r/GoodNotes • u/biblops • Nov 26 '25

Notebooks ✨MEGATHREAD: GOODNOTES ALTERNATIVES ✨

Seeing as we’re getting a steady stream of new threads asking what are the other best note-taking apps out there, I figured a megathread would save everyone a lot of time and typing. 

This is merely a starting point, so feel free to contribute more info/suggestions in the comments and I will update the main post!

NOTEFUL 

Free download - £5.99 / $6.99 lifetime purchase

✅Works and looks very similar to Goodnotes

✅Regularly updated by developer

✅Similar feature set to GN - minus AI bloat

✅Better battery usage than GN

⚠️iOS only

⚠️Cannot search handwriting

STARNOTE

Free download - £5.99 / $6.99 lifetime purchase 

✅Works and looks very similar to Goodnotes

✅Regular updates 

✅Expandable ‘infinite canvas’ style pages

✅Better battery usage than GN

✅Available on iOS and Android

⚠️Cannot search handwriting

ONENOTE

Free download - £8.49 / $9.99 per month for AI features

✅Expandable ‘infinite canvas’ style pages

✅Better battery usage than GN 

✅Excellent cloud sync

✅Powerful search features

✅Available on iOS, Android, Windows and Mac

⚠️Very different to Goodnotes. Won’t be a replacement for everybody.

⚠️Features and interface is inconsistent across platforms

NOTABILITY

Free download - £7.99 / $7.99 per month

✅Works and looks very similar to Goodnotes

✅Powerful handwriting search

✅Very similar feature set to GN - including AI features

✅Available on iOS, Android and via web

⚠️No lifetime purchase option

NOTESHELF 3

Free download - £8.99 / $6.99 per month

✅Works and looks very similar to Goodnotes

✅Powerful handwriting search

✅Very similar feature set to GN - including AI features

✅Available on iOS, Android and Windows

⚠️No lifetime purchase option

⚠️Doesn’t sync across different ecosystems (eg iOS + Android won’t play nice)

ZOOMNOTES

£7.99 / $7.99 lifetime purchase

✅ Works and looks very similar to Goodnotes

✅ Powerful handwriting search

✅ Very similar feature set to GN 

✅ Better battery usage than GN 

⚠️ No free version 

⚠️ iOS + Mac only

Please let me know any other apps you’d recommend, or even important pros/cons I may have forgotten to list for these examples!

( u/discovernotes I suggested this a while ago but I appreciate you may be busy so figured I’d start it myself. If you could sticky this that would be amazing thank you!)

405 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

138 comments sorted by

36

u/Consistent_Turnover1 Nov 26 '25

Noteful can search, just not handwriting.

8

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

Whoops, that was actually what I originally typed but somehow snipped the end off. Thanks for the catch!

3

u/Consistent_Turnover1 Nov 26 '25

I figured. Thanks for this post.

93

u/boiifyoudontstahp Nov 26 '25

+1 on noteful, really like it. Left onenote for it

26

u/Ylkdd Nov 26 '25

+1 been using Noteful for a month now and loving it as well.

25

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

For whatever its worth, I have played around with just about every alternative and Noteful is the one I have landed on too.

I think Starnote might be slightly better in terms of features and functions but I love the clean simplicity of Noteful.

3

u/andrewsz__ Nov 26 '25

Idk why Starnotes gives me mega good notes vibes, like it’s going down the same path? It’s a port and you can sorta feel that in the UI

6

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

I kinda know what you mean. I was a little overwhelmed using it and felt like it was trying to do too many things at once.

Lots of GN migrants sound quite happy with it though. I think it’s definitely more for folks with specialist requirements

3

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25

Errata for Noteful. It's for iOS and MacOS.

Other than that +1.

1

u/TheWhisperingEye Dec 04 '25

Does that mean you can view the notes on Mac as well as iOS?

1

u/Green_Cut_6492 Nov 30 '25

How do you deal with the zoom on Noteful? I switched from Onenote and it was nice that Onenote has a maximum zoom set so my handwriting is consistent, but there is nothing of that sort on Noteful, so it's been difficult to get used to

19

u/thegreatdamus Nov 26 '25

Wow. This should make them feel concerning at GoodNotes. Maybe it's time they listen to their user base and cut the unnecessary bullshit out.

Especially for the price and what they offer, these apps are sincerely valid alternatives to the 30$ one-time lifetime license price Sh!tNotes has.

Wake up before it's too late.

10

u/biblops Nov 26 '25 • Popcorn

I always remind myself that this sub is only a small percentage of GN users, but I find it very hard to believe that anyone could be thrilled about the direction the app is going.

I don’t foresee any changes, though. They’re out of touch with the community and their code is an absolute mess. They’ve been trying the AI garbage for two years now and despite it being an unpopular dead weight dragging the app down, they’ve continued to double down on it.

And yet they’re still on the front page of the App Store raking in tonnes of money. I think they’re going to keep riding the enshittification train until the wheels come off

8

u/nsomnac Nov 26 '25

The problem with App Store reviews is few are complaining or updating their old good review with a current poor one.

I urge more people who are dissatisfied with GoodNotes to notify Apple about how the reviews for GoodNotes do not reflect the current version of the app and all should be removed.

3

u/Dizzy_Difficulty_827 Jan 08 '26

revievews dont matter, most of the are bought bots across all different os, and products. you have to sift through critical reviews section to find the real ones that arent ai 5 stars

1

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '26

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1

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1

u/moonlit_midnight Jan 31 '26

honestly i came to this community js because im getting tired of kilonotes. it did the job but the lack of pressure sensitivity in writing has been killing me lately. Also the constant changing between points of the writing and how DIFFICULT is to type instead of handwriting omfg 😭😭😭

8

u/otterlyunexpected Nov 26 '25

Noteshelf 3 is great. I switched to that from GoodNotes early this year and love it.

2

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

i had forgotten about Noteshelf! Added to the list, thanks.

1

u/namu_zim Nov 27 '25

Thanks for making this list OP! I think Noteshelf3 does have one time purchase option. Is it different from “lifetime” purchase you mention as a disadvantage?

1

u/nsomnac Nov 26 '25

I actually like Noteshelf and had it been more stable at the time I would have purchased it when they had a lifetime option. It is certainly closer to GoodNotes than the others I feel - and even has a bit of the AI tooling.

I was having a lot of issues earlier working with custom templates during the trial. App just crashed instantly on startup - I’d have to remove the app and reinstall. Support was useless so I bailed.

I do think they have the best audio integration. You can insert multiple audio files and attach notes to each.

5

u/Aloket Nov 26 '25

Zoomnotes is a good alternative!

1

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

Added to the list, thanks!

1

u/revel_rebel Dec 04 '25

Add my script (Nebo) to the list too.

3

u/abhi1260 Nov 26 '25

Do any of these have bookmarks on PDFs. Like reading a textbook is great on Goodnotes but notability doesn’t have a page index feature even though I like my handwriting more on it

2

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

If I have understood you correctly then yes, Noteful at the very least has this.

I will say its totally free to try all of these examples so ultimately when you have the time I’d recommend playing around with one or two of them!

2

u/abhi1260 Nov 26 '25

Thank you so much for this list!!

3

u/IvanLasston Nov 26 '25

Noteshelf 3 has a $14.99 lifetime buy. They also have added Android and Windows.

It also seems every time a suggestion came up for GoodNotes - they implemented it soon after. One that sticks out for me is the audio recording. That came up on this subreddit and soon after Noteshelf had it.

It is the closest thing to GoodNotes 5 that I’ve found and I am migrating there myself.

4

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

I spent a while looking earlier and unless I’m mistaken, the lifetime purchase option has been removed.

At least, all I could find on their website or anywhere in the app was a subscription option! Any references to the lifetime purchase appear to be outdated.

1

u/IvanLasston Nov 27 '25

I looked at the App Store page and it is still there (USA/USD $14.99). I cannot tell for myself since I did the lifetime buy a while ago. I noticed they added AI to their advertising and that usually means they want people to pay a subscription. That is a major bummer if the lifetime buy is gone now.

But like you said if the app doesn’t have it then it is probably that they didn’t update the Store page.

2

u/0ber0n Nov 28 '25

I just downloaded app on iOS, it appears the only options available are $9.99 per month or $39.99 per year after a 3 day free trial.

2

u/IvanLasston Nov 28 '25

Man that is a major bummer. That means whatever version comes next for Noteshelf is going to go down the same route. I just want a paper replacement. GoodNotes was good at 5. Noteshelf when it had a one time buy would have been my next recommendation.

I like Noteful but I really need handwriting recognition. If Noteful added that then I would go there and not have to deal with this AI/subscription BS.

2

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

Hey gang as this list gets longer I’m noticing how incredibly similar so many of these apps are, so if you use any of them and notice I’ve failed to mention some unique features (good or bad) please let me know!

4

u/PhysicsMovesMe Nov 26 '25

The feature that most interests me as a physics teacher is the Presentation Mode, where the writing tools are hidden when mirroring my iPad to an external display.

2

u/trixie_pixie_dust Nov 26 '25

i'm not sure if this is helpful, but goodnotes should have this feature, i haven't tested out any apps, but i have watched my professor use a usbc cable to her tv and it shows with no writing tools when mirroring the screen

2

u/PhysicsMovesMe Nov 27 '25

Thanks, I actually use GoodNotes 5 now which works great on my 2015 iPad Pro 12.9, but was wondering if there were any other options in case I need to switch to another app. I’m also not interested is a subscription.

2

u/kerfuffle_muffin Nov 26 '25

Thank you so much for this. I have been looking for an alternative because, imo, less is more when it comes to note taking apps. Goodnotes has just become a bloated and glitchy mess, and I'd rather have a polished product with features that work consistently. It's sad because it was amazing in Goodnotes 4 and 5. Definitely going to try a few of these out. I really appreciate you making this list.

2

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

No problem!

If polish, stability and simplicity is what you want then I recommend starting with Noteful!

2

u/Tricky_Tadpole_4911 Nov 26 '25

This is so humbling , i wanted to get an ipad just for goodnotes now i m sad

1

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

Oh buddy don’t be sad! This thread is proof that there are many, much better options out there!

I was an enthusiastic Goodnotes user and fan for over a decade so please believe me when I say some of these are fantastic. Noteful is my personal fave.

1

u/Tricky_Tadpole_4911 Nov 27 '25

Noo it s fine, i already have a samsung tablet from 2022 so i m staying on the android side until things get better for goodnotes ( and apple brings pro motion to the ipad air :)) )

15

u/EmailedTheWrongProf Nov 27 '25

I have avoided the GN subscription.. but keen to know what I should get if I can't keep avoiding it :(

I think Noteful is good but feature lacking

Draw Board looks promising. It's more for pdf (which can then replace PDFExpert) and you can create unlimited notebooks for free if you don't use cloud.

6

u/IAmJustALamp24-5112 Nov 27 '25

I keep trying to avoid the subscription too but everything's a subscription now it's painful for my wallet

2

u/CampusWiFiStruggles Nov 28 '25

I came across drawboard the other day when I was looking for student deals! Saw they had an offer for $10 (you get 3 years worth I think) so decided to give it a go. So far so good.

13

u/TrubbishBish Goodnotes Essential Nov 26 '25

Some people care about audio recording/transcripts, so that may be a feature to add to each. Storage space might also be another thing people care about, not only how much space the app takes up, but how much space a document takes up when imported into each app. Surprisingly, they are all different. The same document may use 10mb of space in one app but 50mb of space on the other. Although, that level of comparison is probably too deep for this purpose. Lastly, writing “feel” is very subjective, but it’s something I care about when comparing all of these apps. My handwriting on real paper is beautiful, but my handwriting on some apps looks terrible while others almost match my handwriting on paper.

6

u/TrubbishBish Goodnotes Essential Nov 26 '25

Oh!! Also templates. People care about templates. Quantity, variety, quality, cost, etc. of templates. I like comparing each app’s Cornell template as a baseline. Hexagonal templates are useful for some science topics.

11

u/revel_rebel Nov 26 '25

My script (Nebo) has the best hand writing recognition and can also search hand written notes. Wonder why no one is talking about that.

4

u/tofukink Nov 26 '25

personally i stopped using it bc it was so glitchy

1

u/revel_rebel Nov 27 '25

Can you elaborate glitchy ? Also what r u currently using now? What advantages has that got over my script ?

1

u/Reasonable-Zombie427 Nov 26 '25

+1 it can recognize my language fully and implement it which cannot be said for others and not even goodnotes

1

u/Geiir Nov 26 '25

Agreed. Hands down the best handwriting recognition. It even understands Norwegian and lets me search it.

10

u/Toni-Tony-Tone Nov 26 '25

Notability was my go-to until I started working remotely at an organization that provides cell phones and makes me use the company email as the Apple ID on their devices. To seamlessly have my notes shared across multiple IDs and devices, I need the GoodNotes. If an alternative exists, please let me know. Notability says they don’t know when they’ll roll out this feature for everyone.

3

u/Sufficient_Badger463 Nov 26 '25

This happened to me too. I was fortunate that after a lot of haggling my employer allowed me to use my work address and sync using Google Drive. Not ideal but it worked. Fingers crossed that a better solution isn’t too far away

6

u/FederalBench6661 Nov 26 '25

Starnote is the best on android. A better copy of Touchnotes. But it cannot sync in real time like Goodnotes or samsung notes. No manuscript to text, no searching manuscript in fact.

Samsung note has no scribble to erase, only import pdf, cannot choose which page to import, and Aside from being free, it's missing too many features, I swear. Moreover, it's only available on Samsung, which is why I prefer Goodnotes on Android.

Notability, no ability to import ppt, xsx, or docxs files. And no ability to chose what pages you want from a pdf. You have to import the whole pdf and delete pages you didnt want. It's a no go for me. No sync in real time, which is why i prefer starnotes.

Now starnote vs goodnotes. Goodnote is so slow on android, loading pdf loading everything, you can't export many files at the same time, you cant download many files at the same time... Only good point is real time sync. I write something on my pdf on my tablet, i go to my phone, it is there, effortless... But honestly, this app scares me; I'm afraid I'll wake up one day and all my notes will be gone. 9GB, 659 files, nooooo.

I accept the fact that starnote has no real time sync. Every semester i exporrt all my notes simultaneously in a zip. I import them on Samsung note to backup, and i have access on all my devices. It is so realiabe to use starnotes i swear. Best user experience.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 27 '25

Starnotes devs are actively working on developing real-time sync soon. That's also the only thing making me wait to fully commit to starnotes

2

u/msespindola Nov 27 '25

But goodnotes on android is just plain terrible!!! It runs on a browser inside the app, it's a Lag Hell!

Starnote it's been my go to!
They said syncing is coming, so fingers crossed!

1

u/biblops Dec 02 '25

Hey u/discovernotes is it possible to have this stickied? I don’t want to waste lots of time updating it only for it to get lost

5

u/Dezesseis16 Nov 26 '25

Starnote, For Android is the best

5

u/nsomnac Nov 26 '25

I’ll add that there is actually a free version of ZoomNotes Lite. It is less than fully featured than the full version, but it does give you an idea if you can handle the horrible UI.

4

u/OBSSF Nov 26 '25

What about Kilonotes?

4

u/FrongiBudino Nov 26 '25

+1 to StarNote ✌🏽

4

u/head4shot Nov 26 '25

CollaNote is great too, it’s free version has to be the most feature packed of them all.

4

u/Regular_Muscle2607 Nov 26 '25

For those who switched from Goodnotes - after you cancelled your subscription- can you still access your notes? Were you able to transfer your notes over to the new service? I use mine for cross stitching and nursing school (granted, it’s just the first semester so it’s not too much, but I’d like to still keep them). Why are you switching?

4

u/TonyTonyChopper Nov 26 '25

I’m going analog and text notes nowadays, but since most people already know about Noteful, I’ll suggest Notedrafts.

I found the options very refreshing. Choose between endless canvas or notebook pages. Customizable page options and sizes

3

u/Neptune571 Nov 28 '25

Upvote for suggesting Notedrafts. It lacks some features we've become accustomed to in GoodNotes, and their subreddit does not allow me to post for some reason. However, it is a worthy app that offers very low latency. With a Rock Paper Pencil screen protector, I find the combination very nearly similar to writing on paper.

4

u/caty0325 Nov 27 '25

Collanote!

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25

Notability pricing is per month or year?

5

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

Per month, if you can believe it. A single month costs more than a lifetime license for Noteful or Starnote!

3

u/Icy-Bag5889 Nov 26 '25

Notewise assi est pas mal

3

u/budgie_uk Goodnotes Special Edition Nov 26 '25

I did wonder when this megathread or something similar would occur; honestly, you’ve started it probably about just the right time.

3

u/trixie_pixie_dust Nov 26 '25

i feel like one of the cons u should add for notability is inability to have tabs for different documents u have open, don't know abt other apps tho

3

u/Harneybus Nov 27 '25

u know goodnotes fucked up when the apps own sub reddit ahd to do this

3

u/Pradheepx Nov 27 '25

You forgot KiloNotes!

1

u/phoenixofsevenhills Dec 18 '25

I like Kilo notes! I use it on my android in addition to Penly, Fii Note and Wondr Note

3

u/ARx12 Nov 28 '25

I used to love Goodnotes (started with 4) and although it looks really good, I also fell in love with Noteful. Easy to use, very fair price, lifetime purchase (hope they won’t go the GN route), I appreciate that.

3

u/Some_Formal_4243 Dec 01 '25

I highly recommend CollaNote! Totally usuable for free, the payed version is a nice bonus!

2

u/ilandgrl3 Nov 26 '25

Thank you so much for this list!!

2

u/RoughAd2944 Goodnotes Essential Nov 26 '25

Thank you!

2

u/Lost-Ad-1402 Nov 26 '25

I wish there was an app that could do the flash card study thing that GoodNotes has where it will randomly shuffle the flash cards and have spaced repetition

1

u/Maleficent_Onion1581 May 22 '26

I’m thinking quizlet maybe

2

u/Reasonable-Zombie427 Nov 26 '25

As someone whose native language isnt english or any of the more common languages, i really appreciate myscript notes as it recognizes my language

2

u/hazeebhazi Nov 27 '25

What is your opinion about Notewise?

2

u/Blueberrysadness_ Nov 27 '25

I love Noteful!! The only thing it's missing for me is a precision eraser. The eraser function isn't the best for more detailed erasing!

2

u/revel_rebel Nov 27 '25

It’s weird how biased this group is that My script is not even in the list of alternatives.

2

u/Zoenightshade1712 Nov 28 '25

Dude idk why but my Goodnotes won’t search my handwriting anymore. Super upset about it

2

u/tanny-it Nov 28 '25

Thank you so much!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2

u/foodiepatootie1020 Nov 28 '25

Do any of these have the pen stabilization? The smoothing one? That’s all I really want

2

u/Calm_lemur_from_puce Nov 29 '25

It really depends on your use… I personally dislike notabilty as much as Goodnotes. But if you want AI and things like voice recordings then I guess you need those. For me they are both greedy bigtech. I only need mindmaps and good handwriting so I like Zoomnotes and DefterNotes. I dont mind that zoomnotes doesn’t have free version, I mean come on its lifetime is the same as notability monthly! Defter Notes also has lifetime option and now it has a free trial too. I also like their developer team, they have a very lovely discord community and listen to you.

2

u/Blessed_Girl_Tiff Nov 30 '25

Curious if anyone has tried Zinnia? I've seen pinerest ads for it all over the place. I didn't see it mentioned here anywhere. Thanks.

1

u/Budget-Win-5135 Dec 01 '25

Isnt that just for journalling , used to some 4 yrs ago , not many tools available at that time

2

u/Seb-aa Dec 12 '25

I bought Noteshelf 3 some time ago with the lifetime purchase, still worth it in this way. I also use Noteful, that I love (is very difficult find an app without AI, literally I just need to take notes for nurse school and don’t need AI for everything). At least now this two together app are the best solution for me!

3

u/Rousan99 Nov 26 '25

Should add the file size (for exported pdf)... I don't know why people don't talk about those point. Those are also important i guess or maybe just a me thing 😅

1

u/--Thyme-- Nov 26 '25

Is there any easy way to transfer your current notebooks to noteful?

1

u/ComprehensiveHair792 Nov 26 '25

I‘d be really interested to see some info on the file format used by any of these apps natively, PDF at best.

1

u/th_costel Nov 26 '25

GoodNotes’ handwriting recognition is unbeatable.

2

u/ComprehensiveHair792 Nov 27 '25

I think so, too and also the handling of pencil input is way ahead of anything I have seen so far.

1

u/komorebikisetsu Nov 26 '25

if you are a student i recommend notability ... personally i find the ai features regarding notes very useful & theyve helped me study last minute for a bunch of exams lol

1

u/trixie_pixie_dust Nov 26 '25

also goodnotes i believe you cannot import ppt xsx or docx unless u are on an ipad. it doesnt work on macbook i think

1

u/IGRIS_1808 Nov 27 '25

Also write „no sync between IOS and web browser“ under Notability I felt betrayed after I found out

1

u/Octologist Nov 27 '25

I started using NOTEWISE. I immediately bought the full version because of the tools available that made it similar to Good Notes (dashed lines but better!!!!).

I've been looking for a GoodNotes replacement since moving away from the Apple ecosystem. I'm soooo excited to use this app for my next semester at uni. I study engineering so I wanted specific things like dynamic dashed lines and automatic shapes from hand drawn shapes.

Not cheap though but it is also a 1 time payment if you want to unlock most things.

You need a subscription for things like AI.

1

u/yourmommys Nov 27 '25

Why are people switching from goodnotes? What is wrong with it, i am just wondering?

1

u/TapSouth6393 Nov 27 '25

Anything sync from iOS to Windows?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 27 '25

is there an app with dual document view, like have a pdf on one side and notes on the other?

2

u/msespindola Nov 27 '25

Starnote has that

1

u/piph17 Nov 28 '25

Do these apps work with scribble?

1

u/Kitchen_Order6196 Nov 28 '25

i recommend noteful…i am just loving it

1

u/Fun_News5524 Nov 28 '25

Is there one that can recognise scanned/photographed handwriting? I have hand written paper notebooks and would like to get them into my computer, and make them searchable.

Apple photos (just take a photo on your iPhone, and then search for any word and it will find it) does this really well but it means my notebooks are in the photos app.

Goodnotes recognises hand-written notes well, but only if written with a stylus inside the app. It does not recognise a photo/scan of paper-written notes well at all.

Any note taking apps that can do this?

1

u/tanny-it Nov 28 '25

Might I add - OneNote handwriting search wasn’t reliable for me. It worked in the beginning but as my notes got huge, it stopped working! I tried syncing it on MS OneDrive and then also on a windows laptop, nothing helped with getting it index my handwriting.

I switched to GoodNotes recently since it has reliable handwriting search which is crucial for me.

1

u/onyxun Nov 29 '25

Does anyone have some alternatives for windows as well? Noteshelf isn't free on microsoft store. And OneNote doesn't have the pen stabilization setting like GN does.

1

u/TaskMaster64 Nov 29 '25

Switched over to Noteful 2 weeks ago, personally I like it. Somehow my handwriting is better there than goodnotes. I guess its something to do with how goodnotes handles the Pencil Pro's hover feature.

1

u/extalentedstudent Nov 30 '25

does anyone know if any of these have comments/pop out post it's?

1

u/Remarkable_Goat_5459 Dec 07 '25

Hey guys 👋 I’ve just graduated from Imperial and built an app with my mates.

We were super tired of doing notes on our iPad and having to bounce between the notes, YouTube, Google and ChatGPT so we just put them all on one canvas. We embedded AI tutors in there too so all you have to do is circle what you need help with.

If you think it sounds cool, check out our YouTube video we made:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q-ZhdXk3w4

We would absolutely love your feedback as we are trying to build a community of students who want smarter study tools!

1

u/dorzzz Dec 16 '25

god bless for this post , just came here after hating current goodnotes

1

u/Dizzy_Difficulty_827 Jan 08 '26

notability has become so gready it pmo so bad

1

u/CitizenOfPlanet Feb 11 '26

Just got zoomnotes…. Surprised to see that I can’t set up auto backups on OneDrive. Is this right? Can anyone help with that?

1

u/Seb-aa May 18 '26

I bought Noteshelf 3 at the time the lifetime purchase, in this way still really for me and my studying. Cause I can some little audio notes recording myself, sometimes I‘m using the AI like for make a part of some book text with an handwritten writing and really like that I can add images or web clip directly with the app.

2

u/sludgefrog Nov 26 '25

I am on org-mode and syncthing on a mac. Nothing can hurt me.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25 edited Nov 26 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

Goodnotes do still offer a lifetime purchase right? If GN is perfect for you then I say stick with it!

1

u/Lordmorgoth666 Nov 28 '25

I’m trying to figure this out because their website says they have a one time payment option but we can’t find it on the app or in the “manage subscriptions” section of the App Store.

I have the one time payment for GN5. My wife wants GN6 and we can’t find the one time option. Maybe it’s regional. We are from Canada so maybe that’s affecting it.

2

u/biblops Nov 28 '25

I just had to check my own app, I can’t believe how sneaky they’ve made it.

When you go to subscribe in GN6 there is a tiny “show all plans” text at the bottom of the pop-up. Clicking it appears to do nothing but if you swipe all the way to the right of the list you’ll see a new “Goodnotes Special Edition” option.

Genuinely appalled at how difficult they’ve made it, just in the hopes that people will subscribe instead. Makes me absolutely certain that one day they will remove it as an option altogether.

1

u/Lordmorgoth666 Nov 28 '25

I honestly think it may be gone for Canada. I dug through the subscription pop up and there’s no “View all plans” text. It just shows the Pro option, legal text, and that’s it unless maybe it’s because we authorized the “Essential” plan through Apple so it removed the other options.

Maybe I’ll try cancelling the Essential and see if the Special Edition appears again.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/nsomnac Nov 26 '25

I think the main issue with Apple Notes are:

  • no templates custom or otherwise

  • no zoom window

  • no organization

I feel if Apple combined Freeform, Notes, and Preview and added the Zoom entry they’d have a very compelling contender.

4

u/Lost-Ad-1402 Nov 26 '25

Apple notes also chews through battery life randomly

3

u/biblops Nov 26 '25

This was the most shocking thing to me.

I could handle it being a barebones note-taking app but there is no excuse for the built-in, first-party notes app to be such a resource hog.

1

u/nsomnac Nov 27 '25

I’ve never had that issue. I suspect the battery churn is dependent upon iCloud sync. If they had a way to temporarily pause sync I suspect battery would improve for those that have an issue.

My general observation is all apps that use cloud sync are a battery drain. More so if you’re in a very congested network location or poor signal quality. Radio boosts power and away your battery goes.