# Goodnotes

> Handwritten notes, PDF markup and whiteboards with an AI assistant

Goodnotes is a handwriting-first note-taking app that started on iPad and now also runs on iPhone, Mac, Android, Windows and the web. Notebooks, whiteboards, typed text documents and annotated PDFs sit in one library, with audio recording and an AI assistant that reads handwriting as well as typed text. A free plan covers up to three files; paid plans are yearly subscriptions, with a one-time purchase option on Apple devices.

- **Category:** Note-Taking Apps
- **Made by:** Goodnotes Limited (since 2011)
- **Website:** https://www.goodnotes.com
- **Runs on:** iOS, macOS, Android, Windows, Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 5, 2026

## Pricing

Goodnotes has a free plan. Paid plans start at $11.99 per year (Essential).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Free forever: up to 3 files in total across notebooks, whiteboards and text documents, 100 MB of storage, a 5 MB import limit, 20 minutes of audio recording and watermarked exports.
- **Free trial:** 7-day free trial on Essential and Pro; 30-day free trial on Teams.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | Up to 3 files, 100 MB of storage, 20 minutes of audio recording, limited sharing and limited Goodnotes AI usage. |
| Essential | $11.99 per year | Unlimited files and audio recording, 5 GB of storage, exports without a watermark, basic Goodnotes AI and Google Calendar integration. |
| Pro | $35.99 per year | Adds cross-platform library sync, private link sharing, hosting real-time collaboration, Drive integration and advanced AI including meeting notes. |
| Special Edition | $35.99 one-time purchase, Apple devices only (US App Store) | Unlimited note-taking on Apple devices without a subscription. Limited Goodnotes AI and not eligible for Goodnotes Cloud. |
| Teams | $120 per seat / year | Everything in Pro, plus SAML SSO, domain control, consolidated billing and user and admin management. |
| Enterprise | Custom | For 25 seats and above: AI permissions, the Microsoft Intune App SDK, dedicated account support and custom contracts. |

Read from https://www.goodnotes.com/pricing on Oct 5, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Goodnotes before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Goodnotes Education is free for K-12 schools** (Education): K-12 schools get Goodnotes Education at no cost, with no trial period, including its classroom tools for teachers and students. It currently works only on Apple devices. Source: https://www.goodnotes.com/learning/education
- **Special Edition one-time purchase on Apple devices** (Lifetime license): Special Edition unlocks unlimited note-taking on Apple devices without a subscription and is listed at $35.99 on the US App Store. Availability varies by region. Source: https://www.goodnotes.com/pricing

## App Store prices by country

"Essential (Yearly)", as each country's App Store showed it on Oct 9, 2026. These are the app's prices, not the website's.

| Country | Price | In US dollars |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | $11.99 | |
| United Kingdom | £11.99 | about $15.84 (32% more) |
| Germany | 13,00 € | about $14.54 (21% more) |
| Canada | $15.49 | about $10.86 (9% less) |
| Australia | $17.99 | about $12.49 (about the same) |
| India | ₹ 999 | about $10.32 (14% less) |
| Brazil | R$ 59,90 | about $11.94 (about the same) |
| Mexico | $199.00 | about $11.05 (8% less) |
| Turkey | ₺449,00 | about $9.12 (24% less) |
| Indonesia | Rp 199ribu | about $11.10 (7% less) |
| Philippines | ₱ 599.00 | about $9.51 (21% less) |
| South Africa | R239.99 | about $14.41 (20% more) |

## Key features

- **Handwritten notebooks:** Notebooks mix handwriting, typed text, images and stickers on customizable paper templates. Handwriting stays searchable and can be converted to text.
- **PDF annotation:** Imported PDFs are highlighted and marked up by hand, searched alongside notes, and keep their table of contents for navigating long documents.
- **Whiteboards and text documents:** An infinite-canvas whiteboard for diagrams and mind maps and typed text documents with inline blocks sit in the same library as notebooks.
- **Audio recording and meeting notes:** Audio is recorded in sync with what you write. On Pro, Goodnotes AI for Meetings transcribes and summarizes discussions and links notes to calendar events.
- **Goodnotes AI:** An in-app assistant answers questions from handwriting, typed text and PDFs, with citations back to the source page. AI credits vary by plan; AI Pass adds about 12 times more.
- **Sharing and real-time collaboration:** Every plan can share documents by link. Essential can join real-time collaborative documents, and Pro can host them and share by private link.

## Good for

- Handwritten notes on an iPad with Apple Pencil
- Marking up PDFs such as contracts, reports and lecture slides
- Students who want audio synced to their lecture notes
- K-12 schools using iPads, where Goodnotes Education is free

## Worth knowing

- The Free plan stops at 3 files in total, 100 MB of storage and 20 minutes of audio recording, and its exports carry a watermark.
- Keeping one library in sync between Apple and non-Apple devices needs Goodnotes Cloud, which is included only from Pro.
- Goodnotes says the Android, Windows and web versions do not offer the full range of features available on iPad.
- Essential, Pro and Teams are priced per year, and AI Pass is a separate $9.99 per month add-on for more AI credits.

## What people say

- **App Store rating of the iPhone and iPad app:** 4.7 out of 5 from 459,990 ratings in the United States, read Oct 7, 2026. This is the store's rating of the app, not a score from ToolGPA. Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1444383602

Often praised:

- Writing notes by hand on an iPad and still being able to search them is the combination reviewers and commenters keep naming. (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1444383602, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47251124, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41857833)
- Importing PDFs and writing straight onto them with the Pencil is a use that reviewers and commenters describe again and again. (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1444383602, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45851941, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49023678)

Often criticised:

- A reviewer and two commenters are uneasy about how far their notes depend on the app, from files that cannot be edited elsewhere to fear of losing notes kept in an older version. (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1444383602, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49377665, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43869187)
- Typed text is the weak spot for several otherwise happy reviewers, who describe the text tool as clunky, limited in formatting or prone to glitches. (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1444383602)

Based on 10 App Store reviews, all four or five stars and seven of them more than three years old, and about 14 Hacker News comments from October 2024 to August 2026. These are themes summarised from public reviews and discussions, not ToolGPA's own verdict.

## Works with

iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Calendar, Microsoft Intune

**Tags:** Notes, Whiteboard, AI features, Transcription, Real-time collaboration, Works offline, One-time purchase

## Alternatives

- [Notability](https://toolgpa.com/tools/notability): Handwritten notes with synced audio, transcripts and AI study tools. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/goodnotes-vs-notability)
- [Noteshelf](https://toolgpa.com/tools/noteshelf): Handwritten note-taking and PDF annotation for stylus devices. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/goodnotes-vs-noteshelf)
- [CollaNote](https://toolgpa.com/tools/collanote): Handwriting and PDF markup notes for iPad, iPhone and Mac. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/collanote-vs-goodnotes)
- [Microsoft OneNote](https://toolgpa.com/tools/microsoft-onenote): Microsoft's free digital notebook for typed, inked and audio notes. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/goodnotes-vs-microsoft-onenote)
- [Apple Notes](https://toolgpa.com/tools/apple-notes): Apple's free notes app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/apple-notes-vs-goodnotes)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 5, 2026:

- https://www.goodnotes.com
- https://www.goodnotes.com/pricing
- https://www.goodnotes.com/for-ai-assistants
- https://www.goodnotes.com/about-us
- https://www.goodnotes.com/learning/education
- https://www.goodnotes.com/android
- https://www.goodnotes.com/windows
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/goodnotes-ai-notes-docs-pdf/id1444383602

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/goodnotes
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).