A cross-platform note taking app, checked device by device

“Cross-platform” on a notes app’s homepage can mean six apps, or it can mean an iPhone app and a website. Both get the label.

So we checked. Twelve notes apps, six places you might want your notes: Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and iPad, Android, and a web browser. Then the part the checkmarks leave out: what it costs to keep them all in sync.

We make Harbor, and it’s one of the twelve. Every figure below came off each company’s own download page, pricing page, help center or GitHub repository on the date at the top. Harbor doesn’t win every row. It loses the Linux one outright.

Which apps run where

Four apps cover all six: Joplin, Standard Notes, Notesnook and Simplenote. Obsidian and UpNote have Linux but no web app. Harbor, Evernote, OneNote and Notion have the web but stop at Linux.

Two apps on this list aren’t cross-platform in any useful sense. Apple Notes and Bear are excellent, and they’re for people who’ve already decided on Apple. If there’s a Windows PC or an Android phone anywhere in your life, the browser workaround is as far as Apple Notes goes, and Bear doesn’t go at all.

What syncing them costs

This is where “runs on everything” and “works on everything” come apart. An app can have an Android version and still charge you to see the same notes on it.

Look at Evernote’s row twice. Its Free plan is one device, so the phone and the laptop can’t both have your notes. Starter is three. That’s a phone, a laptop and one more, and a work computer or an iPad takes you to $249.99 a year.

We’re on the list too, and fair’s fair: Harbor’s free plan has a device limit as well. It’s there so you can try Harbor properly, not live in it free. The paid plan is every device you own.

Native or a website in a box

The other thing “cross-platform” hides is how the desktop app is built. The easy way is to write one web app and wrap it for Mac, Windows and Linux with Electron. Plenty of good apps do exactly that, and it’s how the Linux column above gets filled.

Evernote moved its desktop apps to Electron with version 10, so it could run one codebase everywhere. By their own documentation, Obsidian, Joplin, Standard Notes and Notesnook do the same, and so does Simplenote on Windows and Linux. Bear says its apps are native. OneNote, Notion and UpNote don’t say on their download or pricing pages, so we’ll leave them blank.

Harbor is written separately for each platform. The Mac app and the iPhone and iPad app are SwiftUI, Android is Kotlin, and Windows is a native app with its own x64 and ARM64 builds. It’s more work for us. You get an app that uses each platform’s own controls, shortcuts and widgets: Spotlight and Handoff on the Mac, Siri Shortcuts and document scanning on the iPhone.

We think that matters, and we’re not going to hand you speed or memory claims we haven’t measured. When we’ve measured them, we’ll publish the numbers. For now the honest statement is just the one above: which apps are built which way.

Where Harbor fits

Harbor is for people whose notes are an archive, spread across a Mac or a PC, a phone and maybe a tablet. Native apps on all five of Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android. A web app that keeps a real database in your browser, so it works offline too. Search that reads the text inside photos, scanned PDFs and handwriting, on every device. One plan at $99 a year, with no device ceiling and a price promise in writing.

Where it loses:

• Linux. Six apps here have a Linux desktop app. Harbor has a web app and a command-line tool. If Linux is your main computer, one of the six is the better choice.
• Free. OneNote, Simplenote, Google Keep and Joplin sync everywhere at no cost. Harbor’s free plan is a trial with a device limit.
• Age. Harbor shipped in 2026. Most of the apps above have years of forum answers and plug-ins behind them. We don’t yet.

So which one

Linux in the mix? Joplin if you want free and open source, Obsidian if you want plain Markdown files on your own disk, UpNote if you’d rather pay $39.99 once and be done.

Free, everywhere, no fuss? OneNote. It’s the strongest free plan here by a distance.

All Apple? Apple Notes, or Bear if you care how writing feels.

Years of notes, scans and PDFs, across a Mac or PC and your phone? That’s Harbor. And if you’re coming from Evernote, one-step ENEX import brings your notebooks, tags and attachments with you.

Still comparing? The Evernote alternatives roundup scores these apps on price and import, Harbor vs Evernote is the head-to-head, and Joplin vs Evernote covers the best free option with a Linux app. What Harbor runs on, in full, is on the download page.

Sources

Every figure on this page was read on September 28, 2026:

• Evernote: compare plans · the move to Electron in v10
• OneNote: download OneNote · Microsoft support
• Notion: desktop apps · pricing
• Obsidian: download · Sync plans · Electron, in their update notes
• Joplin: download · plans · web app · desktop app source
• UpNote: getupnote.com · help center
• Standard Notes: plans · download · source
• Notesnook: downloads · pricing · source
• Simplenote: simplenote.com · desktop app source
• Google Keep: Keep help
• Apple Notes: Notes on iCloud.com · iCloud storage
• Bear: bear.app · Bear Pro

Harbor’s own figures come from our pricing page and what Harbor runs on.

Apps add platforms and change plans. If something here has gone stale, tell us and we’ll fix it. The date at the top is when we checked.