Notability vs Penbook
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Notability
Handwritten notes with synced audio, transcripts and AI study tools
Penbook
Handwriting notebooks and live planners for iPad and iPhone
Where they differ
- Notability starts at $14.99 per year, or $4.99 per month (Lite). Penbook starts at $4.99 - $39.99 per in-app item (basis not shown); $49.99 lifetime.
- Only Notability lists a web app.
- Only Notability lists macOS, Windows and Android apps.
- Notability also covers transcription.
- Penbook also covers daily notes.
At a glance
| Notability | Penbook | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $14.99 per year, or $4.99 per month (Lite) | $4.99 - $39.99 per in-app item (basis not shown); $49.99 lifetime |
| Free plan | Starter plan: 5 notes with all editing tools, PDF and document import, access to 20,000+ templates and 7-day version history. | All of Penbook's stationery and writing features in a single notebook, free for as long as you like. More notebooks and exports need Penbook Premium. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial on the Business and Business Pro plans. | 7-day free trial when upgrading with the yearly Penbook Premium subscription. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Ginger Labs | Pencil Research (User Camp Inc.) |
| Price read from | notability.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Notability
- Students recording lectures alongside handwritten notes
- Turning class notes into flashcards and quizzes
- Annotating PDFs, slides and forms with a stylus
- Schools that manage devices, where Notability for Education is free
Penbook
- People who keep planners, journals or bullet journals on an iPad
- Students who want subject paper such as Cornell, graph or chemistry
- Annotating PDF planners and worksheets with Apple Pencil
Worth knowing
Notability
- The free Starter plan is limited to 5 notes.
- Audio transcription and the AI quiz and flashcard tools start at Plus; real-time summaries, note chat and unlimited transcription are listed under Pro.
- Third-party backups are iOS only, and YouTube link-to-note conversion works on the web only.
- The plan comparison marks handwriting recognition, math conversion and audio playback sync as iOS and Android only.
Penbook
- The free version is limited to a single notebook; unlimited notebooks and exports need Penbook Premium.
- The US App Store lists Penbook Premium at several amounts from $4.99 to $39.99 without stating the billing period for each.
- Penbook is built for iPhone and iPad. There is no Android, Windows or web version, and the App Store marks the Mac build as not verified for macOS.
- The Penbook 8 Live Paper engine appears only on iOS 27 or iPadOS 27, and only in newly created books.
Key features
Notability
- Handwriting, typing and document markup
- Notes combine handwriting, typed text, images and sketches on one page, and PDFs, documents and slides can be imported and written on.
- Audio recording with transcripts
- Lectures and meetings are recorded alongside your notes and transcribed, and playback follows the moment each note was written. Live transcription is unlimited on Pro.
- AI flashcards and quizzes
- Practice questions, quizzes and flashcards are generated from your notes: up to 400 questions a month on Plus and unlimited on Pro.
- Summaries and chat with your notes
- Pro generates real-time summaries of notes, imported documents and recordings and answers questions about a note in a chat. Meeting notes can also yield action-item checklists.
- YouTube link-to-note
- On the web, a YouTube link is converted into a note with a transcript and summary: 100 conversions a month on Plus, unlimited on Pro.
- Collaboration and shared libraries
- Notes can be shared by link and edited together live. Business plans add shared note libraries, centralized user admin and admin-based feature controls.
Penbook
- Live Paper planners
- Stationery that updates itself: a day planner with a live timeline, a weekly planner that shows connected calendars, and monthly and yearly planners that track the current date.
- Over 400 stationery types
- Ruled, graph, dot, Cornell, music staff, chemistry, storyboard and engineering paper among others, with adjustable density, margins and layout. Each page of a notebook can differ.
- Apple Pencil inking
- Writing with Apple Pencil, a stylus or a finger, with shape recognition and a lasso that resizes, recolors, reflows and straightens ink or copies handwriting out as text.
- PDF import and export
- PDFs import as notebooks or as custom stationery, selected pages can be dropped into notes, and a notebook or the whole library exports as vector PDF.
- Handwriting search and Siri
- Handwritten notes can be searched for words or phrases. Siri can find something in a notebook or take a note that lands in the Inbox notebook.
- On-device AI and page history
- With Apple Intelligence, to-dos written on a page become Reminders without notes leaving the device, and each page keeps a local history that can be rewound.
Plans
Notability
Starter$0
5 notes with all editing tools, PDF and document import, 20,000+ templates and 7-day version history.
Lite$4.99
per month, or $14.99 per year
Unlimited notes and third-party backups (iOS only), with 7-day version history.
Plus$7.99
per month, or $19.99 per year
Adds audio recording and transcription, handwriting search, up to 400 AI quiz and flashcard questions and 100 YouTube conversions a month.
Pro$19.99
per month, or $99.99 per year
Unlimited live transcription, real-time AI summaries, quizzes, flashcards and YouTube conversions, chat with your notes and 90-day version history.
Classic$49.99
one-time purchase
Unlimited notes with handwriting recognition and search, math conversion to LaTeX, live collaboration and Notability Cloud sync.
Business$6
per user / month, or $60 per user / year
Shared note libraries, central admin and billing, AI summaries and transcription. Business Pro is $18 per user / month or $180 per year.
Penbook
Free$0
Every stationery type and writing feature in one notebook, with no time limit.
Penbook Premium$4.99 - $39.99
per item on the US App Store; billing basis not shown
Unlimited notebooks and exports plus new stationery and covers. Described as a yearly subscription, but the listing shows several amounts without periods.
Penbook Premium Lifetime$49.99
one-time in-app purchase on the US App Store
The same Premium features as a single purchase with no renewal.
Ways to pay less
Notability
- Annual discount
Yearly plans cost far less than paying monthly
Lite is $14.99 per year against $4.99 per month ($59.88 over a year), Plus $19.99 against $7.99 per month and Pro $99.99 against $19.99 per month. Business is $60 per user yearly or $6 monthly.
- Lifetime license
Classic one-time purchase
The Classic plan is a one-time purchase, regularly $49.99, with unlimited notes, handwriting recognition, live collaboration and Notability Cloud sync and no subscription.
- Education
Free for schools that manage devices
Schools managing devices through an MDM such as Jamf or Mosyle can use Notability for Education at no cost. It is similar to the Plus subscription and configurable by administrators.
- Other savings
Back-to-school sale: up to 20% off all plans
At the time of checking, the pricing page showed sale prices of $11.99 (Lite), $15.99 (Plus) and $79.99 (Pro) per year and $39.99 for Classic. No end date is stated.
Penbook
- Lifetime license
Penbook Premium as a lifetime purchase
Penbook Premium can be bought as a one-time in-app purchase in place of the yearly subscription. The US App Store lists Penbook Premium Lifetime at $49.99.
