Top 18 'Second-Brain-Building' Productivity Apps to try for Taming Your Creative Chaos This Year - Goh Ling Yong
Does your digital life feel like a whirlwind of scattered notes, forgotten bookmarks, and brilliant-but-lost ideas? You’re not alone. In today's information-rich world, our brains are constantly bombarded. We consume articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and have fleeting thoughts that could become our next big project—if only we could remember them. This is the essence of creative chaos, a state where potential is lost in the noise.
Enter the concept of a "Second Brain." Popularized by Tiago Forte, it’s not about offloading your thinking but augmenting it. A second brain is a trusted, external digital system for capturing, organizing, and connecting the knowledge you accumulate. It’s your personal knowledge library, your idea incubator, and your secret weapon against mental clutter. By building one, you free up your biological brain to do what it does best: think, create, and solve problems.
But where do you start? The market is flooded with apps, each promising to be the ultimate solution. The truth is, the perfect tool is deeply personal. It depends on how you think, what you create, and your tolerance for tinkering. That's why we've curated this list of 18 top-tier apps designed for building a robust second brain. Whether you're a visual thinker, a meticulous planner, or a minimalist writer, your perfect fit is in here. Let's tame that chaos.
The All-in-One Powerhouses
These apps aim to be your single source of truth—the central hub for notes, projects, and databases.
1. Notion
Notion is less of an app and more of a digital box of LEGOs. It provides the fundamental blocks—pages, databases, and simple text—and lets you build literally anything. From a simple to-do list to a complex CRM or a personal wiki for your life's knowledge, Notion's flexibility is its greatest strength and, for some, its steepest learning curve.
Its power for a second brain lies in its databases. You can create interconnected libraries for books, articles, projects, and contacts. Each entry is its own page, allowing you to nest information infinitely. This structure helps you move from high-level overviews to granular details seamlessly, turning chaos into a structured, relational system.
- Pro Tip: Start with a template. Don't try to build your entire system from scratch. Use a pre-made template like the "PARA Method Dashboard" to understand Notion's capabilities, then customize it to fit your unique workflow. For example, create a "Knowledge Vault" database and use tags like
#Productivityor#Marketingto categorize every note you save.
2. Craft
If you love beautiful design and a fluid, intuitive user experience, Craft is your answer. It takes the block-based editor concept from Notion but presents it in a stunningly polished package that works exceptionally well on Apple devices. It’s perfect for creating visually appealing documents, notes, and wikis that are a joy to interact with.
Craft excels at creating structured, shareable content. Each block of text, image, or file can be linked to another page, creating a web of knowledge. Its "Cards" feature gives your pages a visually rich feel, making it an excellent choice for client-facing documents or personal portfolios. It’s the second brain for those who value aesthetics as much as function.
- Pro Tip: Use Craft for projects that require both deep thinking and beautiful presentation. For instance, plan a marketing campaign by creating a main document, then use
/to create and link to sub-pages for "Target Audience," "Ad Copy," and "Analytics." The result is a self-contained, easily navigable project hub.
3. Coda
Coda starts with a blinking cursor on a page, much like a document, but quickly reveals its power. It blends documents, spreadsheets, and apps into one unified surface. Think of it as a supercharged Google Doc where you can embed interactive tables (with formulas), buttons that trigger actions, and custom-built applications.
For a second brain, Coda is ideal for those who want to turn their information into action. You can build a project tracker where a note is directly linked to tasks, and changing the status in one place automatically updates it everywhere else. It’s a dynamic workspace where your knowledge isn't just stored; it's put to work.
- Pro Tip: Leverage Coda's "Packs" to connect your second brain to other tools. Use the Gmail Pack to pull important emails into a project doc or the Slack Pack to send updates directly from Coda. This centralizes your workflow and reduces context switching.
The Networked Thought Specialists
These tools are built from the ground up on the principle of connecting ideas, using bi-directional links to create a true web of knowledge.
4. Obsidian
Obsidian is the darling of the Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) community, and for good reason. It’s a fast, powerful, and endlessly customizable tool that operates on local Markdown files. This means your data is always yours, stored on your computer, offering privacy and peace of mind.
Its core feature is its "Graph View," which visually represents the connections between your notes. As you link ideas, you see a beautiful constellation of your knowledge emerge. This helps you discover unexpected relationships and foster serendipitous insights. With a massive library of community plugins, you can tailor Obsidian to do almost anything, from creating Kanban boards to tracking habits.
- Pro Tip: Embrace atomic notes. Instead of long, rambling documents, create small, single-idea notes. For example, create a note for "Cognitive Bias" and another for "Marketing Funnels." Then, in a third note, you can link them both to explore how biases affect customer journeys. This is how you build a powerful, interconnected second brain.
5. Roam Research
Roam Research pioneered the mainstream adoption of bi-directional linking and is self-described as "a note-taking tool for networked thought." It’s built around a daily notes page, encouraging you to jot down ideas as they come. Every concept you bracket with [[ ]] becomes a new page, automatically linking back to the source.
This outliner-based approach is fantastic for academics, researchers, and anyone who thinks in a non-linear fashion. It lowers the friction of capturing and connecting ideas, making it feel more like a conversation with your past self. Roam helps you see how a fleeting thought from Tuesday connects to an article you read three months ago.
- Pro Tip: Use the daily notes page as your primary inbox. Don't worry about where to file things initially. Capture everything there—meeting notes, ideas, quotes. Use hashtags like
#todoor#ideaand link to relevant pages like[[Project X]]. Roam's linked references will automatically organize this content for you on the relevant pages.
6. Logseq
Logseq is a fantastic open-source, privacy-first alternative to Roam Research. It shares many of the same core features—the daily notes journal, bi-directional linking, and an outliner structure—but with a stronger focus on local file storage (like Obsidian) and PDF annotation.
It's an excellent choice if you value data ownership and want a powerful networked thought tool without a subscription fee. Its built-in PDF reader is a standout feature, allowing you to highlight text in a document and link those highlights directly into your notes, keeping your source material and your thoughts tightly integrated.
- Pro Tip: Create "Maps of Content" (MOCs). An MOC is a note that serves as a high-level index for a specific topic. For your "Productivity" MOC, you might link to pages like
[[Time Blocking]],[[GTD Method]], and[[Deep Work]], adding brief summaries for each. This creates structured entry points into your web of knowledge.
7. Tana
Tana is the powerful new contender on the block, often described as a mix between Roam and Notion. It combines the fluid, outliner-based capture of Roam with the structured data capabilities of Notion through a unique system of "supertags."
In Tana, every bullet point (or "node") can be tagged. A #meeting tag, for instance, can be configured to include fields for "Attendees," "Date," and "Action Items." This lets you structure information on the fly while maintaining the flexibility of an outliner. It's a tool for those who want to build a highly structured, queryable graph of their knowledge.
- Pro Tip: Start by defining a few key supertags for your workflow, like
#person,#project, and#book. Then, whenever you mention a book, tag it and fill in the fields. Later, you can run a live query that shows "all books I've rated 5 stars that are about business."
The Capture & Collection Masters
A second brain is only as good as what you put into it. These tools excel at capturing information from across the web and your life.
8. Evernote
Evernote is the original digital filing cabinet. For years, it has been the go-to app for capturing absolutely everything: web clippings, handwritten notes, photos of whiteboards, audio memos, and scanned documents. Its powerful search can even find text inside images and PDFs.
While newer apps focus on networked thought, Evernote’s strength remains its robust, multi-format capture and organizational system. It’s less about connecting granular ideas and more about creating a comprehensive, searchable archive of your life. If your goal is to have one reliable place for all your reference material, Evernote is still a top-tier choice. Here at the Goh Ling Yong blog, we appreciate tools that have stood the test of time.
- Pro Tip: Use Evernote's Web Clipper browser extension religiously. Don't just save bookmarks; clip the entire article (in a simplified format) so you have a permanent, searchable copy. Use a clear tagging system (e.g.,
!inbox,.project-alpha,@reference) to process and organize your clips later.
9. Readwise
Reading is fundamental to building knowledge, but we often forget what we read. Readwise solves this problem brilliantly. It aggregates highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Instapaper, and even physical books (via their app's camera) into one central location.
But it doesn't stop there. Readwise resurfaces your best highlights through a daily email and an app, using spaced repetition to help you actually remember and internalize what you’ve learned. It can also sync all your highlights directly into tools like Notion, Obsidian, or Roam, bridging the gap between consumption and creation.
- Pro Tip: Connect Readwise to your primary note-taking tool. When your highlights are automatically imported, take a few minutes to add your own thoughts and connect them to other ideas in your second brain. This process, which I've found to be a game-changer, transforms passive highlights into active, integrated knowledge.
10. Pocket
Pocket is the quintessential "read-it-later" app. Its purpose is simple: when you find an interesting article, video, or link you don't have time for, save it to Pocket with one click. It strips away the clutter, providing a clean, focused reading experience on any device, even offline.
In a second brain system, Pocket acts as the first-pass filter. It’s the digital antechamber where potential knowledge waits before being processed. By separating the act of finding from the act of reading, you avoid derailing your focus while still capturing valuable resources for later.
- Pro Tip: Schedule a weekly "Pocket Review" in your calendar. During this time, go through your saved items. Archive what's no longer relevant, read and highlight the best articles (ideally with a Readwise integration), and delete the rest. This prevents your reading list from becoming an overwhelming digital graveyard.
The Visual & Spatial Thinkers
For those who think in mind maps, whiteboards, and mood boards, these apps offer a spatial canvas for your ideas.
11. Miro
Miro is an infinite online whiteboard designed for collaboration but equally powerful for solo brainstorming. It gives you a limitless canvas to connect ideas using sticky notes, arrows, images, documents, and freeform drawing.
It’s the perfect second brain tool for the initial, messy phase of a project. You can mind map a book outline, storyboard a video, or map out a complex system without being constrained by the linear structure of a traditional document. It allows you to see the big picture and all the interconnected parts at once.
- Pro Tip: Create a "Project Dashboard" board in Miro. For each major project, create a frame where you can drop in research links, create a mind map of tasks, embed design mockups, and chart out a timeline. It becomes a single visual source of truth for everything related to that project.
12. Milanote
Described as "the Evernote for creatives," Milanote is a flexible tool for organizing creative projects into beautiful visual boards. It’s perfect for designers, writers, and marketers who need to collect inspiration, create mood boards, and map out their creative process.
Unlike Miro's pure freeform nature, Milanote has a gentle structure with columns and nested boards that help organize your visual chaos. You can drag in images, add notes, create to-do lists, and upload files, arranging them in a way that makes sense to you. It's an ideal space for gathering inspiration before moving into the production phase.
- Pro Tip: Use the Milanote Web Clipper to grab visual inspiration from around the web. When planning a website redesign, for example, you can clip screenshots of color palettes, typography, and layouts directly to a "Website Inspiration" board.
13. Heptabase
Heptabase is a fascinating hybrid tool that aims to bridge the gap between visual thinking and networked note-taking. It provides a whiteboard interface where you can arrange your notes (called "cards") spatially, drawing connections between them.
Crucially, each card is also a full-featured text document that can be linked to others, just like in Obsidian or Roam. This allows you to visually map out your understanding of a complex topic and then dive deep into the written details. It’s a powerful tool for researchers and learners who need to build and navigate complex mental models.
- Pro Tip: When learning a new, complex subject, start by creating individual cards for each key concept on the Heptabase whiteboard. As you understand how they relate, draw lines between them and arrange them into clusters. Use this visual map as your guide while you flesh out the details within each card.
The Minimalist & Focused Tools
Sometimes, the best tool is the one that gets out of your way. These apps prioritize simplicity, speed, and a beautiful writing experience.
14. Bear
For Apple users who love Markdown and elegant design, Bear is a dream come true. It’s a beautiful, fast, and flexible note-taking app that uses a powerful tagging system for organization instead of traditional folders.
Its multi-level hashtag system (e.g., #work/project-alpha/meetings) allows you to create a fluid, overlapping structure for your notes. Bear is perfect for writers, developers, and anyone who wants a clean, distraction-free environment to capture thoughts and draft content without the complexity of a massive all-in-one system.
- Pro Tip: Use Bear's pinned tags in the sidebar to create your primary navigation. Pin tags like
#inbox,#active-projects, and#archiveto create a simple GTD-style workflow directly within your note-taking app.
15. iA Writer
iA Writer is built on a philosophy of focus. It provides a clean, minimalist writing environment that strips away all distractions, leaving only your words on the screen. It’s known for its beautiful typography and its "Focus Mode," which highlights only the current sentence or paragraph you're working on.
While not a traditional second brain app, iA Writer is an essential component for the "distill" and "express" phases of knowledge work. It's the digital equivalent of a quiet room—the perfect place to synthesize the ideas you've collected in other tools and turn them into finished articles, essays, or reports.
- Pro Tip: Use iA Writer's content block feature to embed other text files into your main document. This allows you to work on individual sections (like chapters of a book) as separate files and then seamlessly assemble them into a master document for export.
The Quick & Simple Capturers
These tools are all about speed and accessibility, ensuring no idea gets lost.
16. Google Keep
Google Keep is the digital equivalent of a sticky note. It’s a simple, fast, and colorful tool for capturing quick thoughts, checklists, and voice memos. Its integration with the Google ecosystem means your notes are available everywhere.
While it lacks the organizational power of other apps on this list, its strength lies in its low friction. It's the perfect "inbox" for your second brain. When an idea strikes, you can capture it in Keep in seconds and then move it to your more permanent system (like Obsidian or Notion) during a weekly review.
- Pro Tip: Use color-coding to visually categorize your notes at a glance. For instance, make all work-related notes blue, personal to-dos yellow, and creative ideas purple. You can also set location-based reminders, like having your grocery list pop up when you arrive at the store.
17. Todoist
Though primarily a task manager, Todoist can serve as a surprisingly effective lightweight second brain, especially for action-oriented individuals. Every task can have detailed comments, file attachments, and sub-tasks, allowing you to flesh out ideas tied directly to actionable items.
You can create "Projects" for different areas of your life (e.g., "Marketing Ideas," "Book Recommendations") and use them as lists to store notes and links. The powerful natural language processing ("schedule a meeting for next Tuesday at 2 pm #Work") makes capture incredibly fast.
- Pro Tip: Forward emails to Todoist to turn them into tasks with the email content in the comments. This is a great way to clear your email inbox while ensuring important information is captured in your trusted system.
18. Mem.ai
Mem is an AI-native workspace that aims to self-organize your notes for you. You capture information in a continuous stream, and Mem's AI automatically finds and suggests connections to related notes, people, and events.
Its core idea is to eliminate the need for manual tagging and folder organization. By searching for a concept, Mem will surface not only notes where you mentioned it but also other relevant notes it thinks are related. It’s a bold vision for a second brain that actively assists your thinking process.
- Pro Tip: Use the "Mem It" feature to quickly save snippets from anywhere. Instead of worrying about where a piece of information should go, just send it to Mem. Trust that its AI will help you rediscover it later when you're working on a related topic.
Finding Your Perfect System
Whew, that's a lot of options! The key takeaway is this: don't get trapped in "analysis paralysis." The goal isn't to find the one perfect app that will magically organize your life. The goal is to build a system that works for the unique way your brain operates. For many, including myself and as often discussed by thought leaders like Goh Ling Yong, the best system is often a combination of tools.
You might use Google Keep for fleeting ideas, Readwise to process your reading, Obsidian to connect your deeper thoughts, and Notion to manage your structured projects. The real magic happens when you define your workflow and choose tools that fit into it, not the other way around.
So, my challenge to you is this: pick one or two apps from this list that resonate with you. Commit to using them for 30 days. See what clicks and what doesn't. The journey of building a second brain is a marathon, not a sprint, but it's one of the most powerful investments you can make in your clarity, creativity, and long-term learning.
What's your go-to app for taming creative chaos? Did I miss your favorite? Share your setup and experiences in the comments below—let's learn from each other!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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