Google Keep Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
Google Keep alternatives: Joplin, Obsidian, Notion, Todoist and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Notes & Knowledge
Verdict:Move off Google Keep when notes pile up and you want folders, a real search across large amounts of text, or an export that is not locked into a Google account. Keep is free and fast for a shopping list, so only leave it if one of those limits is actually in your way. Joplin is the best fit for most leavers: notebooks, tags, checklists, encryption and sync through storage you pick. Obsidian is better when your notes are long-lived and linked, because they live as ordinary files on disk. Todoist is the move if what you really use Keep for is reminders and checklists; it is a stronger task tool but a weaker place to dump photos and loose thoughts. Notion suits notes that turn into shared documents, and Super Productivity suits people who want a private daily to-do with time tracking. Evernote is the cautious entry here: its free plan is capped at 50 notes and one synced device, so treat it as a trial rather than a drop-in replacement. The trade-off is speed. Keep opens to a blank card in a second; every option here asks a little more of you before the first note is saved.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joplin | Free (open-source note app; Joplin Cloud is the paid sync option) | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Terminal | Notes and checklists you own | Docs only |
| Obsidian | Free (core app with no limits, including commercial use); paid from $4 per user/month, billed annually (Sync add-on; $5 billed monthly) | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Long-term notes on your disk | Docs only |
| Notion | Free (unlimited pages and blocks for individuals but limited for workspaces of 2 or more members, 5 MB per file, 10 guests, 7-day page history); paid from $10 per member/month (Plus; check the pricing page for the billing term) | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Notes that grow into wikis | Docs only |
| Todoist | Free (Beginner: up to 5 personal projects, 3 filter views, 5 people per personal project, 5 MB file uploads, 1 week of activity history) | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Reminders and task lists | Docs only |
| Evernote | Free (50 notes, 1 notebook, 5 spaces, 20 tags, 200 attachments, 1 synced device, 1 GB storage) | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Web clipping and attachments | Docs only |
| Super Productivity | Free (Free and open source per the vendor page ('Free. Open source. Yours.'); no paid plan described) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Offline to-do lists with time tracking | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want checklists with encrypted sync and no Google account (Joplin is the pick)
- Your notes are long and linked and should stay as files (Obsidian is the pick)
- You mostly use Keep for reminders and to-dos (Todoist is the pick)
- You want shared pages that grow into a wiki (Notion is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Google Keep features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Google Keep today: Free (Google Keep pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Google Keep alternatives
Keep organizes notes with color codes, labels, pins, filters and search, and its product page describes no folders or notebooks. Notes shared with a family group can be edited or deleted by any member of that group. The page mentions exporting notes to Docs and the help center has a topic on exporting data, but it states no storage limit and no price for Keep itself, so what you can store and how far notes scale is left unstated.
Joplin
Compared with Google Keep: Free, open-source notes with checklists, tags and end-to-end encrypted sync. Keep's colour cards and quick reminders are replaced by notebooks and Markdown, so it is heavier, but your notes are not tied to a Google account.
Price: Free (open-source note app; Joplin Cloud is the paid sync option) (Joplin pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Terminal. AGPL-3.0-or-later (open source).
Project activity: 56.9k GitHub stars · latest release v3.7.21 (Sep 25, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Notes and checklists you own.
Obsidian
Compared with Google Keep: Free core app with notes stored as local Markdown files. It is slower to jot a quick list than Keep and has no colour-card view, but it handles years of notes and links between them without a storage quota.
Price: Free (core app with no limits, including commercial use); paid from $4 per user/month, billed annually (Sync add-on; $5 billed monthly) (Obsidian pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Long-term notes on your disk.
Notion
Compared with Google Keep: Free for individuals with unlimited pages, though files are capped at 5 MB. Beyond Keep's sticky notes you get databases and shared pages, at the cost of a slower, heavier app for a quick shopping list.
Price: Free (unlimited pages and blocks for individuals but limited for workspaces of 2 or more members, 5 MB per file, 10 guests, 7-day page history); paid from $10 per member/month (Plus; check the pricing page for the billing term) (Notion pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Notes that grow into wikis.
Todoist
Compared with Google Keep: Beginner plan is free with 5 personal projects and 5 MB uploads. It does reminders and checklists better than Keep, but it is a task manager, so free-form notes, drawings and photos are not its job.
Price: Free (Beginner: up to 5 personal projects, 3 filter views, 5 people per personal project, 5 MB file uploads, 1 week of activity history) (Todoist pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Reminders and task lists.
Evernote
Compared with Google Keep: Free plan is tight at 50 notes and 1 synced device. It clips and searches better than Keep, but the cap means it only works as a small free option, and a paid plan is likely if you keep many notes.
Price: Free (50 notes, 1 notebook, 5 spaces, 20 tags, 200 attachments, 1 synced device, 1 GB storage) (Evernote pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Web clipping and attachments.
Super Productivity
Compared with Google Keep: Free, MIT-licensed desktop task and time tracker. It replaces Keep's checklists with a to-do plus time-tracking workflow, but has no phone-style quick note cards and is built for work planning.
Price: Free (Free and open source per the vendor page ('Free. Open source. Yours.'); no paid plan described) (Super Productivity pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 23.2k GitHub stars · latest release v19.3.1 (Oct 25, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Offline to-do lists with time tracking.
Which one to pick
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Joplin, Obsidian, Notion, Todoist, Evernote, Super Productivity: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Google Keep. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
Related guides
More in Notes & Knowledge
- OneNote alternatives
- Evernote alternatives
- Notion vs Obsidian 2026: Price, Free Plan & Which to Choose
- OneNote alternatives
Sources
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Google Keep, Joplin, Obsidian, Notion, Todoist, Evernote, Super Productivity. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.