Microsoft Whiteboard vs Noteful
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Microsoft Whiteboard
This app offers a freeform digital canvas for individuals and teams to brainstorm, create, and collaborate visually. It supports touch, type, and pen input, allowing for seamless real-time teamwork from anywhere. Your work is automatically saved to the cloud for easy access across devices.
- Infinite freeform canvas
- Real-time team collaboration
- Touch, type, and pen support
- Pre-built templates
- Shapes and lines library
- Sticky notes and notes grids
- Automatic cloud saving
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Update : The App performance has been significantly improved & there are also a ton of other features which have been added. Check out the “What’s new” section for more details!! Microsoft Whiteboard provides a freeform intelligent canvas where individuals & teams alike can ideate, create, and collaborate visually via the cloud. Designed for touch, type & pen, it lets you write or draw as smoothly as you would with ink, you can even type in text, add sticky notes or notes grid to express your ideas & use reactions to visually communicate your thoughts. It enhances teamwork by allowing all team members to edit the canvas in real time, no matter where they are. Get started quickly by inserting a pre-built template or draw your own flowchart using our expansive shapes library. No matter what your use case, we have the right set of tools for you and all your work stays safe in the cloud, ready to be picked back up from another location or device. -- Create freely, work naturally – Microsoft Whiteboard provides an infinite canvas where imagination has room to grow: draw, type, add a sticky note or a notes grid, move them around – it’s all possible. The touch-first, pen-first interface frees your ideas from the keyboard, and the intelligent inking technology transforms your doodles into great-looking shapes and lines that can be copied, pasted and combined with other objects. Moreover, you can also, ink on your sticky notes & text boxes and magically see the ink get converted to text using Apple Scribble functionality (on iPads with Apple Pencil). --Collaborate in real time, wherever you are— Microsoft Whiteboard brings every member of a team together working from their own devices across the globe. On the Whiteboard canvas, you can also see what your teammates are doing in real time and start collaborating on the same area. It’s about getting everyone on the same page – or board. --Save automatically, resume seamlessly – Forget having to take photos of your whiteboards, or marking them with “Do Not Erase.” With Microsoft Whiteboard, your brainstorming sessions are saved automatically to the Microsoft cloud, so you can pick up where you left off, whenever – and wherever – inspiration strikes next. What’s new: • Improved App Performance & Reduction in crashes which has been a strong customer ask. • Modern look and feel: 1. Streamlined user experience - an unobtrusive app UI maximizes your canvas space. 2. Creation gallery - a highly discoverable, simple way of finding and using objects and features in the application. • Interactive content features: 3. 40+ customizable templates – get started quickly and collaborate, brainstorm, and ideate with brand new templates. 4. Shapes & Lines - Choose from an expansive library of shapes & lines to visually collaborate & ideate with your team members 5. Reactions - provide lightweight, contextual feedback with a set of fun reactions. • Inking features: 6. Apple Scribble – Ink on text boxes & sticky notes and see your ink strokes magically convert to text (on iPads with Apple pencil) 7. Ink arrows – smoothly draw single and double-sided arrows using ink to better facilitate diagramming. Dichiarazione di accessibilità: https://www.microsoft.com/it-it/accessibility/declarations
Noteful
This app revolutionizes paperless note-taking on iPad, allowing for handwritten notes, document annotation, and knowledge organization. It offers a fluid writing experience, PDF markup, powerful tagging, and audio recording synced with notes.
- Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
- PDF and document annotation
- Organize notes with tags
- Layers for annotations
- Audio recording synced with notes
- Import PDFs and MS Office documents
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Noteful is your one-stop note-taking app to experience the new paperless revolution on iPad. Perfect for annotating documents, taking class notes or even building your personal knowledge system. It is time to put aside the paper clutter, as Noteful is a versatile tool that helps you to accelerate your learning and knowledge work. Take Beautiful Handwritten Notes • Natural, fluid and precise handwriting experience • Precise handwriting on iPad with Apple Pencil native support • Custom-built ink engine InfiniteStroke that captures and converts your strokes into high-resolution vector ink • 3 brushes available: ballpoint pen, fountain pen and highlighter • Switch between pen sizes and colours • Recognise geometrical shapes Markup, Highlight, Annotate • Import PDFs, MS Office documents to a notebook • Add images, shapes and typed text to notes • Use multiple paper templates in a single notebook • Export and share handwritten annotations as PDF • Use Quick Create to create a new notebook for quick sketching Powerful Tagging • Organise quickly by tagging with #tag or even #nested/tag anywhere in notebooks • More flexible than folders; Notes can be organised by subjects, by topics or by priorities • Browse notebooks or pages by tags • Rename, delete or re-assign tags to easily re-organise your library Layers in Notebook • Add annotation on separate layers without changing original content* • Hide or show layers independently • Rearrange layers • Make it possible to composite complex layout* All Your Notes, All the Time • Sync to all your iPhone and iPad devices* • Take textbooks, slides, handwritten notes and PDF documents with you wherever you go • Notebooks synced with iCloud are encrypted via account-based keys Powerful Editing • Erase strokes with eraser • Double tap on Apple Pencil to switch to eraser tool • Move and resize annotations with lasso tool • Unlimited undo, redo • Support Split View for multitasking Audio Record Notes • Record audio while you take notes • Audio playback position synced with the notes Modern App Design • A minimalist UI that maximizes content space • Streamlined design that requires fewer taps for common functions • Different orientations are available for the main toolbar • A clean UI that lets you focus on note-taking and the content We will be adding new features so please stay tuned for future updates. — Noteful is free to use without time limit but with certain features (marked with*) only available to users who upgrade to Noteful Pro via In-app purchase. Noteful Pro is available for one-time purchase and the features will be unlocked forever. — If you have support questions or product suggestions, please contact us by support. Wishing you happy note-taking! Customer Support: support@getnoteful.com Privacy Policy: https://www.getnoteful.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
Microsoft Whiteboard and Noteful both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 87% of Noteful's written reviews are positive against 36% of Microsoft Whiteboard's. Noteful also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). Microsoft Whiteboard's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Noteful sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Microsoft Whiteboard asks for nothing beyond the download.
Noteful holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12K and 24K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Microsoft Whiteboard's written reviews are positive against 87% of Noteful's.
Microsoft Whiteboard ships an update every 6 weeks, Noteful fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.
| Parameter | Microsoft Whiteboard | Noteful |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (12K ratings) | 4.8 (24K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.1% of reviews | 86.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12K | 24K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 157 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | Noteful Technologies Ltd |
Customer experience
Microsoft Whiteboard
Noteful
User reviews
Microsoft Whiteboard
From 12K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient collaboration
- 💡 Versatile canvas
- 🎨 Good customization options
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and unstable
- 🤯 Poor UI/UX design
- 🔍 Lack of basic features
- 🔌 Connectivity issues
- 💤 Laggy performance
Noteful
From 24K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth writing experience
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 💡 Layers feature
- 👍 Affordable one-time purchase
- 🚀 Efficient and lightweight
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
- 🔍 No handwriting recognition or search
- 🔍 Limited text editing options
- 🔍 Lack of advanced features like math conversion
- 🔍 Exporting PDFs loses some formatting
Bugs and requests
Microsoft Whiteboard
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frequent crashes and freezes
- Unsaved work loss
- Unreliable sync and loading
- Inconsistent behavior across devices
Requested features
6 requests- Add offline support
- Improve palm rejection
- Implement handwriting recognition
- Allow font and color customization
- Add locking/anchoring options
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- Enhance sharing and export capabilities
Noteful
Reported bugs
3 issues- Syncing issues across devices
- Lasso tool not working properly with PDFs
- Eraser tool not functioning as expected
Requested features
6 requests- Handwriting recognition and search
- More text editing options (bullet lists, etc.)
- Improved PDF handling and annotations
- Custom templates and sticker support
- Expanded cloud storage options (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
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- Customizable pen pressure and smoothing
In-app purchases
Microsoft Whiteboard
No in-app purchases
Noteful
- Noteful Pro, Lifetime$6.99
Questions
Is Microsoft Whiteboard free?
Is Noteful free?
Which has better reviews, Microsoft Whiteboard or Noteful?
Do Microsoft Whiteboard or Noteful have ads?
Which is updated more often, Microsoft Whiteboard or Noteful?
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