The 7 Best Note-Taking Apps for Programmers and Coders

Staying organized as a programmer can be tough! Here are the best note-taking apps designed with coders and developers in mind.

Programming is an activity that can frustrate even the best and brightest among us. Creating a web, mobile, or desktop app is a big undertaking. Good note-taking skills are key to staying organized and not succumbing to stress, despair, and burnout before seeing your goal through.

Most note-taking apps aren't designed with programmers in mind, and they can be so difficult to adapt for this purpose that many new developers forgo the habit entirely. If you're still learning and need some sort of developer notes app, we've got you covered. Here are the best note-taking app for programmers of all varieties.

1. Boostnote

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux

Price: Free

Boostnote is an industry favorite when it comes to note-taking app for coders. It doesn't have all the features of a modern note-taking app (it supports Markdown formatting and folder-based organization, but lacks web clipping or handwritten notes), but it does offer something that all programmers love: snippets.

You can embed code blocks directly within normal notes, and you can create separate snippet-type notes that are specifically for collecting and grouping multiple code blocks into a single note. It also supports checkbox-based lists for task management.

The best part about Boostnote is that it's free, open-source, and completely cross-platform—your programming notes will sync across all the platforms that you use Boostnote on.

2. MedleyText

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux

Price: $5/mo with 45-day free trial

MedleyText is very similar to Boostnote. This note-taking app for programmers comes with fewer features, but it maintains a tighter focus on what it does offer: rich-text formatting options, embedded code blocks within normal notes, and customizable themes and keyboard shortcuts. It's excellent for highly productive coders with big projects to manage.

When you embed formatted code directly into notes, the app will automatically highlight the syntax; you can also manually select which syntax highlighting language to apply to any given block of code. This service supports over 40 programming languages, which means that your work is not likely to be left out in the cold.

While MedleyText was once free for local notes, this version is no longer an option. It's a premium app, but with good reason; you can download an incredibly generous free trial to see if it's worth it for you.

3. Quiver

Platform: Mac

Price: $10 with free trial

Quiver is one of the best note apps for programmers who like to keep things flexible; you can mix and match text in both Markdown and LaTeX formats with embedded code inside your notes. Quiver also has a dedicated code editor in the app; it's cleaner and more responsive than those of its competitors, making note-taking for programmers much easier.

As for syntax highlighting, this app supports over 120 programming languages. Cloud storage sync is available for Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, and more. And, because your code notes are stored as JSON files, you can safely use version control to track changes. Shared notebooks allow for collaboration between teammates on large projects. It even has a web clipper. What more could you want?

If Quiver is so great, why is it listed third? The unfortunate truth is that it's only available on Mac. While the Mac operating system can be a wonderful programming environment, Quiver is not the best note-taking app for software engineers who routinely hop between other operating systems.

4. OneNote

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Web

Price: Free

For many, OneNote is the best note-taking app, period. Until recently, however, it lacked syntax highlighting, which is a huge red flag when taking notes for coding. Fortunately, thanks to a free add-on, OneNote can now support syntax highlighting just fine.

The add-on is admittedly a bit clunky, but it's nice to know that you can finally use OneNote for storing code notes. Since OneNote is one of the best ways to take notes as a student, we consider this app to be the best note-taking app for computer science majors, or even just anybody studying programming in general.

OneNote's note-sharing feature is also great for collaborative projects. It's completely free and available on nearly every major platform, both desktop and mobile (except for Linux, sorry!).

5. CherryTree

Platform: Windows

Price: Free

CherryTree is unlike most note-taking apps for programmers in that it's more of a personal wiki—you can insert links to any other page throughout the notebook.

There are other apps like CherryTree, including wikidPad and Zim, but CherryTree supports a special page type specifically for code. You can write regular notes for ideas and tasks and then switch to the code note feature for snippets. As far as page hierarchy options go, both types of page work the same way.

It's quick as hell, making it one of the best lightweight note-taking apps. Speed demons, this one is for you.

6. Sublime Text

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux

Price: $80 with unlimited free evaluation version

If you're a programmer, you probably already know about Sublime Text. It's actually a text editor, not a note-taking app.

With that being said, it is still perfectly suitable for programming notes. Each note is a text file, and every code snippet exists in a separate, language-appropriate file.

Sublime Text's native features are excellent for increasing overall productivity, and the ability to split it into multiple editor panes is indispensable. For note-taking and organization, it gets even better with just a few free plugins.

SideBarEnhancements is a must-install for every Sublime Text user. It adds many improvements to the sidebar, mostly in the menu when you right-click files. PlainTasks incorporates a task-style to-do list right into the editor. MarkdownEditing is nifty if you want your notes to be taken in Markdown.

Sublime Text is pretty costly, but the free evaluation period never ends. As long as you can deal with an occasional pop-up reminding you to purchase the full version, you can use Sublime Text for free indefinitely.

7. TickTick

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Web

Price: Free, Premium version for $28/year

TickTick is a to-do list app that's pretty similar to other note-taking apps for programmers, but it has one subtle feature that soars far above the rest: every list item has a "description" field. This field is basically an entire notepad.

As a programmer, you can use TickTick to track all of your tasks as individual list items and store notes dedicated to each task. There's no syntax highlighting or rich-text formatting, however, so it's better for managing ideas than storing code snippets themselves.

You get all the benefits of a full-blown to-do list app: folder organization, subtasks, recurring tasks, reminders, priorities, and pretty much anything else you can think of. TickTick offers a free plan with a limited number of lists; a paid plan is $28 per year.

If your favorite person is a developer, you might want to check this one out. It's one of our favorite gifts for programmers.

Tips for Becoming a Better Programmer

If all else fails, you can always stick notes right next to your code. Commenting in this way isn't the slickest way to write, but it's one option for low-level notes pertinent to certain snippets.

If you're ready to step it up, we know that at least one of the note-taking apps listed above will hit the sweet spot for you and your work. They'll make your code cleaner and so much easier for the next person to dive into.