The best sticky notes app for Windows, and how to pick one

The best sticky notes app for Windows depends on one question: are your notes loose reminders, or are they about specific work? For loose reminders you want on your phone too, Microsoft Sticky Notes is free and hard to beat. For notes that belong to a particular document, folder or website, pick an app that attaches the note to that work, so it appears when the work is on screen and hides when it is not.

We make one of those apps, TackNote. So read our column with that in mind. Every fact about the other apps below comes from their makers' pages or published reporting, checked in September 2026, and we say where each one is the better choice.

What to look for before you choose

Almost every sticky notes app can make a yellow square and remember what you typed. The differences that decide whether you still use it in a month are these:

1. Does the note show up with the work it is about? A note on the desktop is either buried behind your windows or floating over everything. A note tied to a document or a website appears when you need it.
2. Where do the notes live? In a Microsoft account, a vendor's cloud, or only on your PC? Notes collect client details and half-finished ideas, so it is worth knowing.
3. Do you need them on your phone? If yes, that narrows the list quickly.
4. Subscription or purchase? A sticky notes app is a utility. Notice the total over three years, not the first month.

Microsoft Sticky Notes: free, and on your phone too

Sticky Notes comes from Microsoft at no cost. Its biggest strength is reach: as long as your devices are signed in to the same Microsoft account, your notes appear in OneNote on iPhone, iPad and Android, on the web at onenote.com/stickynotes, and in Outlook on the desktop. If you mostly need a note on your PC now and on your phone later, this is the honest first choice.

There are two things to know. First, Microsoft now has two Sticky Notes experiences: the Sticky Notes app, and a newer Sticky Notes built into OneNote for Windows that opens with Win + Alt + S. The newer one can capture a screenshot in one click, records the website a note came from, and brings the note back when you return to that source. Second, the notes are stored in Outlook or Exchange, and on work or school accounts sync needs an Exchange Online mailbox. Microsoft's troubleshooting page for the Sticky Notes app says notes cannot currently stay on top of other applications, while the newer OneNote version was reported to have added an always-on-top option in September 2024.

What it does not do is tie a note to a window or document you are working in.

Stickies by Zhorn Software: free, and it attaches notes

Stickies is a free app from Zhorn Software. Its site says notes "can be attached to an application, web site, document or folder so they only show when it's on screen," which is the same idea TackNote is built around. It is free, so it costs nothing to try. The one thing to check is compatibility: its site lists Windows 7, 8 and 10.

Notezilla: attachments plus phone and web apps

Notezilla by Conceptworld can associate a note with a document, website, program or window, including a folder in File Explorer. It is the choice here if you want attached notes and a phone app today. The one-time license is $29.95 for one person on up to two computers, without sync. The subscription is $19.95 a year plus $10 for the first year, and adds sync between computers and apps for Android, iPhone, iPad and the web. There is a 30-day trial.

Simple Sticky Notes: free, including at work

Simple Sticky Notes is free for personal and commercial use, and its site highlights customizable notes, alarms, themes and hotkeys. If you want plain desktop notes with reminders and do not need them tied to anything, it is a reasonable free pick.

TackNote for Windows: notes that stay with your work

TackNote, which we make, started on the Mac. The Windows version is finished and launching soon. It is built around one idea: every note belongs to something.

• Tack a note to any window with Ctrl + Alt + N. It shows only while that window is in front and moves with it. In a browser, a window's title is its active tab, so notes are per tab. More in how to keep a note on top of a window.
• Desktop notes and virtual desktops. Ctrl + Alt + F makes a note that is not tied to a window. It can follow you to every virtual desktop, or belong to one and return there after a restart. See sticky notes on virtual desktops.
• More than text. Checklists, a split view with notes and a to-do list side by side, sketches, voice memos, 14 themes, and reminders that repeat daily, on weekdays, weekly or monthly, shown as Windows notifications. You can also drag a box around text anywhere on screen and read it into a note, using the text recognition built into Windows, on your PC.
• Private by default. Notes are stored encrypted on your PC. A private note stays blank until you unlock it with Windows Hello or your Windows password.
• Mac and Windows together. One license covers up to three computers, Mac or Windows, and an encrypted TackNote backup made on one restores on the other.
• One price. $24.99 once, with a 7-day free trial. One license covers up to three computers, Mac or Windows.

Where TackNote loses

Be clear-eyed about this. It needs Windows 11. There is no Android app and no web version, so if your notes must be on your phone, Microsoft Sticky Notes or Notezilla's subscription fit better. Voice memos record and play back on Windows, but they are not transcribed there. And TackNote cannot yet import notes from Microsoft Sticky Notes. It imports plain text, Markdown, HTML and RTF files, and backups from TackNote on a Mac.

So which one should you pick?

• Loose reminders you also want on your phone: Microsoft Sticky Notes.
• Free notes attached to apps and websites: Stickies, if your version of Windows is one it supports.
• Attached notes plus phone and web apps today: Notezilla with the subscription.
• Free plain notes with alarms: Simple Sticky Notes.
• Notes that follow your windows, tabs and virtual desktops, encrypted on your PC, shared with a Mac, for one price: TackNote for Windows, once it launches.

If you also use a Mac, we wrote the same kind of comparison for it: the best sticky notes app for Mac. TackNote for Mac is available now, and your license will cover a PC as well.