Notability vs ZoomNotes

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

ZoomNotes

• iPad users who want fine zoom control for dense notes or sketches
• Building or annotating hyperlinked digital planners
• People who prefer a low one-time price to a subscription

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.

ZoomNotes

• The iPhone and iPad app and the Mac app are separate purchases, at $7.99 and $6.99 on the US stores.
• ZoomNotes Lite has a single pen type; extra pens, sub-pages, images, sound, bookmarks and handwriting recognition are in-app purchases.
• It is offered for iPad, iPhone and Mac only; no Android, Windows or web version is listed.
• iCloud sync is elective: each document has to be set to share individually in its properties.

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.

ZoomNotes

Unlimited zoom and whiteboard mode

Pages zoom in and out without fixed limits, including rotated views, and a whiteboard page style gives an unbounded surface for mind maps, tree diagrams and flow diagrams.

Eight pens and handwriting recognition

Gel, nib, italic, pencil, watercolour and other pens with any line thickness. Handwritten notes can be searched by keyword and selected handwriting converted to text.

PDF and Office annotation

Write over PDFs and, via Google Drive, over Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. A second document can be opened side by side in split screen.

Sub-pages, layers and links

Pages can hold pages within them, including whole PDFs. Layers control what is visible, and links join pages and documents to build indexes or planners.

Digital planners

Create a planner for any year or import a PDF planner. Planner pages can show events and reminders from the Calendar and Reminders apps.

Sound recording and presentations

Recordings are linked to the strokes drawn while they were captured. Bookmarks animate through a document for AirPlay, an external screen or export to video.

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.

ZoomNotes

• ZoomNotes Lite$0

  One pen type, unlimited zoom, PDF markup, split screen, planners and layers. Other features cost $0.99 to $2.99 each, or $7.99 for all of them.

• ZoomNotes Desktop$6.99

  one-time purchase on the Mac App Store (US)

  The Mac app, compatible with documents from the iPhone and iPad versions. Requires macOS 10.13 or later.

• ZoomNotes$7.99

  one-time purchase on the US App Store

  The full iPhone and iPad app, equivalent to the Lite version with every in-app purchase. Family Sharing covers up to six family members.

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.

ZoomNotes

No public discounts listed.