Comparison

Goodnotes vs Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app

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

Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app

Record, transcribe, and organize lectures, meetings, and ideas with AI-powered summaries, instant answers, and quick actions. Export notes as polished PDFs for easy sharing and collaboration.

Highlights
  • Automatic transcription with time-stamps
  • AI-generated summaries and key takeaways
  • Ask AI questions about your notes
  • Quick AI actions: translate, proofread, expand
  • Export notes as PDF
  • Record lectures and meetings
Features
Read full description

Never take notes again. Greatnotes5 records every conversation and automatically creates summaries, word-for-word transcripts, key points and action items in seconds. ● Tap Record Once. Get Notes Automatically • Word-for-word transcripts • AI summaries & minutes • Action items & follow ups • Key takeaways • Time stamped Transcription • Searchable conversations ● Chat With Your Recordings • What decisions were made? • What are my action items? • Summarize this meeting. • What did we discuss about pricing? • What were the lecture highlights? • What questions were asked? Find answers in seconds. ● AI Writing Assistant • Summarize long recordings • Rewrite professionally • Improve grammar • Translate notes • Generate titles • Create concise highlights • Continue writing ● Share Anywhere Export polished notes as PDF and share with coworkers, clients, classmates, teachers, or your team. ● Coming Soon Turn recordings, PDFs, and documents into AI podcasts you can listen to while commuting, walking, studying, or traveling. FAQs What's the best AI note taking app for iPhone? Greatnotes is an AI Note Taking app that records meetings, lectures, interviews, voice memos, and conversations, then creates transcripts, AI summaries, meeting notes, lecture notes, action items, and searchable notes. Can this app record meetings and create notes automatically? Yes. Greatnotes records meetings and lectures, transcribes speech to text, summarizes discussions, creates meeting minutes, and extracts key takeaways automatically. Can this app transcribe audio into text? Yes. Greatnotes converts speech into accurate, time stamped transcripts for meetings, lectures, interviews, study sessions, classes, and voice recordings. Can I use this app for studying? Yes. Record lectures, generate study notes, review key concepts, and prepare for exams faster. Can I chat with my notes? Yes. Ask questions about meetings and recordings to instantly find decisions, action items, summaries, or important details. Does this app create AI summaries? Yes. Greatnotes summarizes recordings, rewrites notes, translates content, improves writing, generates titles, and helps organize information with AI. Is Greatnotes like Goodnotes, Notability, or Coconote? Greatnotes combines AI note taking, voice recording, speech to text transcription, AI summaries, meeting notes, lecture notes, and AI chat in one iPhone app. Privacy Policy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_wdVmWyFuw-bcjgMOr1xqLdBZs47o3anwCtNAM9XUBo/edit?usp=sharing Terms of Usage: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14FDMmPF4e01WpDefHlvt_WyrZwotTlCAlnjeBYPYtPw/edit?tab=t.0 Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and the cost of the renewal will be identified. You may manage your subscription and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after the purchase. Any unused portion of the free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication.

Screenshots

Goodnotes4 screens
Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app4 screens

Verdict

The call

Goodnotes and Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 65% of Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's. Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly). Goodnotes's advantage is ratings volume (457K vs 1.4K) and chart position (#91 vs unranked). 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 Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. 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 Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 457K ratings behind it against 1.4K, 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 65% of Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Goodnotes ships an update weekly, Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Goodnotes versus Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoodnotesGreatnotes5 AI Note Taking app
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (457K ratings) — better4.6 (1.4K ratings)
Positive reviews33.6% of reviews65.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings457K — better1.4K
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#91 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.618.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size795 MB71 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoodnotes LimitedKanza Ahmad

Customer experience

Goodnotes

All ratings456,958 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews6,458 reviews
Positive33.6%
Neutral11.3%
Negative55.0%

Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app

All ratings1,411 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral3.8%
Negative7.8%
Written reviews55 reviews
Positive65.5%
Neutral5.5%
Negative29.1%

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

Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app

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
9 purchases

Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app

Subscriptions7
  • GreatNotes Weekly Premium$3.997 Days
  • GreatNotes 40% Off7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Monthly3 Days trial$5.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • GreatNotes Yearly Offer7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • GreatNotes Yearly Premium$59.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime$39.99
  • Lifetime$239.99

Questions

Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app free?
Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Goodnotes or Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app?
Goodnotes is rated higher. Goodnotes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 457K ratings, while Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app averages 4.6 from 1.4K ratings.
Do Goodnotes or Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app have ads?
Neither Goodnotes nor Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Goodnotes or Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app?
Goodnotes ships an update weekly, and Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app every 3 days. Most recently, Goodnotes was updated on September 28, 2026 and Greatnotes5 AI Note Taking app on September 26, 2026.

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