Microsoft OneNote vs Google Sheets
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 app. Utilize AI features for summarization and transcription, and seamlessly sync notes across all your devices. Collaborate on creative projects and integrate with other Microsoft Office applications.
- AI-powered Copilot notebooks
- Voice transcription and smart notes
- Note-taking scanner with text extraction
- Cross-device syncing
- 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.
Google Sheets
Create, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets from anywhere, anytime. This app offers robust formatting, formula support, and seamless sharing for real-time teamwork. It automatically saves your work and can open and edit Excel files.
- Create and edit spreadsheets
- Real-time collaboration
- Offline access
- Advanced formatting and formulas
- Automatic saving
- Excel file compatibility
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Create, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets with the Google Sheets app. With Sheets you can: * Create new spreadsheets or edit existing ones * Share spreadsheets and collaborate with others in the same spreadsheet at the same time * Work anywhere, anytime - even offline * Format cells, enter/sort data, view charts, insert formulas, use find/replace, and more * Never worry about losing your work -- everything is automatically saved as you type * Open, edit, and save Excel files Google Sheets is part of Google Workspace: where teams of any size can chat, create, and collaborate. Google Workspace subscribers have access to additional Google Sheets features, including: * Easily add collaborators to projects, see changes as they occur, receive notifications for edits that happen while you’re away, and chat with colleagues in the same spreadsheet. All changes are automatically saved as you make them. And with offline access, you can create, view, and edit files wherever and whenever * Get insights fast, powered by Google AI * Work seamlessly across Sheets and Excel * Maintain control with enterprise-grade security * Analyze data from other business-critical tools * Build custom solutions
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Google Sheets at none against Microsoft OneNote's 3. Google Sheets also leads on review sentiment (56% vs 44%) and chart position (#11 vs #84). Microsoft OneNote's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Google Sheets asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Microsoft OneNote against 4.8 for Google Sheets. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1M and 1.9M respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of Microsoft OneNote's written reviews are positive against 56% of Google Sheets's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on November 14, 2026.
| Parameter | Microsoft OneNote | Google Sheets |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.1M ratings) | 4.8 (1.9M ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.3% of reviews | 56.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.1M | 1.9M — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #84 | #11 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 419 MB | 431 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | |
Customer experience
Microsoft OneNote
Google Sheets
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
Google Sheets
From 1.9M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient mobile access
- 💡 Collaborative features
- 🔒 Secure cloud storage
- 📈 Useful for business/personal organization
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 📱 Limited functionality compared to desktop version
- 🔍 Difficult to navigate and find features
- 🖋️ Cumbersome editing experience on mobile
- 🗓️ Inconsistent date/time formatting
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
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- 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
Google Sheets
Reported bugs
4 issues- Spreadsheets not saving properly
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between devices
- Formatting issues when printing or exporting
- Glitches when working with large or complex spreadsheets
Requested features
5 requests- Add more advanced formatting and editing options
- Improve search and navigation
- Allow offline editing and syncing
- Provide better integration with other Google apps
- Add password protection or biometric security
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
Google Sheets
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Microsoft OneNote free?
Is Google Sheets free?
Which has better reviews, Microsoft OneNote or Google Sheets?
Do Microsoft OneNote or Google Sheets have ads?
Which is updated more often, Microsoft OneNote or Google Sheets?
Which is more popular, Microsoft OneNote or Google Sheets?
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