Goodnotes review
8.0/10★★★★★Leading handwriting notes app with AI audio transcription, meeting minutes and summaries
- Best for
- Students and tablet users who take notes by hand
- Price
- Freemium · from $11.99/year
Free: Up to 3 files and 100MB of storage - Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows
- Made by
- Goodnotes Limited
- App store ratings
- iOS 4.7★ (460K) · Android 3.9★ (36.9K)
What it is
Goodnotes is built for handwritten notes and PDF annotation, and now adds typed documents, an infinite whiteboard and AI. Goodnotes AI transcribes audio and meetings, summarises them into minutes you can merge with your handwritten notes, and generates notes from rough drafts.
What the AI does
- AI audio transcription and live meeting summaries
- AI summaries and search
- Automated note generation from rough notes
- Spellcheck and math help
- AI on the whiteboard canvas
Pros and cons
- Best-in-class handwriting experience
- Very cheap annual plans
- Merges meeting transcripts with handwritten notes
- Apps on every platform
- Free plan is limited to 3 files
- Android app is rated well below the iPad app
- Full AI needs the Pro plan
How it scores
The top handwriting app, with good AI on top and low prices; the Android version lags.
Feature checklist · 4 of 9
- Ask AI questions about your own notes (no)
- AI writing help (draft, rewrite or summarise) (yes)
- Records and transcribes audio or meetings (yes)
- Handwritten notes with a pen or stylus (yes)
- AI organises notes or surfaces related notes automatically (no)
- Web clipper or quick capture from other apps (no)
- Works offline (no)
- Useful free plan (no)
- Apps for iPhone, Android and desktop (yes)
Alternatives
See all Goodnotes alternatives, ranked →
- Microsoft OneNote 8.2/10Students and Microsoft 365 users who want free notes with optional Copilot
- Notion 8.1/10People and teams who want notes, docs and projects in one AI-powered workspace
- Craft 8.1/10Apple users who want polished, well-structured notes and docs with AI
- Obsidian 7.9/10Power users who want local, private notes and full control over which AI they use
Microsoft OneNote vs GoodnotesNotion vs GoodnotesCraft vs Goodnotes