Every free productivity & notes tier that clears our bar in 2026: 9 offers meet the criteria and 7 offers are demoted with a named reason. Recorded changes and a published ranking method. We could not confirm today's terms for 11 of them: on 8 the page we cite did not answer, and on 3 our own read did not confirm them. Each row says why.

Best Free Productivity & Notes Tools

Every free productivity & notes tier that clears our bar today. Updated 2026-09-30.

9 offers meet our criteria for this category. Of those, 5 carry no recorded change to the terms we publish, 1 a recorded narrowing, 1 a recorded widening, and we publish no durability signal for 2. The Durability column below says which offer is in which group, and links the dated record behind every change. We withhold the class where the pricing page does not resolve or states no amount, tier or rate we can read, where we refused the last read, or where the listing is gated. We do not rank these by how much you get, because the limits are not comparable without reading each vendor's page. They are listed in an order that rotates daily. Here is how that order is derived. There is no top slot here to sell.
Why trust this data? Every free tier is verified against the vendor's pricing page with dates tracked. We monitor 476 pricing changes and flag vendors that have reduced or removed free tiers. Rankings start every offer at zero and can only demote. There is no signal a vendor can acquire, lobby for, or buy — there is nothing to add. A record reaches a function page when its category names the function or when it carries a subtype label that names the function. Adding a label to a record publishes it here; removing one withdraws it. No page holds a list of vendors. See all 16 productivity & notes offers →
1
TickTick stable
Free

Up to 9 lists. Up to 99 tasks per list. 1 calendar subscription. 2 reminders per task. Basic Pomodoro timer. Basic habit tracker (up to 5 habits). No calendar view or task duration on free.

2
Airtable stable
Free

Database and app-building platform. Free: unlimited bases, 1,000 records per base, 1 GB attachments per base, 1 workspace, up to 5 editors and 50 commenters, 500 AI credits per editor/month, 100 automation runs, 1,000 API calls/month, 2-week revision and snapshot history, Interface Designer. Extensions, synced tables, Gantt/timeline views and expanded color/formatting are paid only; Team is $20/user/month billed annually. Best for unlimited usage needs.

Recorded, but does not affect rank:
  • discovered 2026-08-28 · effective date unknown — pricing restructured: The free plan still exists. The details have changed. The page states the free plan is for individual users, very small teams, or those with lightweight needs. It also mentions paid plans start at $20/user/month. Source ↗
3
Free

Unlimited notes with end-to-end encryption. Cross-platform sync. Plain text editor only on free. 100 MB total storage. No rich text, spreadsheets, file attachments, or note history on free tier. Best for open source projects and unlimited usage needs. When we last read the page we cite for this offer, on 2026-09-20, we found a change we could not reconcile with the terms we publish, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

4
Notion stable
Free

Free $0 per seat/month. Pages & blocks Unlimited for individuals limited for 2+ members Unlimited Unlimited. File uploads Up to 5 MB Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited. Page history 7 days 30 days 90 days Unlimited. External guest limit 10 Unlimited guests Unlimited guests Unlimited guests Best for unlimited usage needs.

5
Trello stable
Free

Unlimited cards. Up to 10 boards per workspace. Unlimited Power-Ups. 10 MB per file attachment. 250 Workspace command runs per month (automation). Unlimited activity log. Best for unlimited usage needs.

6
Free

FREE - 5GB Secure cloud storage for individual use. The page we cite for this offer names the platform it runs on and not the offer itself when we last looked, on 2026-09-09, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

Recorded, but does not affect rank:
  • discovered 2026-08-31 · effective date unknown — limits reduced: The free tier now offers 5GB of storage. No user limit is mentioned. The bundled Zoho Office Suite is also mentioned. Previously 1GB upload limit. Source ↗
7
Zoho Notebook stable
Free

A free alternative to Evernote.

8
Free

The first 5GB of iCloud storage is free. Additional storage requires a paid iCloud+ subscription, with plans starting at $0.99/month for 50GB. Features like Private Relay and Hide My Email are also part of paid plans. Note — discovered 2026-09-22: The page details iCloud+ with a free 5GB tier. Emphasizes paid plans for increased storage and features like Private Relay, Hide My Email, and HomeKit Secure Video. The free tier is now part of a broader iCloud+ ecosystem and is limited to 5GB of storage. Source ↗

Recorded, but does not affect rank:
  • discovered 2026-09-22 · effective date unknown — pricing restructured: The page details iCloud+ with a free 5GB tier. Emphasizes paid plans for increased storage and features like Private Relay, Hide My Email, and HomeKit Secure Video. The free tier is now part of a broader iCloud+ ecosystem and is limited to 5GB of storage. Source ↗
9
Obsidian stable
Free

Fully free for personal use. Local-only markdown notes. Unlimited vaults, notes, and community plugins. No cloud sync on free (Obsidian Sync is $8/mo). No publish on free. Commercial use requires paid license ($50/user/year). Best for personal projects and unlimited usage needs.

Demoted — and exactly why

These offers reach this page too and rank below the list above. Each one names the recorded fact behind it. A recorded limit reduction, pricing restructure or new restriction is shown on every surface where the offer appears, with its date and summary — but it does not move rank. We have change records for only 16% of vendors, and disproportionately for well-known ones, so ranking on them would demote the vendors we happen to watch most closely.

−1
Free

Up to 5 active projects. Up to 5 collaborators per project. 5 MB file upload limit. Basic priority levels. No reminders, no labels, no filters, no calendar view on free tier. One week of activity history. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-09-02, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-09-02, could read no amount, tier or rate on the page. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
−1
Free

Fully free with Microsoft account. Unlimited lists and tasks. Due dates, reminders, recurring tasks. My Day planning view. File attachments up to 25 MB. Shared lists. Outlook integration. Cross-platform. Best for open source projects and unlimited usage needs. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-09-17, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-09-17, could read no amount, tier or rate on the page. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
−1
Free

Now sold as Superhuman Docs: coda.io/pricing redirects to superhuman.com/plans/docs. Read 2026-09-13, the Free plan is $0 and includes collaborative docs, Docs AI, connected tables, views and forms, and formulas and automations. Unlimited doc size, AI writing and editing, and 30-day version history are Pro at $12/month per Doc Maker billed annually. Best for unlimited usage needs. The page we cite for this offer does not name it when we last looked, on 2026-09-10, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification We cannot confirm this offer: 1 consecutive re-check attempt has failed (most recently 2026-09-10 — the page never names Coda, on a domain that carries its name), never confirmed since it was indexed. This is our inability to verify, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
−1
Free

Fully free with Google account. Unlimited notes, lists, labels, reminders, color coding. Voice memos with auto-transcription. Image notes with OCR. Shared notes. Images use Google account storage. Best for unlimited usage needs. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-09-02, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-09-02, could read no amount, tier or rate on the page. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
−1
Free

Suite of 45+ business apps with free tiers — Zoho Mail (5 users, 5 GB/user), CRM (3 users), Projects (3 users, 2 projects), Invoice (5 customers), Cliq (unlimited users), Forms (3 forms), and more Best for unlimited usage needs. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-09-02, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-09-02, could read no amount, tier or rate on the page. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
−1
Free

Fully free. Unlimited plain-text notes with cross-platform sync. Markdown support. Tags. 30-day version history. Collaboration via shared notes. Published notes with public URLs. No file attachments. Best for open source projects and unlimited usage needs. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-09-02, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-09-02, could read no amount, tier or rate on the page. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
−2
Free

Up to 50 notes total. 1 notebook. 60 MB monthly upload limit. 25 MB max note size. Single device sync plus web. Basic search and Web Clipper included. No offline notebooks, PDF annotation, or email forwarding on free. Its pricing page has not resolved for us since 2026-04-23, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −2 link_unreachable Evernote's pricing page has not resolved for us since 2026-04-23.
Recompute today's order yourself. The order above is a permutation seeded only on the UTC date and the query key — no vendor name, slug, id or offer field is an input. The algorithm is published, so anyone can reproduce this page's order without asking us.
date
2026-09-30
query_key
best-of:Productivity & Notes
seed
07ffd0c9095ec38ed3f82ab6092c94b8d9952687ba10c681c34f4f33d414550c
tie_count
9

Quick Comparison

Vendor Free Tier Key Limits Durability Read / catalogue date
TickTick Free Up to 9 lists. Up to 99 tasks per list. 1 calendar subscription. 2 reminders per task. Basic Pomodoro timer. Basic habit... stable 2026-09-21
Airtable Free Database and app-building platform. Free: unlimited bases, 1,000 records per base, 1 GB attachments per base, 1 workspac...
read found the page different · 2026-09-12
stable 2026-09-12 / 2026-07-11
Standard Notes Free Unlimited notes with end-to-end encryption. Cross-platform sync. Plain text editor only on free. 100 MB total storage. N... not published
read not reconciled · 2026-09-20
2026-09-20 / 2026-08-17
Notion Free Free $0 per seat/month. Pages & blocks Unlimited for individuals limited for 2+ members Unlimited Unlimited. File upload...
read found the page different · 2026-09-12
improving
discovered 2026-08-28 · effective date unknown
2026-09-12 / 2026-07-09
Trello Free Unlimited cards. Up to 10 boards per workspace. Unlimited Power-Ups. 10 MB per file attachment. 250 Workspace command ru... stable 2026-09-12
Zoho Docs Free FREE - 5GB Secure cloud storage for individual use not published
page omits the product · 2026-09-09
2026-09-07 / 2026-08-01
Zoho Notebook Free A free alternative to Evernote. stable 2026-09-22
Apple Notes Free The first 5GB of iCloud storage is free. Additional storage requires a paid iCloud+ subscription, with plans starting at... watch
discovered 2026-09-22 · effective date unknown
2026-09-22 / 2026-08-16
Obsidian Free Fully free for personal use. Local-only markdown notes. Unlimited vaults, notes, and community plugins. No cloud sync on... stable 2026-09-20

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free productivity & notes tool in 2026?

We publish no ranking of these. Nothing we record measures popularity or generosity, so naming a best or a top few would be our preference rather than our data. We hold 9 free productivity & notes offers that clear our bar, each listed with the terms we publish and the date we last read them. Our ranking rule is published at /criteria.

Which of these free productivity & notes tiers have held their terms?

9 offers meet our criteria for this category. Of those, 5 carry no recorded change to the terms we publish, 1 a recorded narrowing, 1 a recorded widening, and we publish no durability signal for 2. The Durability column below says which offer is in which group, and links the dated record behind every change. We withhold the class where the pricing page does not resolve or states no amount, tier or rate we can read, where we refused the last read, or where the listing is gated. We do not rank these by how much you get, because the limits are not comparable without reading each vendor's page.

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