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It looks like the GoodNotes vs Notability is a never-ending debate. Search “the best annotation apps for iOS” or “best notetaking apps”, and you’ll see GoodNotes and Notability as the two most recommended options. We’ve tried both annotation apps on our all-in-one digital planners, and they are both pretty incredible — and that’s exactly the challenge.
With their stellar features for jotting down and organizing your thoughts, choosing what’s best for your style and needs is difficult. Well, the choice depends on your specific needs.
Check out our head-to-head comparison of GoodNotes vs. Notability to decide which app works best for you. For this comparison, we’ve freshly tested each app, comparing the features that matter for you the most.
Ready? Let’s go 👇
| Features | GoodNotes 6 | Notability |
| Free trial | ✓ | ✓ |
| Compatibility | Mac, iPad, iPhone, PC, Android | Mac, iPad, iPhone |
| Unlimited notetaking | Paid | Paid |
| Unlimited paper templates & customization | Paid | Paid |
| Basic tools | ✓ | ✓ |
| PDF annotation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Handwriting conversion | ✓ | Paid |
| Audio notes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Math conversion | ✓ | Paid |
| PDF hyperlink navigation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stickers and templates | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI tools | ✓ | ✓ |
| iCloud sync | ✓ | Paid |
| Auto-backup to 3rd party | ✓ | Paid |
Both apps have got AI tools for handwriting — word suggestions, autocomplete, spell check, fixing typos, etc. You get many writing features, like rich formatting, multiple stylus or pen options, iCloud sync, highlighters, shapes, PDF annotation, web clips, audio recordings, and tabular documents.
Both GoodNotes and Notability offer handwriting-to-text conversion and handwriting recognition. The difference is that with GoodNotes, these options are standard for all plans (free or premium), while Notability users require a subscription.
Both apps support Apple Pencil, so you can use drawing and sketching tools to write notes. The built-in palm rejection and left-handed support make writing smooth.
GoodNotes supports note conversion in 17 languages, while Notability supports 23 languages.
🏆Winner: GoodNotes
GoodNotes gives you more customization and free access to handwriting conversion and recognition.
Image credit: Notability
Many of the notetaking features offered by both apps are so similar. You get a customizable digital workspace and a similar toolkit, including a pen, pencil, highlighter, eraser, lasso tool, and text box. Both apps let you create password-protected notes.
What’s unique to GoodNotes is the Elements Tool and the Time Keeper, while Notability offers a movable Toolbox.
Pen/Pencil: You get a ballpoint and a fountain pen (a brush pen in GoodNotes for artistic sketches, drawings, and lettering). The Pencil tool offers both pressure-sensitivity and tilt-activated shading. But Notability’s Pencil tool is better because it uses vector-based ink so that you can easily resize your drawings while maintaining the quality. The pencil tool in both apps offers pressure sensitivity and tilt-activated shading.
Eraser & highlighter: Both apps have erasers and highlighters, but GoodNotes’ multi-layering can compromise the visibility of the original text. Notability’s highlighter adds only one layer, only highlighting the background.
Favorites & colors: GoodNotes has seven slots for favorite colors and unlimited custom colors. With Notability, you don’t get the Favorites Bar, and you get custom colors only with a subscription (but not on the Classic Plan).
Lasso: Click the Text tool in GoodNotes to create resizable and movable text boxes. You can use the Typing mode for full-page typing with access to options, like indenting, headings, bulleted lists, and more, like a word-processing program. But you don’t get as much customization, not even to change font and font size.
With Notability, tap the Text tool, and click anywhere to start typing. You’ll need the Lasso tool to resize and move your text.
🏆Winner: Tie
Both apps let you use built-in and downloaded stickers and templates. Notability lets you create custom stickers to fit your style and preferences. But GoodNotes doesn’t let you create custom templates, but you can import custom templates for future use.
What we truly liked in both apps was that we could also download digital stickers and templates for other online marketplaces for more fun digital planning and notetaking.
🏆Winner: Notability
You can create custom templates within the app.
Both apps support iCloud sync and Auto-Backup, but Notability needs a subscription for this. Both platforms allow you to auto-backup your notes to third-party storage like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. Notability offers extra options, including Box and WebDAV.
🏆Winner: GoodNotes
Because iCloud sync and Auto-Backup are free and better
With both apps, you can create publicly accessible links. Create and share a link to the pageant, and share it with anyone so they can view it in any browser or on any device.
The biggest downside of Notability is that it doesn’t currently support real-time editing and collaboration. But with GoodNotes, two or more people can work together on the same version.
🏆Winner: GoodNotes
Supports real-time editing and collaboration, making it famous for working together.
Image credit: GoodNotes
Open GoodNotes, and you’ll see your notes and folders arranged in a list or grid layout (your choice). Tap on the name of any document or folder to see additional menu options. Press the Goodnotes icon on the top left to open the sidebar to access a search tool, quick access to bookmarked notes, a place for shared documents, and more.
Open Notability, and you’ll see folders on the left. Click on any folder, and the notes will appear on the right. Besides the list or grid view choice, you can add collapsible toggles to divide folders into sections and tidy your workspace. Not much else here!
🏆Winner: Notability
Although both have an intuitive interface, Notability wins particularly because of its minimalist look. Being able to see your notes from the home screen is a big bonus. We found the GoodNotes alphabetical order system a little frustrating.
Goodnotes
Limited plan: Free
Full version (iOS): One-time purchase of $29.99 or $9.99 per year
Notability
Limited plan: Free
Plus plan: $19.99 per year in-app purchase
🏆Winner: GoodNotes
GoodNotes is more affordable — its subscription cost is less than Notability’s, and the one-time payment option saves you money for long-term use.
On the other hand, many of the best features of Notability are on the Plus plan, which is more expensive than GoodNotes.
But if you want to use your notetaking app for a month or two, we suggest choosing Notability because $19.99 annually equates to $1.65 monthly.
AI features are something new to both apps and will keep improving in the coming years. With both apps, you can summarize sections on your notes, create quizzes, ask for explanations, and more. Generative AI enables automatic spellcheck, word suggestions, AI Math Assistance, and math conversions for handwritten notes.
🏆Winner: Tie
If you still ask for one recommendation, go for GoodNotes because it has added more bonus features that Notability doesn’t have.
It’s really tough to decide between GoodNotes and Notability because almost all features in both apps are similar. GoodNotes is still the best bet because it’s affordable, and many of its highly useful features, like iCloud Sync, auto-backup, and handwriting conversion, are free.
If you aren’t going to use your notetaking app for a long time, then Notability’s monthly price makes it the perfect fit for you.
But the level of comfort, control, customization, and flexibility GoodNotes offers makes it hard to ignore.
Again, the final selection is based on your personal preferences, needs, and goals.
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