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The best bullet journal app depends on whether you draw

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The best bullet journal app depends on one question: do you want to draw your pages or type them. If you love handwriting your spreads, use Goodnotes on a tablet (free for three notebooks, then from $11.99 a year), or stay on paper. If you want the marks and the weekly page without the drawing, look at Carnet ($10 a month) or Elisi (free, Premium at $2.99 a month). If you'd rather build your own system, Obsidian and Notion are free for personal use.

We make Carnet, so read this page with that in mind. Our method: we read each product's own site, pricing page or App Store listing on October 9, 2026. We did not run a lab test, and we left out what we couldn't check. Sources are at the bottom.

Bullet journal apps at a glance

AppBest forPriceFree planPlatforms
GoodnotesHandwriting your spreads with a stylus$11.99 or $35.99 a yearYes, 3 notebooksiPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android, web
ZinniaDecorated pages with stickers and templatesFrom $8.99 a month or $34.99 a yearFree download, 7-day trialiPad, iPhone, Mac
Bullet Journal CompanionPeople who keep a paper notebook$4.99, paid onceNoiPhone, iPad, Mac
ElisiA typed weekly plan with habits, at a low price$2.99 a month or $23.99 a yearYesiOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web
CarnetThe marks and the weekly spread, typed, no drawing$10 a monthNoWeb, on any screen
NotePlanDaily notes in plain text next to Apple Calendar$12 a month or $99 a yearNo, short trialMac, iPad, iPhone, web
ObsidianBuilding your own journal from daily notesFree; sync from $4 a monthYesWindows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android
NotionA free template you customizeFree; Plus from $10 a monthYesWeb, Mac, Windows, mobile

Prices are in US dollars, as shown on each product's site or App Store listing.

What a bullet journal app can keep, and what it loses

The Bullet Journal method was created by Ryder Carroll for a notebook and a pen. Its core is rapid logging: short lines, each starting with a bullet. A dot is a task, a circle is an event, a dash is a note. A finished task becomes an X. A task you carry forward becomes a >, and the method calls that migration.

Around the bullets sit four collections: an index, a future log, a monthly log and a daily log.

An app can keep the marks and the logs. Two things rarely survive the move to a screen. The first is the blank page, where you can draw anything. The second is the effort of rewriting: the official site argues that an entry not worth rewriting is probably not that important. Apps move a task in one gesture, which is faster, and easier to do without thinking.

So every digital bullet journal is a trade. The apps below are grouped by what they let you keep.

Handwriting apps: a digital bullet journal you still draw

Goodnotes

Goodnotes is a note-taking app built for a tablet and a stylus. You write on a page as you would in a notebook. For bullet journaling, Goodnotes says you can import a template and keep its PDF hyperlinks, resize anything with the lasso tool, and search your handwriting.

Price: free for 3 notebooks, without sync across platforms. Essential is $11.99 a year, Pro is $35.99 a year.

Pick it if drawing your own layouts is the part you enjoy, and you own a tablet with a pen.

Skip it if setting up pages is the part that made you stop. You still build every page yourself.

Zinnia

Zinnia is a journal and planner app from Pixite for iPad, iPhone and Mac. It serves the decorated side of bullet journaling: you sketch with Apple Pencil and add stickers, washi tape, lettering, calendar layouts and habit trackers.

Price: free to download, with a 7-day free trial on its subscriptions. The App Store listing shows $3.99 a week, $8.99 or $9.99 a month, and $34.99 or $39.99 a year.

Pick it if making the page beautiful is what keeps you coming back.

Skip it if you use Android or Windows, or if you want a plain list and nothing to decorate.

Bullet Journal Companion

This is the official app, supported by Bullet Journal's own help center. It is the odd one out: its App Store description says, in capitals, that it is "NOT designed to replace your notebook."

It supports a paper practice. You log tasks, events and notes when your notebook isn't with you, and those entries expire after 72 hours. You can also back up, tag and search your notebooks.

Price: $4.99, paid once, on iPhone, iPad and Macs with Apple silicon. The Bullet Journal help center says the Android version isn't available at the moment. The listing shows its last update in November 2023.

Pick it if the paper notebook is staying and you want a net for the moments it's at home.

Skip it if you want a bullet journal that lives on a screen. This isn't one.

Typed apps: the method without the drawing

Elisi

Elisi presents itself as an AI journal and smart planner. It puts tasks, habits, notes and goals in one weekly plan, with reminders, voice input and AI that turns what you say into entries.

Price: free, with Premium at $2.99 a month, $23.99 a year or $69.99 once on its App Store listing. It runs on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and the web.

Pick it if you want a low-cost typed planner with habit tracking and apps on Android and Windows.

Skip it if you came to the bullet journal for its quiet. Habits, reminders and AI are a large part of what Elisi offers.

Carnet

Carnet is a weekly planner in the browser, born from the paper bullet journal of its founder, Elyane. The week sits on a two-page spread with seven day boxes, and it keeps five marks inherited from the bullet journal: to do, appointment, note, done and migrated.

A task gets a day, not a time. Tasks with no day yet wait in a box called "This week". There are pages inside every day, including a brain dump page, and Carnet reads your Google Calendar so appointments show up in the week. A search across all your pages finds any of them from one word. There are no streaks, scores or dashboards.

Price: $10 a month during the open beta. There is a demo on the homepage that works without an account.

Migration stays manual, as in the original method. An unfinished task stays a plain dot where you left it: no overdue count, nothing turns red, nothing moves forward on its own. When you look back at a past week, you choose what to carry over to this week, and strike the rest.

Pick it if you liked the marks and the weekly page on paper, and stopped because of the setting up, or because one messy page made you stop opening the notebook. It is an online bullet journal that is already laid out when you open it, with no wrong place to write.

Skip it if you love drawing spreads by hand: you will be happier with paper or a handwriting app.

Bullet journal software you build yourself

NotePlan

NotePlan combines notes, tasks and your calendar in plain-text Markdown. Every day gets its own note, with weekly, monthly and yearly notes above it. Its own bullet journal guide maps the method closely: an asterisk starts a task, a dash starts a note, calendar events appear automatically, and tasks move to another date in a few clicks.

Price: $12 a month or $99 a year, with no free plan. The trial is 7 days on the annual plan and 3 on the monthly one. It runs on Mac, iPad, iPhone and the web, with Apple Calendar and Reminders.

Pick it if you live in Apple's apps, like plain text, and want time blocking available.

Skip it if the price is the obstacle, or if a blank Markdown note feels like homework.

Obsidian

Obsidian is a free note-taking app. Its Daily notes core plugin opens a note for today's date, or creates it, which is close to a daily log. The rest is yours to build: you type your own bullets and decide what a monthly log looks like.

Price: free for personal use, with no sign-up. Sync is a paid add-on at $4 a month billed yearly, or $5 billed monthly. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android.

Pick it if you enjoy building a system and want to pay nothing.

Skip it if you want something ready when you open it.

Notion

Notion is a general workspace of pages and databases. Its template gallery includes free bullet journal templates, such as one by Matt Ragland for tracking daily tasks with calendar views.

Price: the Free plan covers individual use. The paid Plus plan is $12 per member per month, or $10 billed yearly. Notion runs on the web, Mac, Windows and mobile.

Pick it if you want a free starting point and you like adjusting it.

Skip it if you tend to spend more time improving the system than using it. We wrote more about that in our Notion alternative page.

What Carnet doesn't do

Read this before you pay for it.

  • No handwriting, no drawing. You type. There are three highlighters to mark what matters, and everything else is in ink.
  • No native app. It runs in the browser on a computer, tablet or phone, and syncs.
  • No free plan, but a 7-day free trial. A card is required. The homepage demo saves nothing.

How to choose the best bullet journal app for you

Start from what you loved on paper.

  • The drawing. Stay on paper, or use Goodnotes or Zinnia with a stylus. No typed app will replace it.
  • The notebook itself. Keep it, and add the Bullet Journal Companion for the times it isn't with you.
  • The marks and the week on one spread, without the perfect page. Carnet, or Elisi if a free plan and an Android app matter more than calm.
  • The freedom to design a system. Obsidian or Notion for free, NotePlan if you're on Apple devices and happy to pay.

If what you actually miss is a place to empty your head, our list of brain dump apps covers that need on its own.

FAQ

What is the best bullet journal app?

There isn't one answer, because people mean two different things. If you want to handwrite and draw, Goodnotes is built for that on a tablet. If you want the marks, the daily log and the week without drawing, a typed planner such as Carnet, Elisi or NotePlan fits better.

Is there an official Bullet Journal app?

Yes. It is called Bullet Journal Companion and costs $4.99 on the App Store. Its own description says it is a companion for your notebook and not a replacement, so it won't serve as a digital bullet journal by itself.

Is there a free bullet journal app?

Several. Obsidian is free for personal use, Notion has a free plan with free bullet journal templates, Elisi has a free version, and Goodnotes is free for up to three notebooks.

What is a digital bullet journal?

It is the Bullet Journal method kept on a screen instead of in a notebook. It takes two forms: handwriting on a tablet with a stylus, which keeps the drawing, or a typed app that keeps the bullets and the logs. Typed versions often run online in a browser, as Carnet does.

Try the spread before you decide

Carnet sits between paper and Notion: more structure than a blank notebook, less fuss than Notion. You can see whether a typed week suits you without creating an account. Open the homepage, click a line and write. Nothing is saved.

Try Carnet's weekly spread

Sources

Checked on October 9, 2026.