Google Keep Alternatives for Windows: OneNote, Joplin, Obsidian and Simplenote’s Maintenance Mode

He went back to Keep. That result is less interesting than his reasons, and a few of his quick verdicts need correcting. Windows users choosing between OneNote and the lighter or local-first apps should know about one fact his piece doesn't mention: one of the five apps is no longer in active development.

The test criteria: quick capture, free sync, low friction​

Yewale set three conditions. The app had to work across his devices, it couldn't require a subscription, and it had to be easy to use. He says each alternative had real strengths, but the longer he used them, the more he valued the small things Keep does well for how he works.

His main point is about workflow. Much of what he saves has a short life. A checklist gets a task done, a link waits until he reads it, and an idea might grow into something or be forgotten. Keep lets him save a note first and decide later where it belongs. His competitors mostly want to know where a note goes before you write it.

This is one person's preference, not a usability study. Still, the question behind it is useful: do you capture first, or file first?
Section summary: The comparison favors low-friction capture and sync that comes with an account you already have. If you organize before you write, weigh his conclusions accordingly.

Google Keep: organized enough, and your notes can leave​

Keep's organization is simple, and Google's own help documentation confirms the basics. Keep supports notes and lists, drawings saved as notes, labels, colors, pinning, archiving, reminders and sharing. On a PC there is nothing to install. You go to keep.google.com, click Take a note, type, and click Done.

What Keep lacks is hierarchy. It has no notebooks, sections or nested pages, only notes that you label, color and pin. Yewale accepts that trade-off for everyday notes.

He doesn't cover exporting, which matters if you're worried about being tied to one company's account. According to Google's Keep export documentation, you can download:

• Note content (text and list items)
• Attachments, including voice recordings, drawings and images
• Note color and status (pinned and archived)
• Collaborators
• Your list of labels

There's a limit for business users. Google says some data may not be downloadable from work or school accounts, depending on the organization's settings. Super administrators can export or migrate the domain's Workspace data instead. If your notes are in a managed Google account, check with IT before you plan a move.

Section summary: Keep's convenience does tie you to a Google account, but Google provides a real export that includes attachments and labels.

Microsoft OneNote: hierarchy with more features than a planning tool​

For Windows readers, OneNote is the most important app in the comparison. Yewale liked its notebooks, sections and pages for bigger projects. His example is a Hawaii trip, with pages for places to visit, travel documents and a trip journal, all in one notebook. He decided that level of structure is too much for a passing thought.

Microsoft's support documentation backs up the structure he describes. A notebook holds one or more sections, and each section holds pages and optional subpages. Subpages let you group related pages under one main page, so you can move, copy or email them together. The same article covers OneNote for Microsoft 365, OneNote 2024, OneNote 2021 and OneNote 2016.

Several OneNote features push back on the idea that it only suits heavily structured work:

1. Internal cross-links. Right-click a page tab, choose Copy Link to Page, and paste the link anywhere in the notebook. Copy Link to Section does the same for sections. Microsoft suggests this for cross-referencing or building a table of contents. That's a simple version of the linked-notes approach Yewale credits to Obsidian.
2. Free-form pages. You can type anywhere on a OneNote page and drag note containers around. That's closer to a whiteboard than a filing cabinet.
3. Cross-platform access. Microsoft's getting-started guide says OneNote now has a consistent interface across Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. You sign in with a personal Microsoft account or a work or school account.
4. Extensions on Windows. Microsoft's own documentation mentions the third-party Onetastic add-in for OneNote for Windows. It adds search and replace, page sorting and tables of contents.

The source text doesn't claim that OneNote needs a paid subscription for basic use, and neither do we.

Section summary: OneNote gives you the hierarchy Keep doesn't have, plus internal linking. If you already have a Microsoft account, the "extra account" problem Yewale raises about other apps may not apply to you.

Simplenote: no attachments, and development has ended​

Yewale rejected Simplenote because it can't hold attachments. He regularly adds images and audio to remind himself what sparked an idea. He notes that Simplenote does offer tags, checklists, Markdown, version history and sync. Simplenote's own help center confirms the attachment limit. It suggests Automattic's Day One app for media attachments, which Simplenote doesn't support.

His piece leaves out a bigger issue. Simplenote's help page now says the app is no longer in active development, only basic functionality is being maintained, and no new features are planned. Automattic confirmed the change in March 2026. According to an announcement on the service's forum, the company clarified that no new features or enhancements are planned, and only basic functionality will be maintained going forward. AlternativeTo also noted that the pace of updates had already been slow for several years, so most users should not see noticeable differences in the short term, provided the service remains available.

Ry Walker's research summary says the Electron desktop app shipped a v2.26.1 bug-fix release as recently as June 11, 2026. That means the Windows client is still getting fixes, but you would be adopting an app in maintenance mode.

If you already use Simplenote on Windows, its help center describes the way out. In the desktop app, go to File > Export Notes to download a .zip of all your notes. Each file is named after the first line of its note. Simplenote also warns against logging out or clearing app data before your notes have synced to the web app, because that can cause permanent data loss.

Section summary: Simplenote's lack of attachments was Yewale's deal-breaker. Its maintenance-only status is a bigger reason for new users to be cautious.

Obsidian and Joplin: sync is more flexible than he suggests​

Yewale says these two apps made him appreciate Keep's built-in sync. He's partly right, but the details matter.

Obsidian. Its official pricing page says the app is free, needs no sign-up, and stores your data locally on your device. Built-in Sync is an optional paid add-on. It costs $4 per user per month billed annually, or $5 billed monthly, and includes end-to-end encryption and version history. Obsidian also lists a 40% discount on Sync and Publish for students, faculty and nonprofit staff. That's relevant because Yewale specifically recommends Obsidian's links and backlinks to students. He also acknowledges that you can set up other ways to sync instead of paying.

Joplin. This is where his summary is too narrow. He says that if you don't want to pay for Joplin Cloud, you have to pick Dropbox or OneDrive. Joplin's official sync documentation lists Joplin Cloud, Nextcloud, S3, WebDAV, Dropbox, OneDrive and the local filesystem as supported sync targets. The project says its goal is to avoid being tied to any particular company, Microsoft included. Once you choose a target, Joplin syncs in the background after changes, or you can click Synchronise to sync manually. If you install the terminal client, you can also run joplin sync on a schedule.

For Windows users who already pay for Microsoft 365, the OneDrive option means Joplin sync may cost nothing extra. You do have to set it up once, which is exactly the effort Keep saves you.

Section summary: In both apps you configure sync rather than get it automatically. That doesn't mean you have to pay. Joplin in particular supports far more targets than Yewale mentions.

Zoho Notebook: the closest alternative to Keep​

Yewale calls Zoho Notebook very similar to Keep but with notebook-based grouping. He'd consider it if he wanted, for example, all his travel ideas kept together. He says the free Essential tier includes unlimited notes, cross-device sync, support for text, images, audio and sketches, and offline editing that syncs when you reconnect. What it lacks for him is Keep's place inside Google's wider ecosystem, where one login also gets him photos, documents and cloud storage. We couldn't retrieve Zoho's current plan-limits page, so check storage and file-size limits yourself before moving a large, image-heavy collection.

Which app fits which kind of note​

Bottom line: choose for how you take notes, not for features​

Yewale's conclusion is sensible. You don't need the app with the longest feature list. You need one that matches what you actually save. He says he'd switch to Zoho Notebook or OneNote if he needed more structure, and to Obsidian or Joplin for connected research or reference files.

Keep in mind that this is one writer's preference, shaped by how much he already relies on Google. Windows users should add a few points his piece doesn't cover:

• If you already work in Microsoft 365, OneNote has the same built-in-account advantage Yewale credits to Keep.
• Joplin syncs to OneDrive and many other services. It isn't limited to a paid cloud.
• Simplenote is in maintenance mode. If you already use it, keep an export handy.
• Whatever app you pick, know how to export from it before you have thousands of notes in it.

One last check before you move a decade of grocery lists into a new app: will you still be able to get your notes out easily later?