxy-focused; listing not updated since Sept 2025	Samsung account sync
Notion	Free for personal use	Notes, databases, wikis in one place	5MB per-file cap on free; paid add-ons up to $214.99	Cloud workspace, no E2EE claimed
Obsidian	Free app	Local Markdown files with backlinks	Sync between devices is a paid add-on ($4-5/mo)	Local-first by design; Sync is end-to-end encrypted
Evernote	Free tier exists	Web clipping and search	50 notes, 1 notebook, 1 device	Ads badge added to Play listing; IAP to $254.89

The picks

1. Google Keep: the fastest way to write something down

Price: free, no ads, nothing to buy. Rating: 4.68 stars, 1B+ installs.

Keep is built for speed: you open it and you are in a new note, with a home-screen widget that captures a thought before the app animation finishes. Voice memos transcribe automatically, images get OCR search, and sharing a list takes two taps. The blunt limit is depth: there are no notebooks or nested folders, only labels and colors, and Google does not claim end-to-end encryption, so anything sensitive is readable by the company in principle. For a grocery list that is fine; for a private journal it is not.

Best for: most people, most days: lists, reminders, quick thoughts, shared household notes.

2. Samsung Notes: the S Pen specialist

Price: free, preinstalled on Galaxy devices. Rating: 4.78 stars, 1B+ installs, the largest review base in this comparison.

Samsung Notes is the handwriting answer on Android. If your phone or tablet has an S Pen, the app handles handwritten notes, PDF annotation and quick sketches with no setup, and it syncs across your Galaxy phone, tablet and PC. Two cautions: it is built around Galaxy hardware, and its Play Store listing had not been updated since September 2025 at the time of checking, which is worth watching for a platform app. If you are buying a Galaxy Tab for note taking, this is the app that comes with the pen you already paid for.

Best for: Galaxy owners with an S Pen, especially students who write by hand.

3. Microsoft OneNote: the free notebook that follows you everywhere

Price: free. Rating: 4.57 stars, 1B+ installs.

OneNote organizes like a binder: notebooks, sections and pages, with rich formatting, freeform ink, scanning and web clipping. The core app is free on Windows, macOS, web, iOS and Android with no documented note-count ceiling, which makes it the safest start for mixed-device households. The catches are the account and the cloud: you need a free Microsoft account to write anything, notebooks live inside Microsoft’s cloud, and storage beyond the free OneDrive allowance points you at Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 a month. Export of a whole notebook is easy only for personal OneDrive accounts, not work or school ones, so test that before building years of notes on a company account.

Best for: people who want a free, familiar notebook with handwriting, on any device.

4. Notion: when notes become a workspace

Price: free for personal use; paid plans and AI add-ons extra. Rating: 4.57 stars.

Notion is less a notepad and more a workspace where pages, databases, wikis, tasks and calendars live together and link to each other. If you are the kind of person who builds systems, it replaces several apps; if you just want to jot something down, it is more taps than Keep and asks you to structure things before it feels useful. The free plan is generous for individuals but caps file uploads at 5MB per file, and in-app purchases run from about $12 up to $214.99, with AI meeting notes and agent features sitting on paid add-ons.

Best for: students and professionals who want linked notes and databases in one place, and are willing to set it up.

5. Obsidian: the pick if you want to truly own your notes

Price: free app; Sync is $4 per user per month billed annually (or $5 month-to-month). Rating: 4.15 stars.

Obsidian stores every note as a plain-text Markdown file in a folder on your device, links notes to each other, and never locks you into a company’s server. That ownership is the point, and it is why researchers, writers and privacy-minded users love it. The honest tradeoffs: there is a real learning curve (Markdown, folders, plugins), the Android app’s rating base is small, and syncing between phone and laptop is a paid add-on unless you arrange your own sync.

Best for: people building a long-term personal knowledge base who want local files and backlinks.

What about Evernote? Read this before you trust old advice

Evernote used to be the default answer to “best notes app”, and countless older articles still say so. The 2026 reality is different: the free plan is limited to 50 notes in a single notebook on one device, the Play listing now carries a “Contains ads” badge, in-app purchases run up to $254.89, and the app’s rating has slipped to 3.51 stars from over 1.8 million ratings. It is still an excellent web clipper and searcher, but as a free everyday notes app it is now the weakest option in this comparison. If you are on Evernote’s free tier, the migration path to Keep or OneNote is straightforward for a library that small.

How to choose: match the app to your habit

Start with how you actually capture, not with feature lists. If a thought must be down in two seconds, you need Keep’s widget or quick-capture tile; OneNote and Notion take more taps to reach a blank page. Then decide where the notes live: cloud sync across phone, tablet and computer is worth having, but check you can export the whole library to a plain file, because an app you can leave is an app you can trust. Finally match format to habit: cards and checklists in Keep, a roomy canvas with ink in OneNote or Samsung Notes, linked databases in Notion, plain Markdown files in Obsidian. One thing to know before you go: a PIN or fingerprint lock on the app is not encryption, it only stops someone with your unlocked phone; if some notes are genuinely sensitive, keep a separate encrypted app for those, or keep them local-only in Obsidian.

Final verdict

For the AndroidLounge reader, the honest default is Google Keep, and the honest upgrade path is one of two directions: OneNote or Samsung Notes if you write by hand, Notion if you build systems, Obsidian if you want files you control forever. Do not choose based on what won in 2019: in the 2026 app stores, Evernote’s free tier has ads and a 50-note cap, and the apps above simply do more for $0. Our cloud storage guide explains where those notes actually live, and if you are picking a Galaxy tablet to take notes on, our in-review best Android tablets buyer guide will pair the S Pen apps with the right hardware when it publishes.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Google Keep really free with no ads?

Yes, the Play listing carries no ads badge and no in-app purchases as of September 2026, and it is the fastest capture tool in this group.

Which notes app is best for handwriting on Android?

Samsung Notes if you have a Galaxy S Pen device; Microsoft OneNote if you want handwriting on any Android phone with your finger or a generic stylus.

Do I need to pay for any of these?

No, not to start. Keep, OneNote, Samsung Notes and Obsidian’s core app are free, and Notion is free for personal use. You pay when you need Obsidian sync, more Notion storage or AI features, or Microsoft storage beyond the free OneDrive allowance.

Which app is most private?

Obsidian stores notes locally as plain files, and its optional Sync is end-to-end encrypted; Standard Notes and Joplin are the encrypted alternatives for people who want that by default. Keep, OneNote and Notion encrypt your notes in transit. If you want notes the provider cannot read, the encrypted options above are the ones to choose.

Last reviewed: October 19, 2026

Written by Cooper

Cooper writes about Android apps, software and the comparisons that actually help you choose. He takes the spec sheet apart and tells you what changes in daily use, and when the cheaper option is the sensible one.