GTD, or getting things done, is a popular productivity technique developed by productivity guru David Allen. It helps you better organize tasks, notes, and calendar events. Many productivity lovers regard the system as timeless, and for good reason: it gets everything out of your head and into a system you can trust.
The five stages of GTD (capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage) work incredibly well with note-taking apps. Instead of trying to remember every idea, task, or commitment, you capture it all in one place. Then you process it, organize it, and actually get it done. The right note-taking app becomes your external brain.
We evaluated dozens of note-taking apps specifically for GTD workflows. Our criteria included: fast capture (can you dump ideas quickly?), flexible organization (folders, tags, or both), search capabilities (can you find things later?), and how well they handle the weekly review process that's central to GTD.
Honestly, not every note app works for GTD. Some are too rigid, some lack the right organizational tools, and some just don't feel right for the constant brain dumps that GTD requires. The apps below have proven themselves with actual GTD practitioners.
How We Chose These GTD Note-Taking Apps
What Makes a Note App GTD-Friendly?
GTD isn't just about taking notes; it's about building a complete system for managing everything in your life. The note-taking apps that work best for GTD share specific characteristics.
Capture speed matters more than you'd think. If it takes too long to write something down, you'll start keeping things in your head again, which defeats the entire purpose of GTD. We looked for apps with quick capture, web clippers, and mobile apps that open fast.
Organization flexibility is critical. Some people love notebooks and folders. Others prefer tags and links. GTD works with different organizational styles, so we included apps that support various approaches. The key is being able to find things during your weekly review.
Search functionality needs to work well. You're going to accumulate hundreds or thousands of notes. Being able to search by keyword, tag, or date makes the difference between a system you trust and one you abandon.
Weekly review support isn't always obvious, but some apps make reviewing your system easier than others. Features like saved searches, custom views, and the ability to see recently modified notes all help when you're doing your weekly GTD review.
Integration with task management helps too. While note-taking apps aren't task managers, many GTD users like keeping everything in one ecosystem. Some of these apps have built-in tasks, while others integrate well with dedicated task apps.
Pricing matters for long-term commitment. GTD is a lifelong system, not a two-week experiment. We looked for apps with reasonable pricing that you can afford to use for years.
1. Evernote
Best Traditional GTD Note App: Evernote
Evernote is one of the most popular note-taking apps for GTD users, and it's been around long enough that David Allen himself has recommended it. The notebook system maps perfectly to GTD's organizational needs, and the web clipper is still one of the best for capturing information from the web.
Capture works smoothly across all platforms. The web clipper lets you save articles, screenshots, or selections with one click. Mobile apps open fast and let you dump text, photos, or voice notes instantly. Email forwarding means you can send things to Evernote from anywhere.
Organization uses the classic notebook and tag system. Create notebooks for different areas of your life (work, personal, projects), then use tags for contexts (@home, @computer, @calls). This maps directly to standard GTD implementation. Nested notebooks help if you want hierarchical organization.
Search is powerful, even searching text inside images and PDFs in premium plans. Type a keyword and Evernote scans everything including handwritten notes if you use a stylus. For weekly reviews, this makes finding orphaned notes easy.
The recent addition of tasks and calendar integration helps keep GTD all in one place. You can create tasks directly from notes, set due dates, and even see them on a calendar view. This wasn't always available, and honestly, it makes Evernote way more viable for pure GTD without needing a separate task app.
Evernote's AI cleanup feature (in newer versions) helps clarify messy notes. If you captured something quickly and it's hard to read, AI can help format and structure it better. FYI, this is a premium feature.
Downsides include the pricing (not cheap anymore) and performance issues some users report with large databases. The free plan is quite limited now, restricting you to 50 notes and one notebook, which won't work for serious GTD.
Best for: People who want a traditional, proven GTD system with excellent web clipping and don't mind paying for premium features. If you are trying to get away from Evernote, seek these Evernote alternatives.
2. Notion
Best Customizable GTD System: Notion
Notion has become incredibly popular with GTD users because you can build your exact system from scratch. Unlike apps with predefined structures, Notion lets you design your own GTD workflow with databases, views, and templates.
The flexibility is both a strength and a challenge. You can create separate databases for projects, next actions, waiting-for lists, and someday-maybe items. Link them together, create filtered views, and build a dashboard that shows exactly what you need. But this requires setup time and some learning.
Capture is decent but not as fast as dedicated capture apps. You can use the quick capture feature or create a template button, but it's still slower than Evernote's clipper. Many GTD users pair Notion with a faster capture tool, then process captured items into Notion during their review.
The database functionality is where Notion excels for GTD. Create a projects database with status, area of focus, and next actions linked to each project. Build filtered views showing only active projects or projects in a specific area. This level of customization appeals to GTD purists who want their system exactly right.
Templates save massive time. Create templates for project planning, meeting notes, or weekly reviews. One click and you have the structure ready to fill in. The template gallery includes GTD setups created by other users that you can duplicate and customize.
Collaboration features help if you share some projects with others. You can share specific pages or databases without exposing your entire system. Useful for work projects while keeping personal GTD private.
The learning curve frustrates some people. If you want something that works immediately, Notion requires patience. But GTD users who enjoy building systems find this rewarding. Check out many GTD users who have headed to Notion after Evernote became slower.
Notion offers a generous free plan for individuals, with paid plans adding unlimited file uploads and more collaboration features. For GTD, the free plan often suffices.
Best for: GTD practitioners who want complete control over their system design and don't mind investing time in setup. Also great for people who like combining PKM (personal knowledge management) with GTD.
3. Obsidian
Best for Linked Thinking: Obsidian
Obsidian takes a different approach to note-taking, using local files and bidirectional links instead of traditional notebooks. For GTD users who like connecting ideas and resurfacing old notes, this works surprisingly well.
The local-first approach means your notes live as markdown files on your computer, not in the cloud. This appeals to privacy-conscious users and ensures you always have access even without internet. Sync is available as a paid add-on, or you can use your own cloud storage.
Bi-directional linking changes how you organize. Instead of forcing notes into folders, you link related notes together. Link a project note to relevant reference material, next actions, and areas of focus. The graph view shows these connections visually, helping you see relationships during weekly reviews.
Tags and folders both work in Obsidian, so you can use traditional GTD organization or embrace the linking approach. Many users combine both: folders for major areas, tags for contexts, and links for relationships.
Quick capture isn't Obsidian's strength out of the box, but the community has created plugins for this. The Daily Notes plugin creates a new note each day where you can brain dump everything, then process it later. Templates help structure these captures.
The plugin ecosystem is massive. There are GTD-specific plugins, task management plugins, calendar integrations, and hundreds more. This makes Obsidian incredibly flexible but also means you'll spend time configuring it to match your workflow.
Search works well, especially with tags. Create saved searches for different GTD contexts or project types. The upcoming tasks view (via plugins) can show all tasks across your entire vault.
Graph view helps resurface forgotten notes. See what you haven't touched in months, discover unexpected connections between projects, and get a visual overview of your entire system. This supports the reflect stage of GTD in a unique way.
The free plan includes all core features. Paid features are mainly sync and publishing, not needed for basic GTD use. This makes Obsidian one of the best value options if you're willing to learn it. If you want Obsidian alternatives, we have a guide for that too.
Best for: GTD users who love the idea of connected notes, want complete data ownership, and enjoy tinkering with plugins to perfect their system.
4. Mem
Best AI-Powered GTD Notes: Mem
Mem wants to be the place to capture for entrepreneurs and knowledge workers. The focus is on capturing everything quickly, then using AI to organize and resurface relevant information when you need it.
Capture is fast and friction-free. The web clipper works well, the mobile app opens instantly, and you can append to existing notes without opening them. This matters for GTD's capture stage where speed determines whether you actually write things down or let them stay in your head.
Auto-tagging replaces manual organization. Instead of deciding which folder or notebook a note belongs in, Mem's AI suggests tags based on content. This sounds like it goes against GTD's organize stage, but in practice, it saves time while still keeping things organized.
No folders or notebooks means a flatter structure. Everything lives in one space, organized by tags and search. Some GTD purists don't like this, but others find it liberating. You spend less time managing organizational structures and more time actually working.
AI-powered search goes beyond keywords. Ask questions in natural language and Mem finds relevant notes even if they don't contain the exact words. During weekly reviews, this helps surface notes you'd forgotten about.
The AI chat feature (in premium) lets you talk to your notes. Ask it to summarize all notes about a project, find action items scattered across different notes, or surface related ideas. This is genuinely useful for the reflect and engage stages of GTD.
Templates and workflows help standardize how you capture certain types of information. Create a template for project notes or meeting notes, ensuring you always capture the right information.
Downsides include the pricing (premium features aren't cheap) and the lack of traditional organization. If you really want notebooks and folders, Mem will frustrate you. Also, being cloud-only means no offline access without their mobile app.
Mem doesn't have the same extensive ecosystem as older apps, but it integrates with common tools like Slack and calendars. Check out Mem's alternatives if you want something similar with different trade-offs.
Best for: GTD users who want AI to handle organization, prefer fast capture over perfect structure, and work primarily online.
5. Capacities
Best Object-Based GTD Notes: Capacities
Capacities offers a unique approach to note-taking using objects instead of documents. Instead of creating separate notes, you create objects like people, meetings, projects, or books, each with their own structure.
The object-based concept fits GTD surprisingly well. Create a Project object type with fields for status, next action, and area of focus. Create a Meeting object that automatically links to relevant people and projects. This structured approach ensures you capture the right information every time.
Relationships between objects happen automatically. Mention a person in a meeting note and they're linked. Reference a project and it shows up in that project's connections. During weekly reviews, these automatic connections help you see the full picture.
The graph view shows relationships between all your objects, similar to Obsidian but with more structure. See all meetings related to a project, all people involved, and all related reference material in one visual map.
Daily notes provide a place for quick captures that don't fit into structured objects yet. Brain dump everything in your daily note, then during processing, move items to appropriate objects or create new ones.
Templates make creating new objects fast. One click creates a new project with all the fields you need, a new meeting note with standard sections, or a new reference item with proper categorization.
Tags work alongside objects for additional organization. Use tags for GTD contexts (@home, @computer) while objects handle the structural organization. This hybrid approach gives you flexibility.
The learning curve is moderate. The object concept takes some getting used to, but once it clicks, it feels natural. Less complex than building a system in Notion, but more structured than traditional note apps.
Pricing includes a free tier with limited storage and objects. Paid plans unlock unlimited everything plus additional features like AI and collaboration. For serious GTD use, you'll likely need a paid plan.
Capacities balances the power of PKM with approachability, making it accessible even if you're new to connected note-taking.
Best for: GTD users who like structure but want the benefits of connected notes, and anyone who finds traditional folders too limiting but Obsidian too complex.
6. Microsoft OneNote
Best Free GTD Option: Microsoft OneNote
OneNote is often overlooked in GTD discussions, but it's actually a solid choice, especially if you're already in the Microsoft ecosystem. It's free, works across all platforms, and provides good organizational structure for GTD.
The notebook and section structure maps well to GTD. Create notebooks for different areas of life, sections for projects or contexts, and pages for individual notes or action items. This hierarchy feels natural if you're coming from paper-based GTD.
Capture works across all platforms with good mobile apps and a web clipper. You can quickly dump ideas, clip articles, or even record voice notes. OneNote's handwriting support is excellent if you use a stylus or touchscreen.
Free-form canvas lets you place notes anywhere on the page, not just in linear format. Some GTD users love this for mind mapping during project planning or brainstorming next actions. Others prefer structured text, and OneNote handles that too.
Search works well, including searching text in images and handwritten notes. For weekly reviews, you can search across all notebooks to find specific projects or actions.
Integration with Microsoft To Do provides task management. Create tasks directly in OneNote and they sync to Microsoft To Do. This keeps everything in one ecosystem, useful if you use Outlook for email and calendar.
Collaboration features help with shared projects. Share specific notebooks with colleagues or family while keeping your personal GTD system private. Real-time collaboration works smoothly.
The biggest advantage is the price: completely free with a Microsoft account. No feature limitations, no note limits, no premium tier required. For people trying GTD for the first time, this removes the financial barrier.
Downsides include sync issues some users report and a somewhat dated interface compared to newer apps. Performance can lag with very large notebooks. The mobile apps are good but not as polished as some competitors.
Best for: GTD users who want a free, full-featured option, especially students and educators who already use Microsoft tools in school or work.
7. Reflect Notes
Best Networked GTD Notes: Reflect Notes
Reflect is designed for networked thinking while remaining approachable for people who find Obsidian or Roam too complex. It balances PKM and traditional note-taking, making it a good fit for GTD users who want connected notes without the overwhelming setup.
Backlinks work automatically as you type. Reference a project or person and it creates a link. All mentions show up on that page, giving you a complete view during weekly reviews. This is simpler than Obsidian's manual linking but more structured than Evernote's flat notebooks.
Daily notes provide a natural capture point. Start each day with a fresh note where you dump everything: tasks, ideas, meeting notes, random thoughts. Then link relevant items to project pages or someday-maybe lists. This workflow fits GTD's capture and process stages well.
The clean interface reduces distractions. Unlike apps with a million features, Reflect focuses on notes and links. This appeals to GTD users who want simplicity without sacrificing power.
Tags offer additional organization beyond backlinks. Use tags for GTD contexts or project statuses. Combined with backlinks, you get flexible organization that adapts to how you actually work.
Meeting notes features automatically create notes from calendar events, link attendees, and structure your notes. If your GTD system includes a lot of meetings, this saves time during capture and processing.
AI abilities (in premium) help resurface related notes and summarize information. Ask it to find all notes about a project or pull out action items from meeting notes. This assists with the weekly review process.
Encryption and privacy are built-in, with end-to-end encryption for all notes. For GTD users who capture sensitive work or personal information, this provides peace of mind.
Pricing is on the higher end compared to some alternatives, with a monthly or annual subscription required for full features. No free tier, just a trial period. This makes Reflect a commitment.
Best for: GTD practitioners who want networked notes with automatic linking, appreciate clean design, and are willing to pay for quality.
How GTD Stages Work in Note-Taking Apps
Understanding the Five Stages
Getting Things Done is based on five core stages that work beautifully in note-taking apps. Understanding how each stage maps to your app helps you build a system you'll actually use.
Capture means getting everything out of your head and into your system. In note-taking apps, this is your inbox or daily note where everything gets dumped initially. Quick capture tools, web clippers, and fast mobile apps all support this stage. The faster you can capture, the more likely you'll actually do it.
Clarify is when you look at what you captured and decide what it actually is. Is it a project? A next action? Reference material? Your note app should make it easy to add context, tags, or move things to appropriate locations during this stage.
Organize involves putting clarified items where they belong. This is where notebooks, tags, databases, or linked pages come in. Your organizational system needs to match how your brain works, which is why different GTD users prefer different note apps.
Reflect is the weekly review where you look at everything in your system. Good search, filtered views, and the ability to see recently modified notes all support this stage. This is where many GTD systems fail because the app makes reviewing painful.
Engage means actually doing the work. Your note app should make it easy to find relevant reference material when you're working on something. Search, links, and tags all help you engage with the right information at the right time.
The system is similar to Tiago Forte's Second Brain approach (CODE: Capture, Organize, Distill, Express), but GTD focuses more on actionable items while Second Brain emphasizes knowledge management. Many people combine both.
One of the guiding principles: don't use your brain for remembering, but for thinking only. Your note-taking app becomes the memory system, freeing your mind to focus on creative work and decision-making.
Well illustrated by L Dawson, the concept is perfect for bringing things together. The key is choosing a note app that supports all five stages without adding friction.
Which GTD Note-Taking App Should You Choose?
Quick Decision Guide
Your best GTD note app depends on your priorities and how you like to work.
If you want a proven, traditional system with excellent web clipping, go with Evernote. It's been the GTD standard for years, and the recent additions of tasks and calendar make it even better. Just be ready to pay for premium to get the full experience.
If you love building custom systems and want complete control, Notion is your pick. Yes, it takes time to set up, but you'll have exactly the GTD system you want. Great for people who enjoy the organizational aspect as much as the productivity itself.
If you value data ownership and connected thinking, Obsidian wins. The local files and bidirectional linking create a unique GTD experience. Best for tech-savvy users who don't mind configuring plugins.
If you want AI to handle organization and prefer fast capture over manual filing, try Mem. It's a different approach to GTD that works well for people who hate organizational overhead.
If you like structure but want modern features, Capacities offers a middle ground. The object-based system provides structure without feeling rigid.
If you need free and fully-featured, OneNote is hard to beat. It's not the fanciest, but it does everything GTD requires without costing anything.
If you want networked notes without complexity, Reflect balances power and simplicity. Premium pricing means it's a commitment, though.
Many GTD practitioners combine apps: fast capture in one app, processing and organizing in another. Find what works for your brain and stick with it long enough to build the habit.
GTD Note-Taking Apps FAQ
Common Questions
What's the best free note-taking app for GTD?
Microsoft OneNote wins for free GTD apps. You get unlimited notebooks, all features, and cross-platform sync without paying anything. Notion's free plan is also generous if you don't need unlimited file uploads. Obsidian is technically free too, though sync costs extra if you don't use your own cloud storage.
Can I use Evernote for GTD without paying?
Not really. The free plan limits you to 50 notes and one notebook, which won't work for actual GTD implementation. You need at least the Personal plan to get enough notebooks, tags, and notes for a functional system. Think of Evernote as requiring payment for serious use.
Which GTD note app works best with task managers?
Notion and Evernote both have built-in task features now, so you can keep everything in one place. OneNote integrates with Microsoft To Do. If you prefer dedicated task managers, Obsidian plugins can integrate with Todoist and others, while most apps link fine with external task apps even if not directly integrated.
Is Obsidian too complicated for GTD beginners?
Honestly? Yeah, probably. If you're new to both GTD and connected note-taking, the combined learning curve is steep. Start with something simpler like Evernote or OneNote to learn GTD, then consider Obsidian later if you want more power. Or if you love tinkering, jump into Obsidian and learn both at once.
Do I need a note-taking app and a task manager for GTD?
It depends on your workflow. Some people do pure GTD entirely in a note app, creating action item lists within notes. Others prefer a dedicated task manager for next actions while using a note app for reference material and project notes. Both approaches work. Try one app first, then add a second if you feel limited.
What about Roam Research for GTD?
Roam can work for GTD but it's expensive and has a steeper learning curve than Obsidian or Reflect. The networked thinking is powerful, but unless you're already invested in Roam, there are better options now. Many former Roam users have moved to Obsidian (free) or Reflect (cheaper with better UI).
Final Thoughts on GTD Note-Taking Apps
Building Your System
The right GTD note-taking app is the one you'll actually use consistently. All the apps above work for GTD, but they work differently.
Start simple rather than trying to build the perfect system immediately. Pick an app, set up basic organization (capture inbox, project notes, reference material), and use it for a month. You'll discover what works for your brain and what doesn't.
The weekly review matters more than the tool. Even the best app fails if you don't regularly review your system. Schedule your weekly review and treat it as non-negotiable. This habit determines whether your GTD system thrives or dies.
Don't app-hop endlessly. Give each app a real chance (at least 3-4 weeks) before switching. The constant migration between apps wastes more time than any feature difference could save. Choose, commit, refine.
Remember: GTD is about getting things done, not about having the perfect note-taking setup. Pick an app from this list and actually implement the system.