Comparison

Goodnotes vs Mind Map

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

Mind Map

Create beautiful mind maps intuitively to capture and organize ideas. Supports brainstorming, note-taking, studying, and project planning. Collaborate in real-time and export in various formats.

Highlights
  • Intuitive mind map creation
  • Brainstorming and ideation
  • Note-taking and studying
  • Project planning and management
  • Customizable themes and formatting
  • Add notes, links, attachments, and images to nodes
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Export as PNG, PDF, OPML
Features
Read full description

HoodleMind is a mind mapping tool that allows you to create beautiful mind maps intuitively and effortlessly. Start using HoodleMind to capture and organize ideas and information, it can be used for several purposes, including: - Brainstorming and ideation - Taking notes - Studying for an exam - Planning an event - Project planning and management - And more… HoodleMind has many built-in light and dark themes to use and it also provides many options to format elements, such as nodes and connections. For nodes, you can add associated content, for example, notes, links, attachments and images, and you can also add tasks to nodes to turn them into a todo list. All your documents are stored in the iCloud and they are automatically synced across all your devices. You can also collaborate on documents in real time. You can export documents as PNG/PDF/OPML files. If you have any questions, please drop us a line (hoodlemind@aliyun.com).

Screenshots

Goodnotes4 screens
Mind Map4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Mind Map at 70% against Goodnotes's 34%. Mind Map also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.7). Goodnotes's advantage is ratings volume (455K vs 7) and chart position (#85 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, 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 Mind Map sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mind Map holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 455K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 34% of Goodnotes's written reviews are positive against 70% of Mind Map's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Goodnotes versus Mind Map: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoodnotesMind Map
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (455K ratings)4.9 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.6% of reviews69.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings455K — better7
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#85 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.617.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size794 MB59 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoodnotes Limited翔 崔

Customer experience

Goodnotes

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

Mind Map

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews43 reviews
Positive69.8%
Neutral4.7%
Negative25.6%

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

Mind Map

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
1 purchases

Mind Map

One-time1
  • HoodleMind Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mind Map free?
Mind Map is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Goodnotes or Mind Map?
Mind Map is rated higher. Goodnotes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 455K ratings, while Mind Map averages 4.9 from 7 ratings.
Do Goodnotes or Mind Map have ads?
Neither Goodnotes nor Mind Map shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Goodnotes or Mind Map?
Goodnotes ships an update weekly, and Mind Map weekly. Most recently, Goodnotes was updated on September 24, 2026 and Mind Map on September 20, 2026.

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