Comparison

Calendars vs Goodnotes

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

Head to head
About

Calendars

This app combines a calendar, task manager, daily planner, and habit tracker. It helps users plan their day, build habits, boost productivity, and stay organized with seamless syncing across all Apple devices. Features include event creation, to-do list management, natural language input, and integration with popular meeting platforms.

Highlights
  • Calendar, task, and habit management
  • Daily, weekly, and monthly views
  • Natural language event creation
  • To-do list organization
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Meeting platform integration
Features
Read full description

Calendars by Readdle is the all-in-one calendar, task manager, daily planner, and habit tracker — seamlessly working across all your Apple devices: Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Plan your day, build better habits, boost productivity, and stay organized with powerful features and smooth sync between all your devices. What you can do with Calendars: • View and manage your calendar with daily, weekly, and monthly views • Create events, set reminders, and never miss important dates • Use the built-in agenda planner to focus on what matters most • Organize your to-do list and manage your tasks with ease • Quickly add events or to-do items using natural language • Build routines and track your habits to stay consistent • Take a guided productivity course to improve time management and focus • Sync across devices with Google Calendar, iCloud, and more • Customize your planner calendar with color coding and widgets • Join Zoom, Google Meet, or GoToMeeting directly from your calendar • Stay in control of your time, wherever you are Whether you're planning a busy workday, building new habits, or working on personal growth, Calendars brings everything together to help you own your time — across all your Apple devices. Privacy Policy: https://readdle.com/calendars/legal/privacy Terms of Service: https://readdle.com/calendars/legal/terms Have questions, comments, or issues? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at http://readdle.com/contact

About

Goodnotes

Capture ideas, enhance productivity, and unlock insights with advanced AI features. This app offers tools for professionals, students, and creatives, including infinite whiteboards, AI-powered transcription and summarization, and customizable digital notebooks.

Highlights
  • AI-powered transcription and summarization
  • Infinite whiteboard canvas
  • Digital notebooks with customizable templates
  • Study Sets for flashcards
  • Presentation mode with laser pointer
  • Real-time collaboration
Features
Read full description

Goodnotes has always been the place to capture your ideas — from quick notes to big plans. Now, it goes further. With powerful AI and new ways to capture information, Goodnotes helps you connect the dots, unlock insights, and turn ideas into action. *Existing Goodnotes 5 users can continue to use Goodnotes 5 indefinitely or upgrade to the new Goodnotes. Either way, your notes are safe!* For professionals: Increase productivity at work ■ Whiteboard + Goodnotes AI: Brainstorm, mind-map, and diagram freely on an infinite canvas that grows with your ideas. Enhanced diagramming tools and real-time collaboration make it easy for teams to workshop & ideate together, while Goodnotes AI helps you capture and organize key takeaways instantly. ■ Goodnotes AI Audio & Meetings: Stay fully present in every conversation while Goodnotes does the work for you. AI-powered transcription and live summarization automatically capture discussions and turns them into clear meeting minutes. After the meeting, merge transcripts with your own handwritten or typed notes to create polished, shareable documents in seconds. ■ Text Documents + AI: Create documents that think with you. Enjoy a superior typing experience with rich inline blocks, build on ideas with external insights, and collaborate seamlessly with teammates. With AI-powered summarization, automated note generation, and transcript support, turn rough notes and meetings into finished content faster than ever. ■ Present your notes, slides, and content directly from Goodnotes when you connect your device via AirPlay or HDMI to an external screen. ■ Use Laser Pointer to guide your audience's attention during your presentation. ■ Export your handwritten and typed notes to email, print, or share them anywhere as PDFs. ■ Send a link to your notebooks to work on the same notes. ■ Import documents by emailing them to your custom Goodnotes email. For students: Ace your exams with ease ■ Record audio notes that are magically synced to your iPhone or iPad exact moment you write: perfect for lectures, seminars, and presentations. ■ Take handwritten notes that stay fully searchable: instantly find any word across every class notebook, even mid-lecture. ■ Study and practice straight from your notes with study Sets: flashcards built on active recall and spaced repetition. ■ Use AI to summarize, shorten, change the tone of your words, and turn messy handwritten or typed student notes into polished, structured study material. For planners and journalers: Let your creativity flow ■ Plan your week, month, or year on your iPhone/ iPad with built-in and importable planner templates, fully customizable to match how you plan. ■ Keep a daily journal alongside your planner. Combine handwriting, typed reflections, photos, and stickers on the same page. ■ Use Goodnotes AI to summarize a week's worth of journal entries on your iPhone or iPad into key themes and takeaways. ■ Customize the size and color of your paper templates to create the planner or journal you want. ■ Add, create, or import stickers, stamps, washi tapes, images, and more on your iPad. Digital notebooks: unlimited notebooks for the price of a single physical one ■ Combine handwriting and typed text on one page, alongside images, stickers, diagrams, and doodles. ■ Create digital notebooks, planners, and journals with customizable paper templates, including Blank Paper, Ruled Paper, Cornell Paper, Checklists, Planners, and more. ■ Navigate long documents with ease. PDF tables of contents are automatically imported, or create custom outlines yourself. ■ Back up all your handwritten and typed notes to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, and use iCloud to sync across iPad, iPhone, and Mac — so your notes are always safe. ■ Edit your handwriting by resizing it, changing the text color, or moving it to another spot on the page. Privacy Policy: https://www.goodnotes.com/privacy-policy Terms and Conditions: https://www.goodnotes.com/terms-and-conditions

Screenshots

Calendars4 screens
Goodnotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

Calendars and Goodnotes both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 55% of Calendars's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's. Goodnotes's advantage is ratings volume (455K vs 122K). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Calendars sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Goodnotes sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 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 Calendars against 4.7 for Goodnotes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 122K and 455K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 55% of Calendars's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calendars ships an update every 11 days, Goodnotes weekly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Calendars versus Goodnotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalendarsGoodnotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (122K ratings)4.7 (455K ratings)
Positive reviews55.4% of reviews — better33.6% of reviews
Number of ratings122K455K — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#98#85 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.2 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size407 MB794 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperReaddle Technologies LimitedGoodnotes Limited

Customer experience

Calendars

All ratings121,639 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.1%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews1,247 reviews
Positive55.4%
Neutral8.9%
Negative35.7%

Goodnotes

All ratings454,853 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews6,458 reviews
Positive33.6%
Neutral11.3%
Negative55.0%

User reviews

Calendars

From 122K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Excellent calendar app
  • 👍 Easy to use and organize
  • 🎨 Helpful color-coding
  • 📆 Seamless integration with other calendars
  • 🗓️ Detailed monthly/weekly views

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and data loss
  • 💰 Concerns over subscription model
  • 🕰️ Cumbersome date/time selection process
  • 🔍 Limited location search functionality
  • 🔄 Sync issues between devices

Goodnotes

From 455K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent note-taking experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Smooth writing with Apple Pencil
  • 📁 Powerful organization with folders and notebooks
  • 🖼️ Ability to annotate PDFs and documents

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and crashes
  • 🔍 Syncing and iCloud issues
  • 🔍 Lack of flexibility with text input
  • 🔍 Limited eraser and highlighting options
  • 🔍 Subpar performance on Mac app

Bugs and requests

Calendars

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing events and appointments
  • Upgrade process causing data loss
  • Freezing and crashing on certain devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Recurring events for free users
  • Customizable widgets and app icons
  • Ability to archive/restore past events
  • Improved Apple Watch integration
  • Shared calendars and family management

Goodnotes

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Text box issues - unable to edit, resize, or move properly
  • Handwriting recognition problems, especially with cursive
  • Unreliable scrolling and page navigation
  • Inconsistent behavior when using the zoom feature

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add bullet point and formatting options for typed text
  • Implement a full-screen writing mode
  • Improve the straight line and shape tools
  • Integrate audio recording and synchronization
  • Allow more customization of the toolbar and interface

In-app purchases

17 purchases

Calendars

Subscriptions8
  • Calendars PRO 1 Month$3.991 Month
  • Calendars by Readdle: Interesting Calendars1 Month trial$3.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Month7 Days trial$3.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year1 Year trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year14 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial$21.991 Year
  • Calendars PRO 1 Year7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time9
  • Calendars PRO LifetimeFree
  • Invites & Attendees Upgrade$1.99
  • Smart Input Upgrade$1.99
Show 6 more
  • Full Upgrade$4.99
  • Interesting Calendars$5.99
  • My schedule planner, Organizer$6.99
  • Full Pack$12.99
  • Reminders & Calendars$19.99
  • Recurring Events$31.99
16 purchases

Goodnotes

Subscriptions5
  • AI Pass (Monthly)7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Goodnotes 6 (1 Year)1 Year trial$9.991 Year
  • Essential (Yearly)7 Days trial$11.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Essential (Yearly)1 Year trial2 variants$11.991 Year
  • Goodnotes Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$35.991 Year
One-time11
  • Bunny Oasis StickersFree
  • Medicine-Academia Sticker SheeFree
  • Goodnotes 6 Free TrialFree
Show 8 more
  • Marketplace Content$1.99
  • Marketplace Content$6.99
  • Marketplace Content$8.99
  • GoodNotes 5 Unlock$9.99
  • Marketplace Content$9.99
  • Marketplace Content$10.99
  • Goodnotes 6 One-Time Payment$28.99
  • Special Edition$35.99

Questions

Is Calendars free?
Calendars is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Calendars or Goodnotes?
Calendars and Goodnotes are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 122K and 455K ratings respectively.
Do Calendars or Goodnotes have ads?
Neither Calendars nor Goodnotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Calendars or Goodnotes?
Calendars ships an update every 11 days, and Goodnotes weekly. Most recently, Calendars was updated on September 24, 2026 and Goodnotes on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Calendars or Goodnotes?
Calendars currently peaks at #98 in the App Store charts, and Goodnotes at #85. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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