The best annotation apps for a digital planner, on iPad, Android and Windows

A digital planner is a PDF, so it needs an app that lets you write on a PDF: an annotation app. Any of them will open the file. What separates them for planning is whether they run on your tablet, whether they follow the planner's links when you tap a tab or a date, and how much the free plan lets you do before it asks for money.

Prices change by region and by month, so this guide says what is free and what is paid rather than quoting numbers. Check the store listing before you buy.

What to check before you choose

1. 1It runs on your device. iPad has the widest choice; Android and Windows tablets have fewer, though the gap closed a lot in 2026.
2. 2It follows links. A hyperlinked planner is only quick if a tap on a month tab or a date opens that page. Every app below does, but most only when the pen is put down. How the links work, app by app.
3. 3The free plan can hold your planner. Free plans usually cap the number of notebooks, and some cap the size of a file you can import. A full year of daily pages is a large PDF.
4. 4You like writing in it. Handwriting feel matters more than the feature list. Try the free plan with a few pages before you commit a year to it.

GoodNotes

The app most digital planners are made for, ours included. GoodNotes 6 runs on iPad, iPhone and Mac; a separate GoodNotes for Android, Windows and the web came out of beta and now opens the same notebooks, though it does not yet have every feature of the iPad app.

• ✓Free plan: up to three notebooks. On Android, Windows and the web the free plan also limits how large a file you can import, which a full-year planner can exceed.
• ✓Links: tap them with your finger while the Apple Pencil writes, or switch to Read Only mode.
• ✓Good at: handwriting that feels natural, searching your own handwriting, folders for planners and notes, stickers kept in the Elements tray.

Notability

Long the iPad and Mac favourite for notes with audio, and since August 2026 on Android too. Its strength is recording audio that stays in step with what you write, which suits lectures and meetings more than a planner, but it handles planners well.

• ✓Free plan: a Starter plan with limits on how much you can create or edit; the paid plans, now including a one-time purchase, lift them.
• ✓Links: switch the note to read-only with the pencil toggle, tap a tab or a date, and toggle it back to write.
• ✓Good at: audio recordings linked to your writing, a tidy interface, a large template library.

Noteshelf

A close cousin of GoodNotes and Notability that runs almost everywhere: iPad, iPhone, Mac, Android and Windows. It is a sensible choice for anyone moving between an iPad and an Android or Windows device.

• ✓Free plan: three notebooks; a one-time purchase unlocks the rest, rather than a subscription.
• ✓Links: test a tab and a date on the first day; if a tap draws instead of jumping, put the pen tool down first.
• ✓Good at: pen and highlighter choice, audio notes, a broad template library.

Xodo

A PDF app first and a notebook second, on iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows and the web. The free version covers what a planner needs: pen, highlighter, shapes, text and stickers. A Pro subscription adds more tools, most of them for office documents.

• ✓Links: plain taps follow links while no pen is armed, so there is no mode to switch.
• ✓Good at: working the same way on every device, and costing nothing for planner use.
• ✓Less good at: handwriting feels less natural than in GoodNotes or Notability.

Penly

Built for Android tablets, Samsung Galaxy Tab in particular. Besides opening your PDF planners it makes planner pages of its own, and it is popular with sticker-heavy planners. It is not on iPad.

• ✓Links: test a tab and a date on the first day; if a tap draws instead of jumping, put the pen tool down first.
• ✓Good at: stickers, colourful pages and pen styles on an Android tablet.

Also worth knowing

• ✓Flexcil, on iPad, Android and Windows: links follow in reading mode; in pen mode, switch back to read.
• ✓Samsung Notes, free on Galaxy tablets: it opens a PDF and writes on it well. Check that a tap on a tab opens its page before you plan a year in it.
• ✓A reMarkable or other e-ink tablet: these open PDFs too, but a page drawn for an iPad screen is the wrong shape. Ours has an edition drawn for the reMarkable Paper Pro.

Which one to pick

• ✓On an iPad: GoodNotes for planning, Notability if you also record lectures or meetings.
• ✓On an Android tablet: GoodNotes or Notability now both run there; Penly for sticker-heavy planners; Xodo for a free app.
• ✓Across devices: Noteshelf or Xodo, which work the same way on every platform.

Every planner on this site is a standard hyperlinked PDF, so it works in any of these apps: the All-in-One Digital Planner, every other digital planner, and the free templates.