Comparison

Goodnotes vs Widgetsmith

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

Widgetsmith

Personalize your device with highly customizable widgets for your home and lock screens. Showcase photos, track events, display weather, and launch apps directly from your widgets. Includes a wallpaper library and tools for theming.

Highlights
  • Customizable widgets
  • Home and lock screen personalization
  • Photo display
  • Event countdowns
  • Weather forecasts
  • App launching widgets
  • Theming tools
Features
Read full description

Widgetsmith lets you personalize your device like never before with a wide range of highly customizable widgets. It allows you to design your home screen to remind you of the people, places, and words that mean the most to you. Widgetsmith showcases your photos, counts down to upcoming events, provides quick access to your favorite music, allows you to check the weather at a glance, and more. You can build widgets with Actions to launch apps, run Shortcuts, send a text, and more, from your home screen or Control Center. Widgetsmith includes a library of iPhone wallpapers and a tool to theme your widgets to perfectly complement these wallpapers or any of your own. Each widget can be adjusted precisely to fit your desired appearance and function, using various colors, fonts, borders, and themes. With Widgetsmith, you can create your perfect home screen aesthetic and easily change it over time. WIDGETS: You can create almost anything with Widgetsmith, using the wide range of widget types offered in the app! Here are some favorites: Photos: Highlight your favorite images across your home screens with a range of filters and borders Photo Galleries: View photos in an album or customized collection Customizable Date & Time Clocks Activity Tracking & Step Counting Countdown Timers Solar & Lunar Trackers Weather Conditions & Forecasts Time Zone Tracker Widgetsmith lets you customize not only your home screen but also your lock screen! You can view inspirational song lyrics, a photo of a loved one, weather information, and more without unlocking your device. WALLPAPERS: Widgetsmith includes a collection of phone wallpapers from various artists. These can be downloaded directly from the app and used to create custom widget themes to quickly and easily theme your entire home screen in a pleasing color palette. FLEXIBILITY: If you want different widgets at different times of day, Widgetsmith has you covered! For example, a widget could show the weather in the morning, your calendar during your work day, and then switch to your Activity ring progress as you wrap up your day. This lets you take full advantage of each slot on your home screen. IN-APP TOOLS: Wisgetsmith is also home to a wide range of valuable tools, including: A weather app with air quality, pollen, and tide information A full-featured time zone converter Charts to review activity and workout data NOTES: Widgetsmith is designed to optionally integrate with Apple Health to display your steps and activity. Permission for Widgetsmith to access this data is controlled through the Apple Health app. Widgetsmith can also integrate with your photos, Apple Music library, calendars, reminders, and more. Access to this information is handled using the standard iOS/iPadOS/watchOS privacy prompts, which are shown only in Widgetsmith. Widgetsmith includes an optional premium subscription. This is offered on a monthly or annual basis. If you choose to purchase a subscription, your payment will be charged to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24 hours before the end of the current period. After purchase, you can turn off auto-renewal at any time by going to your Account Settings in the App Store. Access to tide and weather data is only available to Widgetsmith Premium subscribers. LEARN MORE: Privacy Policy: https://widgetsmith.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://widgetsmith.app/terms

Screenshots

Goodnotes4 screens
Widgetsmith4 screens

Verdict

The call

Goodnotes and Widgetsmith both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 72% of Widgetsmith's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's. Widgetsmith also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). Goodnotes's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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 Widgetsmith sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. 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 4.6 for Widgetsmith. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 457K and 773K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 34% of Goodnotes's written reviews are positive against 72% of Widgetsmith's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Goodnotes ships an update weekly, Widgetsmith every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Goodnotes versus Widgetsmith: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoodnotesWidgetsmith
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (457K ratings) — better4.6 (773K ratings)
Positive reviews33.6% of reviews72.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings457K773K — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#87#32 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS18.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size795 MB183 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoodnotes LimitedCross Forward Consulting, LLC

Customer experience

Goodnotes

All ratings456,958 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews6,538 reviews
Positive33.6%
Neutral11.3%
Negative55.1%

Widgetsmith

All ratings772,982 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral3.6%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews1,898 reviews
Positive72.1%
Neutral8.4%
Negative19.5%

User reviews

Goodnotes

From 457K 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

Widgetsmith

From 773K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Customizable widgets
  • 💡 Allows for aesthetic home screen design
  • 🤩 Great for organizing and personalizing
  • 🥰 Helpful for improving phone appearance

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Widgets turning grey or not working
  • 🤔 Inability to remove 'Widgetsmith' label
  • 🤨 Limited customization options for free users
  • 😕 Inconsistent widget behavior

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

Widgetsmith

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Widgets randomly turning grey or blank
  • Calendar and time widgets not updating correctly
  • App crashing or not opening
  • Issues with photo widgets not displaying images

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to choose specific photos for widgets
  • Option to adjust photo rotation interval
  • Custom color selection tool
  • Customizable widget labels
  • Transparent widget backgrounds

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
4 purchases

Widgetsmith

Subscriptions4
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Widgetsmith free?
Widgetsmith is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Goodnotes or Widgetsmith?
Goodnotes is rated higher. Goodnotes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 457K ratings, while Widgetsmith averages 4.6 from 773K ratings.
Do Goodnotes or Widgetsmith have ads?
Widgetsmith shows ads; Goodnotes does not.
Which is updated more often, Goodnotes or Widgetsmith?
Goodnotes ships an update weekly, and Widgetsmith every 2 weeks. Most recently, Goodnotes was updated on September 29, 2026 and Widgetsmith on September 30, 2026.
Which is more popular, Goodnotes or Widgetsmith?
Goodnotes currently peaks at #87 in the App Store charts, and Widgetsmith at #32. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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