Goodnotes vs MindSpace
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
MindSpace
Create and organize ideas quickly with a visual mind mapping tool. Edit, export, and share your maps across devices. Offers a minimalist design and secure data storage.
- Create concise mind maps
- Organize ideas with colors and stickers
- Capture fleeting inspiration
- Exquisite and minimalist themes
- Secure document editor for data
- Free sharing of mind maps
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Create concise mind maps quickly. Edit them on Mac, iPad and iPhone, export pictures or PDF at any time to share in study and work. • Organize ideas Quickly adjust the structure of your information, distinguish them with different colors and different formats, insert stickers to make the information more vivid, and the built-in exquisite themes can be styled with one click. In short, MindSpace strives to help you build a castle of knowledge in your brain. • Capture inspiration Grasp the fleeting inspiration, quickly add it to the mind map, and become an important part of your knowledge castle. Each inspiration instantly becomes brick by brick and is permanently stored in your brain. • Exquisite appearance The selected theme style allows you to pay more attention to the information itself without worrying about the appearance. The minimalist style makes every position not redundant while reducing interference, making the content itself the core. • Data Security MindSpace uses the simplest way to build, namely the document editor, your data belongs to you only. • Free sharing Some of your whimsical ideas or creative inspiration can improve team efficiency, so make an intuitive mind map and share it with your team. If you choose the "subscription" purchase model, before subscribing, please know: • Monthly subscription users: Each subscription period is 1 month. • Annual subscription users: Each subscription period is 1 year. • In the MindSpace purchase window, the latest subscription price will be displayed in real time. After the payment is confirmed, or after the free trial period (if any) ends, the iTunes account will be debited. • The subscription is automatically renewed unless the auto-renewal feature is turned off 24 hours before the current subscription period. • The account will be deducted for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period, and the renewal amount is the same as the previous subscription amount. • The user can manage the subscription service by himself, and the automatic renewal service can be turned off in the user's account settings after purchase. terms of use: Please read the following terms carefully before using the "Unlocked Full Version" value-added service provided by "MindSpace": 1. Subscription model This service is a subscription-based fee-based service, which means that you will pay in advance for future subscription usage. Currently, you can choose to use the service on a monthly or yearly basis. At the end of each subscription period, your subscription will be automatically renewed by default, unless you cancel the automatic renewal yourself or we cancel the service. 2. Expenses The current standard service price may change during the promotion period. When the price adjustment occurs, the new fee will be incurred in your next subscription cycle. 3. Refund The current subscription fee will not be refunded. Please be sure to cancel the service by yourself before the end of the trial. 4. Unsubscribe If you need to cancel the renewal, please cancel at least 24 hours in advance. You can cancel by the following method: open the system settings-click on Apple ID-click on subscription-select "MindSpace" to cancel the subscription 5. Other The same Apple ID can only open one subscription to "MindSpace" contact us If you have any questions about these terms of use, please contact us. Email address: todo-color@outlook.com. Link to Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy link: https://rednowapp.github.io/privacy-policy/
Screenshots
Verdict
Goodnotes and MindSpace both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 89% of MindSpace's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's. MindSpace also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). Goodnotes's advantage is ratings volume (455K vs 285) and chart position (#85 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Goodnotes sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and MindSpace sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Goodnotes against 4.6 for MindSpace. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 455K ratings behind it against 285, 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 89% of MindSpace's.
Goodnotes ships an update weekly, MindSpace every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Goodnotes | MindSpace |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (455K ratings) — better | 4.6 (285 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 33.6% of reviews | 88.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 455K — better | 285 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #85 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 794 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Goodnotes Limited | 佳文 潘 |
Customer experience
Goodnotes
MindSpace
User reviews
Goodnotes
From 455K App Store ratingsWhat 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
MindSpace
From 285 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Streamlined and intuitive interface
- 💡 Excellent customization options
- 👍 Affordable one-time purchase
- 🚀 Smooth performance and responsiveness
- 💡 Versatile charting and visualization tools
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional freezing or crashing issues
- 🐛 Inconsistent export functionality
- 🐛 Lack of auto-save feature
- 🐛 Slow keyword search in large mind maps
- 🐛 Inability to connect nodes from separate trees
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
MindSpace
Reported bugs
3 issues- Nodes and content randomly disappearing
- Compatibility issues with older devices
- Syncing problems between devices
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to scribble or handwrite notes
- Improve keyboard shortcuts and text editing
- Implement more advanced charting and data visualization
- Allow custom node shapes and connection styles
- Add support for importing/exporting other mind map formats
In-app purchases
Goodnotes
- 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
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- Essential (Yearly)1 Year trial2 variants$11.991 Year
- Goodnotes Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$35.991 Year
- Bunny Oasis StickersFree
- Medicine-Academia Sticker SheeFree
- Goodnotes 6 Free TrialFree
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- 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
MindSpace
- Subscription Monthly2 variants$0.991 Month
- Subscription Yearly2 variants$7.991 Year
- 2000 AI Credits$1.49
- Lifetime Pro2 variants$12.99
- Lifetime Pro(Original)$12.99
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- Lifetime Pro$29.99









