# Microsoft OneNote vs Noteful

Microsoft OneNote and Noteful both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 87% of Noteful's written reviews are positive against 44% of Microsoft OneNote's. Noteful also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Microsoft OneNote's advantage is ratings volume (1.1M vs 24K) and chart position (#70 vs unranked). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Microsoft OneNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Noteful sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 4.8 for Noteful. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft OneNote has 1.1M ratings behind it against 24K, 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 87% of Noteful's.

Microsoft OneNote ships an update weekly, Noteful fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 21, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Microsoft OneNote | Noteful |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (1.1M ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/microsoft-onenote/id410395246/reviews) | **[4.8 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **1.1M** | 24K |
| Positive reviews | 44.5% of reviews | **86.9% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Fortnightly |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | **#70** | — |
| Size | 411 MB | 157 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | **16.4** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Microsoft Corporation](https://appshunter.io/developer/298856275) | [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336) |

## What reviewers say

### Microsoft OneNote

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/microsoft-onenote/id410395246)

**Currently charting:** #70 Top Free · Productivity (US App Store)

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:** Apple Watch app

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | $9.99 | per month |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | $11.99 | per month |
| Microsoft 365 Family | $12.99 | per month |

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

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

**Reported bugs**

- 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

**Requested features**

- 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


### Noteful

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334)

This app revolutionizes paperless note-taking on iPad, allowing for handwritten notes, document annotation, and knowledge organization. It offers a fluid writing experience, PDF markup, powerful tagging, and audio recording synced with notes.

**Highlights:** Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil, PDF and document annotation, Organize notes with tags, Layers for annotations, Audio recording synced with notes, Import PDFs and MS Office documents

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Noteful Pro, Lifetime | $6.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Smooth writing experience
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 💡 Layers feature
- 👍 Affordable one-time purchase
- 🚀 Efficient and lightweight

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
- 🔍 No handwriting recognition or search
- 🔍 Limited text editing options
- 🔍 Lack of advanced features like math conversion
- 🔍 Exporting PDFs loses some formatting

**Reported bugs**

- Syncing issues across devices
- Lasso tool not working properly with PDFs
- Eraser tool not functioning as expected

**Requested features**

- Handwriting recognition and search
- More text editing options (bullet lists, etc.)
- Improved PDF handling and annotations
- Custom templates and sticker support
- Expanded cloud storage options (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Microsoft OneNote free?

Microsoft OneNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Noteful free?

Noteful is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Microsoft OneNote or Noteful?

Noteful is rated higher. Microsoft OneNote averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.1M ratings, while Noteful averages 4.8 from 24K ratings.

### Do Microsoft OneNote or Noteful have ads?

Neither Microsoft OneNote nor Noteful shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Microsoft OneNote or Noteful?

Microsoft OneNote ships an update weekly, and Noteful fortnightly. Most recently, Microsoft OneNote was updated on October 21, 2026 and Noteful on October 21, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*