Note taking, is a daily requirement for most of us, however, finding a good solution that can compete with commercial ones is hard. There is free software with a set of features that can compete and win with a commercial solution.

During the next five months, we became more familiar with Zoom, FaceTime, Milanote and any other platform to stay virtually connected with each player and the team. With each day that passed, we tried to remain hopeful that September would bring us back together and we would all have the opportunity to return to the field together as a team. Templates are the heart of Notion experience. You can use the built-in template to start off or build a custom one from scratch. You can use templates for tasks, travel planning, finance tracking. Cost: Free for basic plan or $12.50/month for premium. Milanote is an easy-to-use creative writing app to organize your research, ideas, characters and outline in one place. The vast majority of novelist-oriented writing software is organized around the idea of a linear document.

We choose the notes with advanced and usable features as powerful encryption, cloud backup and synchronization, private note support, and multi-platform as it can run on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.

We have covered special note-taking styles and note-taking editors in this article: 12 Open source Free Note-taking Desktop Apps with Unique Features.

1- Turtle

Turtle is an open source note-taking application, built to organize notes, passwords, bookmarks, and images. It works fine with Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows. It has Google Chrome and Firefox browsers extensions.

Turtle has powerful features as client-side encryption, markdown support, tagging, powerful search, sharing, browser extensions with clipboard support, TeX math support, file attachment, and RTL (Right-to-Left) support.

2- Laverna

Laverna is a note-taking application offers many features despite it's simple user-interface as note synchronization and backup to Dropbox and remote services, markdown editing, distraction-free mode, todo notes, code highlighting, importing and exporting notes, and powerful encryption for notes.

Laverna is an open source project released under MPL 2.0 license. It works fine on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. It also provides a self-hosted web version.

3- Zim

Zim is an open-source desktop wiki application, Its perfect to take notes and organize them together as connect them to each other. It works the same as Wiki but on your desktop which makes it great to draft emails, articles, blog entries, take notes of lectures and meetings.

Zim is supported by many Linux distros, and it has a Windows installation package, but unfortunately, it does not work on Mac OSX easily.

4- TiddlyWiki

TiddlyWiki is a single-file mode wiki application, It's tiny but very powerful, I had been using it over the years, and I can't yet find other alternatives like it. using it is very simple to download the HTML file, write and save the file. That's it.

TiddlyWiki is very rich in options, features, supported tools and environments, and its even developer's friendly. with few tweaks, you can use it as a todo list, effective project management tool and of course writing drafts and notes.

TiddlyWiki has extensions for all the major browsers but more importantly, it works well with Beaker browser over Dat protocol. which means it works for teams.

TiddlyWiki supports encryption using Stanford JavaScript Crypto Library.

5- Joplin

Joplin is a free open-source note program that supports end-to-end encryption, note synchronization to online services and cloud-like NextCloud, WebDAV and OneDrive, importing Evernote notes and file formats, offline mode support, file attachment.

Joplin has been released as a desktop application for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. Joplin's developers also released Android and iOS apps and command-line application as well. Joplin also has accessories like Google Chrome and Firefox extension as Web Clipper to take notes of web pages with simple few clicks.

6- QOwnNotes

QOwnNotes is a desktop free open-source note application, with the support of OwnCloud and NextCloud. It supports markdown, customizable shortcuts, vim mode, Evernote imports.

QOwnNotes supports note encryption. to keep the notes private, Which is very useful combining with its feature as portable software as it works directly from the USB stick.

QOwnNotes has been released for Linux, Mac OSX and Windows.

Milanote Persona

Recommended (Free/ Commercial)

Milanote: Notes for creative people

Milanote is a tool for organizing creative projects into beautiful visual boards.
By design, it feels a lot like working on the wall in a creative studio - visual, tactile and sometimes a bit messy - Milanote is a great fit for designers who work in teams remotely.

Key Features:
- Write notes & to-do lists, upload images & files and save things you find on the web
- Organize visually using the flexible drag and drop interface.
- Boards by default are a private place to think, but with a single click you can create a shared workspace for collaboration with your team
- Milanote is filled with hundreds of built-in templates to help you get started with a variety of different projects, from creating a mood board to writing that perfect creative brief.

Pricing:
- Free version available with no time limit. - PRO version $9.99 per month (monthly and annual plans)

To take full advantage of your Agile retrospective, choosing the right tools is critical. Indeed, retrospective tools offer a structured framework for the team and help to continuously improve your meetings.

Especially useful for multi located teams, these Agile retrospective online tools participate in enhancing your retrospectives, better organizing them, and following up actions over time.

In this article, we share the 15 best retrospective tools.

Retrospective tool #1: TeamMood 🏆

TeamMood helps you gather daily insights on how your team members are feeling. You can then use your team mood chart and feedback as a basis to open up discussions in your retrospectives.

Pricing

TeamMood starts at €2 per month per user, after a 30-day trial period. An Enterprise pack allows for more customization and integration with businesses’ internal tools.

Killing feature

TeamMood is easy as pie and lets you gather anonymous moods and feedback on a daily basis. Your team members simply click on their mood of the day on the email they receive each day at a specific time, no more than 2mn.

Website: TeamMood

Retrospective tool #2: Neatro

Neatro helps your team grow with a selection of useful and industry-proven retrospectives. Whether you are leading a remote or in-person retrospective, choose a template or build a custom retrospective activity that matches your team’s context.

Pricing

No credit card required to start using the 30-day trial period. Pricing starts at 20$ per month per team. Get a discount on every other team you create.

Killing feature

When starting a new retrospective meeting, Neatro will automatically remind you there are incomplete action items from previous activities. Neatro is also a fully responsive web app, making it possible to assist a retrospective meeting from your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Website: Neatro

Retrospective tool #3: Retros.work

Retros.work is a beautiful online retrospective tool with HR trends. Post your retro feedback all sprint long. Express how you feel with emoticons and energy scores. Vote and create to-dos. You can use it for remote retrospectives and also for in-office retros.

Milanote Ipad Pro

Pricing

You can easily start using retros.work with a 30 day free trial. For a team of 10 users you pay €39,90 a month, a team of 25 users costs €84,75 and 50 users costs €134,50 a month. You pay per user and get unlimited boards.

Killing feature

You can track emotion and energy trends over multiple sprints. It also works well on mobile. Which works great for in-office retros where you post feedback from your mobile.

Website: Retros.work

Retrospective tool #4: goReflect

goReflect is a retrospective tool that promotes continuous process review. It allows teams to share ideas in a stream or on customizable boards. The dashboard makes it easy to monitor the commitments you make as a team.

Pricing

Free for 100 days then $2.67/user/month.

Killing feature

Unlike typical retrospectives, goReflect encourages the idea of a perpetual retrospective to drive continuous improvement. All retrospective boards are available for the team members to share their thoughts anytime from anywhere.

Website: goReflect

Retrospective tool #5: TeamRetro

TeamRetro is an enterprise-ready online retrospective meeting tool for Agile coaches, Scrum masters, and teams. All actions are stored in a single list that you can track from meeting to meeting. TeamRetro helps to run engaging and action-focused retrospectives with remote or co-located teams.

Pricing

Prices range from $25 per month for one team to $90 per month for 6 teams. An Enterprise plan also allows for several teams and custom agreements.

Killing feature

In addition to retrospectives, TeamRetro helps you gain insights into what is motivating and challenging your team members through different health dimensions: ownership, goal alignment, communication, …

Website: TeamRetro

Retrospective tool #6: ScatterSpoke

With ScatterSpoke, anyone on the team can quickly launch and share a retrospective with the other team members. Everyone can share cards in real-time, vote on issues, create groups, or pin items for follow up.

Pricing

Unlimited retros and team members are free. For premium services (unlimited history, analytics, …) prices start at $25 / month. ScatterSpoke also offers an Enterprise plan.

Killing feature

ScatterSpoke also makes it easy for anyone to play the role of facilitator, an important part of keeping retrospectives as objective as possible.

Website: ScatterSpoke

Retrospective tool #7: Retrium

Retrium is a retrospective tool specifically designed to identify problems that threaten to derail teamwork. Each participant gets the opportunity to privately brainstorm on what went well or not, vote for items, prioritize discussions, and create action plans to track progress.

Pricing

Prices start at $29 per month and per team.

Killing feature

Retrium allows Agile teams to run anonymous surveys et get quick room-checks on safety, engagement, and team performance.

Website: Retrium

Retrospective tool #8: IdeaBoardz

IdeaBoardz is a collaborative ideation tool. It allows teams to collectively brainstorm, gather ideas, reflect, and retrospect on the past period (sprint or else). It is especially useful for remote teams.

Pricing

Free

Killing feature

IdeaBoardz is not only a retrospective tool. It can be used for brainstorming exercises like six thinking hats, pros-cons, risks-opportunities, …

Website: IdeaBoardz

Retrospective tool #9: MindMeister

MindMeister is one of the best online mind-mapping apps currently on the market. It offers a number of powerful features that let users collaborate and brainstorm online, plan projects, develop business strategies, and identify ideas for improvement.

Pricing

Prices range from €8.25 to €12.49 per user per month for business use.

Killing feature

Like all mind-maps, ideas are displayed and structures on a treemap that fosters 360° thinking on a specific situation. This type of ideation is crucial to improve internal efficiency and understanding your options for where to go next.

Website: MindMeister

Retrospective tool #10: GoRetro

GoRetro is a Free agile sprint retrospective tool making the entire retro process seamless, simple, fun, colorful, productive, and unlimited.

It arrives with pre-made templates for a variety of retrospective formats, happiness index for developers, action items, and more.

Pricing

Free

Killing feature

Besides all the foundational retrospective features, GoRetro allows you to add specific action items for assignees, to make sure such meetings will achieve real results.

Website: GoRetro

Retrospective tool #11: Metro Retro

Metro Retro is a real-time retrospective whiteboard, with fun collaboration tools made specifically for the agile retrospective process. Its beautiful templates are completely customisable so you can run any kind of session.

Pricing

Free

Killing feature

Confetti cannon.

Website: Metro Retro

Retrospective tool #12: Sprint Boards

Sprint Boards is built for Agile developers. With keyboard shortcuts for adding and saving cards and support for merging duplicates, it makes retrospectives simple and easy. You can also lock boards when you’re done to prevent further changes.

Pricing

$7.99 per month per person.

Killing feature

With Sprint Boards, you can prevent team members from influencing each other by masking each others’ cards until the end of the retrospective.

Website: Sprint Boards

Retrospective tool #13: Padlet

Padlet is a collaborative product you can use to create a virtual environment to stale thinking patterns. It lets every team member participate, getting their ideas up in one pane of glass.

Pricing

Plans start at $12 per user per month.

Killing feature

Padlet can serve several purposes, from personal note-taking to to-do lists, party invitations, feedback collection, or anything that might need input from several people.

Milanote Pro 20

Website: Padlet

Milanote Promo Code

Retrospective tool #14: RetroTime

More than enabling sticky-note sharing, RetroTime is a real help for teams to learn from their mistakes quickly and adapt to regular challenges. It helps you identify patterns in feedback and troubleshoot your own processes.

Pricing

Free to participate in retrospectives, $8 per month to create up to 5 retrospectives a month, and $15 month for unlimited retrospectives.

Killing feature

RetroTime allows participants to anonymize notes. This allows team members to clue you in on issues that might be tougher to express under perceived social pressure.

Website: RetroTime

Retrospective tool #15: Parabol

Parabol is an online retrospective tool that offers unique features, such as multi-user grouping, customizable retrospective templates, rich formatting and emojis, slack integration, and beautiful meeting summaries.

Pricing

Parabol is free to use and open-source, but pro and Enterprise plans offer more features.

Killing feature

Parabol lets you ask granular questions and dive back into prior experiences. It’s a great tool for prompting people to think about their processes and how they are functioning as part of the team.

Website: Parabol

Bonus: Retrospective tool #16: Reetro

Reetro is an online retrospective tool for remote agile teams. It fosters collaboration and automates the retrospective process.

Pricing

Milanote Pro Font

Free.

Killing feature

Reetro enables teams to run their retrospectives seamlessly. It integrates with the most used Scrum tools such as JIRA, Trello, Yodiz, and Asana.

Website: Reetro.io

Extra bonus: Retrospective tool #17: Milanote

Milanote is a tool for organizing creative projects into beautiful visual boards. By design, it feels a lot like working on the wall in a creative studio - visual, tactile and sometimes a bit messy - Milanote is a great fit for designers who work in teams remotely, and can be used for Retros.

Pricing

Free version available with no time limit. PRO version $9.99 per month (monthly and annual plans)

Killing feature

Write notes & to-do lists, upload images & files and save things you find on the web. Organize visually using the flexible drag and drop interface. And, Boards by default are a private place to think, but with a single click you can create a shared workspace for collaboration with your team.

Website: Milanote

Bonus after the bonuses: Retrospective tool #18: FunRetro

If you’re looking for optimizing your sprint retrospective efficiency, FunRetro is the way to go. With FunRetro, you can easily configure your dashboards and export your data to keep track of your sessions and action plans.

Pricing

FunRetro offers an evolutive pricing: free for up to 3 public boards, and from €22 to €78 per month (billed annually) for 1 to 5 teams. See more here.

Examples Of Milanote Projects

Killing feature

FunRetro allows you to toggle your retrospectives to a secret mode in order to allow true honest feedback.

Website: FunRetro

Final bonus: Retrospective tool #19: RetroTool

RetroTool is a free, real-time online retrospective tool that helps teams reflect in an anonymous manner. The team can concurrently brainstorm ideas and problems, group them, vote and create action plans based on the discussion. It enables facilitators to build a retrospective the way they want it with no restrictions on columns or participants numbers.

Pricing

The tool is free and they promise to always maintain a free version.

Killing feature

RetroTool is quick to start, simple to use and flexible enough to use for retrospectives, brainstorming or agenda-less meetings.

Website: RetroTool

Header picture by Fleur on Unsplash