Microsoft OneNote vs Zoho Notebook
We give Microsoft OneNote a 4.0 GPA and Zoho Notebook a 3.4, out of 4.0. Microsoft OneNote grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft's free digital notebook for typed, inked and audio notes
Zoho Notebook
Card-based notes app with a web clipper, scanner and AI add-ons
How we grade them
| 4.0GPAMicrosoft OneNoteExcellent | 3.4GPAZoho NotebookVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AOneNote itself costs nothing. The paid route is Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, and that's less a notes upgrade than 1 TB of storage plus Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook with Copilot. | APro is $19.99 a year. A year, not a month. That buys 100 GB and search inside your scans. Evernote's paid plan starts at $99 a year. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree to download and use on every platform it supports. The limit is storage: a free Microsoft account has 5 GB, shared with your OneDrive files and Outlook.com attachments. Most people could stay here. | BNo ads, sync on all your devices and no cap on notes that we could find. But 500 MB in total and 10 MB a file goes quickly once you add photos and recordings. |
| Features | ATyped text, pen or stylus ink, pictures, videos and voice on one page. The phone app scans documents and pulls the text out, a free Web Clipper saves pages from Edge and Chrome, and notebooks can be shared. Copilot is in there too, on Microsoft 365 plans. | BText, checklist, audio, photo, sketch and file cards, plus a web clipper, a scanner and Kanban-style boards. Wide, not deep. The AI transcription is kept for Pro Plus. |
| Ease of use | A4.7 from over a million App Store ratings. Reviewers like the notebooks and sections for keeping lots of subjects in order. Sync is the grumble, with repeated complaints about notes that are slow to reach another device. | B4.7 from about 23,900 App Store ratings, and the card layout takes minutes to get. Reviewers do describe notes doubling up or going missing between laptop and phone, though. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWindows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, the web and a browser clipper, tied into OneDrive, SharePoint, Word and Excel. Linux gets the browser version only. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, with clippers for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge. It hooks into Google Workspace, Slack, Zapier and IFTTT. |
| Best for | free notebooks on every device | cheap note-taking on every device |
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: Microsoft OneNote and Zoho Notebook. How we grade
Where they differ
- Microsoft OneNote starts at $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year (Microsoft 365 Personal). Zoho Notebook starts at $1.67 per month, billed annually at $19.99 (Pro).
- Only Zoho Notebook lists a Linux app.
- Microsoft OneNote also covers dictation.
- Zoho Notebook also covers meeting notes and kanban boards.
At a glance
| Microsoft OneNote | Zoho Notebook | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year (Microsoft 365 Personal) | $1.67 per month, billed annually at $19.99 (Pro) |
| Free plan | OneNote is free to download and use on every supported platform. A free Microsoft account includes 5 GB of cloud storage, shared with OneDrive files and Outlook.com attachments. | Essential plan: sync across devices, 500 MB of cloud storage, up to 20 versions per note, 10 MB file uploads, 30-minute audio recordings, document scanning, tags and reminders. |
| Free trial | 1-month free trial of Microsoft 365. A credit card is required, and it converts to a paid subscription unless canceled. | Free trial of the Business plan; a Pro trial is available on request through support. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Microsoft | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | microsoft.com | zoho.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Microsoft OneNote
- People who already have a Microsoft account or a Microsoft 365 subscription
- Handwritten notes and sketches with a pen or stylus
- Teachers and students working in Class Notebooks
- Free note-taking across Windows, Mac, phones and the web
Zoho Notebook
- Low-cost note-taking: Pro is $19.99 a year
- People who like notes laid out as visual cards
- Teams already using Zoho apps such as Zoho CRM, Cliq or Mail
- Recording meetings or lectures and getting transcripts on Pro Plus
Worth knowing
Microsoft OneNote
- A free Microsoft account stops at 5 GB of cloud storage, shared with OneDrive files and Outlook.com attachments.
- Only the Windows desktop app can keep notebooks on a local hard drive; the other versions work with cloud notebooks.
- Microsoft 365 AI features are limited to the subscription owner, with usage limits, even on the Family plan.
- Microsoft lists apps for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android but none for Linux, where OneNote is browser-only.
Zoho Notebook
- The free Essential plan has 500 MB of cloud storage on Zoho's pricing page (its App Store listing says 2 GB), 10 MB per file upload and 20 versions per note.
- Notebook AI (transcription, mind maps and generative AI) comes with Pro Plus, not with Essential or Pro.
- Whiteboards, the Teams workspace, the admin console and audit logs are part of the Business plan only.
- Prices vary by region and store: the US App Store lists Pro at $2.49 a month or $24.99 a year, above Zoho's web price.
Key features
Microsoft OneNote
- Typed, handwritten and scanned notes
- Pages hold typed text, digital ink from a pen or stylus, pictures and videos. The mobile app also scans documents and extracts their text.
- Voice transcription and dictation
- Voice transcription captures spoken notes for later review, and the iPhone and iPad app takes dictation in 27 languages, some of them in preview.
- Copilot in OneNote
- Copilot responds to prompts to draft plans, generate ideas, create lists and organize information. Microsoft 365 plans include the desktop apps with Copilot, subject to usage limits.
- Sharing and collaboration
- Notebooks are cloud-connected, so they can be shared with other people and opened on a PC, a Mac, a phone, a tablet or in a browser.
- Web Clipper
- A free browser add-on for Edge and Chrome captures web content into a notebook, where it can be edited, annotated and shared.
- Class and Staff Notebooks
- Class Notebook gives each student a personal workspace, a content library for handouts and a collaboration space. Staff Notebook does the same for school teams.
Zoho Notebook
- Note cards
- Each note is a card of a set type: text, checklist, audio, photo, sketch, file or Smart Card. Cards sit in notebooks with tags, reminders and nested collections.
- Notebook AI and meeting notes
- With Pro Plus, recorded or uploaded audio and video is transcribed into structured notes, long notes become mind maps, and text can be drafted, summarized or translated.
- Web Clipper
- Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge clip articles, screenshots and bookmarks, attach sticky notes to web pages and summarize pages with AI.
- Scanner and search
- The camera scans documents on every plan. Pro adds scanning of tables and business cards, plus OCR and object detection so search reaches text inside images and documents.
- Noteboards and Whiteboards
- Noteboards lay notes out in Kanban-style lists, up to 4 lists on the free plan. Whiteboards, a shared canvas for sketching and planning, come with the Business plan.
- Sharing and locking
- Notecards, notebooks and collections can be shared with other people or sent as public links, and Pro adds co-owner access. Notes and notebooks can be locked with a password, Touch ID or Face ID.
Plans
Microsoft OneNote
OneNote$0
The standalone app on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, used with a free Microsoft account and its 5 GB of cloud storage.
Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99
per month, or $99.99 per year
For 1 person: 1 TB of cloud storage and the OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps with Copilot, on up to 5 devices at once.
Microsoft 365 Family$12.99
per month, or $129.99 per year
For 1 to 6 people, with 1 TB of storage per person (up to 6 TB). AI features are for the subscription owner only.
Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99
per month, or $199.99 per year
Everything in Family, plus extensive Copilot chat usage, agentic AI features for research and analytics, and more AI image creation.
Zoho Notebook
Essential$0
Sync across devices, 500 MB of storage, 20 note versions, 10 MB file uploads, up to 4 Noteboard lists, document scanning, tags and reminders.
Pro$1.67
per month, billed annually ($19.99); $1.99 billed monthly
100 GB of storage, 100 note versions, 1 GB file uploads, OCR search, PDF annotation, emails into notes and co-owner sharing.
Pro Plus$3.34
per month, billed annually ($39.99); $3.99 billed monthly
500 GB of storage, longer audio and video recordings, AI transcription up to 30 hours a month, AI mind maps and generative AI.
For Business$4.16
per user / month, billed annually ($49.90); $4.99 monthly
1 TB of storage for up to 10 users (+100 GB per extra user), a Teams workspace, whiteboards, an admin console and audit log access.
Ways to pay less
Microsoft OneNote
- Annual discount
About 17% lower cost with yearly billing
Microsoft 365 Personal is $99.99 per year against $9.99 per month ($119.88 over twelve months). Family and Premium show the same gap between yearly and monthly prices.
- Education
Free Office 365 Education for students and educators
Microsoft's education site says students and educators with a valid school email address are eligible for Office 365 Education, which includes OneNote, at no cost.
Zoho Notebook
- Annual discount
Save up to 16% with yearly billing
Zoho's pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 16%. Pro is $19.99 a year against $1.99 a month, and Pro Plus is $39.99 a year against $3.99 a month.
- Other savings
Three-year plans for Pro and Pro Plus
Pro can be bought for 3 years at $49.99 and Pro Plus at $99.99, which is less than three yearly payments of $19.99 or $39.99.
- Education
Free plan for students
Students who sign up with an educational institution email address get a free student plan, and Zoho says they also get Notebook AI at no charge.
- By country
Lower price listed in Indian rupees
The price file that Zoho's pricing page loads, read on 9 October 2026, lists Pro at ₹99 a month and ₹999 a year in Indian rupees, against $1.99 and $19.99 in US dollars.
