NotaBene
An Apple Watch that carries its weight
The watch carries tasks, notes to read and dictation — and writes to iCloud on its own, with no phone in range. Of the nine apps compared here, three have a watch app at all, and two of those only dictate.
Comparison
NotaBene next to the others.
Nine apps for the same job. What each does, what it doesn't — and what it does better than NotaBene.
Evernote · Joplin · Obsidian · Craft · Apple Notes · Notion · Bear · Microsoft OneNote · UpNote
How to read this page
Assembled from the vendors' own material as of 22 August 2026. Features change monthly and some depend on the plan. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.
Key: yes partly no
Five differences
What you won't find elsewhere — or only half of.
PDF annotation, and the marks stay in the note
Highlight, underline, comment on a selection — and on saving, a page summarising every annotation is added to the PDF. Most other apps merely attach the file.
Search that knows about diacritics
pise finds píše, Zluty finds žlutý. You needn't remember whether you typed the accents that day.
A scan that is searchable from the first second
The recognised text is written into the PDF invisibly. A receipt photographed in May is found in August by its amount, without your having typed a thing.
Apple Pencil strokes that do not decay
A handwritten note comes back exactly as it was drawn, every time it is opened — the same line, the same width. It sounds obvious. Until August 2026 it was not obvious here either.
NotaBene vs Evernote
The app NotaBene is modelled on — and the one people are leaving.
| Feature | NotaBene | Evernote |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
Evernote does nearly everything NotaBene does, plus Windows, Android and sharing. The difference is what it costs you. The Mac app has been Electron since version 10 — a browser in disguise; the Apple Watch app was withdrawn and never came back; and the free tier is now a demonstration rather than a tool. Your notes sit in someone else's database on someone else's server. Getting them out is possible, but it is not nothing.
NotaBene is native on all four devices, the watch included, charges nothing, and keeps the library as a folder of files you hold.
NotaBene vs Joplin
Open source, your own data, no provider — aiming where NotaBene aims.
| Feature | NotaBene | Joplin |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
On the essentials Joplin and NotaBene agree: the notes are your files, no account, no subscription. Joplin adds Windows, Android, plugins and encryption. What it does not add is Apple: the app is Electron, there is no watch app, no widgets, no Calendar or Reminders, and the interface feels carried over from somewhere else — because it is.
NotaBene is written for Apple and to its rules. Joplin is written for everyone, and so for nobody completely.
NotaBene vs Obsidian
The strongest tool for linked thinking — if you are willing to build it.
| Feature | NotaBene | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
Obsidian is Markdown in a local folder plus thousands of plugins. The further you are willing to go, the more it does. The price is just as real: almost none of it is in the box. PDF annotation is a plugin, drawing is a plugin, tasks with dates are a plugin — and when a plugin stops being maintained, part of your notes stops working. The app is Electron, there is no watch app, and no Czech interface.
Everything you assemble from add-ons in Obsidian is finished in NotaBene, from one author — and will still work next year.
NotaBene vs Craft
The best-looking documents on Apple platforms. But it is a document editor.
| Feature | NotaBene | Craft |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
Craft is genuinely native and the care shows — blocks, web publishing, collaboration. It aims elsewhere, though: it is a tool for writing documents, not an archive you pour a lifetime into. Scanning, PDF annotation, a watch app, Calendar, Reminders — none of it is there, and the full version is a subscription.
NotaBene is the archive and the editor. You can write a beautiful document in it too, but above all you can pour ten years of paperwork into it.
NotaBene vs Apple Notes
Free, already installed, and better than most people think.
| Feature | NotaBene | Apple Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
Let's be honest: Apple Notes is good. Native, on the watch (since watchOS 26), it scans, draws, annotates and costs nothing. You hit its limits once you have a lot of notes: no notebook stacks, no saved searches, no search operators, no templates, no version history and no tasks with due dates. And the notes live in an opaque database — getting them out means exporting one at a time.
NotaBene is Apple Notes for someone with a thousand of them who needs order — and wants to be able to carry them away.
NotaBene vs Notion
A workspace for a team. The notebook is almost a side effect.
| Feature | NotaBene | Notion |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
On databases and collaboration Notion has no rival, and NotaBene is not trying to compete there. The rest is compromise: it is a web app — slower to start, only half-working offline, no watch app, no scanning, no PDF annotation. And all of it lives on someone else's server, by subscription.
NotaBene opens and you type, on a plane included. Notion loads first.
NotaBene vs Bear
The closest relative: native, on all four devices, and beautiful.
| Feature | NotaBene | Bear |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
Bear is a fair rival — a native Apple app, a watch app, Apple Pencil, scanning, tags. The difference is how deep it goes. Bear is writing: Markdown, tags, themes. NotaBene is the archive: notebooks in stacks, tasks with due dates, Calendar and Reminders, PDF annotation, version history, saved searches. On the watch Bear dictates — NotaBene works through your tasks. And Bear's sync wants a subscription.
Bear is the nicer place to write. NotaBene is the better place for what you have already written.
NotaBene vs Microsoft OneNote
Free, and probably already at your workplace.
| Feature | NotaBene | Microsoft OneNote |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
OneNote is generous: an infinite canvas, ink, scanning through Lens, sharing, Windows and Android, and no charge. You pay in ties to Microsoft — the account is mandatory, the notes live in OneDrive and come out with difficulty. There is no watch app. And search across a large pile of notes is a weakness OneNote never resolved.
NotaBene searches instantly, inside PDFs and scans too, and the library is your folder with nobody's account attached.
NotaBene vs UpNote
Where a lot of Evernote's users went — cheap and without drama.
| Feature | NotaBene | UpNote |
|---|---|---|
| A native Mac app | ||
| An Apple Watch app | ||
| Widgets and the Lock Screen | ||
| PDF annotation inside the app | ||
| Scanning that stays searchable | ||
| Tasks with due dates inside notes | ||
| Apple Calendar and Reminders | ||
| Works without an account | ||
| Everything without a subscription | ||
| Notes as files on your device | ||
| A Czech interface | ||
| Sharing and collaboration | ||
| Windows and Android | ||
| Plugins and add-ons |
UpNote does the important part of Evernote for a fraction of the price and is pleasant to use. It is a narrower tool, though: built on Flutter, so it never quite feels native on a Mac, with no watch app, no scanning, no PDF annotation, no tasks with due dates and no link to Calendar or Reminders. The notes live in its own database.
If you only want a cheaper Evernote, UpNote will do. If you want notes to do more than text, you meet the edges quickly.
In fairness
Where the others are better.
A comparison only one side wins is not a comparison. NotaBene does not do these, and will not soon.
- Obsidian and Joplinplugins and openness
Thousands of add-ons and an open format you can rely on a decade from now. NotaBene has no plugins and will not have.
- Notiondatabases and teamwork
Shared spaces, permissions, databases with views. NotaBene is a one-person app for now — sharing is still only a design note.
- Evernote, OneNote, JoplinWindows and Android
If there is anything but Apple in your family or your company, NotaBene will not cover it. Native SwiftUI is a decision, not a temporary state.
- Craftpolish and publishing
Craft turns a note into a web page in two clicks and looks better doing it. NotaBene exports Markdown and PDF, and that is all.
- Evernotetwenty years and a finished ecosystem
Integrations, add-ons, corporate support, importers from everywhere. NotaBene is in beta and one person writes it.
Judge for yourself.
The beta is open to a limited group. Ask for an invitation.
Ask for an invitation