CiteLadder asked Claude Sonnet 5.5 20 buyer questions about note-taking apps. Each question ran three times in three conditions: from memory, with web search available, and with an instruction to search first. Obsidian was named in 77% of answers from memory and stayed the most-named brand when Claude searched. This page reports what Claude said through the Anthropic API. It is not a ranking of which app is best, and the Claude apps can answer differently.
What was asked
The 20 prompts covered five kinds of buyer intent: general picks, specific buyers or use cases, budget or free options, feature-led needs, and comparison shortlists. Each prompt was phrased the way a person might type it.
Examples:
- "What's the best note-taking app right now?"
- "Which note app works best with an iPad and Apple Pencil?"
- "Note-taking app with end-to-end encryption for private notes"
Other prompts asked about college lecture notes, small teams sharing meeting notes, developers storing code snippets, open source options, and offline apps with local markdown files. The requests gave no current date. Another model listed the brands in each answer, and code did the counting.
Which brands Claude named from memory
With no tools, Claude gave 60 answers and named 91 distinct brands, about 7.4 per answer. Two brands appeared far more often than the rest.
- Obsidian was named in 77% of answers and named first 20 times.
- Notion was named in 70% of answers and named first 14 times.
- Microsoft was named in 55%, Apple in 48%, and Google and Joplin in 40% each.
- Logseq and Standard Notes reached 23%, Evernote 22% and Bear 20%.
Microsoft, Apple and Google appear here as companies, as the brand listing recorded them.
Consistency across the three runs was moderate. Run agreement was 58.6%. Obsidian was named in every run for 14 of the 20 prompts, and Notion for 13. Apple, despite appearing in nearly half of answers, was named in every run for only 5 prompts. The top three brands took 27.2% of all mentions, so the rest of the answers spread across a long list.
When search was only available
When web search was available but optional, Claude did not use it. Across 60 answers it ran 0 searches. These answers were memory answers in practice.
The results looked much like the no-tools condition. Obsidian was named in 78% of answers and Notion in 73%. Microsoft, Google and Apple followed. Answers named slightly more brands, about 8.7 each, and run agreement was 63.8%. For this category, a brand's visibility in Claude through the API depends on what the model already holds unless something prompts it to search.
When Claude was told to search
With a system prompt telling it to search first, Claude searched in all 60 answers and ran 280 searches. The answers got shorter on brands. It named 76 distinct brands, about 5.8 per answer. Run agreement dropped to 51.2%, and the top three brands took a larger share of mentions at 30.3%.
- The leader held. Obsidian stayed first, named in 65% of answers and named first 14 times.
- Kept in the top five: Obsidian, Notion, Microsoft and Google.
- Left the top five: Apple, which fell from 48% from memory to 33%.
- Entered the top five: Joplin, which rose from 40% to 47%.
Notion was named in 58% of answers and named first only 6 times, down from 14 from memory. Microsoft was named in 53% of answers and named first 14 times, level with Obsidian. Apple Notes also appeared as its own entry in 13% of answers. Evernote and Logseq each fell to 15%. Only 1 answer included inline citations.
What Claude searched for
Most queries were short list-style searches. 62.7% contained the word "best", and 44.9% contained a year. Of the queries with a year, 118 used 2025 and 11 used 2026. Since the requests gave no current date, the year came from Claude's own assumption.
Sample queries, copied as Claude wrote them:
- "best note-taking apps 2025 comparison"
- "Notion vs Obsidian vs Evernote vs OneNote vs Apple Notes pros cons"
- "best snippet manager for developers 2025 massCode Obsidian Notion Raycast"
- "Obsidian vs Logseq vs Joplin vs Notable local markdown offline"
Several queries already named brands. Claude often searched for apps it had in mind and then checked them against what the results said.
Which sites the searches returned
One site stood out. atlasworkspace.ai was returned in 42 of the 60 searched answers, or 70%. After that came zapier.com, techradar.com and en.wikipedia.org, each in 45% of searched answers, and clickup.com in 43%.
Next were thedigitalprojectmanager.com and saner.ai at 40% each, toolfinder.com at 37%, alternativeto.net at 35% and scribe.com at 30%. The mix includes editorial review sites, software vendors that publish comparison pages, a directory and an encyclopedia. These are the pages Claude read before writing its shortlists. The tables below show the full counts.
What a note-taking brand can take from this
- Memory matters most by default. With search optional, Claude never searched. What it already associates with your brand decides whether you appear.
- Search changes the shortlist. When told to search, answers named fewer brands and the top five shifted. Apple dropped out and Joplin moved in.
- Comparison pages feed the answers. The sites returned most often were roundups and comparison pages. Appearing accurately on pages like those on atlasworkspace.ai, zapier.com and techradar.com puts your brand in front of Claude when it searches.
- Use-case pages count. Claude searched for specific needs such as developer snippets and offline markdown. Clear pages for each use case give it something to find.
- Check dated content. Claude added a year to almost half its queries, mostly 2025. Roundups with a current year in the title may match those searches.
- Measure repeatedly. Run agreement ranged from 51.2% to 63.8%. One check is not enough to know where you stand.
Brand shares in each condition
Share of the 60 answers (20 prompts, three runs) that named each brand. "Prompts named in every run" counts the prompts where the brand appeared in all three runs from memory.
| Brand | From memory | Prompts named in every run | Told to search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obsidian | 76.7% | 14 | 65% |
| Notion | 70% | 13 | 58.3% |
| Microsoft | 55% | 9 | 53.3% |
| Apple | 48.3% | 5 | 33.3% |
| Joplin | 40% | 5 | 46.7% |
| 40% | 4 | 41.7% | |
| Standard Notes | 23.3% | 2 | 16.7% |
| Logseq | 23.3% | 4 | 15% |
| Evernote | 21.7% | 2 | 15% |
| Bear | 20% | 2 | not in top 15 |
| Apple Notes | not in top 15 | 13.3% |
Sites Claude's searches returned
When told to search. Share of answers whose searches returned at least one page from the site.
| Site | Answers | Share of searched answers |
|---|---|---|
| atlasworkspace.ai | 42 | 70% |
| zapier.com | 27 | 45% |
| techradar.com | 27 | 45% |
| en.wikipedia.org | 27 | 45% |
| clickup.com | 26 | 43.3% |
| thedigitalprojectmanager.com | 24 | 40% |
| saner.ai | 24 | 40% |
| toolfinder.com | 22 | 36.7% |
| alternativeto.net | 21 | 35% |
| scribe.com | 18 | 30% |
The 20 prompts
- What's the best note-taking app right now? (best overall)
- Which note app do most productive people actually swear by? (best overall)
- Top rated note-taking apps worth switching to this year? (best overall)
- What note-taking app would you recommend for everyday use? (best overall)
- Best note-taking app for college students taking lecture notes on a laptop (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Which note app works best with an iPad and Apple Pencil? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Good note-taking app for a small team sharing meeting notes (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best notes app for writers organizing research and drafts (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Which note-taking app is best for software developers storing code snippets? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Note app for someone with ADHD who needs simple capture (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best note-taking app for building a personal knowledge base or second brain (for a specific buyer or use case)
- What notes app works well for doctors or nurses on the go? (for a specific buyer or use case)
- Best free note-taking app with no annoying limits (budget or free)
- Cheapest note app that syncs across phone and computer (budget or free)
- Any good open source note-taking apps I can use for free? (budget or free)
- Note-taking app with end-to-end encryption for private notes (feature-led)
- Which notes apps have good offline mode and local markdown files? (feature-led)
- Note app that can transcribe and summarize meetings with AI (feature-led)
- Shortlist the top 5 note-taking apps and compare their pros and cons (comparison shortlist)
- Compare the leading note apps for Windows and Android users (comparison shortlist)
Frequently asked questions
Which note-taking app did Claude name most often?
Obsidian. Claude named it in 77% of answers from memory and 65% of answers when told to search. This reflects what Claude said, not a judgment of which app is best.
Did Claude search the web when it was allowed to?
No. With search available but optional, Claude ran 0 searches across 60 answers. It searched only when the system prompt told it to, and then it searched in all 60 answers.
Which brands changed the most when Claude searched?
Apple fell out of the top five, from 48% of answers from memory to 33% when told to search. Joplin entered the top five, rising from 40% to 47%. Notion stayed in the top five but was named first far less often.
Do these results match the Claude app?
Not necessarily. The study used Claude Sonnet 5.5 through the Anthropic API at low effort, with no current date in the requests. The Claude apps can use different settings and can give different answers.
Track how often AI names your brand
CiteLadder tracks whether Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews mention your note-taking app, where it appears in the answer, and which competitors show up beside it. Every result is tied to the answer it came from, so you can check what was actually said.
Visibility over time
| Series | 8 Sep | 15 Sep | 22 Sep | 29 Sep | 6 Oct | 13 Oct | 20 Oct | 27 Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acme Analytics | 27.9% | 29.6% | 30.2% | 31.8% | 32.5% | 33.1% | 34.2% | 38.4% |
| Northwind | 46.0% | 45.2% | 45.8% | 44.6% | 44.1% | 43.5% | 42.9% | 41.7% |
| Lumen | 30.4% | 31.0% | 29.8% | 30.6% | 29.9% | 29.2% | 28.8% | 27.5% |
412 answers to 120 prompts across 4 engines, week of 27 Oct – 2 Nov 2026
Brands
| Brand | Visibility | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Northwind | 41.7% | down 1.2 pts |
| Acme Analytics | 38.4% | up 4.2 pts |
| Lumen | 27.5% | down 1.3 pts |
| Fathom Labs | 16.9% | down 0.2 pts |
Acme Analytics by engine