Alternatives
Best NotePlan alternatives
Markdown planning without the subscription
NotePlan is a calendar-first planner that keeps your notes as Markdown files: events, scheduled tasks, and daily and weekly notes side by side, with built-in AI that includes voice transcription. People look beyond it for a few concrete reasons: $99 a year with no free plan, no Windows or Linux app, and wanting a knowledge base — backlinks, a graph, views over notes — rather than a planning tool at the center.
Full disclosure: we make Octarine, one of the alternatives below. It's listed first and marked as ours. Every entry's strengths and tradeoffs come from that app's own pages, linked in the sources at the bottom.
Octarine
We make this oneNotePlan's Markdown files and daily notes, with a knowledge base around them — for a one-time price.
Best for: People leaving the subscription who still want Markdown files and daily notes.
Strengths
- Notes are plain Markdown files, as in NotePlan
- Daily notes with natural-language dates, plus backlinks, a graph, and Views over your notes
- macOS, Windows, and Linux apps
- Core features are free; Pro is $79, once — not $99 a year
Tradeoffs
- No calendar view beside your notes, no time blocking, and no automatic task rollover — checkboxes and task views only
- No Android app, and iOS is in TestFlight for Pro users
- If your day runs from the calendar, NotePlan does that well, and Octarine doesn't try to
Price: Free core; Pro $79 one-time
Octarine vs Octarine
Agenda
A timeline-first notes app where each project is a running, dated log.
Best for: People who liked NotePlan's date-driven approach and want it even more so.
Strengths
- Notes link straight to calendar events, suiting meeting notes and dated work
- Polished Mac, iPhone, and iPad apps
- Premium features are a paid unlock you keep, not a subscription
Tradeoffs
- Apple-only — no Windows, Linux, or Android app
- Notes live in Agenda's library rather than as files, though export exists
Price: Free; premium unlock you keep
Octarine vs Agenda
Obsidian
A vault of plain Markdown files, with daily notes as a core plugin.
Best for: People who want files plus an ecosystem, and are willing to assemble planning features.
Strengths
- Notes are plain Markdown files in a vault folder, free including commercial use
- Daily notes and templates are core plugins; thousands of community plugins add the rest
- iPhone, iPad, and Android apps in both stores
Tradeoffs
- Calendar views and task scheduling arrive via plugins you assemble
- First-party sync is a subscription ($4 / user / month)
Price: Free; Sync and Publish subscriptions
Octarine vs Obsidian
Apple Notes
The free notes app already on every Apple device.
Best for: People who mainly need quick capture and shared lists, not a system.
Strengths
- Preinstalled on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, syncing through iCloud with no setup
- Document scanning, handwriting with Apple Pencil, and audio recordings with transcripts
- Shared notes and folders
Tradeoffs
- Not a Markdown app — notes live in iCloud, with Markdown export one note at a time in iOS 26 and macOS 26
- No backlinks, graph, or daily notes
Price: Free
Octarine vs Apple Notes
UpNote
A simple, inexpensive notebook that runs on every platform.
Best for: People who want planning-free simplicity and a small bill.
Strengths
- Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, and Android apps with built-in sync
- Inexpensive, with a lifetime option
- Rich-text editing with Markdown shortcuts
Tradeoffs
- Notes are stored in UpNote rather than as files, though Markdown export exists
- No calendar integration or backlinks
Price: Free to 50 notes; $1.99 / month or $39.99 lifetime
Octarine vs UpNoteWhy people switch from NotePlan to Octarine
Both apps keep your notes as plain Markdown files, so a switch is reversible — point Octarine at the same folder and both apps can read the notes. The differences are what sits at the center and what you pay.
Octarine is built around writing and connected notes: daily notes with natural-language dates, backlinks, a graph, and Views that turn notes and their properties into tables and Kanban boards. It runs on Windows and Linux too, and costs a one-time price instead of $99 a year.
What you give up: the calendar. NotePlan puts events, time-blocked tasks, and rollover beside your notes, and if your day genuinely runs from the calendar, NotePlan is the better tool for that. Octarine doesn't try to compete with it there.
One Octarine user on Discord, rjdvsk, put it shorter than we can: “Been using Octarine as my daily driver for the past few days and I'm impressed. Seriously considering jumping from Noteplan.”
Choosing between two of these?
Sources · Checked Nov 9, 2026
Each app's strengths and tradeoffs are drawn from its own pricing pages, help docs, and release notes — the same sources as our one-on-one comparisons, which were last verified November 4, 2026. The quoted post is from our public wall of love. Facts were re-checked against those sources when this page was compiled.
- NotePlan pricing
- NotePlan AI features
- NotePlan import and export
- Agenda help
- Agenda on the App Store (iOS)
- Obsidian pricing
- Obsidian community plugins
- Notes User Guide for Mac
- Markdown import and export in Notes (MacRumors)
- UpNote features and pricing
Product names and logos belong to their owners; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Something wrong or out of date, including if you work on NotePlan? Suggest a correction
Octarine.