Comparison

CollaNote vs Freeform

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

CollaNote

This app offers a comprehensive note-taking experience with advanced tools for digital planning, PDF markup, and flashcard creation. It features a wide array of pens, handwriting stabilization, and AI-powered assistance for enhanced productivity and creativity. Organize, secure, and share your notes seamlessly across devices.

Highlights
  • 25+ pens and brushes
  • PDF, PPT, DOC markup
  • Flashcard creation
  • Translation tool
  • Audio recording
  • AI-powered tools
  • Real-time collaboration
Features
Read full description

CollaNote: Powerful note-taking app packed with a wide range of tools. Note-taking, PDF markup, digital planning, and flashcards - all in one place! BUILT FOR APPLE PENCIL WITH AN ENHANCED WRITING EXPERIENCE: - 25+ different pens and brushes to transform your notes into artwork. - Handwriting stabilizer for beautiful, smooth writing. - Enjoy a calming ASMR note-taking experience. - Infinite Arc Menu available for both Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil Gen 2. IMPORT, MARK-UP, AND EXPORT PDF: - Import and mark up PDFs, PPTs, DOCs, and Images effortlessly. - In-built scanner to digitize your physical documents. - Export notes to PDF and share with ease. POWERFUL TOOLS: - Translation tool to learn new languages, supporting over 90 languages. - Create flashcards with audio and images, or use our extensive library. - Beautiful Planners for tracking tasks, deadlines, and schedules. - Record and sync audio directly within your notes. UNLIMITED PAPERS AND NOTEBOOKS: - Unlimited paper with versatile grids/lines and 150+ colorful templates. - Keep all your notes organized and easily accessible from anywhere. - Automatically back up to iCloud and sync across iOS devices. - Smart Dark Mode for optimal visibility in any lighting. - Password protection for ultimate note security. AI POWERED: - Built-in AI Calculator for complex calculations. - AI drawing tools for perfect shapes. - Get intelligent writing and note-taking assistance. - Generate unique stickers with AI. ENGAGING CREATIVE COMMUNITY: - Join the Public Room to connect with creators worldwide. - Real-time collaboration function (unlimited participants). CollaNote's journey began with a student at Hamburg University, who now leads a dedicated team of individuals devoted to delivering the finest digital paper experience. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our users for their unwavering support since the early days of CollaNote. Download CollaNote now to discover even more surprises!

About

Freeform

This app provides a flexible canvas for bringing ideas to life. It supports various file types, drawing tools, and shape libraries for creative projects. Real-time collaboration with multiple users is also a key feature.

Highlights
  • Flexible canvas for ideas
  • Supports photos, video, audio, documents, PDFs, web links
  • Drawing with finger or Apple Pencil
  • Library of over 700 shapes
  • Built-in document scanner
  • Real-time collaboration with up to 100 users
  • Integrated Messages and FaceTime
Features
Read full description

Freeform is now part of Apple Creator Studio, an amazing collection of Apple’s most powerful creative apps designed to help you bring your ideas to life. The suite includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage — plus premium content and intelligence features* in Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform, all in one simple plan. Creating, viewing, and editing boards in Freeform, as well as collaborating in real time, does not require a subscription. Freeform is a great place to bring your ideas to life. Sketch out a project, design a mood board or start a brainstorming session on a flexible canvas that supports almost any kind of file. And with iCloud, all your boards stay in sync, whether you’re on your Apple Vision Pro, your Mac, your iPad or your iPhone. New Features For Apple Creator Studio Subscribers: • Explore high-quality photos, graphics, and illustrations for your document in the all-new Content Hub • Find inspiration faster with collections of new Apple-curated content in the Content Hub • Create stunning images and graphics right in your document, apply quick edits, or adjust the style using AI • Increase the clarity and detail of existing images and graphics using Super Resolution • Use Auto Crop to generate suggestions for how to frame your image Other New Features: • Organize Your Board with Tables. Arrange text, images, and content into flexible rows and columns • Present your ideas with Scenes, letting you save and jump to specific regions of your board Overview Unleash your creativity • Add photos, video, audio, documents, PDFs, web links, stickies and more anywhere on a Freeform board, perfect for creating a digital pinboard, collecting research for a school project or gathering inspiration for your home renovation. • Use your finger to draw anywhere on the canvas. Choose from a variety of brush styles and colors. • Create beautiful diagrams with a library of over 700 shapes and alignment guides to help make your document look just the way you’d like. • Scan paper documents with your iPhone or iPad’s built-in document scanner to archive documents and even annotate them if you’d like, directly on the board. Collaborate with others • Invite your friends or colleagues into your board for real-time collaboration. Freeform brings people together into a shared space for creativity, whether you’re at your desk or on the go. Easily invite others via email, link or Messages. • Brainstorm together with up to 100 collaborators in the same board. • Communicate with Messages or FaceTime. When you’re working on a board with others, you can jump into the associated Messages conversation or start a FaceTime call with your collaborators with a single tap. * Some features of Apple Creator Studio require an Apple Intelligence–capable device. For full system requirements and usage limits for Apple Creator Studio intelligence features, see Apple Support article 125029.

Screenshots

CollaNote4 screens
Freeform4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Freeform at none against CollaNote's 4. Freeform also leads on ratings volume (448K vs 15K) and iOS requirement (16.2 vs 18.6). CollaNote's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 months). On price, rating, review sentiment 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. CollaNote sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Freeform asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for CollaNote against 4.5 for Freeform. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Freeform has 448K ratings behind it against 15K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 73% and 72% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CollaNote ships an update every 6 days, Freeform every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
CollaNote versus Freeform: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCollaNoteFreeform
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (15K ratings) — better4.5 (448K ratings)
Positive reviews72.8% of reviews — better72.3% of reviews
Number of ratings15K448K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS18.616.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size224 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZauberberg Lab Company LimitedApple

Customer experience

CollaNote

All ratings14,344 ratings
Positive92.1%
Neutral2.1%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews3,258 reviews
Positive72.8%
Neutral7.6%
Negative19.7%

Freeform

All ratings447,372 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral5.0%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews3,703 reviews
Positive72.3%
Neutral10.0%
Negative17.7%

User reviews

CollaNote

From 15K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Very good writing app
  • 🚀 Great app and easy to navigate
  • 🚀 Excellent note taking app
  • 👍 Amazing free note taking app
  • 👍 Fantastic for teaching

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitching, crashing, and issues with writing tools
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance and bugs
  • 🐛 Issues with PDF annotations and exports
  • 🐛 Problems with organization and navigation
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and data loss

Freeform

From 448K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great for note-taking and organizing
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🎨 Excellent for creative projects
  • 💡 Useful for brainstorming and mind mapping
  • 🤝 Helpful for collaboration and sharing

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly
  • 🤔 Laggy performance, especially with complex boards
  • 🤷‍♀️ Lack of organizational features like folders
  • 📦 Issues with syncing and sharing boards

Bugs and requests

CollaNote

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Pen and eraser issues after updates
  • Freezing and crashing when deleting or moving notes
  • Inconsistent behavior of favorite pen settings
  • Incompatibility with older devices
  • Login screen freezes
Show 1 more
  • Random deletion of notes and files

Requested features

12 requests
  • Add landscape mode support
  • Improve text editing and formatting
  • Enhance organization with nested folders
  • Implement better backup and sync options
  • Add more pen/pencil customization
Show 7 more
  • Improve collaboration and sharing features
  • Introduce a zoom window and auto-advance function
  • Add more paper style options
  • Implement undo/redo functionality
  • Allow resizing and manipulating of selected content
  • Provide a dark mode option
  • Add advanced analytics and dashboard

Freeform

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Boards randomly disappearing or not syncing properly
  • Writing and drawing becoming unresponsive or laggy
  • Overlapping and misaligned elements after editing
  • Inability to rotate or resize objects accurately

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add dark mode option
  • Improve Apple Pencil integration with pressure sensitivity
  • Implement undo/redo shortcuts
  • Allow for grouping and aligning of objects
  • Add more shape and text formatting options

In-app purchases

4 purchases

CollaNote

One-time4
  • Lifetime Premium Loyal Users$6.95
  • Premium: Time Limited Sale$6.95
  • Lifetime Premium Welcome Offer$9.69
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Premium$13.90
None

Freeform

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CollaNote free?
CollaNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Freeform free?
Freeform is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, CollaNote or Freeform?
CollaNote is rated higher. CollaNote averages 4.7 out of 5 from 15K ratings, while Freeform averages 4.5 from 448K ratings.
Do CollaNote or Freeform have ads?
Neither CollaNote nor Freeform shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CollaNote or Freeform?
CollaNote ships an update every 6 days, and Freeform every 3 months. Most recently, CollaNote was updated on October 28, 2026 and Freeform on October 28, 2026.

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