Freenotes vs Noteful
We give Freenotes and Noteful the same GPA: 3.2 out of 4.0. Freenotes grades higher on features and platforms. Noteful grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Freenotes
Handwriting and PDF annotation app with AI study tools
Noteful
Handwritten notes and PDF markup for iPad, with tags and layers
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAFreenotesVery good | 3.2GPANotefulVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPlus is $9.99 a year on the US App Store, or $29.99 once for life, and Pro is $39.99 a year. Cheap for this category. But the listing can't say what either one includes, so a B is as far as we'll go. And skip the weekly option: $1.99 a week is roughly ten times the yearly price. | ANoteful Pro is $6.99 once on the US App Store, for life. Paid plans in this category typically start at $5.99 a month, so that's about five weeks of somebody else's subscription. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree to download and use, with advertising. The developer's App Store replies confirm there's a cap on the number of notes, but not what the cap is. So we can't tell you where free runs out. | AFree with no time limit: handwriting, PDF and Office import, tags, audio recording and PDF export. Only layers and sync between your iPhone and iPad are held back for Pro. On one iPad, most people could stay free. |
| Features | ALow-latency handwriting with Apple Pencil Pro support, an infinite canvas, PDF markup that follows the links in digital planners, and searchable handwriting. Then the study side: flashcards from your pages, a recall tape, AI summaries, chat with a PDF and live transcripts of recordings. | BVector ink built for Apple Pencil, markup on PDFs and Office documents, tags you write as #tag anywhere on a page, and audio that plays back in step with your notes. Pro adds layers you can hide and rearrange. Solid, but the listing shows no collaboration and no AI tools. |
| Ease of use | A4.7 from about 63,000 App Store ratings. The app itself rates well. It's the pricing that takes guesswork, with five memberships and no explanation of what's in them. | A4.8 from about 24,000 App Store ratings. There are no plans to puzzle over either: it's the free app or the one $6.99 upgrade. |
| Platforms and integrations | CiPad, iPhone and Android, backing up through iCloud or Google Drive. No Windows or web app. On a Mac it runs as the iPad app, which the App Store marks as not verified for macOS. | DiPad and iPhone only, on iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or later, which we grade the same as an app that's Android only. The App Store marks it as not verified for macOS, and there's no Android, Windows or web version. |
| Best for | handwritten study notes on a tablet without paying much | handwritten notes on an iPad for a one-time $6.99 |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Freenotes and Noteful. How we grade
Where they differ
- Freenotes starts at $1.99 per week (Weekly Plus Member), or $9.99 per year. Noteful starts at $6.99 one-time purchase (Noteful Pro, Lifetime).
- Only Freenotes lists an Android app.
- Noteful can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Freenotes also covers transcription, whiteboard and templates.
At a glance
| Freenotes | Noteful | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $1.99 per week (Weekly Plus Member), or $9.99 per year | $6.99 one-time purchase (Noteful Pro, Lifetime) |
| Free plan | Free to download and use with advertising. The developer's App Store replies confirm a cap on the number of notes; the listing does not say what Plus or Pro unlock. | Free with no time limit: handwriting, PDF and Office import, tags, audio recording and PDF export. Layers and sync between iPhone and iPad need Noteful Pro. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | FREENOTES AI PTE. LTD. | Noteful Technologies Limited |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Freenotes
- Students annotating lecture slides and revising with flashcards
- People who use hyperlinked PDF planners on a tablet
- Recording a class or meeting and getting an AI summary
Noteful
- iPad users who write with Apple Pencil and prefer to pay once
- Annotating PDFs, slides and textbooks on separate layers
- Organizing handwritten notes by tag as well as by folder
Worth knowing
Freenotes
- The vendor's website does not describe plans. Plus and Pro appear only as in-app purchases, with no statement of what each includes.
- The free version carries advertising and a cap on the number of notes; the US App Store also lists a Remove Ads purchase at $29.99.
- Google Play's US listing shows only a range of $0.99 to $54.99 per item, so Android prices may differ from the App Store's.
- No Windows or web app is offered. On a Mac it runs as the iPad app, which the App Store marks as not verified for macOS.
Noteful
- Made for iPad and iPhone only. The App Store shows it as "Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS", and no Android, Windows or web version is offered.
- Layers and sync between devices are locked until the Noteful Pro upgrade is bought.
- The App Store listing requires iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or later.
Key features
Freenotes
- Handwriting and infinite canvas
- Low-latency handwriting with Apple Pencil Pro support, custom brushes and shape recognition, plus a whiteboard-style canvas that expands for sketches and mind maps.
- PDF annotation
- Highlight, underline and comment on PDFs with custom pen styles, select text to translate or look up, and follow internal and external hyperlinks in digital planners.
- AI summaries and chat with PDF
- AI pulls key points and action items from long recordings or documents, answers questions about imported files, and explains a screenshot or uploaded document.
- Audio recording and transcription
- Recordings are transcribed in real time with AI refinement and translation. Tapping a line of the transcript replays the matching audio, and text can be copied or exported.
- Study tools
- A recall tape hides parts of a page for self-testing, flashcards are built from note pages, and picture-in-picture lets a video play while notes are taken.
- Search, folders and sync
- Handwriting is searchable through text recognition, notes are organized into folders, and notebooks back up through iCloud or Google Drive sync.
Noteful
- Vector ink for Apple Pencil
- A custom ink engine turns strokes into high-resolution vector ink, with ballpoint pen, fountain pen and highlighter brushes and recognition of geometric shapes.
- PDF and document markup
- PDFs and Microsoft Office documents import into a notebook for annotation alongside images, shapes and typed text, and the annotated pages export as PDF.
- Tags and nested tags
- Writing #tag or #nested/tag anywhere in a notebook files it. Notebooks and pages can be browsed by tag, and tags can be renamed, deleted or reassigned.
- Layers
- Annotations can sit on separate layers that are hidden, shown and rearranged independently, leaving the original content unchanged. Layers are a Noteful Pro feature.
- Audio recording
- Audio can be recorded while taking notes, and the playback position is synced with the notes written at that moment.
- Sync across iPhone and iPad
- Noteful Pro syncs notebooks between a user's iPhone and iPad devices. The listing says notebooks synced with iCloud are encrypted via account-based keys.
Plans
Freenotes
Free$0
Free download that carries advertising and, per the developer's App Store replies, a limit on the number of notes.
Freenotes Weekly Plus Member$1.99
per week, as labelled on the US App Store
Plus membership billed weekly. The listing does not describe what Plus includes.
Freenotes Yearly Plus Member$9.99
per year, as labelled on the US App Store
Plus membership billed yearly. The listing does not describe what Plus includes.
Freenotes Plus Member Lifetime$29.99
one-time in-app purchase on the US App Store
Plus membership as a single purchase with no renewal.
Freenotes Weekly Pro Member$6.99
per week, as labelled on the US App Store
Pro membership billed weekly. The listing does not describe how Pro differs from Plus.
Freenotes Yearly Pro Member$39.99
per year, as labelled on the US App Store
Pro membership billed yearly. The listing does not describe how Pro differs from Plus.
Noteful
Noteful$0
Free to use without a time limit, minus the features the App Store listing marks as Pro: layers and sync across iPhone and iPad.
Noteful Pro, Lifetime$6.99
one-time in-app purchase on the US App Store
Unlocks the Pro features for good, including layers and sync to all of a user's iPhone and iPad devices.
Ways to pay less
Freenotes
- Annual discount
Yearly memberships cost far less than weekly
On the US App Store, Plus is $1.99 a week or $9.99 a year and Pro is $6.99 a week or $39.99 a year, so a year of weekly billing costs roughly nine to ten times the yearly price.
- Lifetime license
Plus membership as a one-time purchase
The US App Store lists Freenotes Plus Member Lifetime as a single in-app purchase at $29.99, next to the weekly and yearly Plus memberships.
Noteful
- Lifetime license
Noteful Pro as a one-time purchase
The App Store listing says Noteful Pro is a one-time purchase that unlocks its features forever, listed in the US as Noteful Pro, Lifetime at $6.99.
