Comparison

Goodnotes vs Blue Sketch

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

About

Blue Sketch

This app allows you to quickly sketch and write ideas freely on a blue canvas. It offers essential drawing tools, page management, and sharing options. Focus on your creativity with a minimalist interface and robust organizational features.

Highlights
  • Handwritten note-taking
  • Drawing tools (pen, line, shapes)
  • Undo/Redo functionality
  • Page size and scaling options
  • Image sharing (PNG, JPG, PDF)
  • Document organization (folders, sorting)
  • Read-only mode
  • Apple Pencil support
Read full description

Sketch your idea! You can write freely and quickly because it is handwritten. You can concentrate on writing because it is the minimum function that can write only white lines on the blue canvas. Functions List: - Can be used as a notebook or notepad - Pen tool: draw a line - Straight line tool - Rectangle and Ellipse Tools - Switch between solid/dotted lines - Can change the size of the pen - Undo / Redo - Can change the page size - Can scale the page - Image sharing: Share an image as PNG, JPG, or PDF format. Also, you can share monochrome converted images. - List documents - List recently opened documents - Organize: Document folders - Sort documents and folders - Title documents and folders - Delete the document then put it into the trash box. - Restore the deleted document from the trash box. - Delete the document entirely in the trash box. - Copy documents: You can duplicate the document. Tap the copy button at the bottom right of the note screen to duplicate it. - Read-only mode: While in read-only mode, you can disable writing and prevent erroneous operations. You can change the settings by tapping the title on the note screen. - Option to use only Apple Pencil: Only available for iPad compatible with Apple Pencil. - Double-tap the Apple Pencil to switch between tools in sequence. - Apple Pencil Pro is also supported. - Can turn off/on the function the app puts the device into a sleep state if you don't touch the screen for a certain period while the page is displayed. About In-App Purchase: The first 20 pages can be used free of charge. After that, adding pages will be paid content. Please support the developer.

Screenshots

Goodnotes4 screens
Blue Sketch4 screens

Verdict

The call

Goodnotes and Blue Sketch both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 77% of Blue Sketch's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's. Blue Sketch also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.6). Goodnotes's advantage is ratings volume (455K vs 327) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Goodnotes sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Blue Sketch sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Goodnotes against 4.7 for Blue Sketch. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 455K ratings behind it against 327, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 34% of Goodnotes's written reviews are positive against 77% of Blue Sketch's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Goodnotes ships an update weekly, Blue Sketch monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Goodnotes versus Blue Sketch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoodnotesBlue Sketch
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (455K ratings)4.7 (327 ratings)
Positive reviews33.6% of reviews76.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings455K — better327
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#86 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size794 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoodnotes LimitedMasaki Ando

Customer experience

Goodnotes

All ratings454,853 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews6,458 reviews
Positive33.6%
Neutral11.3%
Negative55.0%

Blue Sketch

All ratings327 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.8%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative23.1%

User reviews

Goodnotes

From 455K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent note-taking experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Smooth writing with Apple Pencil
  • 📁 Powerful organization with folders and notebooks
  • 🖼️ Ability to annotate PDFs and documents

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and crashes
  • 🔍 Syncing and iCloud issues
  • 🔍 Lack of flexibility with text input
  • 🔍 Limited eraser and highlighting options
  • 🔍 Subpar performance on Mac app

Blue Sketch

From 327 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and effective interface
  • 👍 Great for kids
  • 👍 Quick and easy to draw
  • 👍 Simplistic nature is appreciated
  • 👍 Straightforward interface for jotting ideas

Room to improve

  • 💸 Annoying to buy pages
  • 🤔 Frustrating to delete blank pages
  • 🤔 Too difficult to use
  • 💸 Rip off with per-page charges
  • 🤏 Erasing is tedious, needs mass erase option

Bugs and 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

Blue Sketch

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • App crashed when attempting export on 2019 iPad Pro

Requested features

6 requests
  • More shapes for sketches (curves, polygons)
  • TEXT field option for readable font
  • Pinch/stretch to zoom
  • Finer and less pixelated pencil strokes
  • Option to add extra pages
Show 1 more
  • Feature to group elements for easy deletion

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Goodnotes

Subscriptions5
  • 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
Show 2 more
  • Essential (Yearly)1 Year trial2 variants$11.991 Year
  • Goodnotes Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$35.991 Year
One-time11
  • Bunny Oasis StickersFree
  • Medicine-Academia Sticker SheeFree
  • Goodnotes 6 Free TrialFree
Show 8 more
  • 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
2 purchases

Blue Sketch

One-time2
  • 10 pages$0.99
  • 30 pages$1.99

Questions

Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Blue Sketch free?
Blue Sketch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Goodnotes or Blue Sketch?
Goodnotes and Blue Sketch are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 455K and 327 ratings respectively.
Do Goodnotes or Blue Sketch have ads?
Neither Goodnotes nor Blue Sketch shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Goodnotes or Blue Sketch?
Goodnotes ships an update weekly, and Blue Sketch monthly. Most recently, Goodnotes was updated on September 24, 2026 and Blue Sketch on September 19, 2026.

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