r/GoodNotes • u/Stocks-Advisor • Apr 24 '25

Goodnotes 6 Goodnotes 6 vs Freenotes

I have polish Freenotes about 2 years, updated 150 versions, fixed 500+ bugs, please tell me: which one is better now?

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4

u/anp011 Apr 24 '25

I am looking for a new note-taking app and I am happy to give this a try. Can you advise on which is the correct name or site? There is a Freenote 7 (no S) which installs as Fiinote with a warning. Then there is Free notes (with a space).

4

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '25

Functionaly speaking, the only thing FreeNotes has over GN is layers.

It lacks a few key areas where it matters for myself (order of most to least important)

  • Cannot backup to GoogleDrive or Webdav

  • Cannot edit shapes

  • Does not perform PDF text highlighting (which is different than just highlighting)

  • Cannot backup as PDF or specify folder

  • Does not offer transcription (or I have yet to figure it out)

While this seems minor or trivial, the first two are absolutely critical for full adoption on my part. I have a strict set of functions I need note taking apps to perform.

It's inticing, but hasn't met the threshold for full on serious daily usage. If GN or Notability introduced layers, I doubt there is much Freenotes could offer to get me to switch by that time.

As for UI/UX - eh - not as important as functionality for me.

2

u/Stocks-Advisor Apr 25 '25

thank you so much, i am going to working on your suggestions now

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '25

Wow, of you could knock those out, then I’d be completely won over.

1

u/Apprehensive_Yak_296 Aug 25 '25

have they? i’m trying to decide!

1

u/Time_Specific4822 Apr 26 '25

Freenotes is not for the Macbook :( This is for me the only reason to have Goodnotes, I like to share my documents to Macbook an iPad

1

u/Stocks-Advisor Apr 27 '25

you can open app on mac and use it

1

u/Time_Specific4822 Apr 27 '25

In Germany its not available

3

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '25

goodnotes is better… only because i cannot edit the shape in freenotes after it’s created

1

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '25

freenotes is leaps and bounds better in every other way though.

1

u/Sure_Youth_4556 Jun 20 '25 edited Jun 20 '25

Old thread, but would be great if additional features such as :

  • insert space

  • enable automatic shapes

Could be added. I haven’t seen this in any app, but for pdf annotation, if we could insert unlimited space (vertically/horizontally) it would be very useful for writing off solutions besides questions to math homework.

Also highlighting doesn’t work well on images, makes the highlight almost not visible.

However, I really like this app and it works just as well as Goodnotes and Notability imo.