Comparison of Various Handwriting Note taking Apps available on iPadOS.
Note: This Comparison was done in Mid 2025 & it was before Starnote was released/Matured enough. Currently, Some apps may have added some features, that was missing at the time of testing and some may have changed the payment structure, please Verify.
In the end, update has been included, after using Starnote.
Note 2: Different people may have different requirements, See accordingly.
Since i bought iPad i used Notability for a while, but its subscription cost was high so i needed to find a One-Time Paid app and settle with that final Notetaking app. So i did this. I liked Minimal UI so my judgements were more inclined towards that.
My Requirements are this
Strictly One Time Purchase
Fast handwriting speed or Pencil speed
Clean and good UI
Handwriting search
Auto Backup to Third party services
Multiwindow/multi docs support.
Comparison of Apps:
NB/Nb = Notability (Writing Speed is in comparison with Notability).
Apps\Features | Final Result | Total Marks (60) | One Time Payment | Pencil Response | User Interface | Handwriting Search | Auto Backup | Multiwindow/docs Support | Extra Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 43 71% | Yes (Rs. 500) 10/10 | Great (>NB) 9/10 | Liked it 8/10 | No 1/10 | Yes (GD) 7\10 | Yes 8/10 | Layers Timer Audio Sync |
| Could Be | 44 73% | No (1000+/Year) 1/10 | Good (=Nb) 7/10 | Liked it 9/10 | Yes 9/10 | Yes (Multi) 9/10 | Yes 9/10 | |
| No (Not Mature) | 31 44% | Yes (Rs. 1000) 8/10 | Okay (<Nb) 5/10 | Normal 7/10 | Yes (Couldn’t Find) 5/10 | No 1/10 | Limited 5/10 | Real time collab with subscription More drawing focused |
| Yes | 49 81% | Yes (Rs. 1500) 6/10 | Good (=Nb) 8/10 | Liked It 9/10 | Yes 9/10 | Yes (Multi) 9/10 | Yes 8/10 | AI features Lock Notebooks |
| No (UI not good) | 48 80% | Yes (Rs. 1000) 8/10 | Good (=Nb) 7/10 | Average 6/10 | Yes 10/10 | Yes Sync 9/10 | Yes 8/10 | Sync to Phone erase with scratching |
| Yes | 45 75% | Yes (Free) 10/10 | Fastest (>Nb) 9/10 | Liked it 9/10 | No 1/10 | Yes (iCloud) 7/10 | Yes 9/10 | Layers Built in web & chatgpt Pencilkit Associated docs Timer |
| No (Doesn’t feel right) | 42 70% | Yes (Rs. 1000) 8/10 | Great (>Nb) 9/10 | Normal 7/10 | No 1/10 | Yes (Multi) 9/10 | Yes 8/10 | Not to My liking |
| No (Cumbersome UI) | 37 61% | Yes (Rs. 2000) 4/10 | Normal 7/10 | Average 6/10 | Yes 7/10 | Yes (Normal) 6/10 | Yes 7/10 | Not to my liking |
| No (Flashy UI) | 33 55% | Yes (Rs. 1000) 8/10 | Good(=Nb) Fast but unsmooth 7/10 | Bad for my liking 4/10 | Yes (with PRO) 7/10 | No 1/10 | Yes 6/10 | Translationon Audio Sync |
| Less Likely | 42 70% | Yes (Rs. 3000) 2/10 | Normal (<=Nb) 7/10 | Average 6/10 | Yes 9/10 | Yes (Multi) 9/10 | Yes 9/10 | |
| Yes | 46 76% | Yes (Rs. 700) 9/10 | Great (>Nb) 9/10 | Liked it 9/10 | No 1/10 | Yes (Multi) 9/10 | Yes 9/10 | Smart Dark Mode |
| Yes | 45 75% | Yes (Rs. 1000) 8/10 | Good (>Nb) 8/10 | Normal 8/10 | Yes 8/10 | Limited (iCloud Sync) 6/10 | Yes 7/10 | Smart Dark mode |
| Yes | 48 80% | Yes (Rs. 800) 9/10 | Great (>Nb) 9/10 | Normal 8/10 | Yes 7/10 | Limited (iCloud) 6/10 | Yes 9/10 | Infinite paper mindmaps |
Result(Average) | 42.5 70% | 7/10 70% | 7.6/10 76% | 7.3/10 73% | 6/10 60% | 7/10 70% | 8/10 80% |
Selection Criteria -
No critical feature is missing
Must be Yes in final result
Highest scorer
Will compare extra features
Test with text adding from marginnote
Results -
On Total comparison
Notewise, Noteswriter, Collanotes, Killonotes, Goodnotes are Out
8 Apps Passed
On One Time Payment Comparison
Notability is Out
Noteshelf could be out but kept In
7 Apps Passed
On Pencil Response Comparison
No app out
UI Comparison
Nebo is Out
6 Apps Passed
Handwriting Search Comparison
Freenotes, Notes+, Noteful are Out
3 Apps Passed
If handwriting search is not required then these three apps are almost perfect.
Auto Backup Comparison
Element Note, Prodrafts are Out
1 App Passed
They have iCloud sync option but not backup to third party.
Could consider Element Note.
Multiwindow comparison
No app is Out
1 App Passed
So the winner is Noteshelf 3. The Best Overall App.
Although it is Rs. 250 more than required but it is bearable.
Second winner is Element Note. The Second Best Overall App
The Best Overall App - Noteshelf 3 — (Now Starnote)
The Second Best Overall App - Element Note
The Best Free App - Notes+ — (Still Holds it)
The Best App Without Handwriting Recognition - Noteful
Update: After Starnote Use -
1. Ticks all required features list
1. Strictly One Time Purchase — $5.99 Only. (10/10) — It works on both Android & iOS (No other One-time Payment app offers this).
2. Fast handwriting speed or Pencil speed — Low Latency than Noteshelf & Many other apps. (9.5/10)
3. Clean and good UI — UI is clean and very functional (Slightly less beautiful & jerkier than Noteshelf) (9/10)
4. Handwriting search — Very good searching (in Pro). (10/10)
5. Auto Backup to Third party services — Yes & Soon Cloud Sync Coming too ! (10/10)
6. Multi-window Support — Supports 2 docs Horizontal & Vertical — (9/10)
Total : 57.5/60 — Higher than any other app i tested.
2. Extra Useful Features —
Layers
Auto Inverting of Page and Ink colours (Loved it !)
Cross Platform Cloud Sync (Coming it about a month) — Game Changer, No other app supports this kind of Syncing.
One time Payment to use it anywhere, payment is not platform specific (Unlike Noteshelf & other apps, that are needed to be bought separately .
Excerpts ( Worth mentioning but not matured enough, if excerpting is main requirement better use MarginNote)
Page Margin adjustment (although vertical space adding will be more useful in my opinion, which may be added soon!)
Audio Recordings, Audio Sync
Infinite Paper & many more.
P.S: Currently i am a PRO user of Starnote, and has fully switched from Noteshelf to Starnote.