Comparison

Microsoft OneNote vs Kilonotes

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

Head to head
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
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.

About

Kilonotes

This app offers a digital notebook experience for handwritten notes, PDF annotation, and study organization. It features freehand drawing, text extraction, AI assistance for learning, and customizable templates to enhance productivity and learning.

Highlights
  • Handwritten note-taking
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • AI assistant for learning
  • OCR text extraction
  • Customizable notebooks and templates
  • Recording function
  • Global PDF search
Features
Read full description

We sincerely invite you to join us in exploring more efficient ways of taking notes and jointly reshape the modern learning mode. As a companion exploring new ways of taking notes, Kilonotes can meet your various needs. Whether it is recording class notes, annotating PDFs, doing test exercises, studying online courses, or organizing reading notes, Kilonotes will be your reliable study partner. Let's take good notes together. [Breakthrough the limitations of paper] ·Handwriting can be moved, scaled and rotated freely ·You can undo what you entered ·The size of the eraser can be adjusted to control the erasing range ·Scale paper function to make writing more comfortable You can insert pictures or photos, and combine text and pictures to deepen memory · Quick browsing function to help you quickly find what you need · Unlimited creation of paper, providing endless memory space ·Recording function, allowing you to take notes while listening to lectures ·Card function, create an exclusive knowledge base, you can create your card through pictures, brushes, and typing OCR function, convenient and fast text extraction A variety of fun-but-practical Journaling templates [Optimized reading experience] ·Global PDF search, quickly find what you need in the database · Outline function, convenient and fast positioning Multiple reading modes: eye protection, dark color, vision protection · Quick jump function, enter the page number to quickly navigate ·Translation function to help foreign language literature reading ·Extraction function, easy to collect important information ·PDF extension function, make reading and writing more free [Beyond the limits of the brush] · Change brush color, create custom colors, or pick any color with the eyedropper ·Adjustable brush width to adapt to various scenes ·Graffiti pen function, make notes more colorful [Custom Notebook] ·Provide many unique and beautiful covers for you to choose ·A variety of paper templates are available: blank paper, dot matrix paper, graph paper, to meet your needs ·You can import PDF and record freely in your own notebook [AI Assistant] • Built-in high-efficiency AI assistant helps you organize notes, expand knowledge points, and double your learning and work efficiency. • Exclusive AI problem-solving function supports selecting questions and sending them with one click, helping you easily overcome learning difficulties. [About subscription] Users can subscribe to the monthly subscription service of kilonotes to unlock advanced content, including custom time planning books. The subscription will be automatically renewed. If the user needs to cancel the subscription, the renewal needs to be closed 24 hours before the end of the current cycle. Users can close and cancel subscriptions and trials in their iTunes account. Contact us: feedback@top-stack.com Official website: https://www.kilonotesapp.com Privacy Policy: https://www.top-stack.com/page/ios_en_privacy.html User agreement: https://www.top-stack.com/page/Kilonotes_Terms_of_use_En.html

Screenshots

Microsoft OneNote4 screens
Kilonotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Microsoft OneNote at none against Kilonotes's shown. Microsoft OneNote also leads on ratings volume (1.1M vs 5K) and chart position (#122 vs unranked). Kilonotes's advantage is review sentiment (71% vs 44%) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Microsoft OneNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Kilonotes sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. 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 Microsoft OneNote against 4.6 for Kilonotes. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft OneNote has 1.1M ratings behind it against 5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of Microsoft OneNote's written reviews are positive against 71% of Kilonotes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Microsoft OneNote versus Kilonotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicrosoft OneNoteKilonotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.1M ratings) — better4.6 (5K ratings)
Positive reviews44.5% of reviews70.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.1M — better5K
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#122 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size409 MB482 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMicrosoft CorporationHefei T-Stack Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Microsoft OneNote

All ratings1,067,774 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.7%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews2,769 reviews
Positive44.5%
Neutral12.0%
Negative43.5%

Kilonotes

All ratings4,961 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral4.0%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews873 reviews
Positive70.9%
Neutral10.9%
Negative18.2%

User reviews

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

Kilonotes

From 5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Affordable
  • 🚀 Lots of free features
  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
  • 👍 Customizable notebooks and pages
  • 👍 Good alternative to paid apps

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🐛 Syncing and backup issues
  • 🔒 Lack of password protection or privacy features
  • 👎 Limited free notebooks
  • 👎 Some features locked behind paywall

Bugs and requests

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

Kilonotes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notebooks and notes getting deleted or scrambled
  • Lag and performance issues when writing or zooming
  • Inconsistent behavior of the pen and eraser tools

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more free sticker packs and templates
  • Improve the lasso tool and image editing
  • Implement iCloud or cloud sync
  • Add a dark mode option
  • Improve the audio recording and playback features
Show 1 more
  • Allow more customization of notebooks and pages

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
20 purchases

Kilonotes

Subscriptions7
  • Cloud space monthly membership$0.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$1.991 Month
  • Quarterly Plan$4.993 Months
Show 4 more
  • AIChat$5.991 Month
  • Year Subscription1 Year trial$8.991 Year
  • Annual Plan$9.991 Year
  • Cloud space annual membership$9.991 Year
One-time13
  • ExamPolitics_2019_2023_testFree
  • Summer Forest 2022 Handbook$0.99
  • Xiaofen Diary 2022 Handbook$0.99
Show 10 more
  • Fresh 2022 Handbook$0.99
  • 康奈尔笔记$0.99
  • Cartoon mistake book$0.99
  • Paid Notebook$0.99
  • Alice$1.99
  • 咸鱼日常$1.99
  • AI Points Products$1.99
  • 月亮兔$1.99
  • Paid Notebook$2.99
  • Lifetime Access$19.99

Questions

Is Microsoft OneNote free?
Microsoft OneNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Kilonotes free?
Kilonotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Microsoft OneNote or Kilonotes?
Microsoft OneNote is rated higher. Microsoft OneNote averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.1M ratings, while Kilonotes averages 4.6 from 5K ratings.
Do Microsoft OneNote or Kilonotes have ads?
Kilonotes shows ads; Microsoft OneNote does not.
Which is updated more often, Microsoft OneNote or Kilonotes?
Microsoft OneNote ships an update weekly, and Kilonotes weekly. Most recently, Microsoft OneNote was updated on October 18, 2026 and Kilonotes on October 17, 2026.

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