Microsoft OneNote vs CollaNote
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Capture thoughts and ideas
- Digital sketchbook
- Organize and search notes
- Sync notes via OneDrive
- Collaborate on shared notepads
- Handwritten notes and drawings
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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.
CollaNote
This powerful app combines note-taking, PDF markup, and digital planning with advanced AI features. It offers a rich writing experience with numerous pens and brushes, supports real-time collaboration, and includes tools like translation and flashcard creation.
- 25+ pens and brushes
- Handwriting stabilizer
- PDF, PPT, DOC import and markup
- Built-in scanner
- Translation tool (90+ languages)
- Flashcard creation with audio/images
- Real-time collaboration
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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!
Screenshots
Verdict
Microsoft OneNote and CollaNote both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 74% of CollaNote's written reviews are positive against 44% of Microsoft OneNote's. CollaNote also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). Microsoft OneNote's advantage is ratings volume (1.1M vs 15K) and chart position (#124 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Microsoft OneNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and CollaNote sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Microsoft OneNote against 4.7 for CollaNote. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft OneNote has 1.1M ratings behind it against 15K, 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 74% of CollaNote's.
Microsoft OneNote ships an update weekly, CollaNote every 6 days. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Microsoft OneNote | CollaNote |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.1M ratings) — better | 4.7 (15K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 44.3% of reviews | 73.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.1M — better | 15K |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #124 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 409 MB | 225 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | Zauberberg Lab Company Limited |
Customer experience
Microsoft OneNote
CollaNote
User reviews
Microsoft OneNote
From 1.1M App Store ratingsWhat 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
CollaNote
From 15K App Store ratingsWhat 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
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
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- 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
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- 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
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
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- 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
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- 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
In-app purchases
Microsoft OneNote
- Microsoft 365 Personal1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Microsoft 365 Personal$11.991 Month
- Microsoft 365 Family$12.991 Month
CollaNote
- Lifetime Premium Loyal Users$6.95
- Premium: Time Limited Sale$6.95
- Lifetime Premium Welcome Offer$9.69
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- Lifetime Premium$13.90







