Comparison of note-taking software

The table below compares features of Notetaking software.

Name	License	Platforms	Annotate and save PDF	White boarding	Enter text with the keyboard	Printing	Formats	Remarks
A.nnotate	free and paid versions	Web-based	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	PDF, .doc, .docx, images, web pages	Mostly oriented to including comments in PDF and Microsoft Word documents.
Adobe Reader	Freeware, but needs Adobe pro (~600€) for enabling annotations	Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X	Require someone to manually open the document in Adobe pro, allow comments, save. Then the PDF file can be annotated on any platform with Adobe Reader installed.	No	Yes	Yes	PDF, with proprietary extension
BasKet	GPL	Linux	No	No	Yes	No	Plain text, html	Features adding, managing notes by category, importing text files, images, sounds, autosave.
Bluebeam PDF Revu	proprietary	Windows XP, Windows Vista	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	save as PDF, export as BMP, PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, plain text	tabbed interface, pressure sensitive ink, auto recognize text in ink which is searchable, includes PDF printer, spell check
eNoteFile	Freeware	Windows XP/Vista	Yes	No	Yes	Yes		One-click synchronisation, sharing, password protection, automatic backup, remote access, on/offline functionality, superfast filing system, visual/area search
Evernote	Freeware and paid versions	Mac OS X, iPhone OS, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, IMAP (read-only), WWW.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes		Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.
Exstora Organizer	Freeware and paid versions	Windows 2000 - Vista	No	No	Yes	yes (Pro version)	Plain text	Features adding, managing notes by category, importing text files, etc.
Gnote	GPL 3	Linux	?	?	Yes	?	NoteXmlFormat	Port of Tomboy to C++, not all plug-ins ported
Google Notebook	web service	Web-based	No	No	Yes	Yes	Web-based; export to ODF, Microsoft Word, PDF etc. via Google Docs	no longer maintained
Gournal	GPL	Linux	?	?	Yes	Yes	SVG
Knowledge NoteBook	30 day trial and commercial.	Window XP, Windows Vista	No	No	Yes	Yes	Text, image or html with a relational database backend	Requires Adobe ColdFusion and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express
Jarnal	GPL	Any Java capable platform, including Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	ad-hoc (zip compatible archive containing an SVG per page, a config file, optional background PDFs/images). Can export to txt, html, jpg, pdf.	Requires Java
KeepNote	GPL	Windows,Linux,Mac OS X	No	No	Yes	Yes	XHTML,XML,PNG,JPG,GIF
MagicView	proprietary	Windows	No	No	Yes	Yes	HTML,RTF,TXT,HTA,XHTML,XML,PNG,JPG,GIF,BMP,MHT,PDF,DjVu (Export to HTML, Import Microsoft Word (DOC))	Enter, organize and format clips (web, screen, MS Word, Excel, others) & notes (rich text/html) in technical outline with complex tags (including date assignments) and concurrent context views. Outlines & RTF/HTML notes can be shared by online networking or offline sync.
Microsoft Windows Journal	proprietary	Windows XP Tablet PC edition	No	?	Yes	Yes	proprietary
Microsoft Office OneNote	proprietary	Windows XP, Windows Vista	Requires a plugin to be installed, then it can export to PDF.	Yes (Office One Note Version)	Yes	Yes	proprietary	Supports audio and video-recording, screen clipping, importing from Web pages, and drawing; import from any Windows application by means of a simulated printer. Good integration with other applications from vendor's Office suite. Tabbed interface provides good features for organizing and re-organizing pages. When used with Tablet PC ink, can search ink for text across all notes or a subset.
My Yellow Notepad	proprietary	Windows	No	No	Yes	Yes	XML, proprietary compressed	Enter, organize and format notes (rich text) in tree structure (with clones), includes standalone viewer, 30-day demo available
Circus Ponies NoteBook	proprietary	Mac OS X	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	proprietary, export: html, opml, rtf, txt, doc, pdf	Features adding, managing note entries, outlining, tabs, tagging, automatic indexing, audio recording, screen clipping, importing files (text, audio & video), link or embed files, etc.
NoteFinder	BSD, GPL	Crossplatform	No	No	Yes	No	Plain text	Features adding, managing note entries, Wiki markup, tagging, smooth search, importing files, etc.
NoteLab	GPL	Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X	No	No	?	Yes	save as SVG, export to many including PNG, JPG, BMP
NotePub	Free web service	Web-based	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Web-based, HTML	Supports privacy settings on a note by note basis, real time search of public and private notes, note to note links and back-links, drag and drop of images and files from web sites and from the desktop.
NoteScribe	proprietary	Windows	No	No	Yes	Yes	save as .NSE (NoteScribe), export to .rtf	supports image, video, text, PDF, spreadsheet attachments, generate citations and bibliographies
NotoAir	Web-Based, GPL	Web-Based, Linux, Windows, Mac OSX	No	No	Yes	Yes	Web-based; Html, wiki, local storage in sqlite database	Wiki based note taking software on the desktop uses Adobe Air application and synchronizes with notoair.com
PDF Annotator	Proprietary, base licence for 50$	Windows	Yes	No	No	Yes	save as SVG, export to many including PNG, JPG, BMP
Personal Knowbase	proprietary	Windows	No	No	Yes	Yes	export to RTF, HTML, TXT, CSV	Supports tags, hypertext, attachments, passwords. Portable.
Springnote	web service	Web-based	No	No	Yes	Yes	Web-based; import Microsoft Word (DOC), OpenDocument text (ODT), Text files (TXT), HTML, and Hangul Word Processor (HWP) files,; export to blog.	supports image, video, text, file attachments, keyboard shortcuts, wiki markups, etc.
threetags.com	web service	Web-based	No	No	Yes	Yes	HTML	Notes are stored encrypted for extra security/privacy
Tomboy	LGPL	cross-platform	No	No	Yes	Yes	HTML, wiki-formats	Reminders, todo-lists, formulae in latex
Xournal	GPL	Linux	Yes. Save notes in a separate file.	No	yes (recent versions)	Yes	XML, export to PDF	Fast boot, smooth curves
Name	License	Platforms	Annotate and save PDF	Whiteboarding	Enter text with the keyboard	Printing	Formats	Remarks