I’m looking for an AI note taking app that can help me organize my lecture notes and work ideas. I’ve tried a couple of apps but they didn’t have enough features or were too hard to use. If you have any suggestions for the best AI note taking tools, especially those good for students or professionals, I’d appreciate your help.
I’ve been on the exact same godforsaken quest, and let me tell you, most AI “note-taking” apps are either clunky as hell or they over-promise and under-deliver. But I’ll give you what’s worked (or failed) for me and maybe save you some sanity.
Notion AI: The hype is justified, kinda. Its AI assistant can summarize, organize, and even autofill meeting notes. But the interface is an endless rabbit hole if you’re just looking to jot things down quick. Also, search can get iffy with long docs. Pro: integration with just about everything. Con: paying for AI “credits” like it’s 2009 Farmville.
Otter.ai: This is more for voice-to-text, but if your lectures are spoken (zoom calls, in-person classes), it’ll auto-transcribe and organize pretty darn well. Search and highlights are actually usable. Downsides? You’ll run out of free minutes real quick, plus the AI misses with heavy accents or crappy mics.
Mem.ai: Lighter, simpler, and has actual AI organization—auto-categorizing ideas, tags, and smart search that doesn’t suck. I like the “smart capture” feature, but collaboration features are still meh. Works for both typed and dictated notes. If you hate clutter, you might actually like this one.
Obsidian with plugins: Listen. If you like to tinker and you want real control, Obsidian turned with the “Text Generator” plugin gives you ChatGPT integration, so you can summarize, paraphrase, categorize—all offline, if you want. But it’s a rabbit hole: infinite plugins, infinite ways to break it.
Honorable mention: Tana (still in invite-only as of now, but if you get in, their AI “Supertags” are next level for automating organization).
Everything else is basically ChatGPT in a text field with a new logo and less Sriracha. In the end, you gotta decide if you want fast AI help (Otter/Mem) or go full power-user (Obsidian/Notion). If you find something that magically organizes your lecture AND your work idea chaos, please for the love of all that is caffeinated, share it with the rest of us.
Short answer: There is no “best”—it’s whatever doesn’t make you want to chuck your laptop out the window. Honestly, after reading through @sternenwanderer’s breakdown, I was nodding along until Obsidian—tinkering with plug-ins is a hobby, not a note system. If you want to spend less time organizing than actually working, skip the “power user” rabbit holes.
I’ll throw in Amplenote for consideration. It’s got a super-quick capture workflow, you can link notes like you’re drawing a conspiracy-theory wall, and its new-ish AI features (summarize, gen tasks, etc.) are actually decent. It’s not as hyped as Notion and doesn’t drown you in options. Downside: the interface is ugly as a brick but you stop caring after a week.
Also, if you care about privacy more than feeding your genius ideas into the OpenAI beast, check out Logseq. It’s open-source, does local AI with the right set-up, and is plain-text bullet heaven. Organization is automatic if you think in outlines. The learning curve sucks for the first two days, but it’s not as overwhelming as Obsidian.
Final thought: I flat out disagree that Otter or Notion are your best bets if you want to catch ideas fast and build on them. They’re more for capturing, not developing thoughts. If you really want “AI help organizing thoughts,” consider just stitching together Google Keep + ChatGPT and calling it a day—crude, but sometimes simple wins.
The real answer is: every app is missing something. Best hope for now is “least frustrating.” Anyone selling the all-in-one AI note grail is lying or selling templates.
Let’s cut through the AI note-taking jungle with a bit of practical clarity and a blatant disregard for the notion that one-size-fits-all. Building on previous points—Notion AI’s feature overload, Otter.ai’s transcription limitations, Mem.ai’s minimalism, and Logseq’s outline heaven—I’m gonna toss in a curveball: try Supernotes.
Here’s why Supernotes might just be the antidote for AI overload headaches:
Pros:
- The card-based system makes notes atomic (bite-sized is easier for review and linking).
- AI-powered organization is woven in, so you can ask it to tag, link ideas, and summarize chains of notes.
- Collaboration isn’t an afterthought—co-noting is as simple as sharing a Google Doc.
- Keyboard-focused: capture ideas fast, barely touch the mouse.
Cons:
- No offline support yet—if you’re stuck in a lecture hall with medieval Wi-Fi, you’re outta luck.
- You get basic AI for free, but the advanced options want to dip into your wallet.
- Not as sprawling as Obsidian (for you graph/PKM geeks), but that’s a blessing if you crave straightforwardness.
Let’s be real: if you want a workspace that’s less “infinite wiki engine” (Obsidian, Logseq) and more “brain dump with consistent structure,” Supernotes delivers. It doesn’t try to be a digital fortress—just hyperlinked index cards with a dash of automation. Not as old-school as Amplenote, and definitely more organized than the “keep everything everywhere” vibe of Google Keep + ChatGPT tape-jobs.
And while the competition (hype engines or power-user playgrounds) can leave you lost in settings or staring down usage limits, Supernotes hits that rare spot: accessible, deserving of “AI-powered” in the marketing, and not obsessed with upsells. Fails in offline and heavy PKM features, wins in speed and clarity. Your mileage may vary—especially if you’re waiting for that fabled “perfect app”—but for getting from chaos to order, it’s worth a throw at the dartboard.