CollaNote

CollaNote and Notability, side by side

Both let you write, mark up PDFs and record audio on 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 list price)
CollaNote: Free. Premium is one payment for life, with no subscription.
Notability: Starter free; Lite $14.99 a year or $4.99 a month; Plus $19.99 a year or $7.99 a month; Pro $99.99 a year or $19.99 a month; Classic one-time $49.99.
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.
Notability: Starter: 5 notes and 7 days of version history.
Devices
CollaNote: iPad and iPhone (iOS 18.6 or later), and Mac with Apple silicon.
Notability: iPad, iPhone, Mac, Android and the web, plus a Windows app for meeting notes.
PDF markup
CollaNote: Yes, on the free plan.
Notability: Yes, on all plans.
Word and PowerPoint
CollaNote: Yes, Word and PowerPoint, turned into PDF pages. Free.
Notability: Yes, PDFs, docs and slides on all plans.
Audio recording
CollaNote: Yes, in sync with your handwriting. One recording per note on the free plan, unlimited with Premium.
Notability: Yes, on all plans; automatic transcription on Plus and Pro.
Real-time collaboration
CollaNote: Yes, in real time. Invite people by nickname or email.
Notability: Yes, with link sharing on Notability Cloud.
Planners and templates
CollaNote: Ready-made planners in the app, some free and some Premium.
Notability: 20,000+ templates and the Gallery, on all plans.
Flashcards
CollaNote: Make and study decks, and find decks other learners share.
Notability: Through Learn: a limited allowance on most plans, unlimited on Pro.
Translation
CollaNote: Translation Tool for text in notes, PDFs and images, 90+ languages. Limited on the free plan, unlimited with Premium.
Notability: No translation tool found.
Handwritten maths
CollaNote: Calculator that solves handwritten problems.
Notability: Turns handwriting into LaTeX and plots graphs; does not solve equations.
AI
CollaNote: AI Pen, and AI Chat with CollaNote AI (Apple Intelligence), ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini tabs.
Notability: Learn (summaries, quizzes, flashcards), live transcription and Smart Notes; chat with your notes on Pro.

Choose CollaNote if

  • you would rather pay once than keep a subscription, and want more than 5 notes for free;
  • you want a Translation Tool and a handwriting calculator in your notes;
  • you work on iPad, iPhone or Mac.

Choose Notability if

  • you also need Android, the web or a Windows app;
  • you want automatic transcription of your recordings and AI summaries;
  • you want a very large template gallery.

Moving your notes from Notability

  1. In Notability, export your notes as PDF files.
  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. Audio recordings stay in Notability.

Sources

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

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

Also compared: CollaNote and Goodnotes

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