Comparison

Goodnotes vs myNotes

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

myNotes

Create notes, sketches, and to-do lists on an expansive, customizable canvas. Easily export your creations as high-resolution images for sharing via email or messaging. Supports Apple Pencil and finger input for a seamless creative experience.

Highlights
  • Infinite canvas
  • Apple Pencil & finger drawing
  • Export as JPEG/PNG
  • iCloud synchronization
  • Customizable background
  • Dark Mode
Features
Read full description

It was never easier to create notes, sketches, todo lists, reminders or whatever comes to your mind. You can use the Apple Pencil or your fingers to create amazing notes on an almost infinite canvas. With the export function you can easily save your note as an image and use it wherever you like. Forwarding via email, messages, whatsapp, etc. is no problem either. FUNCTIONS AT A GLANCE: • Draw with Apple Pencil or your fingers • Almost infinite canvas size • Customize the canvas background • Export as JPEG or PNG (max. 8192 pixels x 8191 pixels) • Customize the image export settings • iCloud Synchronization • On iPad and iPhone • Autosave function • Fast positioning • Fast zoom • Toolbar is hideable • Dark Mode • and much more… Data protection is a top priority at myNotes. The data belongs to you. The app will not send any data to anyone, neither the developer nor any other third party or service. Except for the data exchange between your devices through your iCloud, but this function is deactivatable. You have full control over your data and to whom it is sent. You can delete them at any time. QUESTIONS? Do you have any questions or feedback? Write a message to help.myTime@gmx.de! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Goodnotes4 screens
myNotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: myNotes at 78% against Goodnotes's 34%. myNotes also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.6). Goodnotes's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 2.3) and ratings volume (455K vs 4). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Goodnotes sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and myNotes sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Goodnotes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 455K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 34% of Goodnotes's written reviews are positive against 78% of myNotes's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Goodnotes ships an update weekly, myNotes every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Goodnotes versus myNotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoodnotesmyNotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (455K ratings) — better2.3 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews33.6% of reviews78.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings455K — better4
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#86 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size794 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoodnotes LimitedHeiner Gerdes

Customer experience

Goodnotes

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

myNotes

All ratings4 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive78.1%
Neutral3.1%
Negative18.8%

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

myNotes

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
4 purchases

myNotes

One-time4
  • Small Coffee$0.99
  • Medium Coffee$3.99
  • Pro Version$3.99
Show 1 more
  • Large Coffee$4.99

Questions

Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is myNotes free?
myNotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Goodnotes or myNotes?
Goodnotes is rated higher. Goodnotes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 455K ratings, while myNotes averages 2.3 from 4 ratings.
Do Goodnotes or myNotes have ads?
Neither Goodnotes nor myNotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Goodnotes or myNotes?
Goodnotes ships an update weekly, and myNotes every 3 weeks. Most recently, Goodnotes was updated on September 24, 2026 and myNotes on September 21, 2026.

Other comparisons