The Notability Classic plan is only available to users who bought the app before November 21, 2021, when Notability switched from a one-time fee model to a subscription model - a decision that caused a big stir online. You’ll get limited document edits per month - you can see how many edits you have remaining in the settings menu. The free plan essentially lets you test-drive the app. New users can sign up for Notability Plus, which costs $2.99 a month or $11.99 for the first year. Only certain users have access to Notability Classic. Notability PricingĪs of 2022, Notability offers 3 plans: Notability Free, Notability Classic, and Notability Plus. However, that changed in April 2022, when GoodNotes released its new free plan. Previously, GoodNotes was a paid app - users had to pay the subscription fee upfront to download the app. You won’t find any other hidden microtransactions or monthly subscription fees. The full, premium version of GoodNotes costs a one-time fee of $8.99. However, some features, like handwriting recognition and email import, are not available on the free version. Most premium features are also available on the free version. Users on the free version can create up to 3 notebooks. How much does GoodNotes cost? As of October 2022, GoodNotes is free on the App Store. GoodNotes charges a one-time fee, while Notability charges a monthly or annual subscription. When it comes to price, GoodNotes is the clear winner over Notability. The verdict: GoodNotes has a better writing experience with the Apple Pencil overall compared to Notability. Writing quickly with the Apple Pencil also caused Notability to lag slightly for us. On two occasions, we had to write the same word twice because the app didn’t pick it up the first time. We also had some issues getting the app to pick up pen strokes. When we tested the Notability’s handwriting quality, we were surprised to find the handwriting appears somewhat pixelated and jagged: GoodNotes’ writing posture and sensitivity settings make it easy to create smooth lines with minimal lag:

Unlike GoodNotes, Notability doesn’t let you choose your own pen thickness - you have to choose from the pre-set options available in the app. Notability lets you choose between 4 different pen styles: ballpoint, fountain, and 2 dotted lines. You can choose between 3 pen thickness modes, each of which can be customized further to your preferred thickness (from 0.1 millimeters up to 2 millimeters). The fountain and brush pen modes offer additional customization options for pressure sensitivity and tip sharpness. GoodNotes lets you choose between 3 different pen styles: fountain pen, ball pen, and brush pen. You can toggle on left-handed mode, turn on palm detection, and set up Notability to automatically detect shapes and straight lines. Notability doesn’t currently offer these configuration options. GoodNotes lets you set your sensitivity level and writing posture in the Stylus & Palm Rejection settings: The writing experience is smoother and more customizable on GoodNotes. Apple Pencil Compatibilityīoth GoodNotes and Notability are compatible with Apple Pencil. Let’s take a closer look at how the apps compare in terms of Apple Pencil compatibility, pen styles, smoothness, and lag. Overall, the writing experience is much smoother and more customizable in GoodNotes. GoodNotes Writing Experienceīoth apps let you choose between editing and view-only mode.

Export to Rich Text file or to cloud services.Password-protect your Subjects, Dividers, and exported PDFs.Access to premium planners, templates, and stickers.Publish notes to the Notability template gallery.Notebooks organized in Subjects and Dividers.Open multiple documents simultaneously with tabs.Pressure sensitivity settings for Apple Pencil and palm rejection.Notebooks organized as individual documents and folders.Here’s a rundown of the features unique to GoodNotes: Scan documents using your device’s camera.Favorite colors for pens and highlighters.(We’ve broken down the cost comparison in another section.) Shared featuresīoth GoodNotes and Notability offer the following features (please note this isn’t a complete list - we’ve just included the highlights!): Notability features comparison section, please note that we’re comparing the features of the paid versions of the apps. Notability for Digital PlanningĪs you read through our GoodNotes vs.

Goodnotes 5 handwriting to text