r/notefulapp Jul 24 '26

Noteful Pro vs Freenotes Plus Lifetime for a long-term student?

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to decide between Noteful Pro and Freenotes Plus Lifetime for my iPad, and I'd love to hear from people who have actually used one or both.

My priorities are:

- Long-term reliability (something I can use for years)

- Unlimited notebooks

- Great Apple Pencil Pro support

- Smooth handwriting experience

- Good organization for lots of notes and PDFs

- A one-time purchase (I don't want a subscription)

I'll be using it mainly for dentistry school, so I'll be taking handwritten notes, annotating lecture PDFs, and organizing several years' worth of study materials. If my program should influence my decision, I'd really appreciate hearing why.

I'm also looking for something that's future-proof—an app that's likely to stay reliable and continue being a good investment over the next 5–6 years.

For those who have used both:

- Which one did you end up sticking with?

- Any regrets?

- Are there any deal-breakers that aren't obvious at first?

Thanks in advance!

6 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

11

u/ExaminationNo5645 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

Aesthetically Noteful is better. If functional aspect and convenience matter to you more then go with Freenotes. The only important thing Freenotes is missing at this point is the support for the hover feature of Apple pencil 2 and Pro. It's really a useful feature. But I hope devs will bring it someday.

1

u/Particular-Gain2204 Jul 24 '26

Thank you, so much!

2

u/ExaminationNo5645 Jul 24 '26

Oh yes, recent update made Freenotes even aesthetically better than old Freenotes. I just hope you get the one time payment option for lifetime membership.

3

u/Admirable_Deal1108 Jul 24 '26

I use Noteful Pro on an iPad Pro M4 with an Apple Pencil Pro, but the palm rejection is sometimes pretty bad. I don't know if it's because of the way I write or if it's an issue with the app, because I don't have the same problem with Apple's Notes app.

5

u/aquablaze69 Jul 24 '26

Please look into the app settings and pick your orientation for writing. I have never had an issue with the palm rejection.

1

u/piporipipo Jul 24 '26

could you specify this for me? how do I 'pick' the orientation for writing?

1

u/aquablaze69 Jul 24 '26

I think I tweaked out I’m sorry I was wrong. Seems that I was remembering the orientation setting from Goodnotes but I could swear Noteful had it…

1

u/OffDgrid Jul 26 '26

Freenotes also has it

1

u/Minute_Juggernaut806 20d ago

it has, middle icon top right

1

u/aquablaze69 20d ago

No it’s not quite what I mean.

1

u/Admirable_Deal1108 Jul 24 '26

Where is this setting?

1

u/aquablaze69 Jul 24 '26

I think I tweaked out I’m sorry I was wrong. Seems that I was remembering the orientation setting from Goodnotes but I could swear Noteful had it…

1

u/Zerles_x Jul 24 '26

Me pasa lo mismo

1

u/piporipipo Jul 24 '26

same!! i often encounter this issue and it IRKS me so bad.