Comparison

Pages vs Microsoft OneNote

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

Head to head
About

Pages

Create visually appealing documents with a wide range of templates and editing tools. Enhance your work with multimedia, track changes, and collaborate seamlessly. Offers advanced features for writing, design, and presentation.

Highlights
  • Apple-designed templates
  • Add images, video, audio
  • Track changes and comments
  • Screen View for mobile editing
  • Interactive EPUB creation
  • Drawing and annotation with Apple Pencil
  • Writing Tools for AI assistance
Features
Read full description

Pages 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 documents in Pages, as well as collaborating with others in real time, does not require a subscription. Create beautiful documents with Pages on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Start with an Apple-designed template for a report, resume, poster, or digital book. Easily add images, movies, audio, tables, charts, and shapes. Use comments, change tracking, and highlights to review your work. On iPhone and iPad, Screen View optimizes content for your screen, making it easier to edit. Get Started Quickly • Work from iPhone, iPad, Mac, or even a PC with iCloud.com • Select from a wide variety of Apple-designed templates • Add from a library of shapes, tables, and charts with pre-defined styles • Import and edit Microsoft Word and text files Create Beautiful Documents • Format your document with gorgeous styles, fonts, and textures • Make your content more engaging with recorded audio, video, and image galleries • Create page templates to keep the design consistent across your page layout document • Use powerful graphics tools including image background removal and masking • Design interactive EPUB books that can be shared with others or published to Apple Books • Draw, write or annotate with Apple Pencil on iPad Advanced Tools • Use the table of contents view to easily navigate your document or book • Add comments and join threaded conversations • Turn on change tracking to mark up a document as you edit it • Create footnotes and endnotes and view character, word, and paragraph counts • Add elegant mathematical equations using LaTeX or MathML notation • Use presenter mode on iPhone and iPad to auto scroll text while giving a speech • Seamless integration with EndNote for inserting citations on Mac* Share with Anyone • Share your document publicly or collaborate with specific people using iCloud or Box • Make changes from any device and see a list of changes from others in real-time • Export your document in EPUB, Microsoft Word, RTF, TXT, and PDF format Apple Intelligence • Use Writing Tools to proofread, rewrite, summarize, and compose text • Create your own fun images with Image Playground based on a description 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. * EndNote sold separately. EndNote integration requires a plug-in available from Apple Support.

About

Microsoft OneNote

Capture thoughts, ideas, and plans in a digital notepad. Organize, search, and secure your notes, memos, and sketches. Sync across devices for access anywhere, anytime. Collaborate with others on shared notepads.

Highlights
  • Capture thoughts and ideas
  • Digital sketchbook
  • Organize and search notes
  • Sync notes via OneDrive
  • Collaborate on shared notepads
  • Handwritten notes and drawings
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Supercharge your productivity with OneNote. Organize thoughts and ideas, and simplify planning important moments with your digital note-taking. Smart notes on your phone can sync across all your devices with Microsoft OneNote. Combine the power of digital ink with the natural feel of a pen to help you sketch out your inspirations. Take smart notes and capture every detail with voice transcription. Our writing tools make it easy to capture your notes, review your content later, and access AI studying. Take smart notes, share writing ideas, organize note-taking, and collaborate on your creative ideas and writing - all with Microsoft OneNote. ONENOTE APP FEATURES: AI-POWERED COPILOT NOTEBOOKS • Make sense of your files with AI chat • Summarize meetings, classes, and discussions easily from your notes • Listen to audio overviews, created directly from the notes you take AI NOTE-TAKING WITH HOMEPAGE AND QUICK CAPTURE • Streamlined writing: Find notes from your connected accounts in one place to easily create, find, & act on your notes. Now with Samsung Notes integration. • AI workflows with Copilot: Capture text, voice, ink or images to your notepad with Quick Capture • Smart notes: Capture smart notes in ink. Click the pen button & write down thoughts • Write smart notes, draw & clip things from the web to add to your writing notebook SCAN PICTURES & EXTRACT TEXT FROM WRITING • Note-Taking Scanner: Scan documents, pictures, or files to extract writing • Capture images to extract text from documents & more • Apply different filters to change colors, add ink, crop images & more SMART NOTES & AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION • Voice smart notes: Take accurate notes with voice dictation • Click the Mic button to record, then click it again to end recording & save the file • Dictate smart notes in 27 languages (note some languages are in preview) & use Auto-Punctutation to format NOTE-TAKING THAT HELPS YOU ACHIEVE MORE • Organize writing using to-do lists, follow-up items, marks for what’s important & custom labels • Use OneNote as a notebook, journal or a notepad for work or AI studying • Notepad badge hovers on screen & lets you quickly write your thoughts down any time • NEW Sticky notes - Make quick memos & note-taking COLLABORATE WRITING & SHARE SMART NOTES • Write meeting notes, brainstorm projects, & draw attention to important points • Take notes & save ideas across your favorite devices, no matter what device your team likes to use BETTER TOGETHER WITH MICROSOFT OFFICE • OneNote is part of the Office family & works great with your favorite apps, such as Excel or Word, to help you do more Write notes, save ideas & keep up with your to-do list with Microsoft OneNote. APP REQUIREMENTS: OneNote is free on iPhone and many other devices. Get started today! Download OneNote and sign in with your Microsoft Account or the account assigned to you by your work or school. Monthly Microsoft 365 subscriptions purchased from the app will be charged to your App Store account and will automatically renew within 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription period unless auto-renewal is disabled beforehand. You can manage your subscriptions in your App Store account settings. This app is provided by either Microsoft or a third-party app publisher and is subject to a separate privacy statement and terms and conditions. Data provided through the use of this store and this app may be accessible to Microsoft or the third-party app publisher, as applicable, and transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or any other country where Microsoft or the app publisher and their affiliates or service providers maintain facilities. Please refer to the Microsoft Software License Terms for Microsoft 365. See “License Agreement” link under Information. By installing the app, you agree to these terms and conditions.

Screenshots

Pages4 screens
Microsoft OneNote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pages at none against Microsoft OneNote's 3. Pages also leads on review sentiment (59% vs 45%). Microsoft OneNote's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months) and chart position (#70 vs unranked). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Microsoft OneNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Pages asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Pages against 4.7 for Microsoft OneNote. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 573K and 1.1M respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 59% of Pages's written reviews are positive against 45% of Microsoft OneNote's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pages ships an update every 3 months, Microsoft OneNote weekly. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Pages versus Microsoft OneNote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPagesMicrosoft OneNote
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (573K ratings)4.7 (1.1M ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.2% of reviews — better44.6% of reviews
Number of ratings573K1.1M — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#70 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size683 MB409 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperApple Distribution InternationalMicrosoft Corporation

Customer experience

Pages

All ratings572,851 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral3.4%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews7,990 reviews
Positive59.2%
Neutral9.3%
Negative31.5%

Microsoft OneNote

All ratings1,067,774 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.7%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews2,745 reviews
Positive44.6%
Neutral12.0%
Negative43.5%

User reviews

Pages

From 573K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Versatile writing app
  • 🎨 Excellent creative features
  • 🤝 Collaborative capabilities
  • 📚 Great for writing books/stories
  • 🏫 Useful for school/work documents

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and crashes
  • 🔍 Difficult to find/organize documents
  • 🖋️ Frustrating cursor and text editing
  • 🔄 Inconsistent sync and file management
  • 🔢 Limited font and formatting options

Microsoft OneNote

From 1.1M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Simple, works well
  • 👍 Great for planning
  • 👍 Powerful note-taking app
  • 👍 Invaluable tool for note taking
  • 👍 Used for years, couldn't be without this app

Room to improve

  • 🔨 Could be better
  • 🔨 Formatting issues on mobile app
  • 🔨 Buggy widget, no dark app icon
  • 🐛 Glitchy, crashes often
  • 🐛 Terrible sync speeds

Bugs and requests

Pages

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Documents disappearing or failing to save
  • Keyboard freezing and unresponsive typing
  • Formatting issues when importing/exporting files
  • Compatibility problems with older devices/OS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more font and formatting options
  • Improve cursor and text editing controls
  • Streamline document organization and search
  • Enhance sync and offline editing capabilities
  • Integrate grammar/spelling correction tools

Microsoft OneNote

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Cursor positioning is erratic
  • Search function does not work well
  • Ink to text conversion missing on iPad
  • Syncing issues, notes not syncing properly across devices
  • Crashing, freezing, and performance issues
Show 4 more
  • Scrolling issues, page jumping to top unexpectedly
  • Eraser tool deletes more than intended
  • Formatting issues when importing/exporting
  • Inconsistent behavior between desktop and mobile versions

Requested features

11 requests
  • Native Markdown support and merged cell support
  • Ruler, ability to choose or create notebook covers
  • Ability to password protect app or individual notebooks
  • Option to open on last opened page instead of Home
  • Ability to turn note into task that appears on To Do and Planner
Show 6 more
  • Search for tags, more Evernote-like search features
  • Ability to select text using 3D Touch
  • Option to limit page to A4 size with framing
  • Pencil feature like Notes app for drawing
  • Ability to delete notebooks
  • Ability to delete notes from Apple devices

In-app purchases

None

Pages

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Microsoft OneNote

Subscriptions3
  • Microsoft 365 Personal1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Personal$11.991 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Family$12.991 Month

Questions

Is Pages free?
Pages is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Microsoft OneNote free?
Microsoft OneNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pages or Microsoft OneNote?
Microsoft OneNote is rated higher. Pages averages 4.6 out of 5 from 573K ratings, while Microsoft OneNote averages 4.7 from 1.1M ratings.
Do Pages or Microsoft OneNote have ads?
Neither Pages nor Microsoft OneNote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pages or Microsoft OneNote?
Pages ships an update every 3 months, and Microsoft OneNote weekly. Most recently, Pages was updated on October 14, 2026 and Microsoft OneNote on October 14, 2026.

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