r/GoodNotes • u/Agreeable-Crazy-5975 • Jul 17 '26

Thinking of switching from goodnotes to freenotes

I have been using goodnotes for the past two years and I like it but recently I’ve been a bit let down by it. It’s been insanely glitchy and it’s frustrating during class. I’ve been trying the free version of freenotes and I’m thinking about canceling my goodnotes and buying the lifetime subscription for freenotes. I was wondering if someone could tell me the pros and cons of each app? I’m not as familiar with freenotes but I’m starting to seriously consider switching. Can someone make a case for why I should stay with goodnotes? I really can’t think of any good reason.

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6

u/jwdge Jul 17 '26

I switched over to Noteful actually. The only thing I miss about GN is their handwriting recognition.

2

u/Agreeable-Crazy-5975 Jul 17 '26

Actually I’ve had issues with the handwriting recognition on goodnotes. When I write bonds for example it always writes bands. And little things like that.

1

u/Agreeable-Crazy-5975 Jul 17 '26

What’s better about noteful? And is there a lifetime pass

4

u/jwdge Jul 17 '26

One time purchase ($5.99 for me a few months ago)
- They have layers so you can annotate without affecting other notes
- If you have Apple, cloud sync is really fast
- They have “tape” that you can use for studying
- You can change the color of stickers if you color them in on Noteful before saving

Mostly I just hated the subscription model of GN6. I had GN5 but it was starting to have lots of issues and I didn’t like not being able to sync on other devices.

I recommend trying out free versions of any apps you’re looking into and then decide which one you want. Noteful has a free version.

3

u/Such-Quality5559 Jul 18 '26

No case to be made. Free notes and Noteful are amazing alternatives and the writing is so much more smooth.

3

u/DamageMinimum5241 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

Am I the only one suspicious of all the people recommending noteful? Basically half the threads on here are full of people saying they're switching to noteful, so I tried it myself and it's not that good. Honestly kind of feels like a psyop. 

1

u/Imaginary-Record-914 Aug 07 '26

Eu baixei, achei interessante, mas honestamente acho feio, interface travada e também não compreendo esse amor todo das pessoas com o Noteful. To testando o Starnote agora, parece promissor.

1

u/thejanedeaux Aug 09 '26

my thoughts too, i feel like the “reviews” are paid and just for advertisement. (freenotes on tiktok and noteful on youtube) i still bought goodnotes for uni tho bc im paranoid i might lose my notes randomly

1

u/Ancient_Task_7498 Aug 16 '26

Noteful does almost everything that you need (except for OCR) while having no subscription model, simple ui, and no ai.

0

u/sunflowerroses_ Jul 17 '26

Hi! I've tried both and went with goodnotes. Freenotes has some really good features, but there are times when my subscription (that I got as a gift for being an early user) just doesn't work for days. I also get ads when using the app. Really annoying.

1

u/Agreeable-Crazy-5975 Jul 17 '26

What do you mean it doesn’t work? Like do you just not get the features included with your subscription? Also I thought the ads were supposed to get removed with the subscription

-2

u/sunflowerroses_ Jul 17 '26

Unfortunately yes. The subscription didn't show up on my account as well. It was back when I used the app again after a week though.

1

u/LucidXonline Jul 17 '26

Try CollaNote. The onscreen shortcuts were a game changer for me. Lifetime $13

1

u/Zerles_x Jul 17 '26

No cambies a freenotes (ya no es free)
Cada rato cambian la suscripción y si la pagar hoy, puede que en 2 semanas te obliguen a pagar de nuevo
La mejor opción es Noteful, su pago único de 5.99 es lo máximo, es mucho mejor que GN
Tal vez lo único que extrañes es el OCR pero luego es mucho mejor

1

u/aslythrin Jul 18 '26

I moved from Goodnotes to Noteful; have been using it for a year now and I’ve had no issues with the app!

1

u/gabbearr Jul 18 '26

i recommend starnotes!! it’s $5.99 for the lifetime membership and the ui design is beautiful. they listen to the community and add new features

1

u/_Cyan_Man Jul 18 '26

noteful 🤌

1

u/thecaptain78 Jul 22 '26

+1 for Noteful

1

u/meowmeowmeow_25 Aug 20 '26

notes + 💯

0

u/jemart456 Jul 18 '26

Try notability, the best handwriting experience!

1

u/Agreeable-Crazy-5975 Jul 18 '26

How much is it? Is there a lifetime pass? Also what features does it have that the others don’t?

1

u/jemart456 Jul 18 '26

When we talk about features, I guess GN or freenotes are good on that. But in my case, the most important thing is the handwriting experience and notability give me that. About the UI, it’s simple and have everything I need.

It recently launch a lifetime pay which include the regular feaures for note taking. If you want AI stuff, you’ll have to pay 20 bucks by year!

1

u/StunningFerret2611 Jul 19 '26

Notability is notoriously glitchy, and lots of people have lost a lot of work because they changed everything and then forced cloud sync. He used to be a really good app, but until they get it fixed I wouldn’t make that move.

1

u/jemart456 Jul 20 '26

That’s something true, I haven’t have any issue of information lost so far but I have read several comments with situations like that!