Microsoft OneNote vs small
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Microsoft OneNote
Capture and organize your thoughts, ideas, and plans with a powerful digital note-taking tool. Utilize AI features for summaries and transcription, and seamlessly sync notes across all your devices. Collaborate on projects and integrate with other Microsoft Office apps.
- AI-powered Copilot notebooks
- Voice transcription and smart notes
- Document scanning and text extraction
- Cross-device synchronization
- Collaboration on notes and ideas
- Integration with Microsoft Office
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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.
small
This app offers a unique and calming approach to habit tracking. It visualizes progress with particles filling a jar, which then transforms into stars in a personal vault. The focus is on small, consistent actions without pressure or guilt.
- Mason jar visualization with particles
- Flexible frequency tracking
- Sky Vault for collected stars
- Dark space aesthetic
- Local notifications
- Completion history and stats
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SmallStep is a habit tracker built around one simple idea: small, consistent actions lead to big results. Every time you complete your goal, a light particle drops into a mason jar. Watch it fill up completion by completion. Seal a full jar and it becomes a star - saved forever in your personal Sky Vault. No overwhelming dashboards. No guilt-tripping streaks. Just a calm, beautiful space to show up for yourself every day. HOW IT WORKS Set a goal and choose how often you want to complete it — every day, every few days, or whatever fits your life. SmallStep tracks your streak as long as you complete it within your chosen frequency window. Complete your goal → a particle fills your jar Fill the jar → it seals into a star Stars collect in your Sky Vault - a record of everything you've built FEATURES Mason jar visualization with physics-simulated particles Flexible frequency tracking - set your own completion window (1–7 days) Streak counter with history and calendar view Sky Vault - your personal collection of sealed jars turned stars Beautiful dark space aesthetic with animated starfield Completion history and monthly stats Local notifications to keep you on track Full account management, including data deletion DESIGNED FOR SIMPLICITY SmallStep strips away everything that makes habit tracking feel like a chore. No points, no leaderboards, no pressure. Just you, your goal, and a jar slowly filling with light. Whether you're building a meditation practice, a workout routine, a writing habit, or anything else - SmallStep gives you a quiet, satisfying way to show up consistently. Download SmallStep and take your first small step today.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: small at none against Microsoft OneNote's 3. small also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). Microsoft OneNote's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (1.1M vs 1). On price, ads and monetization model 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. small asks for nothing beyond the download.
small holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft OneNote has 1.1M ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Microsoft OneNote ships an update weekly, small every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Microsoft OneNote | small |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.1M ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.1M — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #139 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 414 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | SHUGO TANAKA |
Customer experience
Microsoft OneNote
small
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
small
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
small
No in-app purchases









