Microsoft OneNote is one of the most popular note-taking tools, but it is primarily for Windows users, and limited functionality with Linux, macOS, Android, or iOS.

I am trying to use my Apple Pencil 2 on my iPad Pro 12.9 (series 3) to take notes in OneNote. I'm OneNote version 16.30.1 (the latest version from the App Store) and iPadOS 13.2. According to Microsoft, the functionality to double tap the pencil to with between writing and erasing should be supported in OneNote. Just tap anywhere on the gray background and a new card will pop up, and you can write notes on it with either the Apple Pencil or a keyboard. You can rearrange the cards singly with the Pencil. Paper and Pencil by FiftyThree. Go from Pencil to Paper with your ideas and then take it a step further with OneNote. Write and draw with the enhanced precision and ease Pencil is known for, and if you make a mistake just flip the stylus and erase in a natural way -all directly in OneNote. JotNot now offers direct.

If OneNote isn’t your cup of tea, We’ve handpicked 11 alternatives to OneNote for you to choose. Let’s get right into first.

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1. Evernote

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Even if you’ve never used it, you’ve probably heard of Evernote. It is probably the most popular note-taking app today. And we pick it as the first and best alternative to OneNote.

Firstly, it offers the same basic functionality as OneNote – the ability to create, organize and sync notes among multiple platforms, including Windows PCs, Macs, iPads and iPhones, Windows Phones, Android devices and the web.

Then, Evernote has a handful of features that support collaboration. Among them, you can share any notebook by right-clicking on it and selecting “share notebook.” Input the email addresses of those with whom you want to share your notebook and select the type of access permissions you want to grant them: view, edit or edit and invite.

Finally, Evernote has a handy chat feature that can be used to discuss notes.

Related Post:Evernote vs OneNote: The Best App for Note-Taking in 2020

Pros:

• Offline access
• Syncing across multiple platforms and devices
• Quick to capture notes and thoughts
• Sharing capabilities
• Easy to use layout

Microsoft Onenote Ipad Pro Pencil

Cons:

• Web application has limited features especially with respect to images.
• No option to record audio and video directly from Evernote.

Pricing: Evernote Basic- Free, Evernote Premium- $69.99/year, and Evernote Business- $14.99/user/month.

2. Notion

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Web

Notion is an all new task and project management tool which stands out different from the peers. It’s basically like a folder that contains everything you need such as documents, notes, tasks, wikis, database, and more to help you manage workload quite efficiently.

Pros:

• Allows flexible management of individual and team projects
• Easy on-boarding
• Provides for unrestricted access including offline
• Customizable and distraction free

Cons:

• Offline access is limited to only recently opened pages
• No handwriting support

Pricing: Notion has four pricing tiers—a Free plan, a Personal plan for $4 a month, a Team plan at $8 per member per month, and an Enterprise plan at $20 per member per month.

3. Google Keep

Platforms: Android, iOS, Web

Google Keep is similar to OneNote but with a simpler approach. It lets you take down short notes with just a basic title and your note content. You can also choose to add an image to a note and color code each note.

Pros:

• Create notes and lists, set time and place reminders, and check off your completed tasks.
• Add a collaborator to your notes and lists, then get things done together.
• Search notes by automagically created topics.
• Integrated with Gmail and Chrome to easily create notes
• Access your notes on any device – synced automatically to your phone, tablet, watch, and laptop.

Cons:

• Google Keep is best for short notes or short-term notes. But if you have a long list of notes, it might be unmanageable.
• It never notifies when some new notes are added to the shared list.
• You may notice some problems with syncing data between devices

Pricing: Free

4. Apple Notes

Platforms: iPhone/iPad/Mac

OneNote is default for Windows users. Similarly, as for Apple users, Apple Notes is the default option for them. Starting with Apple Notes, the software allows you to create multiple notebooks. You can create sub-notebooks inside it. When editing a note, you can choose from Title, Headings, Subheading, Monospaced, Bullet list, and Numbered list. Users can also integrate photos and documents inside a note.

Pros:

• Nativity with iOS
• Simple yet useful app

Cons:

• There is no way to tag;

Pricing: Free

5. Notability

Platforms: iOS, macOS, Android, Chrome, and Windows

Notability is a powerful note-taker to annotate documents, sketch ideas, record lectures, take notes and more. It combines, typing, handwriting, audio recording, and photos so you can create notes that fit your needs.

Pros:

• Audio recording
• Vertical and horizontal scrolling
• Change size and color of pen after it’s written
• Color picker tool, making it super easy to match your pens to your planner colors
• Can add gifs
• Syncs with iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox and works perfectly

Cons:

• Can’t select all pages or move multiple pages at once
• Can’t open 2 planners at once
• No conversion from handwriting to text

Pricing: $8.99 on iOS / $4.99 macOS/In-app purchases in the Notability shop.

6. GoodNotes

Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices

GoodNotes is a note-taking app, but it’s nothing like note-taking apps you’re used to using. It isn’t meant to be used for typing (though you can type). It’s specifically designed as a handwriting app so you can use your Apple Pencil or another stylus. You can create sketches for presentation, annotate PDFs that you’ve imported, and even search all of your notes — handwritten, typed, or imported as a PDF. Here are dozens of paper styles, including lined paper in a variety of sizes, dotted paper, grids, column pages for accounting, and more.

Pros:

• Three custom pen colors always available and just one tap to switch between them
• Pictures inserted into the notes are able to be moved around
• The *NEW* unlimited organization of notebooks within folders
• THE SEARCH FEATURE!

Cons:

• The pages don’t auto-lock to the width of the screen.
• The developers do not let you decide the backup file format.
• There is no voice recording function.

Pricing: GoodNotes 5 costs $7.99. If you previously purchased a prior version of the app, there is a Complete My Bundle option that lets you just pay the difference between whatever you previously paid and $7.99.

7. Simplenote

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

Simplenote is another good alternative to OneNote. It offers markdown support, cross-platform apps, and can be accessed through most web browsers. On Simplenote, users are permitted to record an almost unlimited number of text-based notes on the platform. Once the note has been composed, it can be pinned to the top of a list for immediate access.

Pros: Unzip to directory mac.

• Simple and clean UI
• Markdown support that allows users to write, preview, and publish notes
• Instant searching through tags
• Users are allowed to export data
• Collaborative features to work together

Cons:

• No reminder
• No social media integration
• Poor save-to-disk feature

Pricing: Free

8. Zoho Notebook

Does Microsoft Onenote Support Apple Pencil

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Zoho Notebook sets itself apart by allowing you to incorporate graphics, colors, and photos into your notes. If you’re a visual person, using these features to store your notes will help simplify the organization of your data⁠. You can also add multiple types of media to your notes, including audio, checklists, and files.

Pros:

• Audio notes
• Cloud Syncing
• Pre-built checklist
• Completely free and ad-free

Cons:

• No text formatting
• Lacks some features like tag search

Pricing: Free

9. Bear

Platform: iOS, Mac, Apple Watch

This simple note-taking app was released in 2016 and has quickly become one of the most popular tools of its kind thanks to its simplicity and clean, intuitive UI. Also, It features powerful Markdown capability and an excellent writing experience.

Pros:

• Multiple themes and rich previews
• To-dos and Hashtags
• Focus mode
• Multiple export options
• Advanced Markup Editor

Cons:

• No tabs, so you can view only one note at a time
• Only available for Apple devices

Pricing: Free or $1.49 monthly and $14.99 annually

10. Laverna

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Web

Laverna is a JavaScript note taking application with Markdown editor and encryption support.

Laverna’s main selling point is its focus on privacy. Your notes are never stored on the company’s servers. However, you can store your data on Dropbox or RemoteStorage if you want to sync across devices. It’s also possible to set a password that’ll encrypt your notes, too.

Pros:

• All notes are written in Markdown with a live preview window
• It has three levels of organization; profiles, notebooks, and tags
• It has distraction-free editing mode

Cons:

• Cannot drag and drop images for upload
• A few bugs in the system

Pricing: Free

11. Turtl

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android

Turtl is a secure OneNote alternative. It lets you take notes, bookmark websites, and store documents for sensitive projects. From sharing passwords with your coworkers to tracking research on an article you’re writing, Turtl keeps it all safe from everyone but you and those you share with.

Pros:

• Turtl stores your info encrypted
• You can easily share boards of bookmarks & notes you can synch files & images it’s cross platform & free

Cons:

• Limited storage on its free plan

Pricing: Turtl has a free to use plan that allows you to store up to 50mb of data and it’s paid plans start at $3 a month.

Summary: Best OneNote Alternative

To wrap it up, there are many note-taking apps are better than OneNote for specific tasks you’re doing.

Evernote is still the top pick for most people who looking for a OneNote alternative. Its vast feature set ensures that it does everything well enough and has the fewest quirks

For Mac and iOS users, Apple Notes and Bear might be good OneNote alternatives.

If you focus on privacy and data security, Laverna and Turtl are good choices.

Finally, the true best OneNote alternative is the one that fits your needs.

Taking notes is significant in our daily study and work as we rely on it to record some important information captured from another source. Nowadays, note taking is no longer confined to papers. The iPad devices supporting Apple Pencil (e.g., iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad mini, and 9.7-inch iPad) give users far faster and smoother handwriting experience than taking notes on paper. In order to better meet the needs of users, there is a slew of useful note-taking apps launched on the App Store. It is somewhat tedious work to pick out the one that suits you most by trying all these apps one by one. Thus, for your reference, we list 8 best free note taking apps for the iPad & Apple Pencil in this article.

1. Microsoft OneNote

With a rating of 4.7 on the App Store from over 291.2K users, Microsoft OneNote is undoubtedly the best iPad note taking app you’re looking for. This application is most often used on the laptop or desktop. But actually, it is more suitable for tablets supporting the stylus like iPads with Apple Pencil. OneNote is like a three-ring binder with labels which allows the users to create notes directly or collect pages from other sources. Even better, you can shift these pages within the spring binder. You can also add comments, process texts, draw pictures, and embed multimedia audio or web links in these pages.

The most prominent part of this app is its built-in searching feature which enables you to search for the embedded text in images, comments, and audio files. In addition, you can make a checklist in OneNote to track your daily errands in the best possible way.

2. Notability

Notability is another one of the best note taking apps for iPad with Apple Pencil, which provides different ways to take notes and capture thoughts. Notability users can annotate texts or PDFs, write drafts, record the audio, take remarks by typing, drawing, handwriting, recording, or photographing. And users can drag and drop texts, pictures, web pages, and more files from other apps into Notability. Moreover, you can process two notes at the same time. You can also freely switch between notes as well as drag and drop texts or pictures between notes.

The information you’ve captured in this application can be converted to PDF version and locked with a Face ID or Touch ID in view of your privacy. With iCloud, your notes in Notability are available on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac.

3. Evernote

When it comes to the best note taking apps, Evernote must be on the list. It has long been the leader among various note-taking and syncing apps. This cloud-based tool offers unlimited storage for you to take notes and synchronize the notes in near real-time across your devices. Based on these two features, Evernote is not enough to be a leader among the crowd of note taking apps. But it has outstanding organizational functions. Besides grouping your notes into notebooks, this application also supports to tag notes, crosslink notes, save the attachment to notes, and embed checklists. The notes you take can be the typed text, handwritten notes, image, web page, PDF, sketches, videos, and many more types. One more highlight of this note taking app is that it enables multiple users to edit the same shared notebook together and achieve team collaboration.

4. Bear

As one of the best note taking apps for iPad, iPhone, and Mac, Bear is thoughtfully designed. While it has a minimalistic and straightforward interface, it is rich-featured as well. Bear supports sketching and draw with the Apple Pencil or another third-party stylus. It also supports the Markdown, a syntax that allows users to add links and format the text before exporting notes to the content management system. You can add mufti-word tags in a quote, which helps to organize and archive your notes quicker and more convenient. The notes you take using Bear app can be shared and exported in different formats, including HTML, PDF, OCX, MD, JPG, etc. and synced reliably with cloud services.

5. Notes

There is no doubt that the note taking app best suits your iPad with Apple Pencil is the one that Apple has built-in: Apple Notes. Since the release of iOS 9, Apple Notes has definitely become a fantastic note-taking system. It has an intuitive and precise interface. This application supports inline scanning, handwriting, text searching, and annotation. But it won’t let you tag or customize your notes for the organization. And you cannot sync the created notebooks anywhere except for iCloud. Moreover, linking your notes together is quite difficult in Apple Notes. But if you just want to jot down some important points, notes, or simple ideas, Apple Notes would be a perfect choice for you.

Sometimes the notes you’ve taken in the Apple Notes app may be deleted or lost by accident; you can always use Jihosoft iPhone Data Recovery to help you retrieve your iPad notes.

6. Notebook – Take Notes, Sync

Notebook is a completely free note taking app for iPad, and it is also ad-free. It has a fairly clean and straightforward user interface. The unique card-based design makes this application stand out in numerous note taking apps. Different cards have different colors, which makes it easier to sort and view multiple categories of notes. Notebook has custom book covers as well as various ways to take notes. You can type text, add files, create checklists, record audio, capture moments, or handwrite notes with fingers or Apple Pencil. The notes you take in this application can be saved in your cloud service so that you never lose them. And each notebook and note can be locked with a passcode or Touch ID, so you don’t need to worry about your privacy.

7. GoodNotes

GoodNotes is a decent note-taking app for you to take handwritten notes on your iPad with Apple Pencil. This application has a notebook-like shape and provides various customizable ink and paper choices, which gives you the feel of writing with an actual pen. The remarkable feature of GoodNotes is not limited to handwriting. This note taking app for Apple Pencil also supports to type texts, import pictures, or capture moments. It is a powerful PDF tool which lets you handwrite comments in the PDF file and create PDF files. Similar to other apps, the notes you take in GoodNotes can be searched via OCR and synced via iCloud and other cloud services.

Conclusion

Above all are 7 best note taking apps for iPad with Apple Pencil we pick out for your reference. Most of them also work well on the iPhone. All these apps are aimed at providing users with a seamless note-taking experience. Do you have a general understanding of these note taking apps for iPad with Apple Pencil? Have you decided on anyone to install on your iPad? Please tell us in the comment section. If you have some more iPad note taking apps, please also share them with us.