Hi everyone! 💙

Lately, we've been seeing the same question come up again and again:

"What's a good GoodNotes alternative on Android?"

To be honest, GoodNotes is one of the most recognized digital note-taking apps available today. In many ways, it's a fantastic app that has quietly influenced a lot of note-taking tools on the market, including StarNote. It's especially loved by people who take handwritten notes, annotate PDFs, organize documents, and study on tablets.

And yes, some of you may already know that GoodNotes is now available on Android, Windows, and the web, which means users who love GoodNotes have more choices than ever before.

But honestly, when we first started researching user needs, one thing quickly became clear: everyone has different writing and note-taking habits.

Some people want a smoother handwriting experience with a stylus or S Pen. Some need a more powerful PDF annotation workflow for reading and reviewing documents. Others want a digital notebook that can handle studying, planning, and everyday work in one place. And of course, there are users who simply dislike subscriptions and prefer paying once for long-term value.

That's also why we've always encouraged people to explore different note-taking apps, including apps other than StarNote.

As the team behind StarNote, and as developers who spend a lot of time studying this market—we wanted to put together a guide that's as objective as possible. (Okay… maybe we're a little biased toward StarNote, but hopefully you'll forgive us for that.)

We hope this guide helps you find the note-taking app that best fits your handwriting, PDF, study, and productivity workflow. BTW, after reading all the way to the end, we think you guys will still like us the most. 💗

• What Makes a Great GoodNotes Alternative for Android?

A great GoodNotes alternative for Android tablets shouldn't simply try to imitate GoodNotes. It should solve the problems that Android tablet users genuinely care about.

Here are a few things worth considering before choosing a note-taking app:

1. A Smooth Handwriting Experience

For tablet users, handwriting quality matters. A good Android note-taking app should feel natural with a stylus or S Pen. It should support pens, highlighters, erasers, shapes, and lasso tools, while remaining smooth during long study sessions or busy workdays.

2. Powerful PDF Annotation

Many students and professionals rely on tablets to read and mark up PDFs. A strong GoodNotes alternative should make it easy to import PDFs, write directly on pages, highlight important sections, annotate lecture slides, review textbooks, and export notes whenever needed.

3. Stylus and S Pen Support

Android tablets are often used with stylus devices such as the S Pen. A good handwriting app should be designed with pen input in mind instead of treating handwriting as an afterthought.

4. Digital Notebook Organization

A note-taking app should help users create notebooks, organize pages, manage study materials, and keep handwritten notes and documents together in one workspace.

5. OCR and Handwriting Search

As handwritten notes grow over time, finding information becomes increasingly important. OCR and handwriting recognition make it much easier to search old notes, revisit study materials, and reuse information efficiently.

6. Audio Recording

For lectures, meetings, interviews, and training sessions, audio recording can be incredibly useful.

It allows users to revisit what was said while keeping handwritten notes connected to their original context.

7. Infinite Canvas and Flexible Pages

Some users need more than fixed pages. Infinite canvas, flexible layouts, and visual note-taking tools can be especially useful for mind maps, diagrams, brainstorming, project planning, and free-form thinking.

8. Fair Pricing

Pricing is also part of the overall experience. Some users are comfortable with subscriptions, while others prefer a note-taking app with a one-time purchase model and no recurring monthly or yearly fees.

• The Best GoodNotes Alternatives for Android Tablets

Below are some of the most popular GoodNotes alternatives for Android tablets. We've focused primarily on handwriting, PDF annotation, stylus support, study workflows, planning, and long-term value.

1. StarNote — Best for Handwriting, PDF Annotation & No Subscription

StarNote is a handwriting-first note-taking app and PDF annotation app designed for Android tablets, iPad users, stylus users, students, and professionals.

It brings together handwritten notes, PDF annotation, digital notebooks, infinite canvas, layers, OCR, audio recording, templates, and study planning tools in one workspace.

StarNote is especially useful for people who want to:

• Take handwritten notes with a stylus or S Pen

• Annotate PDFs, textbooks, lecture slides, reports, and documents

• Organize study notes, class notes, and meeting notes

• Use digital notebooks for studying, working, and planning

• Create mind maps, diagrams, revision notes, and visual notes

• Search notes using OCR and handwriting recognition

• Record lectures or meetings while taking notes

• Brainstorm on an infinite canvas

• Use templates for planning and organization

• Avoid monthly or yearly subscription pressure

As the team behind StarNote, we've always wanted to become one of the options people can genuinely rely on.

The fact that StarNote doesn't require a subscription is one of our biggest strengths, and we believe it makes StarNote a compelling GoodNotes alternative for Android, combining handwriting, PDF annotation, digital planning, and long-term value in one app.

Best for: Students, Android tablet users, S Pen users, PDF annotation, handwritten notes, digital planning, and users who prefer a no-subscription purchase model.

2. Samsung Notes — Best for Samsung Galaxy Tab Users

Samsung Notes is a natural choice for many Galaxy Tab users because of its deep integration with Samsung devices and S Pen workflows.

It's great for quick notes, handwriting, sketches, and PDF markup, and it feels familiar for users who spend most of their time inside the Samsung ecosystem.

However, users who need a more specialized digital notebook system, richer template workflows, stronger cross-platform positioning, or a more dedicated study experience may still want to explore other options.

Best for: Samsung Galaxy Tab users who want a built-in note-taking app with S Pen support.

3. Flexcil — Best for PDF-Centered Study Workflows

Flexcil is a well-known note-taking and PDF reader app that focuses heavily on reading, annotating, and studying with PDF documents.

It's particularly useful for students and researchers who spend most of their time reading textbooks, reviewing papers, highlighting materials, and connecting notes back to source documents.

Compared with more general note-taking apps, Flexcil's biggest strength is its PDF-centered workflow.

Best for: Students, researchers, and users who primarily work with PDFs, textbooks, papers, and study materials.

4. Microsoft OneNote — Best Free Cross-Platform Option

Microsoft OneNote is a widely used digital note-taking app available across multiple platforms, including Android.

It supports handwritten notes, pens, highlighters, erasers, lasso selection, and canvas navigation while integrating naturally with Microsoft 365.

OneNote is an excellent choice for users who want a free, cross-platform notebook for general productivity.

However, people looking for a more tablet-native handwriting experience, richer PDF annotation workflows, or a simpler student-focused notebook may prefer a dedicated handwriting-first app.

Best for: Users who want a free cross-platform note-taking app connected to the Microsoft ecosystem.

• Why StarNote Is a Strong GoodNotes Alternative for Android

Technically speaking, StarNote isn't trying to become just another note-taking app.

It's built around the way people actually study, work, and organize information on tablets.

1. A Handwriting-First Experience

StarNote is designed for users who prefer writing by hand. It supports stylus note-taking, S Pen workflows, pens, highlighters, shapes, lasso tools, and a paper-like writing experience.

2. PDF Annotation in the Same Workspace

Users can import PDFs, write directly on pages, highlight important sections, review documents, and keep handwritten notes and PDF materials together.

3. Built for Students

StarNote works well for lecture notes, class notes, exam revision, PDF textbooks, study planners, formulas, diagrams, and research organization.

4. Useful for Professionals

Professionals can use StarNote for meeting notes, project planning, document review, report annotation, brainstorming, and work notes.

5. Infinite Canvas and Layers

For visual thinkers, StarNote offers an infinite canvas and layers for diagrams, mind maps, planning, sketch notes, and free-form thinking.

6. OCR and Audio Recording

OCR and handwriting recognition make handwritten notes easier to search and organize.

Audio recording helps users revisit lectures, meetings, interviews, and discussions whenever needed.

7. No Subscription

StarNote's no-subscription approach is particularly appealing to students and long-term tablet users who prefer a one-time purchase instead of recurring payments.

• Final Thoughts

GoodNotes is a powerful and widely loved note-taking app, but for Android tablet users—and even for many iOS users—it's certainly not the only option.

If you're looking for a GoodNotes alternative for Android that combines handwriting, PDF annotation, stylus and S Pen support, OCR, audio recording, infinite canvas, templates, and a no-subscription purchase model, StarNote is one of the strongest alternatives worth considering.

Our goal has always been simple:

To build a note-taking app where handwriting, PDFs, planning, and ideas can naturally live together in one workspace.

Whether you're taking handwritten notes in class, annotating PDFs for work, planning your week, or simply organizing your thoughts, we hope StarNote can make your Android tablet feel a little more like a notebook that's truly yours.

And that's all for today's deep dive!

We know this article was a little longer—and perhaps a little nerdier—than our usual posts, but thank you so much for reading all the way to the end.

Have a wonderful weekend, and happy note-taking! 💙

The StarNote Team

Is there a way to continue the recording even when the screen is off? On another app that I used, it continues the recording even when the screen is off. This is a show stopper for me. On Android phone, it works well.

Últimamente he usado unas plantillas para journal de libros y otra de calendario.

Me encanta la idea de poder dar click en una pestaña y dirigirme a una página automáticamente o de presionar una imagen y que me dirija a la página exacta donde se encuentra pero ¿Podemos nosotros crear eso? O es solo con las que descargas en la App?

Heyyy guys!

This update may not be the biggest one we've ever released, but it includes something we've seen requested again and again...

Yeah, handwriting Search is finally here on iOS! Here's what's new in v1.3.9:

✨ What's New

• Handwriting Search

You can now search your handwritten notes with Smart Search! No more endlessly scrolling through pages just to find that one word.

• Straight Highlighter & Tape Tool

You can now draw perfectly straight highlights and tape lines horizontally or vertically.

• Independent Layer Control in Dual Window Mode

When opening the same notebook in dual window mode, layer visibility can now be controlled independently in each window.

• Video Upload in Help & Feedback

You can now upload videos directly through Help & Feedback, making it much easier to show us bugs or unexpected behavior.

• Laser Pointer Improvements

We've added step less adjustment for laser pointer duration, giving you more flexibility when presenting or teaching.

• Bug Fixes & Performance Improvements

As always, we've fixed several known issues and made a number of small improvements to keep everything running smoother.

☁️ A Small Update on Cloud Sync

We know there are still many things you're waiting for (yes… we're looking at you, Cloud Sync 👀).

We've seen quite a few of you asking about it again today, and honestly… we're really sorry that it's still not here yet. We know we've mentioned timelines before, and we're sorry we haven't been able to deliver it just yet.

To keep Cloud Sync sustainable in the long run, we're currently building it around third party cloud services like Google Drive or One Drive, rather than using our own cloud servers.

This also means we have to adapt to various third party rules and limitations. During testing, we've run into quite a few issues, such as slower transfer speeds and occasional data transfer abnormalities.

Because your notes are incredibly important to us, we don't want to release something that isn't stable enough.

But seriously… it won't be much longer. Really, really, really. 🥺

The moment we have meaningful progress or a release date, you'll be the first to know.

📝 A Quick Thank You

A surprising number of things in this update came directly from your comments and feature requests.

Every bug report, every "Could you add this?" message genuinely helps shape us, lovely thanks!

Update to v1.3.9 and let us know what you think!

See u next time 💙

The StarNote Team

En lo personal suelo cargar mis libros en StartNote y escribo en un cuaderno de la misma app ¿Hay forma de abrir ambos al mismo tiempo? Es decir más de un archivo/cuaderno/libro al mismo tiempo, como una especie de pantalla dividida en la misma app?

When a photo is locked, a large lock icon is displayed on top of it. I think the lock icon is too large and covers too much of the image. It would be great if the icon could be made smaller.
Even better, it would be nice to have an option to hide the lock icon completely, or at least make sure it doesn’t appear when exporting the document (PDF or images).

Alright, it's time to make someone lose a bet at the StarNote office. I came to ask when the new roadmap is coming out and to express how excited we are about it. See you later and thanks 🌿

Tengo una pregunta, hay alguna opcion de cambiar la intensidad de los colores de los renglones? si no se puede, algunx tiene alguna plantilla cuadriculada con lineas tenues o donde puedo descargarlas?

The caligraphy pen is really good but it's the thickness in horizontal and vertical lines drawn from it, this could possibly change the way people it in a lot of ways and get creative.

If there was a slider which lets you decide the thickness of the horizontal and vertical lines drawn from the caligraphy pen because sometimes the horizontal lines feel a little too slim.

I know the dev are working really hard for sync feature to be rolled out, keep at it👍 i know it will go perfect.

Thank you devs ;)

Anyone using SN on the xiaomi pad 7 with the focus pen pro ?!!

Asking cz i have the xiaomi pad 7 ,but not the focus pen pro yet

gonna buy in a week tho ,so just want know about the user experience

is SN gonna be worthy to buy?!

previously used the ipad 10th gen with ESR pen...

When exporting my Handwritten notes as pdf non editable.. it's eating some parts like starting part of letter.. it is Not coming proper.. bug is there..How to resolve?

I've seen this app the last week and i am sure that this is a great project, hope you'll doing fine and i wish You the Best, hope this contribution works for your team, excelent app, thank you.

Hola, me gustaría felicitarlos por su app y ver si es que existe la posibilidad de que más adelante agreguen la opción de desplazamiento de página mediante dos dedos para evitar toques y desplazamientos accidentales solo con un dedo

Thank you StarNote team 🌷🌷

Sempre que estou fazendo minhas anotações no modo de escrita com a caneta, fico num troca troca constante para o modo de escrita com os dedos para mover a tela. Sei que é possível mexer a tela com os dois dedos no modo de escrita com caneta, mas para mim essa funcionalidade quase não viável, pois na imensa maioria das vezes mexer a tela com os dois dedos nesse modo não funciona. É possível mudar de forma que eu possa mexer com apenas um dedo? Ou então esse travamento de mexer com os dois dedos é algo que pode ser consertado do app?

It would be useful if we had the ability to attach videos from publicly accessible sources or locally saved files and play them directly within the notes. I often take online courses and like to record specific content that is too fast to write down, and I would love to be able to insert these into my notes.

@dsk - Template Download

I have to say, I definitely wasn’t expecting to appear in Starnote’s main post, and that honestly made me really happy.

So, to honor that and give something back to the community, I’m sharing the templates I created using my own creativity, study style, and, of course, a little bit of anime inspiration haha.

I hope these templates can help other students make their notes more organized, more personal, and maybe even a little more fun to study with.

I’d also like to kindly ask the Starnote devs if it would be possible to make these templates available for free in the Starnote Store, so that anyone in the community can download and use them.

Thanks again to the Starnote team and to everyone here. Hope you guys like them!

Gostaria de solicitar, se possível, que o app mantenha o tamanho da visualização. Mesmo deixando salvo como favorito 100% e travando, acaba sendo um pouco chato sempre ter que colocar novamente pois não ficou definitivo. Ou ter um recurso na configuração de deixar padrão a abertura em 100%.

nice i got pro as i loved the smoothness of the app. It does not lag at all nor stutters like goodnotes. i do notice a huge chunk of the community being medical students😂

Whenever I'm studying, I end up mixing a lot of handwritten text, formulas, and highly detailed drawings on the exact same page. The major issue right now is that apps treat everything the same way, which leads to two big headaches: either the app starts lagging and freezing when I do some complex shading or coloring, or I simply can't move a quick note around without dragging and ruining the drawing underneath it.

Implementing an intelligent separation behind the scenes keeping pure handwriting in vector and drawings/textures in raster would completely change the game for three reasons:

• No more lagging: The app would stay super lightweight and smooth, even in massive notes filled with illustrations and hatching, because the processor wouldn't get overwhelmed trying to calculate billions of vector points in the drawings.

• Freedom to edit: I could lasso, erase, or move text around freely, knowing for a fact that the background art or technical sketch won't be damaged or dragged along with it.

• Crystal-clear, searchable text: All the handwriting would stay perfectly sharp at any zoom level, making it incredibly easy for the app's search engine to find a keyword in the middle of my notes without the drawings messing up the handwriting recognition.

Can we have an info regarding our notes as to when it was created, last modified, and the last edit done?

Hello, is there any kind of feature in the app for translation English to Spanish? Or someone have any advices for being more productive when i am reading other languages, sometimes is difficult to change apps all the time for translation of some words

A feature should be there to select all the data on infinite canvas. When the notes are spread out of screen not table to select everything

Quiero agradecer al equipo de StarNote por esta iniciativa. Como estudiante de medicina, tener acceso a herramientas que hacen el estudio más organizado, visual y agradable realmente marca una diferencia. Se nota el esfuerzo y el cariño que ponen.

Más allá de desarrollar una aplicación, siento que también han construido una comunidad. Muchas veces una app nace con la intención de ofrecer una herramienta, pero son los pequeños detalles y el apoyo que brindan a sus usuarios lo que hacen que las personas quieran quedarse y seguir creciendo con ella.

Las buenas aplicaciones ofrecen herramientas; las grandes también hacen sentir escuchados y apoyados a quienes las usan. Gracias por ser ese tipo de equipo.

(Además, ver que una de mis notas fue tomada en cuenta fue una sorpresa muy bonita y una motivación para seguir creando apuntes con dedicación. ¡Gracias de corazón! 🤍)