Comparison

Goodnotes vs SpeechNotes ·

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

SpeechNotes ·

Effortlessly convert spoken words into text for notes and recordings. This app also offers text-to-speech functionality and customizable themes for a personalized experience. Enhance your productivity with its advanced voice-to-text capabilities.

Highlights
  • Voice-to-text transcription
  • Text-to-speech playback
  • Customizable themes
  • Dark mode
  • Note-taking
Features
Read full description

Key Features: + AI Transcribe Your Notes with Ease: Forget typing! Speak naturally, and let the app handle the rest. + Seamless AI Voice-to-Text Conversion: Record and convert any conversation, lecture, or thought into summaries & key points, instantly. + AI-Powered Tools: Polish your notes with AI-powered grammar check, summary, tone and formatting. + Text-to-Speech: Type any text and listen to it being read aloud. + Inspiring Themes: Boost your creativity and focus with customized themes. + Dark Mode: Write longer, without straining your eyes, with eye-friendly dark mode. + Take your note-taking to the next level with SpeechNotes. Get started for FREE with the basic plan, or unlock powerful premium features to maximize your productivity. Need assistance or have suggestions for new features? We’d love to hear from you! Contact us at consult-ruku@outlook.com and help shape the future of the app. Privacy Policy: https://1drv.ms/w/s!AhRnecRbTCfCdSIfU3qV06c9Mk4?e=Z13ZNH Subscription Notice: https://1drv.ms/w/s!AhRnecRbTCfCea0FwhIWodb9fYA?e=61B1Fv Terms of usage: https://1drv.ms/w/s!AhRnecRbTCfCa5XH2RaXt-e3x5o?e=jBqrnY

Screenshots

Goodnotes4 screens
SpeechNotes ·4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Goodnotes at 455K against SpeechNotes ·'s 124. Goodnotes also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and chart position (#86 vs unranked). SpeechNotes ·'s advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.6). On price, review sentiment, 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 SpeechNotes · sells 7 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

Goodnotes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 455K ratings behind it against 124, 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 29% of SpeechNotes ·'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Goodnotes ships an update weekly, SpeechNotes · fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Goodnotes versus SpeechNotes ·: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoodnotesSpeechNotes ·
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (455K ratings) — better4.4 (124 ratings)
Positive reviews33.6% of reviews — better28.6% of reviews
Number of ratings455K — better124
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#86 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.615.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size794 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoodnotes LimitedFarwa Shahid

Customer experience

Goodnotes

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

SpeechNotes ·

All ratings124 ratings
Positive83.1%
Neutral3.2%
Negative13.7%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive28.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative71.4%

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

SpeechNotes ·

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
7 purchases

SpeechNotes ·

Subscriptions7
  • Good Notes Weekly Subscription3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Monthly Offer$4.991 Month
  • Weekly$5.997 Days
Show 4 more
  • NoteBook Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Yearly Offer$14.991 Year
  • Notepad Yearly1 Month trial$34.991 Year
  • Yearly3 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SpeechNotes · free?
SpeechNotes · is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Goodnotes or SpeechNotes ·?
Goodnotes is rated higher. Goodnotes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 455K ratings, while SpeechNotes · averages 4.4 from 124 ratings.
Do Goodnotes or SpeechNotes · have ads?
Neither Goodnotes nor SpeechNotes · shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Goodnotes or SpeechNotes ·?
Goodnotes ships an update weekly, and SpeechNotes · fortnightly. Most recently, Goodnotes was updated on September 24, 2026 and SpeechNotes · on September 22, 2026.

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