Best Second Brain Apps in 2025

Have you ever felt overwhelmed when remembering everything?

Millions do every single day. It's totally normal, but there are solutions.

One of those solutions is called "The Second Brain" and is a concept developed by Tiago Forte and now adopted by millions worldwide. "The Second Brain" is well titled and describes perfectly what it is, a brain that lives separate for you to capture things into. Don't worry, this isn't Black Mirror, the second brain is a digital space where you can upload all your notes, ideas, projects & memories into a digital workspace for later.

This system, much like Getting Things Done, by David Allen, is easy to follow and allows you to follow a construct to organize your notes and capture things across a day. The second brain concept can be embrace both offline and online, but in this piece, we'll recommend some apps that you can use to start your second brain in the digital world. All of the tools below are recommended for their ability to follow the system and structure of Second Brain.

Best Second Brain Tools

All of these tools can help you master and embrace the second brain concept, let's begin:

1. Notion

Best for All-Round

Notion is one of the most popular second brain tools on the market. It helps users to organize their life in a digital workspace.

There are many Notion features that makes managing your second brain easier. The web clipper can be used to capture articles, YouTube videos or things that take your fancy across the web. Readwise connects with Notion making it a great integration for readers, like Tiago himself. Databases in Notion help to organize notes, projects and goals for your life into an organize lifeOS. The customizable nature of the workspace allows you to curate the perfect look for your second brain to make yourself feel comfy with your notes.

A system referenced in the Second Brain concept is PARA. This is a process for organizing items, and stands for, Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives. This perfectly matches Notion abilities allowing to create the structure for organizing the notes. Notion’s AI feature extends these abilities by helping you distill and summarizing your knowledge. Notion Sites helps you to express that knowledge one of Tiago's pillar principles also referred to as Digital Gardens.

2. Evernote

Best for Traditional Note-Takers

Evernote is one of the most traditional second-brain applications on the market. It has a long and rich history of being out there as one of the digital brain options. There is also a whole host of systems that can help you organize and structure, as Tiago Forte recommends. Evernote is well known for its web clipper, which allows you to capture PDFs, web pages, and much more. But most importantly, it lets you annotate in real-time, giving you some important insight before you add it to your system.

This is a fan favorite for many people, and one reason why many people have not moved from the application is the Chrome extension, as well as the other abilities for clipping on mobile, which allow you to quickly bring stuff into your system. The benefit is that it has its own built-in document scanner experience, which allows you to import items into your system quickly.

3. Obsidian

Best for Knowledge Nerds

Obsidian describes itself as a private and flexible writing app. For many, Obsidian is the best PKM-focused second brain app, combining the power of networked thought with the traditional note-taking feel. These are commonly referred to as PKM tools, and we've listed many of them because they make nice second brain apps.

Obsidian balances Evernote and Notion in terms of complexity, but for many Second Brain adopters, using Obsidian's features like graph view (for viewing how notes connect), backlinks (for connecting notes together), and canvas (below) is a welcomed set of advanced note-taking features for going deeper with ideas.

4. Reflect Notes

Best for Privacy

Reflect Notes is a good second brain app, it resembles a PKM software but with a friendly feel.

Whilst this application charges $10 per month (annual), it presents a solid release cycle, new features to expand the line-up, like tasks and a Google Calendar connection. Many people also like how Reflect can be connected to Amazon Kindles so that you can better save notes and easily bring them into your second brain system.

Reflect is reserved for iOS and macOS users, but it has a neat Chrome and Safari clipper for better saving. One element of Reflect that goes unnoticed is the focus on privacy and security, with encrypted notes being one of their key priorities.

5. Logseq

Best for Flashcards

Logseq is very much like Obsidian.

It comes with an advanced note-taking focus that many people like for research or in-depth team or personal knowledge bases. Logseq has got a bunch of abilities that do extend the nature of the tool like flashcards and whiteboards both allowing you to bring to life existing notes and craft them more suitably for your Second Brain.

Imagine using the flashcard functionality to resurface notes that you want to remember, not only for an exam but also for future recall. This feature could be very helpful. One of the other tempting elements is that privacy is a key focus on Logseq. You can also store your information and notes offline, locally—better for those sensitive to their Second Brain being in the hands of others.

6. Milanote

Best for Visual Thinkers

Milanote is great for visual thinkers and learners, providing a good choice of second-brain app for anyone who would rather save more visual notes and ideas than just linked notes between each other. This is going to take some getting used to, as notes don't sit like they do inside the canvas and are perfectly searchable like other apps in this list. Milanote is much better if you like to plan notes and projects at the same time.

• Milanote provides a flexible and visual workspace with customizable fun boards.

• Use templates to get started quickly with building your second brain app.

• Collaborate on notes to work alongside team members on projects and ideas.

• Integrate with Dropbox, Google and more to quickly save images, documents & more.

7. Mem

Best for Busy Professionals

Mem is a strange note-taking application that focuses more on your connection with notes and AI technologies. It uses your notes and brings them into a chat-like experience to help you communicate with your notes and AI for better output.

For example, you can add many notes about your day-to-day business operations and then ask your notes questions like "what do you think the biggest issue is with how I do things" and it will help compile a recommended answer based on all your notes taken.

• Build your own templates for notes inside Mem and create a workspace to save and organise all notes inside your second brain.

• Use AI abilities inside Mem to identify important information and save notes accordingly.

• Use tags so you can quickly search and find notes you are thinking about or want to expand on.

• Share and collaborate on notes especially if working on a project.

8. Capacities

Best for PKM

Capacities wants to be the studio for your mind by offering a unique way to take notes with objects in mind. Objects help structure a note from the core by offering repeatable note templates that save time and effort. Think "book" capture for learnings from books, this might save you time knowing you are adding a book as an object and building from that. This is much more approachable for people who want to get into PKM apps but don't know how to get started. Capacities bridges the gap between complex and simplistic.

Capacities is much like Notion but with a twist, the focus on objects within your notes can be very helpful for creating structure, building relationships and adding notes fast. The first few weeks of setting up your Second Brain in Capacities might be intense, but the payoff will be much greater than many of the other apps in this list - as the system is set up for your types of notes that live as objects.

9. Workflowy

Best for Mind Mappers

Workflowy wants you to organize your brain by using an outliner concept. Unlike the second brain app on this list, Workflowy uses outliner notes, which are text-based notes that expand as you click into them. This concept has evolved into full-fledged notes apps, but people still use and love simple and nested notes designed to be more organized.

Workflowy has Kanban boards, tags, and live copy features, which all help you expand notes and use this outliner to bring and capture your best ideas, thoughts, and notes into a tidier system than your first glance. It's worth looking at for more simple second-brain use.

10. Heptabase

Best for Researchers

Many people turn to note app that allow for better research and data collection and Heptabase is one of those for your notes. The visual canvas allows you to connect the notes you're working on but largely the notes allow for better research collation and curation. Many visual thinkers and researchers find that this is one of the best second-brain apps for that combination.

If you're torn between Milanote and this, you're thinking visual note-taking as a concept to use. For Heptabase, it works very well with those who are researching and for many that is a popular use case for the Second Brain concept. We'd recommend exploring our list of the best visual note-taking apps to go deeper as many of them too, map to the Second Brain concept.

11. Amplenote

Best for All Round

Amplenote is a GTD dream. People love Amplenote's combination of notes, tasks, and calendar management. The note-taking abilities are really good, despite the design not being as "sexy" as apps like Notion or Obsidian.

The software works well to balance those three parts of your productivity and house them in one. The ability to backlink, connect tasks, and capture allows for a super second-brain layout. For housing everything, Amplenote is a great tool that works like Evernote but with more superpowers packed in. For those who have used Evernote and want an alternative to it, Amplenote is one of the best ones - and it presents a good house for your Second Brain with the intense stuff like linking notes & bonuses like task management too.

12. NotePlan

Best for Consolidation

NotePlan is a note-taking tool popular with those who like date-based tasks and notes. It lends itself to the second brain concept for better planning your week ahead and all the notes accompanying it. It is similar to Evernote, with a core productivity system for notes, tasks, and calendars. It allows you to capture on the mobile app (iOS) and is great for organizing, too, with a bullet journal feel.