# Notenik

> Free Mac notes app with Markdown, custom fields and outlining

Notenik is a free, open-source note-taking app for the Mac, written by Herb Bowie. Each note is a plain text file with a Markdown body and a set of fields, such as tags, links, dates and sequence numbers, that every collection of notes defines for itself. The same collections can serve as to-do lists, outlines, bookmark lists or the source for a generated website.

- **Category:** Note-Taking Apps
- **Made by:** Herb Bowie
- **Website:** https://notenik.app
- **Runs on:** macOS
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 9, 2026

## Pricing

Notenik is free to use.

- **Pricing model:** Free
- **Free plan:** The whole app is free and open source under the MIT license. The site says there is no upfront cost and there are no in-app purchases, subscriptions or advertising.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Notenik | $0 | The full app with all features enabled, downloaded from the Mac App Store. The store listing requires macOS 13.5 or later. |

Read from https://notenik.app/ on Oct 9, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Notenik before buying.

## Key features

- **Plain text notes in collections:** Each note is its own plain text file and a folder of notes is a collection. Collections can be stored anywhere, including iCloud Drive or a Dropbox folder, and open in any text editor.
- **Custom fields per collection:** Beyond a Title and a Body, a collection can add fields such as Tags, Link, Date, Status, Seq and Author, each with its own type, and notes can be sorted by any of them.
- **Markdown with extras:** The body is formatted in Markdown with footnotes, citations, definition lists and MathJax. Double-bracket wiki links connect notes, and a table of contents can be generated.
- **To-do lists, outlines and bookmarks:** Date, Status and Recurs fields turn a collection into a to-do list, Seq and Level fields make it an outline, and a Link field makes it a set of bookmarks.
- **Merge templates and scripts:** Merge templates write note fields out as HTML, XML, JSON or other text. Script files select, sort and filter the notes first, which lets Notenik act as a static website generator.
- **Hooks for other Mac apps:** A custom URL scheme, custom actions for Apple's Shortcuts app and APIs for Hookmark let other apps link to notes, add notes from text and run script files.

## Good for

- Mac users who want notes kept as plain text files they control
- Structured collections such as quotations, bookmarks or to-do lists
- Publishing a website or web book from a folder of notes

## Worth knowing

- Mac only: the developer says Notenik runs solely on the Mac and is available exclusively through the Mac App Store.
- There is no iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version. On other devices the notes are plain text files to open in another editor.
- The app has no sync service of its own. The store listing suggests keeping collections in iCloud Drive or a Dropbox folder.
- Notenik is written and supported by a single developer, with questions and requests handled on a Discourse forum.

## Works with

iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Shortcuts, Hookmark, Medium

**Tags:** Open source, Local-first, Notes, Markdown, Linked notes, Tasks

## Alternatives

- [The Archive](https://toolgpa.com/tools/the-archive): Plain-text note-taking app for Mac built around Zettelkasten. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/notenik-vs-the-archive)
- [FSNotes](https://toolgpa.com/tools/fsnotes): Open-source Markdown notes app for Mac and iPhone. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/fsnotes-vs-notenik)
- [Obsidian](https://toolgpa.com/tools/obsidian): Markdown note-taking app that keeps your files on your device. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/notenik-vs-obsidian)
- [Tinderbox](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tinderbox): Mac tool for mapping, analyzing and sharing notes. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/notenik-vs-tinderbox)
- [Bike Outliner](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bike-outliner): Fast outliner and structured writing app for Mac. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bike-outliner-vs-notenik)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 9, 2026:

- https://notenik.app/
- https://notenik.app/about.html
- https://notenik.app/license.html
- https://notenik.app/support.html
- https://notenik.app/kb/app-overview.html
- https://notenik.app/kb/working-with-other-apps.html
- https://notenik.app/kb/actions-for-shortcuts.html
- https://notenik.app/kb/common-use-cases.html
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notenik/id1465997984

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/notenik
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).