Best Free Note Taking Apps For iPad
This is your guide to finding the best free note taking app for your iPad.
Introduction
“GoodNotes vs. Notability”
If you’re looking for note-taking apps on iPadOS, most, if not all articles you’ve read on this topic have likely suggested either GoodNotes or Notability.
But what if you didn’t have to choose between spending $7.99 and $8.99? What if you could have a great note-taking app for free?
By the end of this article, you’ll hopefully find at least one note-taking app that suits your needs.
What This Guide Will (and Won’t) Show
This guide will discuss the best free note-taking apps for your iPad. Before we get drawn into the ever-controversial typed vs. handwritten notes debate, we should realize that hand-written and typed notes are for two different purposes.
Hand-written notes are ideal for understanding information (lectures, courses, YouTube videos), while typed notes are ideal for quickly processing information (flashcards, to-do lists, meeting notes).
Because the iPad is mostly based on touch input, this guide will focus on handwritten note-taking apps, not apps for typing notes. If you are looking for a note-taking app for typed notes, I would recommend using Notion, Evernote, or even Google Docs/Microsoft Word.
Best Free Note-Taking Apps For iPad
OneNote
OneNote has been one of the best free note-taking apps for iPad, if not the best.
For those who don’t know, OneNote is a free app note-taking app from Microsoft. OneNote is available on all operating systems (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Android, and Windows). OneNote syncs across all devices and is a great app if you use a Windows computer with an iPad.
OneNote also supports audio notes, video insertion, image insertion, online image search within the app, tables, and many other cool features. An important feature is the “insert space” tool, which lets you add spacing between your handwritten notes. This is useful if you need to add information later on.
OneNote’s two-layer organization system is also useful. OneNote lets users add folders inside of notebooks (which are basically folders), allowing for a good organization system.
OneNote does have its disadvantages, however.
Being a Microsoft product, OneNote doesn’t have great integration with the iPad. Dragging images and drawings can be laggy, and I’ve experienced a few glitches that made it harder to use the app.
Another issue is the “infinite” canvas for notes on OneNote. While this may seem like a good thing, it becomes a bit annoying when you can’t set page sizes. You also can’t import a pdf as a stand-alone note — it needs to be inserted into another note. Additionally, OneNote’s “infinite” canvas isn’t really infinite. It is only infinite when you head right or down. This means that note-taking methods which make use of an infinite canvas (like mind maps) can be a little tough to use in OneNote.
I personally use OneNote a lot for school, and it was a solid note-taking app. I mainly use OneNote for taking lecture notes, because of its flexibility with the “insert space” tool and ability to add multiply forms of content.
Kilonotes
While OneNote is great, Kilonotes is quickly becoming my note-taking app of choice.
While I’ve never tried GoodNotes, Kilonotes appears to be similar according to app reviews. Being a free app, Kilonotes probably isn’t as good as GoodNotes but is still incredible considering that it’s free.
Kilonotes isn’t a very well-known app, with less than 100 reviews on the App Store as of the time of writing. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad app, however.
Kilonotes is more structured than OneNote and has separate pages instead of an infinite canvas. While it lacks OneNote tools like tables, inserting video, inserting audio, etc., I find the Kilonotes experience a bit better.
Personally, I love having distinct pages, since it helps organize my notes and ensures that I’m not writing more info than what is needed. For me, Kilonotes feels more natural than OneNote and has noticeably less lag compared to OneNote.
I use Kilonotes when I’m taking handwritten notes outside of lectures. I find Kilonotes to be great for summarizing a lecture to reinforce my memory, and the app is definitely one that you should consider.
There are a couple disadvantages. First, the file system isn’t the best. Kilonote simply organizes notes by notebook, with no folders within notebooks. Another issue is the lack of vertical scrolling, which can sometimes be annoying.
I love Kilonotes and would recommend it to most people. It’s a simple and intuitive app that suits most people’s needs. It doesn’t have as many features as some of the other apps on this list, but most people don’t need these additional features.
Nebo
Nebo is an interesting app with one main feature: handwriting-to-text conversion. While this is a nice feature, it wasn’t that useful for my use case.
What I like about Nebo is its flexibility. Instead of having to choose between distinct pages and an infinite canvas, Nebo allows users to choose between using both. To be honest, I find this feature more important than the write-to-text conversion tool.
Unlike OneNote, Nebo has a “true” infinite canvas. Nebo’s canvas stretches out on all four sides, meaning that mind mapping is a little easier on Nebo compared to OneNote.
Nebo truly becomes powerful when you look at all the features it has for handwriting. For notes in the distinct page style, users can insert an infinite canvas into their notes. This is a truly powerful feature. It combines the benefits of both note-taking structures (distinct pages and infinite canvases). Nebo also has cool diagrams and math equation features, which can be useful for STEM classes.
For those who use the text-to-write conversion feature, Nebo has many shortcuts for this conversion. Through different handwriting gestures (for example, underlining text twice to write a heading), you can customize the text conversion.
While the free version of Nebo is good, the paid version is even better. With the paid version, you can have extra collections (Nebo’s version of notebooks). This helps with the organization of your notes.
The paid version of Nebo also lets you search handwriting for text, import PDFs and annotate them, and more. However, this is a list of the best free note-taking apps, so I can’t consider these as features of the app.
Overall, Nebo is definitely an app to consider. It may not be the best general note-taking app on this list, but it can be useful for certain workflows. For example, students taking notes in math or science classes may find Nebo more useful than the other apps on this list.
Concepts
To me, Concepts is somewhat similar to OneNote. It features a “true” infinite canvas, but the organization system is mostly the same as OneNote’s. Within a workspace, there are sections, which contain drawings.
What I love about Concepts is its customizability. There are many options available at no cost. For instance, there are hundreds of options just for the color of the background. Similarly, you can customize grid size, grid type, or page size for an infinite number of options.
This customizability feature makes Concepts powerful, but also makes it overwhelming to use in the beginning. As you use Concepts more often, you start to get used to the variety of available options, and you start building out a workspace that is ideal for your needs.
Because Concepts appears to be targeted towards professional users, the free version has most of the features basic users need. Taking lecture notes is great on Concepts, and the true infinite canvas makes it easy for mind maps or spider diagrams.
There are some issues with Concepts, however. For me, at least, I’ve noticed that Concepts is taking up a lot of storage. 20 small-ish notes have taken up 124 MB of storage on my iPad.
Let’s assume that the average college student has 12 lectures in a week and a 35-week school year. This means that the student would be taking 420 notes per year. After doing the math, this means that these notes (in Concepts) would take up 2.5 gigabytes of storage. For students with lots of storage, this may not seem like a big deal. For students using the entry-level iPad with only 32 gigabytes of storage may see this as an important issue.
Ultimately, I feel like Concepts is a great app that most students should consider. It does take up some storage, but it offers so many options. While this customizability can be overwhelming at the start, it allows you to build your own workspace that suits your own needs.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes is often underrated. Yes, it is a relatively basic note-taking app, but it can fit most people’s purposes.
With new features like tagging and quick notes, Apple Notes may become more popular. While it isn’t the most powerful app on this list, it is still a note-taking app with some basic features.
I like to use Apple Notes when I’m in a meeting (not a lecture) or I’m looking for a place to quickly jot down ideas. In these situations, I don’t need complex tools. I just need to be able to easily write down information. Because Apple Notes syncs across all devices, is completely free, and is a native app, it is perfect for this purpose.
While Apple Notes doesn’t have writing-to-text conversions like Nebo or an insane variety of options like Concepts, it’s perfect for taking quick notes.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide helped you find the best free note-taking app for your iPad.
OneNote is good for students taking lecture notes and anybody who uses Office 365 or wants to sync their iPad notes across non-Apple platforms.
Kilonotes is good for students looking for distinct page sizes and is a great option for people looking for an app similar to GoodNotes.
Nebo is good for people who need both freeform notes and notes with distinct page sizes. The writing-to-text conversion may also be useful for some people, and Nebo is a great app if you’re looking for this option.
Concepts is great for people looking for customizability, and it features an infinite amount of options.
Apple Notes is perfect for people looking to take simple, everyday notes. It may not be the best for taking lecture notes but is great for meeting notes or quickly writing down ideas.
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