The best free note-taking app for handwriting and freeform notebooks on any device, but pages get messy, notes live in OneDrive and Copilot costs a Microsoft 365 plan.
What it is
OneNote organizes notes into notebooks, sections and pages on a freeform canvas: type anywhere, handwrite and draw with a pen, record and transcribe audio, clip web pages and mark up PDFs. It is free with a Microsoft account on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, and notebooks sync through OneDrive, which includes 5 GB of free storage. Copilot in OneNote (drafting, summaries, lists) comes with Microsoft 365 Personal at $99.99 a year or $9.99 a month (1 TB of storage, first-year discounts often apply) or Family at $129.99 a year (2 TB shared). Many schools and companies already include it in Microsoft 365. Checked on microsoft.com November 12, 2026.
Best for
- Handwritten notes with a pen or stylus
- Students and Microsoft 365 users
- Free notes across Windows, Mac and phones
What we like
- Free on every major platform, including the web
- Strong pen, drawing and audio recording tools
- Freeform pages for mixed notes, images and PDFs
What to watch
- Notebooks sync through OneDrive, so the free tier's 5 GB fills up with images and PDFs
- Freeform pages get messy; no Markdown and no databases
- Copilot needs a paid Microsoft 365 plan
- Hard to move out: no clean Markdown export
Where Microsoft OneNote ranks
Alternatives and head-to-heads
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