You have three apps open: a task list, a note-taking app, and your calendar. You copy a task to your calendar, make a note about a meeting, and then forget where you put that one important to-do. NotePlan tries to solve that chaos by putting everything in one place: tasks, notes, and your calendar, inspired by the Bullet Journal method but digital.
Who is behind NotePlan?
NotePlan was founded in 2016 by Eduard Metzger in Berlin. He saw that people constantly had to switch between different apps to plan their day. Task lists in one app, notes in another, and your calendar somewhere else. Metzger wanted to solve that by integrating everything into one daily view, inspired by the analog Bullet Journal method that was hugely popular at the time.
The company is officially called NotePlan LLC and has received some seed funding from VentureVilla, but specific amounts are not public. The tool has become a favorite within the Personal Knowledge Management community, that niche group of people who are obsessively concerned with how they organize and remember information. With an estimated 30,000+ users, it’s not a giant, but a stable player.
What stands out is that NotePlan is completely built around Apple’s ecosystem. The app runs on iCloud and is only available for macOS and iOS. There is a web version, but it’s still in beta and limited. Metzger deliberately chose that focus, which makes the app fast and reliable for Apple users, but completely excludes Android and Windows users.
Who is NotePlan for?
NotePlan is made for Apple users who take their productivity system seriously. If you already keep a Bullet Journal on paper and want to continue that digitally, this is probably the best option out there. The app mainly attracts productivity nerds, people who want to time-block their day and know exactly where every minute goes.
It’s ideal if you frequently switch between tasks and notes. For example: you’re in a meeting, taking notes and want to immediately link action items to your calendar. Or you’re writing a project plan and want to directly schedule specific tasks for tomorrow. That integration really works well.
But NotePlan is not for everyone. If you use Android, you can forget the app. There is no native app and the web version is too limited to serve as a full alternative. Teams that need to collaborate in real-time are also better off looking elsewhere. There is a ‘Spaces’ feature to share notes, but that feels more like an extra than a real collaboration tool. This is truly a personal productivity app.
What can NotePlan do?
NotePlan combines three things that are normally in separate apps: notes, tasks, and your calendar. Everything revolves around your daily view, where you start in the morning and plan your day. The free trial lasts seven days, after that you need a paid subscription for full functionality. Without a subscription you can only read, no longer edit.
- Markdown notes: Everything you type is plain text with Markdown formatting. That means you structure your notes with simple characters like # for headings or ** for bold text. No fuss with formatting buttons, just typing. Your notes remain readable, even if you ever want to take them out of NotePlan.
- Calendar integration: NotePlan connects with Apple Calendar and Google Calendar. Your calendar items automatically appear in your daily note. You can drag tasks directly to a specific time and time-block your day. That works surprisingly well and gives you a realistic picture of how much you can actually get done in a day.
- Bi-directional links: You can link notes together by using [[double square brackets]]. If you create a link to another note somewhere, you automatically see in that note where it’s being referenced. Useful when you’re building a network of ideas and projects.
- Daily notes: Every day you automatically get a new note. That’s where your calendar items, tasks and loose thoughts come together. It’s your home base where your day starts and ends. You can have unfinished tasks automatically roll over to the next day.
- Time blocking: Drag a task to a specific time in your calendar and NotePlan blocks that time. You see visually how much space you still have and whether you’re overcommitting yourself. I mainly use this myself for two-hour focus blocks, really works well to prevent distraction.
- Templates: You can create templates for recurring notes. For example, a weekly review template or a meeting note with standard headings. Saves a lot of typing and ensures consistency. The templates are easy to customize and you can link them to specific dates.
- AI features: NotePlan has recently added AI summaries and assistance. You can have a long note summarized or ask questions about your notes. To be honest, I don’t use this much myself, but it’s there if you want it.
- Plugin system: There is a growing collection of plugins that add extra functionality. Think of automatic task repetitions, integrations with other apps or custom workflows. The community is active and regularly shares new plugins on Discord.
What I personally appreciate most is how fast the app is. Because everything is stored locally and syncs via iCloud, there’s no lag. You open the app and your daily note is there immediately. No waiting for servers or slow loading times.
What does NotePlan cost?
NotePlan doesn’t have a free version, only a seven-day trial period. After that week you can still read your notes, but no longer edit them. So you have to decide pretty quickly whether you want to pay.
The Personal subscription costs $ 1.99 per month if you pay monthly. That’s not cheap for a productivity app. If you go for a year, you pay $ 1.99 all at once, which comes down to $ 1.33 per month. That saves about 20 percent, but you do have to pay upfront.
There’s no lifetime deal or one-time purchase option. So you’re committed to a subscription. For some people that’s a dealbreaker, especially if you compare with tools like Obsidian that are completely free. I use NotePlan myself through Setapp, a subscription service for Mac apps. If you already have Setapp, you get NotePlan included at no extra cost, which makes it a lot more attractive.
An annoying detail: you have to enter a credit card to start the trial period. If you forget to cancel, you’re automatically switched to a paid subscription. That’s not unique to NotePlan, but it is irritating.
What should you watch out for?
The biggest problem is the platform limitation. NotePlan only works on Apple devices. If you have a Windows laptop or Android phone, you can’t fully use the app. There is a web version, but it’s still in beta and lacks a lot of functionality. If you switch between different ecosystems, NotePlan quickly becomes unusable.
The price is an obstacle for many people. Almost $ 1 per year for a note-taking app is not nothing, especially if you compare with free alternatives like Obsidian. You’re mainly paying for the calendar integration and the polished experience, but whether that’s worth the premium depends on how much value you place on those features.
If you don’t know Markdown, there’s a learning curve. The app doesn’t force you to use Markdown, but you do miss out on a lot of power. Things like creating quick task lists or structuring notes go much faster if you know the Markdown syntax. That’s not hard to learn, but it does take some time.
Recurring tasks are limited. You can make tasks repeat, but not infinitely or with complex patterns. For example, if you want a task that repeats every second Tuesday of the month, you’ll run into limitations. For simple daily or weekly repetitions it works fine, but power users miss options here.
The collaboration features are minimal. The new Spaces feature lets you share notes with others, but it doesn’t feel like a full-fledged collaboration tool. There’s no real-time editing, no comments, no granular permissions. If you work with a team, NotePlan simply isn’t built for that use.
NotePlan alternatives
If NotePlan doesn’t quite fit, there are plenty of alternatives that offer parts of the same functionality:
- Obsidian: Choose this if you don’t want to pay for a subscription and want full control over your data. Obsidian is free, works on all platforms, and has a huge plugin library. It does lack the tight calendar integration of NotePlan, but for pure notes and knowledge management it’s more powerful.
- Agenda: Go for this if design and visual appeal are important. Agenda has a prettier interface and is more date-oriented, but doesn’t use plain text or Markdown. You’re stuck with their formatting and export is more difficult.
- Roam Research: Choose Roam if you want to build complex knowledge graphs and money is not an issue. Roam is more expensive than NotePlan (15 dollars per month) and fully web-based, but the bi-directional links and graph view are more powerful. Less focus on daily planning and calendar though.
Frequently asked questions
A few things that come up often with people considering NotePlan:
Where is my data stored?
NotePlan stores everything locally on your device and syncs via your personal iCloud. The developer has no access to your notes. Everything stays within Apple’s CloudKit infrastructure, which means your data remains private and isn’t stored on NotePlan’s external servers.
Is there a Windows version?
No, there is no native Windows app. You can use the web version in your browser, but it’s still in beta and lacks functionality. If you primarily work on Windows, NotePlan is not the right choice.
Does NotePlan support collaboration?
Limited. Through the Spaces feature you can share notes with others, but it’s not a full-fledged collaboration tool. There is no real-time editing or extensive permissions. NotePlan is really built as a personal productivity app, not for teams.
Can I export my notes?
Yes, because everything is stored in Markdown, you can easily export your notes as plain text files. You’re not locked into NotePlan and can always switch to another tool without losing your data.
Conclusion
NotePlan does what it promises: put tasks, notes and calendar in one place. If you’re an Apple user who likes structure and enjoys time-blocking, this is probably the best digital Bullet Journal out there. The app is fast, reliable and the calendar integration works really well. I use it myself through Setapp and find it especially useful for daily planning and linking tasks to specific time blocks.
But it’s not cheap and definitely not for everyone. If you work on Windows or Android, forget it. And if you don’t want to pay 100 dollars a year for a note-taking app, there are free alternatives like Obsidian that work just fine. NotePlan is especially worth it if you need that specific combination of features and are willing to pay for it.
