CollaNote

CollaNote and Goodnotes, side by side

Both are handwriting apps for iPad. Here is how they differ on price, the free plan and the tools you get.

checked 12 November 2026

At a glance

Price (US)
CollaNote: Free. Premium is one payment for life, with no subscription.
Goodnotes: Free plan; Essential $11.99 a year; Pro $35.99 a year; AI Pass add-on $9.99 a month. A one-time Special Edition for Apple devices is $35.99 on the App Store.
Free plan
CollaNote: Any number of notes. Up to 10 pages per note (a PDF's pages plus 5 for imported files), with no page limit in the first 60 days. One audio recording per note and a limited number of translations.
Goodnotes: 3 notebooks (plus 3 text documents and 3 whiteboards), 100 MB of storage, imports up to 5 MB, watermarked exports, 20 minutes of audio per notebook, no templates.
Devices
CollaNote: iPad and iPhone (iOS 18.6 or later), and Mac with Apple silicon.
Goodnotes: iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android and the web.
PDF markup
CollaNote: Yes, on the free plan.
Goodnotes: Yes; on the free plan each import can be up to 5 MB.
Word and PowerPoint
CollaNote: Yes, Word and PowerPoint, turned into PDF pages. Free.
Goodnotes: Yes on iPhone and iPad, converted to PDF.
Audio recording
CollaNote: Yes, in sync with your handwriting. One recording per note on the free plan, unlimited with Premium.
Goodnotes: Yes; 20 minutes per notebook on the free plan, unlimited on paid plans.
Real-time collaboration
CollaNote: Yes, in real time. Invite people by nickname or email.
Goodnotes: Essential can join a session; hosting one needs Pro.
Planners and templates
CollaNote: Ready-made planners in the app, some free and some Premium.
Goodnotes: Marketplace with many paid items; templates are not in the free plan.
Flashcards
CollaNote: Make and study decks, and find decks other learners share.
Goodnotes: Study Sets, on iPhone and iPad.
Translation
CollaNote: Translation Tool for text in notes, PDFs and images, 90+ languages. Limited on the free plan, unlimited with Premium.
Goodnotes: No translation tool for text in notes found.
Handwritten maths
CollaNote: Calculator that solves handwritten problems.
Goodnotes: Math Assist on iPhone and iPad; AI maths solving on paid plans.
AI
CollaNote: AI Pen, and AI Chat with CollaNote AI (Apple Intelligence), ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini tabs.
Goodnotes: Goodnotes AI: chat, image generation, meeting notes and more; some tools need Pro or AI Pass.

Choose CollaNote if

  • you would rather pay once than keep a subscription;
  • you want PDF, Word and PowerPoint import, planners and a Translation Tool without a paid plan;
  • you translate readings or study a language and want translation and read-aloud on the page;
  • you work on iPad, iPhone or Mac.

Choose Goodnotes if

  • you also need your notes on Windows, Android or in a web browser;
  • you want AI meeting notes and the other Goodnotes AI tools;
  • you already keep a large library in Goodnotes and use its Marketplace templates.

Moving your notes from Goodnotes

  1. In Goodnotes, export each notebook as a PDF. On the free plan, exports carry a watermark.
  2. Save the PDFs to Files, or send them from a computer with Import over local network in CollaNote.
  3. In CollaNote, tap + on the home screen and choose Import PDF.
  4. Your old pages come in with the handwriting as part of the page: write on top of them, but the old strokes cannot be edited.

Sources

Checked on 12 November 2026. Prices and plans change; the App Store shows the current ones for your country.

Goodnotes is a trademark of its owner. CollaNote is not affiliated with it.

Also compared: CollaNote and Notability

ready to try?

Put the tips into practice.

CollaNote is free on iPad, iPhone and Mac. Premium is one payment for life, with no subscription.

Download for freeiPad · iPhone · Macno account required