Notepad vs Goodnotes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notepad
Securely store and organize your thoughts with advanced features like PIN/biometric locking and an anti-theft system. Convert images to text, sync across devices, and customize your notes with rich formatting and tags. Share, backup, and easily retrieve your important information.
- PIN/Biometric note locking
- Anti-theft system with photo capture
- OCR for image to text conversion
- Cloud sync across devices
- Rich text formatting and styling
- Tagging and color-coding for organization
- Text, photo, and drawing note types
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Keep important notes safely with Anti Theft System! • Lock Notes with PIN / Biometric authentication (Fingerprint / Face detection) • Anti Theft System (Capture face photo silently who entered wrong PIN) • OCR Notes - Capture image and convert readable characters into notes! (Helpful to save ID card / Bill details) • Signup account and sync notes across the devices with same email (Backup / Restore notes to cloud) • Style your note (e.g Bold / Italic / Underline / Heading / Bullets / Alignments / Undo / Redo etc) • Note Backup / Restore via Email and Document Files and Notepad cloud account • Manage unlimited Notes • Make Text / Photo / Drawing / Sketch Notes • Tag Notes for quick search • Color notes accordingly • Share notes with friends via various apps • Trash - Recover notes from here • Bookmark - Make Note Important to fetch easily • Backup PIN - Backup PIN via email for recovery • Quick Search via title / body / tags • Save note from other app support - Select text and share it via this notepad app to store note quickly without opening this app • Available in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese, German, Chinese, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Greek, Arabic languages. Privacy Policy: https://parthmpandya.github.io/Privacy-Policy-Documents/iOS_Notepad_Privacy_Policy.html Terms Of Use: https://parthmpandya.github.io/Privacy-Policy-Documents/iOS_Notepad_Terms_and_Conditions.html This app will capture image from front camera without displaying prior view(Theft Report feature). If anyone have any query regarding this app or have any suggestion to improve app performance. Let me know on my email id: droidoworld@gmail.com
Goodnotes
Capture ideas, enhance productivity, and unlock insights with advanced AI features. This app offers tools for professionals, students, and creatives, including infinite whiteboards, AI-powered transcription and summarization, and customizable digital notebooks.
- AI-powered transcription and summarization
- Infinite whiteboard canvas
- Digital notebooks with customizable templates
- Study Sets for flashcards
- Presentation mode with laser pointer
- Real-time collaboration
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Goodnotes has always been the place to capture your ideas — from quick notes to big plans. Now, it goes further. With powerful AI and new ways to capture information, Goodnotes helps you connect the dots, unlock insights, and turn ideas into action. *Existing Goodnotes 5 users can continue to use Goodnotes 5 indefinitely or upgrade to the new Goodnotes. Either way, your notes are safe!* For professionals: Increase productivity at work ■ Whiteboard + Goodnotes AI: Brainstorm, mind-map, and diagram freely on an infinite canvas that grows with your ideas. Enhanced diagramming tools and real-time collaboration make it easy for teams to workshop & ideate together, while Goodnotes AI helps you capture and organize key takeaways instantly. ■ Goodnotes AI Audio & Meetings: Stay fully present in every conversation while Goodnotes does the work for you. AI-powered transcription and live summarization automatically capture discussions and turns them into clear meeting minutes. After the meeting, merge transcripts with your own handwritten or typed notes to create polished, shareable documents in seconds. ■ Text Documents + AI: Create documents that think with you. Enjoy a superior typing experience with rich inline blocks, build on ideas with external insights, and collaborate seamlessly with teammates. With AI-powered summarization, automated note generation, and transcript support, turn rough notes and meetings into finished content faster than ever. ■ Present your notes, slides, and content directly from Goodnotes when you connect your device via AirPlay or HDMI to an external screen. ■ Use Laser Pointer to guide your audience's attention during your presentation. ■ Export your handwritten and typed notes to email, print, or share them anywhere as PDFs. ■ Send a link to your notebooks to work on the same notes. ■ Import documents by emailing them to your custom Goodnotes email. For students: Ace your exams with ease ■ Record audio notes that are magically synced to your iPhone or iPad exact moment you write: perfect for lectures, seminars, and presentations. ■ Take handwritten notes that stay fully searchable: instantly find any word across every class notebook, even mid-lecture. ■ Study and practice straight from your notes with study Sets: flashcards built on active recall and spaced repetition. ■ Use AI to summarize, shorten, change the tone of your words, and turn messy handwritten or typed student notes into polished, structured study material. For planners and journalers: Let your creativity flow ■ Plan your week, month, or year on your iPhone/ iPad with built-in and importable planner templates, fully customizable to match how you plan. ■ Keep a daily journal alongside your planner. Combine handwriting, typed reflections, photos, and stickers on the same page. ■ Use Goodnotes AI to summarize a week's worth of journal entries on your iPhone or iPad into key themes and takeaways. ■ Customize the size and color of your paper templates to create the planner or journal you want. ■ Add, create, or import stickers, stamps, washi tapes, images, and more on your iPad. Digital notebooks: unlimited notebooks for the price of a single physical one ■ Combine handwriting and typed text on one page, alongside images, stickers, diagrams, and doodles. ■ Create digital notebooks, planners, and journals with customizable paper templates, including Blank Paper, Ruled Paper, Cornell Paper, Checklists, Planners, and more. ■ Navigate long documents with ease. PDF tables of contents are automatically imported, or create custom outlines yourself. ■ Back up all your handwritten and typed notes to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, and use iCloud to sync across iPad, iPhone, and Mac — so your notes are always safe. ■ Edit your handwriting by resizing it, changing the text color, or moving it to another spot on the page. Privacy Policy: https://www.goodnotes.com/privacy-policy Terms and Conditions: https://www.goodnotes.com/terms-and-conditions
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Goodnotes at none against Notepad's shown. Goodnotes also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). Notepad's advantage is iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.6). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Notepad sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month and Goodnotes sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Goodnotes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 455K ratings behind it against 64, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 33% and 34% positive.
Notepad ships an update every 3 months, Goodnotes weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notepad | Goodnotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (64 ratings) | 4.7 (455K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | 33.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 64 | 455K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #86 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 64 MB | 794 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Parth Pandya | Goodnotes Limited |
Customer experience
Notepad
Goodnotes
Bugs and requests
Notepad
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Goodnotes
Reported bugs
4 issues- Text box issues - unable to edit, resize, or move properly
- Handwriting recognition problems, especially with cursive
- Unreliable scrolling and page navigation
- Inconsistent behavior when using the zoom feature
Requested features
5 requests- Add bullet point and formatting options for typed text
- Implement a full-screen writing mode
- Improve the straight line and shape tools
- Integrate audio recording and synchronization
- Allow more customization of the toolbar and interface
In-app purchases
Notepad
- 1 Month License For Notes App$1.491 Month
- 1 Year License For Notes App$11.991 Year
- Ad Free Notes$1.99
- 1 Month License$1.99
- 1 Year License$9.99
Goodnotes
- AI Pass (Monthly)7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Goodnotes 6 (1 Year)1 Year trial$9.991 Year
- Essential (Yearly)7 Days trial$11.991 Year
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- Essential (Yearly)1 Year trial2 variants$11.991 Year
- Goodnotes Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$35.991 Year
- Bunny Oasis StickersFree
- Medicine-Academia Sticker SheeFree
- Goodnotes 6 Free TrialFree
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- Marketplace Content$1.99
- Marketplace Content$6.99
- Marketplace Content$8.99
- GoodNotes 5 Unlock$9.99
- Marketplace Content$9.99
- Marketplace Content$10.99
- Goodnotes 6 One-Time Payment$28.99
- Special Edition$35.99









