Every free productivity & notes tier that clears our bar in 2026: 6 offers meet the criteria and 8 offers are demoted with a named reason. Recorded changes and a published ranking method. We could not confirm today's terms for 8 of them: on 6 the page we cite did not answer, and on 2 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 2026-11-14.

6 offers meet our criteria for this category. Of those, 5 carry no recorded change to the terms we publish, and we publish no durability signal for 1. 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, where the listing is gated, or where a narrowing in our records cites no source or no archived copy of the vendor's page has confirmed it. 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 513 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
Obsidian stable
Free

Obsidian is a local-first markdown notes app. It is free with no limits or sign-up. Commercial use does not require a paid license; a Commercial license is optional at $50 per user per year. Sync is $4 per user per month billed annually. Publish is $8 per site per month billed annually.

2
Zoho Notebook stable
Free

A free alternative to Evernote.

3
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). Free includes a basic calendar view; multiple calendar views and task duration need Premium (US$49.99 a year).

  • TickTick's Terms of Service state that businesses using the service accept the terms. The Terms do not set separate terms for the Free plan. (From ticktick.com/tos, read 2026-10-30.)
4
Apple Notes stable
Free

Fully free on Apple devices. Unlimited notes with rich text, checklists, tables, sketches, document scanning. Shared notes. iCloud sync counts against 5 GB iCloud free storage. Locked notes with password/biometric.

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.

6
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. When we last read the page we cite for this offer, on 2026-10-25, we found a change we could not reconcile with the terms we publish, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

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

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. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-15, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-10-15, 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 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. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-15, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-10-15, 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. The page we cite for this offer does not name it when we last looked, on 2026-10-22, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification We cannot confirm this offer: 2 consecutive re-check attempts have failed (most recently 2026-10-22 — the page never names Coda and is not served from its domain), 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

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 2026-10-21, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification We cannot confirm this offer: 1 consecutive re-check attempt has failed (most recently 2026-10-21 — the page names the platform in the domain we cite Zoho Docs from and never names Docs), 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)
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 ↗
−1
Notion stable
Free

Notion Free is $0 per member a month. Workspaces with one member have unlimited pages and blocks, while workspaces with two or more members have a block limit. The Free plan includes file uploads up to 5 MB per file, 7 days of page history, and 10 external guests. It also includes a trial of Notion AI, basic forms, basic sites, Notion Calendar, and databases. Plus costs $10 per seat a month and provides unlimited file uploads, 30 days of page history, and unlimited guests.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-11-04, found the page different from the terms we hold. 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. The page we cite for this offer states no amount, tier or rate we can read when we last looked, on 2026-10-10, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-10-10, 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
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.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-10-30, found a change we then refused to record, because it restated the terms we already publish. This is our confidence in the record, not a change by the vendor. (a limit of ours, not a change by the vendor)
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 ↗
−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 2026-10-14, so we cannot confirm these terms today.

  • −1 stale_verification Our last read of the vendor's pricing page, on 2026-10-14, 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)

Not on our ranked list

2 of the 16 offers matching this query are not on our ranked list — 2 we have not been able to confirm in the last 180 days. Here is how that order is derived.

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
2026-11-14
query_key
best-of:Productivity & Notes
seed
faa8b04945afcbec126d112d0af43e5e4cb2a170fb7866038163acea92a7a197
tie_count
6

Quick Comparison

Vendor Free Tier Key Limits Durability Read / catalogue date
Obsidian Free Obsidian is a local-first markdown notes app. It is free with no limits or sign-up. Commercial use does not require a pa... stable 2026-10-25
Zoho Notebook Free A free alternative to Evernote. stable 2026-11-07
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 2026-11-02
Apple Notes Free Fully free on Apple devices. Unlimited notes with rich text, checklists, tables, sketches, document scanning. Shared not... stable 2026-10-28 / 2026-08-16
Trello Free Unlimited cards. Up to 10 boards per workspace. Unlimited Power-Ups. 10 MB per file attachment. 250 Workspace command ru... stable 2026-10-30 / 2026-10-05
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 · 2026-10-25
2026-10-25 / 2026-10-02

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 6 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?

6 offers meet our criteria for this category. Of those, 5 carry no recorded change to the terms we publish, and we publish no durability signal for 1. 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, where the listing is gated, or where a narrowing in our records cites no source or no archived copy of the vendor's page has confirmed it. 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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