Comparison

Notebook vs KnowItOwl!

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

Head to head
About

Notebook

Capture your thoughts, ideas, and tasks with a versatile digital notebook. Create rich notes with text, files, audio, and video. Organize content visually, collaborate in real-time, and access everything across your devices.

Highlights
  • Rich note creation with text, files, audio, and video
  • Checklist creation for task management
  • Bookmark collection and offline reading
  • Kanban-style note organization
  • Real-time collaboration and sharing
  • AI-powered journaling suggestions
  • Cross-device and cloud synchronization
Features
Read full description

Zoho Notebook is a free, ad-free note-taking app for students, teams and researchers: capture, find and reuse what you write down — typed notes, Apple Pencil handwriting, voice recordings with AI transcription, checklists, files and document scans in one note. Syncs across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and other devices. WHAT PEOPLE USE NOTEBOOK FOR 1. MEETING AND LECTURE NOTES Record with audio or video cards; Notebook AI turns it into searchable text with timestamps, so you jump straight to the decision instead of replaying it. Structured minutes with title, participants, decisions and action points sit in the note beside your highlights. Record screen and self at once; longer videos get chapters. 2. STUDY AND RESEARCH Record lectures and search the transcript weeks later. Scan textbooks and business cards, handwrite and sketch with Apple Pencil, use OCR to find text inside photos and handwritten notes, so nothing you captured becomes unfindable. A long note becomes an AI mind map before an exam. 3. DAILY TO-DOS AND JOURNALING Dedicated checklist cards keep tasks beside your notes, and recurring reminders keep them on schedule. Journaling prompts come from your own activity, easier to keep than a blank page. 4. FILES, SCANS, AND SAVED READING Add PDFs, Word docs and spreadsheets with file cards. Articles, videos, recipes and how-tos become Smart Cards, formatted automatically, readable offline and ad-free. Group it all into nested collections. QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK Is it free? Yes, with 2GB of free storage and no ads. Notebook Pro adds more storage, longer notes, larger attachments, Email-In to save emails as notes, premium covers, and custom recurring reminders. Can I move my notes from Evernote, Google Keep, or OneNote? Yes, with dedicated migration tools; it arrives organized. Is my data private? Notes are encrypted in transit and at rest. We never sell your data and never show ads. Lock notes or notebooks with a password, Touch ID or Face ID; previews stay hidden until unlocked. Does it work offline? Yes. Create, edit and read offline, then pick up on another device once it syncs to the cloud. What can Notebook AI do? Transcribe audio and video, build mind maps, summarize and simplify, fix grammar, set tone (casual, professional, friendly, direct, or confident), translate into any language, draft notes, checklists, tables, code or a template from a prompt, and suggest tags. Notebook AI is a separate add-on. Does it use on-device AI and Siri? Yes. An on-device Knowledge Graph links ideas across notebooks and answers questions from your own notes. Siri creates and updates notes by voice with the app closed, and On-Screen Awareness summarizes what's on screen without switching apps. Can I share with non-users? Yes. @mention people to collaborate in real time, or publish a public note or video by link. MORE INSIDE - Search by title, content, tag, collaborator, or notebook; filter by any card type, contact, or link; search within one note; sort by date or relevance, with auto-suggestions and recent searches, offline and across languages - iPhone: text-search audio notes, share via iMessage, dictate with Siri, recent notes from the Notification Bar, SharePlay in calls - iPad: drag and drop, split view, slide over, multiple windows, Stage Manager - Apple Watch: record audio, scribble notes, check off lists, add photo notes, record in one tap from a watch face complication - VoiceOver and a dark interface - Roll back to any of a note's last 10 versions Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled and are charged to your Apple Account. Prices vary by location. Manage in your account settings. Privacy - https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html Terms - https://www.zoho.com/terms.html

About

KnowItOwl!

Features
Read full description

KnowItOwl! puts a voice-first question-and-answer assistant on your Apple Watch and iPhone. Raise your wrist, ask a question, and hear a concise answer spoken aloud. On iPhone, you can also type questions, review your shared conversation history, replay saved audio, choose a voice, and manage credits. KEY FEATURES - Apple Watch voice questions with spoken answers - Voice or text questions on iPhone - Concise answers grounded with Google Search when available - Multilingual transcription and responses - Four selectable voices: two multilingual and two English - Shared conversation history across iPhone and Apple Watch - Watch face complications for quick launch - Digital Crown volume control during Watch playback - Encrypted message text and audio storage - No advertising or third-party behavioral tracking HOW CREDITS WORK Each voice or text question uses one credit. New accounts receive a 20-credit welcome gift, and 5 free credits are added each month. Credits do not expire. Additional consumable credit packs are available from iPhone and Apple Watch; App Store Connect supplies the localized prices. PRIVACY Before the first question, KnowItOwl! explains what data is processed and asks for permission. Voice recordings or typed questions and up to three recent messages are sent through Sandy Brook DevWorks' authenticated backend to Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, Vertex AI Gemini, Google Search grounding, and Cloud Text-to-Speech as needed to produce an answer. Permission can be withdrawn at any time from Settings, which stops new AI questions on both iPhone and Apple Watch until it is allowed again. Message content and stored audio are encrypted on the device before they are saved to Firebase. See the privacy policy for retention and service-provider details.

Screenshots

Notebook4 screens
KnowItOwl!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Notebook at weekly against KnowItOwl!'s every 5 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Notebook sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month and KnowItOwl! sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notebook ships an update weekly, KnowItOwl! every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Notebook versus KnowItOwl!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotebookKnowItOwl!
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (24K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews64.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings24K — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size220 MB22 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperZoho CorporationJaime Reyes

Bugs and requests

Notebook

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes disappearing or getting corrupted
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Inconsistent behavior when editing notes
  • Syncing problems across devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved sorting and reordering options for notes
  • Enhanced search capabilities
  • Ability to export notes in various formats
  • More customization options for notebook covers
  • Integration with other productivity apps

KnowItOwl!

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Notebook

Subscriptions7
  • Notebook Pro$2.491 Month
  • Notebook Pro Plus$3.991 Month
  • Notebook AI$4.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Notebook Personal$14.991 Year
  • Notebook Pro2 variants$24.991 Year
  • Notebook Pro Plus$39.991 Year
  • Notebook AI$49.991 Year
3 purchases

KnowItOwl!

One-time3
  • Standard (30 Credits)$6.99
  • Popular (60 Credits)$12.99
  • Power (120 Credits)$24.99

Questions

Is Notebook free?
Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is KnowItOwl! free?
KnowItOwl! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Notebook or KnowItOwl! have ads?
Neither Notebook nor KnowItOwl! shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notebook or KnowItOwl!?
Notebook ships an update weekly, and KnowItOwl! every 5 weeks. Most recently, Notebook was updated on October 21, 2026 and KnowItOwl! on October 13, 2026.

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