As companies continue to embrace remote and hybrid work models, the need for effective digital collaboration tools has never been greater. Virtual brainstorming sessions are now a staple for teams looking to innovate and solve problems, but they come with a unique set of challenges. How do you capture the creative chaos of a traditional whiteboard session when everyone is in a different location? The right note-taking app can make all the difference, transforming a scattered video call into a productive and organized ideation powerhouse.

For corporate IT professionals, the task often falls to you to evaluate and recommend the best tools for your teams. It's not just about finding an app that can take notes; it's about finding a platform that supports real-time collaboration, integrates seamlessly with your existing tech stack, and meets your company's security standards. A great brainstorming app should feel like an infinite digital canvas where ideas can be jotted down, connected, and expanded upon by the entire team simultaneously. It needs to be intuitive enough for the least tech-savvy person in the room but powerful enough to handle complex workflows. This guide will walk you through some of the best note-taking apps specifically designed to make your virtual brainstorming sessions more engaging and effective.

What Makes a Great Brainstorming App?

Before we dive into specific apps, let's establish a framework for what we're looking for. A simple text editor won't cut it for a dynamic brainstorming session. Here are the key features that set a top-tier brainstorming tool apart from a standard note-taking app:

  • Real-Time Collaboration: This is non-negotiable. The app must allow multiple users to edit the same document or canvas at the same time. You should be able to see who is typing or adding what, creating a sense of shared space.
  • Flexible Canvas: Ideas aren't always linear. A great brainstorming app offers a freeform canvas, often called a digital whiteboard. This lets users add sticky notes, draw diagrams, insert images, and connect ideas with arrows, mimicking the feel of a physical whiteboard.
  • Multimedia Support: Brainstorming isn't just about text. The ability to embed images, videos, links, and even files directly into your notes is crucial for creating a rich, contextual repository of ideas.
  • Organization and Structure: While the initial brainstorming phase might be chaotic, the app should provide tools to bring order to that chaos. Features like tagging, grouping, color-coding, and the ability to create templates help teams sort and prioritize ideas after the session.
  • Integration Capabilities: The app needs to play well with others. Look for integrations with popular project management tools (like Jira, Asana, or Trello), communication platforms (like Slack or Microsoft Teams), and cloud storage (like Google Drive or OneDrive). This ensures that the ideas generated can easily be turned into actionable tasks.
  • Accessibility and Cross-Platform Availability: Your team members might be using Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android. A good tool should be accessible from any device, whether through a native app or a fully functional web browser version.

Top Note-Taking Apps for Virtual Brainstorming

With those criteria in mind, let's explore some of the best options available today. Each of these tools offers a unique approach to digital collaboration, and the best choice for your organization will depend on your specific needs, budget, and existing infrastructure.

1. Miro

Miro is less of a note-taking app and more of an infinite online whiteboard, which makes it a powerhouse for brainstorming. It's designed from the ground up for visual collaboration, making it a favorite among agile development teams, UX designers, and marketing groups.

Why it's great for brainstorming:

Miro provides a vast, zoomable canvas where teams can collaborate in real time. The core features include digital sticky notes, freehand drawing tools, pre-built templates for things like mind maps and user story mapping, and the ability to embed documents and videos. During a session, you can see every team member's cursor moving around the board, which helps create a lively, interactive environment.

From an IT perspective, Miro offers robust enterprise-grade features. It supports Single Sign-On (SSO), advanced user management, and has integrations with a massive library of tools, including Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. This makes it relatively easy to roll out and manage across a large organization. After a brainstorm, you can easily export the board as a PDF or image, or push action items directly to your project management software.

2. Mural

Mural is a direct competitor to Miro and shares many of its core strengths. It also presents itself as a digital workspace for visual collaboration, with a strong emphasis on facilitating creative sessions. Many users find Mural's interface slightly more structured and intuitive for running guided workshops.

Why it's great for brainstorming:

Mural excels at facilitating structured brainstorming activities. It comes with a vast library of templates for everything from icebreakers to SWOT analyses and design thinking sprints. Facilitators can use features like a timer, voting sessions, and the ability to summon all participants to a specific area of the board to keep the session on track. This level of control is perfect for larger groups or more formal ideation workshops.

Like Miro, Mural offers enterprise-level security and administration features, including SSO and integration with major corporate tools. The choice between Miro and Mural often comes down to team preference. Mural's focus on facilitation might appeal more to team leads and project managers, while Miro's slightly more open-ended feel might be preferred by design-focused teams.

3. Microsoft OneNote

For organizations already deep in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, OneNote is a powerful and often overlooked tool for brainstorming. While it doesn't have the flashy whiteboard interface of Miro or Mural, its flexibility and deep integration with other Microsoft products make it a strong contender.

Why it's great for brainstorming:

OneNote is structured like a digital binder with sections and pages. During a brainstorming session, you can create a shared notebook where everyone can contribute simultaneously. Each participant can type notes, draw sketches with a stylus or mouse, insert images, and even record audio clips. Its freeform page layout means you can click anywhere and start typing, creating a more organic feel than a traditional word processor.

The killer feature for IT is its seamless integration. Notes are automatically saved and synced via OneDrive or SharePoint, and it works perfectly with Microsoft Teams. You can add a OneNote tab directly into a Teams channel, allowing the team to brainstorm without ever leaving their primary communication hub. Security and permissions are handled through your existing Microsoft 365 admin center, so there’s no need to manage a separate platform.

4. Notion

Notion has gained a massive following for its all-in-one workspace approach. It blends notes, documents, wikis, and project management databases into a single, highly customizable platform. For brainstorming, it serves as a powerful hub for both generating and organizing ideas.

Why it's great for brainstorming:

Notion’s strength lies in its structure and versatility. You can start with a simple, blank page for free-form note-taking during a session. Multiple users can edit the page in real time, adding text, images, and to-do lists. Where Notion really shines is what happens after the initial brainstorm. You can instantly transform bullet points into tasks in a Kanban board, turn a simple table into a powerful database with custom properties, and link related ideas together using its wiki-like functionality.

For IT professionals, Notion offers a good balance of flexibility and control. Workspace admins can manage members, set permissions, and view an audit log. While its integrations are primarily handled through its API, it connects with key tools like Slack and Jira. Notion is ideal for teams that want to keep their entire workflow—from initial idea to final project—within a single, unified system.

5. Evernote Teams

Evernote is one of the original players in the digital note-taking space, and its business-focused version, Evernote Teams, adds the collaborative features necessary for brainstorming. It's a great choice for teams that prioritize straightforward note-taking, organization, and powerful search capabilities.

Why it's great for brainstorming:

With Evernote Teams, you can create shared "Spaces" for your projects or departments. Within a Space, you can create and share notebooks and individual notes. During a brainstorming session, the team can collaborate on a single note in real time. Evernote supports rich text, images, audio recordings, and file attachments. Its standout feature has always been its powerful search, which can even find text inside images and handwritten notes, making it easy to find a specific idea weeks or months later.

Evernote Teams integrates with popular services like Slack, Salesforce, and Microsoft Teams. From an admin standpoint, it provides centralized user management and billing. It may not have the visual flair of a digital whiteboard, but for teams that are more text-oriented and value robust organization and search, Evernote Teams is a reliable and professional choice.

Choosing the Right Tool for Your Organization

There's no single "best" app for every company. The ideal choice depends on your team's workflow, your existing software ecosystem, and your budget.

  • If your teams are highly visual and run a lot of design sprints or agile ceremonies, Miro or Mural are likely your best bets.
  • If your organization is heavily invested in Microsoft 365 and you need a secure, well-integrated solution, Microsoft OneNote is a fantastic and cost-effective option.
  • If you want a single platform to manage everything from ideas to projects and documentation, Notion offers unmatched versatility.
  • If your priority is powerful organization, search, and a traditional note-taking experience with added collaboration, Evernote Teams is a solid choice.

As an IT professional, your best move is to pilot a few of these options with a small, engaged team. Gather their feedback, assess the security and management features, and see which tool best fits the unique way your company collaborates. By providing the right digital space for ideas to flourish, you can empower your teams to be more creative and innovative, no matter where they are.