TL;DR
Notion AI is the best AI note taking app for most people in 2026: one workspace where
the assistant, meeting notes and enterprise search live next to your docs — but full AI now
requires the Business plan at $20/member/mo. Obsidian + AI plugins wins on ownership
and cost (app free, bring your own model key). Mem is the best pure "AI remembers for
you" app. ClickUp Brain if notes really mean tasks. Pick by where your notes already
live — this category is decided by lock-in and price, not by raw model quality.
The seven contenders
We ran the same job through each: capture 40 notes (meetings, clipping, half-formed ideas),
then ask for them back, ask for summaries, and ask the AI to draft from them.
- Notion AI — AI inside the workspace everyone already uses
- Obsidian + plugins — local Markdown, free app, paid or BYOK AI plugins
- Evernote AI — the veteran, OCR search plus AI Edit
- OneNote Copilot — Microsoft's notebook with Copilot inside
- Mem — folderless, agent-driven "AI thought partner"
- Reflect — fast networked notes, now open-source on Mac
- ClickUp Brain — AI that treats notes as project context
Pricing verified against official pages in October 2026:
| App | Free plan | Paid entry (AI included) | AI cost model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notion AI | Limited AI trial | Business $20/member/mo annual ($24 monthly) | Bundled in Business; Custom Agents $10 per 1,000 credits |
| Obsidian + AI | App free (incl. work use) | Copilot plugin free (BYOK); Lite $6.25/mo annual | Bring-your-own key or $6.25–$11.67/mo hosted |
| Evernote AI | 50 notes, 1 notebook | Advanced $249.99/yr (~$20.83/mo) | AI tools gated to Advanced (see note) |
| OneNote Copilot | OneNote free | M365 Personal $9.99/mo; Copilot Business add-on $18/user/mo annual | Bundled in M365, add-on for work |
| Mem | 25 notes + 25 messages/mo | Plus $9/mo; Pro $29/mo | Metered ladder to Pro 20× $199/mo |
| Reflect | Reflect Open free on Mac | Reflect Classic $10/mo annual | Open build uses your own AI key |
| ClickUp Brain | One-time AI trial | Brain AI $9/user/mo annual ($14 monthly) | Add-on on top of a paid ClickUp plan |
How we tested the best AI note taking apps
Four rounds, identical inputs, thirty minutes per app:
- Capture — create 10 meeting notes, clip 10 pages, dump 20 raw thoughts
- Retrieval — five "where did I write X" questions, scored on whether the right note surfaced
- AI work — summarize a messy note, extract action items, draft a reply from context
- Price — what a single person actually pays for unlimited-ish AI use
Results
| App | Capture | Retrieval | AI work | Price value | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion AI | 8.8 | 8.6 | 8.7 | 6.5 | 8.6 |
| Obsidian + plugins | 7.5 | 8.9 | 8.2 | 9.5 | 8.4 |
| Mem | 8.2 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.8 |
| ClickUp Brain | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 5.5 | 7.6 |
| OneNote Copilot | 7.2 | 7.4 | 8.0 | 6.0 | 7.4 |
| Reflect | 8.4 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 8.5 | 7.3 |
| Evernote AI | 7.0 | 8.0 | 7.2 | 4.5 | 7.1 |
Retrieval tells the story: Obsidian's Smart Connections found buried notes other apps
missed, because embeddings run locally over files you own. Notion won on the full loop —
capture, ask, draft, share — without leaving the page.
Tool-by-tool
1. Notion AI — best overall
AI is no longer a $10 add-on: Free and Plus get a limited trial, and the full suite
(Notion Agent, AI Meeting Notes, Enterprise Search, research mode) ships with Business at
$20/member/mo billed annually. Custom Agents bill separately at $10 per 1,000 monthly
credits. Weakness: solo users without a team get almost nothing for free.
2. Obsidian + AI plugins — best for ownership
The app is free for personal and commercial use; AI comes from plugins. Copilot for
Obsidian runs free on your own ChatGPT/Claude subscription or API key, with hosted Lite
($6.25/mo annual) and Plus ($11.67/mo annual) tiers. Smart Connections surfaces related
notes locally for free. Weakness: you assemble the stack yourself.
3. Evernote AI — best OCR, worst value
Free is now a 50-note demo; Starter caps at 1,000 notes for $99/yr. AI Edit, semantic
search and transcription are reported on the $249.99/yr Advanced plan — though Evernote's
own pages have also shown AI on every plan, so check your account before paying for AI.
4. OneNote Copilot — best for Microsoft shops
OneNote itself is free; Copilot inside it comes with Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99/mo,
$99.99/yr) or Premium ($19.99/mo) for consumers, and for work through the Microsoft 365
Copilot add-on (currently $18/user/mo billed yearly, normally $21; ~$30/user enterprise).
Copilot Notebooks summarize and rework whole notebooks.
5. Mem — best proactive assistant
Repositioned as an agent: it tracks tasks across your notes, checks in, and runs routines.
Now fully metered — Free 25 notes/messages a month, Plus $9, Pro $29 (100 notes, custom
routine, one connection), scaling to Pro 20× $199/mo. The old flat $12 Pro is gone.
6. Reflect — best fast capture
Reflect now ships as open-source Reflect Open: free on Mac, paid iOS app, local
Markdown files, and AI that runs on your own API key (billed by your provider). Classic
subscribers keep the $10/mo annual plan with AI included. Weakness: no bundled model, and
the product is mid-transition.
7. ClickUp Brain — best when notes are really work
Brain AI ($9/user/mo annual) adds unlimited assistant chat across Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini
plus workspace search; Everything AI ($28) adds notetaker and agentic features. Both are
add-ons to a paid ClickUp plan, and every seat in the workspace must buy it.
How to choose in 60 seconds
- Team already in Notion, budget approved: Notion AI on Business.
- Personal notes, zero budget: Obsidian + Copilot plugin (BYOK) or Reflect Open.
- Want AI to chase you, not wait for you: Mem Pro ($29/mo).
- Notes feed projects and tasks: ClickUp Brain AI ($9/user/mo).
- All-in on Microsoft 365: OneNote Copilot (often already paid for).
- Sitting on a decade of Evernote clips: stay only if OCR retrieval is your moat.
The bottom line
The best AI note taking app in 2026 is the one whose AI you can reach without leaving the
note — and whose export you trust when the price changes. Notion AI has the deepest
integration but now demands a $20 Business seat; Obsidian proves the cheap path works.
Try your five hardest retrieval questions in two apps this week; keep whichever answers
them with the least hunting.
Verdict: Notion AI for most people; Obsidian for owners
Notion AI is the best AI note taking app if your team already lives in Notion and you can
justify $20/member/mo. If notes are personal, Obsidian with a free BYOK AI plugin gives 90%
of the capability at $0 and never locks your archive behind a subscription.
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