Freenotes® alternatives

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R3] Freenotes® 3/5 · US Oh man it's no longer free free: It used to be awesome. But now it's no longer free free. Ppl say if you used to own it then you can get a lifetime membership, but I thought I have it and it's still not working? Man I pained 1.99 for this year, not too sure about 9.99 next year tho. Sadddd
2. [R4] Freenotes® 1/5 · US Terrible app: It says free notetaking it’s not free
3. [R10] Freenotes® 2/5 · US Not satisfied: The name is free note but I need to pay seriously not satisfied with this app poor application
4. [R13] Freenotes® 1/5 · US Free notes more like Greed notes: Change your name to paid notes or something. At least we could add notes by watching ads now you changed that too
5. [R1] Freenotes® 2/5 · US I can’t buy a subscription: I’ve always used this application, it’s wonderful, very convenient. Recently I found out that the application has become paid (you need to buy a subscription to have more features). I think, well, okay, I will buy myself a subscription, I don’t want to leave this application. I’m trying to pay, but nothing works. I can’t find a place to contact support. I’m very upset.
6. [R6] Freenotes® 3/5 · US Love this app however: I got a new iPad and i used to have a account when it was actually free. (I hate that you have to actually pay for it now) but when I made the account I got premium. When I learned that you had to pay for it after I redownloaded it I had though, “no big ill log on with my account where i have premium already” and i did that. However I don’t have it anymore even after i logg
7. [R7] Freenotes® 2/5 · US I can’t login to my account: Can you help me?
8. [R22] Freenotes® 1/5 · US I'm sad: It was a cool app, but then a subscription appeared, which I can't pay for from Russia. · translated
9. [R5] Freenotes® 4/5 · US ADD ARABIC!!!!: Would be great if you add Arabic
10. [R12] Freenotes® 3/5 · GB “Free” notes my arse: You delete a note as it says you only have 3 but nope that just fully takes it away. Doesn’t give you the note back or anything I’m a skint collage student and just want to be able to take my notes 😭😭
11. [R19] Freenotes® 2/5 · US Disappointing: I’ve used this app for years now and at first it was free. Then they added ads, however it end still useable and very nice. Now, they have added a limit on how many notebooks you can have unless u pay 9 dollars a month. I’m personally disappointed and will be uninstalling.
12. [R37] Freenotes® 1/5 · US No longer free: I’ve been using this app for about 2 years and now they’ve implemented a subscription base where your notes are limited. So I can no longer write notes on this app without paying. The ads were annoying but this makes the app unusable. Don’t waste your time if you plan to use this app long term.
13. [R2] Freenotes® 4/5 · US Bro: It’s amazing but i dont like how the vertical version of the page looks like 😭
14. [R16] Freenotes® 2/5 · US Handwriting beautification is meh: Was really excited to use the handwriting beautification..bummed that it doesn’t make all the letters/ words the same size. Also impossible to use it with math equations
15. [R29] Freenotes® 2/5 · US Bummed: I love this app s0 much but the stickers do not sync across devices. No matter if iCloud sync is turned on, you still have to manually add stickers. It's such a bummer but I had to switch back to goodnotes.
16. [R49] Freenotes® 2/5 · US Hard to use: I downloaded this to take notes for college on my iPad. I’d be helpful to have a thorough tutorial of how to use it and how I can take notes.
17. [R52] Microsoft OneNote 5/5 · US Best app to keep track of things: I've used many different apps including Evernote and others. This is the best app and here's why. The app is available for your mobile phone, your windows computer (possibly for Mac also), and on the Internet if you are using someone else's computer. The note taking ability is made easy by the fact that you can have multiple notebooks. Within each notebook you can
18. [R61] Microsoft OneNote 5/5 · US Really love it: I really like the way OneNote makes it easy for me to save my thoughts and ideas.
19. [R64] Microsoft OneNote 5/5 · US good tools: so much time with me and it is free
20. [R75] Notes 5/5 · US Plz add audio clip inserts!: Absolute 10/10 app I’ve been using it mostly to world build my fanfiction plots and organize my OC’s and it’s so useful for so many things but would love if there was a way I could add an audio file in a note
21. [R77] Notes 5/5 · US Wonderful easy: I like it bc it is quick and easy to use
22. [R80] Notability 5/5 · US A Perfect Tool - Best in Class!: I an a stage director. I have been using Notability daily, since it first appeared in the App Store, to annotate scripts, notate edits, mark-up new drafts, diagram blocking, etc. It is an INVALUABLE and ESSENTIAL tool in my work. Best of all, when I’m working on new musicals, I can record the demos or instrumental tracks right into the document! Thank you, Notabili
23. [R89] Notability 5/5 · US Notability is Incredible: I have been using for a few years now. The ease to create folders, and files within is easy. The tools inside of the notes are also just perfect. Whether to teach, or take classes, this is a perfect app. Learning curve is not much once you ply with all the tools within the app. Very logical and makes note taking or teaching great fun! Thank you!
24. [R94] Goodnotes 5/5 · US Surprisingly versatile and colorful!: UPDATE 7/15/26 OkieDokie!, OkieDokie!, I did get used to the new interface and now typing is easy. It’s become second nature to tap the Read Only and begin editing. I jumped the gun on my last update. Still the best Note Taking app. Very versatile! UDATE: recently Good Notes changes its’ interface and is frustrating and difficult to use. I can’t just open a
25. [R95] Goodnotes 3/5 · US Doesn’t Need AI; wish it just stuck to handwriting: Love the basic writing tools and ability to recognize and search your handwriting. GenAI integration is wholly unnecessary, I’m only interested in its capacity for digital handwritten notes and pdf annotation. I bought lifetime access for GN6 (I do not pay for subscription), but likely will move away from this app once I find a suitable replaceme
26. [R100] Goodnotes 5/5 · US Goodnotes app review (from someone who has used Goodnotes for years!): Absolutely amazing! Super good for taking notes and studying. Definitely worth the money.
27. [R103] Goodnotes 4/5 · US Really satisfied, until today but won’t ever switch to anything else: You can make notecard with pictures and label them, download pdf and big ones with the premium, and easily. Today I downloaded a big pdf and it messed up some stuff on the pdf. Only happened this one time
28. [R108] Turbo AI 5/5 · US Best app trust: This is the best app it helped me with many subjects this is the best app!!🤗
29. [R114] Turbo AI 4/5 · US minor bugs: I want to start this off by saying, this is a great app and I did end up buying the subscription, but there are certain bugs to it that can be annoying. For example, I had it create a lesson for a paper that I needed to take notes on, and halfway in I exited out and it didn’t let me continue from that point, resulting in me having to reset from the beginning. There are also some other
30. [R115] Turbo AI 3/5 · US It’s pretty good, but kinda annoying: It’s pretty good, all the things it advertises you can use. However, after a little bit it makes you pay for the premium to do anything else. Like you can still look at your notes and listen to a podcast, but you can’t make anymore note. The quiz section is limited too. But it is still a good app.
31. [R117] Turbo AI 5/5 · US Awesome: I’m so forward to be using Turbo AI in my start of high school. I’m ready to be studying for this upcoming school year!
32. [R9] Freenotes® 3/5 · GB I’m so gutted: I’ve just seen someone’s review where they said that they didn’t have to pay bcs they used this before the paid feature. I was using this when it was free and I still got charged spin actually so upset that this turned into a paid app because it was genuinely such a godsend. Oh well.. 😕
33. [R84] Notability 3/5 · US Not for laptop: I love Notability for iPAD but using it on any other device is terrible. The website is plain text and the MacOS app does not support different fonts and formatting. I use my laptop almost exclusively at work and I can’t take notes on here in the same way I can with my iPad. If it were better for laptops, I would love this app. Such a bummer.
34. [R86] Notability 4/5 · US Apple users don’t buy: This app was fantastic two months ago, now it’s impossible to sync between Apple devices. iPad will not sync with iPhone or Mac. Additionally, new features have ruined this simplicity.
35. [R90] Notability 3/5 · US App always freezing and M4 iPad overheating: I used to love this app and used it through my masters program with every class. Now, after the update, it is completely nonfunctional on both of my iPads. The app freezes almost instantly and will not let me do anything until I close and reopen it. Even then, it freezes again within seconds. I can’t work on new notes and all my old notes are inaccessib
36. [R91] Notability 2/5 · US Increasingly frustrating: App is getting more and more buggy while useless AI features get pushed. The syncing flatly does not work across all devices. It’s infuriating to want to switch between tablet and computer while working and there’s no way to get the information to actually send. I’ve sent notes to myself in email because the sync functionality is so bad.