Best sticky notes apps for Mac (2026)
Updated 4 September 2026 · 8 minute read · by the makers of Perch
There is no single best sticky notes app for Mac; the right one depends on where you want the notes to live. Apple Stickies is free, built into macOS, and fine on one screen. Tot is a free-to-download menu bar scratchpad with seven fixed notes and iCloud sync. Noticky ($9.99) adds Markdown, iCloud sync and always-on-top windows. Antinote ($5) is the fastest plain-text scratchpad, with inline maths. SideNotes ($19.99) docks a notes sidebar to the edge of a big screen. Perch ($9.99 once, made by us) is the one built for multiple monitors: it opens the note on whichever display your cursor is on, but it has no iCloud sync and no iOS app.
How we compared them
Sticky-note apps for the Mac fall into three shapes, and most arguments about which is "best" are really arguments about which shape you want:
- Desktop windows — the note is a small window sitting on your desktop (Apple Stickies, SideNotes). Always visible, but only on one display, and hidden by fullscreen apps.
- Menu bar panels — the note lives behind an icon in the menu bar and appears on click or a hotkey (Perch, Tot, Antinote, Noticky). Nothing on screen until you want it.
- Floating always-on-top windows — a note window that stays above other apps (Noticky, Perch's pop-out notes, SideNotes' sidebar).
We compared on the things that actually decide the question day to day: price and pricing model, where the note lives, whether it survives fullscreen apps, what happens on a multi-monitor desk, whether it syncs, and whether it takes images.
Mac sticky notes apps compared
| App | Price | Where notes live | Multi‑display | Over fullscreen | iCloud sync | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Stickies | Free, built in | Desktop windows | One display per note | No | No | Yes |
| Tot | Free download, $19.99 in-app for the full Mac app | Menu bar + window | Opens on the active screen; 7 notes only | Yes | Yes | No |
| Noticky | $9.99 once | Menu bar + floating windows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Markdown-first |
| Antinote | $5 once | Hotkey scratchpad / menu bar | Opens where you summon it | Yes | No | No |
| SideNotes | $19.99 once (also on Setapp) | Sidebar docked to a screen edge | Sidebar sits on one screen | No | Yes | Yes |
| Perch | $9.99 once, after a 3-day trial | Menu bar + pop-out windows | Opens on the display your cursor is on | Yes | No | No |
"Multi-display" means whether you can get to the same note from any connected monitor without dragging a window there. "Over fullscreen" means whether you can read a note while a fullscreen app is in front.
Apple Stickies — the free one you already have
Best free option
Stickies has shipped with the Mac since 1994 and it still works: open it from Applications or Spotlight, and each note is a small coloured window you leave lying on the desktop. It takes formatted text and images, collapses to a title bar, and has a Window › Keep on Top option so a note can float above ordinary windows.
Its limits are structural rather than fixable. A note is a window, so it lives on one display and in one desktop Space, and a fullscreen app covers it completely. There is no sync, no search across notes worth the name, and no menu bar icon.
Good for
- One screen, a handful of notes
- Notes with images pasted in
- Spending nothing
Not for
- Two or three monitors
- Working in fullscreen apps
- Anyone who wants their notes on iPhone
Longer write-up: Apple Stickies vs Perch →
Tot — seven dots in the menu bar
Best for a fixed, tidy set
Tot, by The Iconfactory, gives you exactly seven colour-coded scratchpads — no more, no fewer — reachable from a menu bar icon. It handles plain text and Markdown, syncs over iCloud to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and is one of the most carefully made small Mac apps there is.
The seven-note ceiling is the whole design and it is either the reason you love it or the reason you can't use it. Tot is a scratchpad, not a filing system: there are no folders, no tags, and nothing to pin.
Good for
- Deliberate constraint — seven notes, forever
- iCloud sync across Apple devices
- Markdown and plain text
Not for
- Keeping dozens of notes
- Per-display note placement
- Pinning or organising
Noticky — the most featured of the small ones
Best feature set for the money
Noticky is the most directly comparable app to Perch, and on a straight feature count it wins: its site lists Markdown editing, iCloud sync, Touch ID lock, tags, templates, reminders, export, and sticky windows that stay visible over fullscreen apps — for the same $9.99 one-time price.
If you want your Mac notes on your iPhone, or you want Markdown and tags, Noticky does things Perch does not. What we'd say for Perch is narrower: cursor-following placement across monitors and per-note display pinning, which is a multi-monitor feature rather than a note-taking feature. Try both; they are cheap.
Good for
- Markdown, tags and templates
- iCloud sync
- Locking notes behind Touch ID
Not for
- Anyone who wants the smallest possible app
Antinote — the fastest scratchpad
Best cheap scratchpad
Antinote is not really a sticky notes app — it is a scratchpad you summon with a hotkey, dump something into, and close. Its trick is inline computation: type a sum, a unit conversion or a currency amount and it resolves in place. It strips formatting on paste, keeps everything plain text, and exports to Apple Notes, Obsidian or Bear when a scratch note turns out to matter.
Good for
- Throwaway text, fast
- Quick maths and unit conversion
- $5, one time
Not for
- Notes you want to keep and organise
- Sync
- Rich text
SideNotes — a notes sidebar for a big screen
Best for ultrawide desks
SideNotes, by Apptorium, docks a panel to the edge of a screen; push the cursor to that edge and the panel slides out with your notes, which can hold text, code snippets and images, organised in folders. On a 34-inch ultrawide, where you have horizontal room to spare, this is a genuinely good use of the space.
It is a sidebar, though, which means it belongs to one screen and behaves like a window: it is not the answer if the problem you are solving is "which monitor did I leave that note on?"
Good for
- Ultrawide or very large single displays
- Code snippets and images
- Folder organisation
Not for
- Reaching a note from any monitor
- The cheapest option
Perch — built for more than one monitor
Best for multi-monitor desks
Perch is ours, so treat this section as a description rather than a review. It exists for one specific annoyance: macOS draws the menu bar on every connected display, so a note that lives in the menu bar is one click away no matter which screen you happen to be looking at. Click the icon — or press ⌥ Space — and the panel opens on the display the cursor is on, showing the same note, at the same scroll position, where you left it. Notes that belong to one screen can be pinned to that display instead of following you.
Beyond that it is deliberately small: smart bullet and numbered lists (type "- " or "1. " and the list forms), bold and italic, six paper colours, search across notes, pinned notes, light/dark/system, and pop-out resizable always-on-top note windows for when you want a note parked on a second monitor while you work.
What Perch does not do: no iCloud sync, no iPhone or iPad app, no images in notes, no Markdown, no tags or folders, no reminders. If any of those are on your list, one of the apps above is a better fit.
Good for
- Two, three or more displays
- Getting back into the same note mid-sentence
- $9.99 once, no subscription
Not for
- Syncing to iPhone — there is no iOS app
- Images, Markdown or tags
- Notes permanently parked on the desktop
Which one should you pick?
| If your situation is… | Start with |
|---|---|
| One screen, a few reminders, spend nothing | Apple Stickies |
| You want the same notes on your iPhone | Tot or Noticky |
| Two or more monitors and you keep losing notes | Perch |
| Throwaway text and quick maths, cheapest | Antinote |
| One very wide screen with room at the edge | SideNotes |
| Markdown, tags, templates, Touch ID lock | Noticky |
| Notes that must be permanently visible on the desktop | Apple Stickies or SideNotes |
All of these except Stickies are one-time purchases under $20, and several have free trials, so the honest advice is to install two and delete the one you stop opening after a week.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best sticky notes app for Mac?
There is no single best sticky notes app for Mac — it depends on your desk. Apple Stickies is free and already installed, and is enough for a single-screen Mac. Tot is a free-to-download menu bar scratchpad with seven fixed notes and iCloud sync. Noticky offers Markdown notes with iCloud sync and always-on-top windows. Antinote is a $5 plain-text scratchpad with a global hotkey. SideNotes docks a notes sidebar to the edge of a large screen. Perch, made by the publisher of this page, costs $9.99 once and is built for multi-monitor desks: it lives in the menu bar and opens the note on whichever display your cursor is on.
Does macOS come with a sticky notes app?
Yes. Every Mac includes Stickies, a free app that has shipped with macOS since 1994. Open it from the Applications folder, or press ⌘ Space and type "Stickies". Each note is a small coloured window on the desktop; it supports text formatting, colours and images, but it has no iCloud sync and no menu bar icon.
What is the best free sticky notes app for Mac?
Apple Stickies is the best genuinely free sticky notes app for Mac, because it is built into macOS, has no limit on the number of notes, and supports images. Tot is free to download from the Mac App Store and gives you seven scratchpads with iCloud sync, though the full Mac version is unlocked by a one-time in-app purchase. Perch keeps three notes free forever after its 3-day trial ends.
Which Mac sticky notes app works across multiple monitors?
Apple Stickies cannot show the same note on more than one display, because each note is a window and a window exists on one screen. Menu bar apps get around this, because macOS draws the menu bar on every connected display. Perch is built specifically for this: clicking its menu bar icon, or pressing ⌥ Space, opens the note on whichever display the cursor is on, and individual notes can instead be pinned to one specific display.
Do Mac sticky notes apps sync to iPhone?
Some do and some do not. Tot syncs over iCloud to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and Noticky advertises iCloud sync. Apple Stickies has no sync at all. Perch has no iCloud sync and no iOS app — its notes stay on the Mac they were written on.
Can sticky notes stay visible over fullscreen apps on a Mac?
Not with Apple Stickies — a fullscreen app takes over the Space and hides ordinary desktop windows, including Stickies notes. Apps that draw their notes from the menu bar or as floating panels, such as Perch, Tot and Noticky, can still be summoned while a fullscreen app is in front.