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Work · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Scratchpad

Quick notes, always available

Scratchpad is a note-taking app designed for quick capture of thoughts in plain text format. Available on macOS and iOS, it prioritizes simplicity and accessibility—sitting in the menu bar or Dock on Mac and on the… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Scratchpad launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1
    Tyke▲362

    Mac menu bar app that @torrez really needed to take notes

    2017 · tyke.app · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Hey! I made Heynote entirely for my own use case. For many years, I always had an Emacs instance running with the scratch buffer open, even long after I had abandoned Emacs as my programming editor in favor of more recent IDE:s. The simplicity of having just one big scratch buffer appeals to me, but I still want to separate the different things I jot down somehow (without using tabs or similar). Previously, my solution was to insert a bunch of blank lines between the notes, but hitting C-A would still select the entire buffer. That's why I came up with the concept of "blocks", which turned…

    2023 · heynote.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    A simple note-taking app on iOS & Mac

    2015 · programmerbird.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4
    Notepad▲77

    Simple app to take notes.

    2022 · play.google.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    PeekNote▲176

    Lightweight always-on-top notes for devs & multitaskers

    2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6
    SideNotes▲311

    A beautiful note taking app with superpowers. It shows and hides on the side of your monitor to manage your notes distraction-free. Keep your notes organised, personalised and always at your fingertips. Markdown, tasks, pictures, colors, folders included.

    2025 · apptorium.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7
    Notebag▲298

    A keyboard-focused note-taking app that gets out of your way

    2020 · notebag.app · its alternatives →

  8. 8
    Hints▲492

    Valuable info is quickly captured and self-organized

    2022 · hints.so · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Colorful sticky notes for Mac

    2024 · quicknoteapp.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Free online notes taking app

    2025 · onlinenotespad.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Scrapbook-like notepad app using sticky notes for iPadOS

    2022 · brainnotes.magickworx.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12
    Notepin▲349

    Extremely simple note-taking

    2017 · notepin.co · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Simple Notes Widget for Mac

    2017 · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    MicroPad is a free non-linear note taking app that allows for easy organisation of all of your notes and notebooks.

    2018 · getmicropad.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    Your quick notes with you

    2022 · apptorium.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    A simple, single-sheet scratchpad for your drafts

    2021 · quickdraft.app · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    The notes app that lives in the menu bar of your Mac

    2020 · serialcoder.dev · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    One list of notes, for you and your AI agents

    Feb 2026 · gravitynotes.app · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    Capture notes on every new Tab

    2025 · chromewebstore.google.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20
    UpNote▲161

    The most pleasant app for writing and organizing notes

    2020 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    A simple and minimalistic notepad app

    2022 · cryptwareapps.firebaseapp.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22
    Memo▲128

    Simple and elegant notes app on your Mac

    2017 · memo-app.net · its alternatives →

  23. 23
    Notepad▲113

    A rich, distraction-free alternative to sticky notes 📋

    2018 · notepad.microtheta.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Noteship is a note taking app for Mac that combines notes, todos, and reminders and is based on simple files and folders.

    2021 · noteship.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →