When is Upnote still the best choice?
Upnote remains a strong option if you’re looking for a straightforward note-taking app without monthly costs. For €24.99 you get lifetime access to all features, including unlimited devices and full synchronization. This one-time investment makes Upnote attractive for students, freelancers, and individual users who don’t want a subscription.
The app works well for personal notes, journals, and quick notes. You get markdown support, notebooks with sections, and a clean interface without unnecessary features. Upnote synchronizes across Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, which is convenient if you use multiple devices. For basic note-taking without team collaboration, Upnote does exactly what it needs to do.
When is an Upnote alternative better?
As soon as you want to collaborate with others, you’ll run into Upnote’s limitations. The app has no real-time collaboration, no shared workspaces, and no commenting feature. Teams that want to share and co-edit notes are better off with Notion (free for small teams) or Evernote (starting at €10.83 per month for Teams). These tools offer permissions, version history, and collaborative editing.
For users who want complete control over their data, Upnote does offer local storage but no end-to-end encryption. Obsidian stores everything locally in markdown files that you manage yourself, without mandatory cloud storage. Joplin goes even further with open-source code and end-to-end encryption, letting you choose where to sync (Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud). If your notes contain sensitive information or you want to remain independent from a single company, these alternatives are more secure.
Upnote also lacks project management features like tasks with deadlines, kanban boards, and databases. You can create checklists, but for tracking projects with multiple views and filters, you need Notion. Bear offers a better writing experience with focus mode and themes, while Evernote works better for archiving documents with OCR in images and PDFs.
Conclusion
Choose Upnote if you want an affordable, personal note-taking app without a subscription. Go for Obsidian or Joplin if privacy and data ownership are priorities. Choose Notion for team collaboration and project management, Bear for a minimalist writing experience on Apple devices, or Evernote for extensive document storage with OCR. Test the free versions first to see which workflow fits you best.
