Notability

Notability is a cross-platform workspace for bringing handwritten notes, typed text, recordings, images and documents together. It is best suited to students and professionals who want study tools and collaboration alongside note-taking. Its strongest appeal is the range of material and review tools in one place; the free plan’s five-note cap is a meaningful constraint.

Overview

Notability combines mixed-format notes with sharing, real-time collaboration and offline access. That makes it a stronger fit for lecture and meeting material than a basic text-only notebook: notes can hold several kinds of source material, and study features can help turn them into review aids. The trade-off is that the free tier allows only five notes, while several paid plans have custom pricing or no published price.

Key features

A note can combine handwriting, typed text, audio recordings, images and imported documents. This is useful when a lecture or meeting is difficult to capture in one format, though readers who only want a simple text notebook may find the broader toolset unnecessary. Notes can be shared, and real-time collaboration supports working together in the same workspace. Offline access is supported, with integrations for iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box and WebDAV.

Notability Learn includes audio transcription, note summaries, Smart Notes, quizzes, flashcards and chat with notes. These tools are aimed at turning class or work material into revision and recall prompts, rather than merely storing it. Notability can also turn a YouTube video into a note with a transcript and summary. The number of YouTube conversions and AI questions varies by plan, so frequent use may require a higher tier.

For schools, Notability for Education is free and supports administrator configuration and MDMs including Jamf and Mosyle. The business page states that Notability is SOC 2 certified and GDPR compliant, and that customer data is not used to train LLMs. Its privacy policy prohibits submitting health data, non-public government ID numbers, personal financial data and certain other sensitive data, except when stored locally. Audio and study-material input are processed for requested features and deleted after study-material generation completes. Notes kept locally without syncing are accessible only to the user; synced data is replicated on servers maintained in the United States.

Pricing

Notability uses a freemium model and offers a 30-day trial. Starter costs nothing and includes all editing tools and content, PDFs and documents, more than 20,000 templates and seven-day version history, but limits users to five free notes. It is a useful way to assess the workflow, not a roomy long-term plan for someone who accumulates notes.

Lite has custom pricing and includes unlimited notes with seven-day version history. Plus has custom pricing and provides 100 YouTube conversions per month, 400 AI questions per month and 30-day version history. These tiers suit users who need more room or bounded AI use, but the unpublished price makes it difficult to weigh their value before choosing.

Pro costs $19.99 a month, billed monthly. It includes unlimited YouTube conversions, unlimited quizzes and flashcards, and 90-day version history, making it the clearest option for an individual who relies heavily on those study tools. Classic costs $49.99 a month and includes seven-day version history; that shorter history makes it a less compelling fit for anyone who needs to revisit older revisions.

Business has custom pricing, unlimited notes and 30-day version history. Business Pro costs $180 a year, billed $180/yr, per user, and adds unlimited transcription, real-time AI summaries, chat with notes, 90-day version history, an audit log and Intune MAM integration. Its per-user terms and administrative features make it the more relevant option for organizations. Custom Contract uses custom pricing and offers custom payment terms, dedicated support, control and flexibility; the business page says custom-contract teams can receive dedicated support.

Platforms

Notability supports Android, iOS, macOS, web and Windows, so notes can span mobile and desktop platforms. The iOS and iPadOS apps require version 17 or later, and the Android app requires Android 12 or later. Check those requirements before choosing it for an older device.

Who it's for

Students who want to combine lecture notes with recordings, transcripts and revision tools are the clearest fit. Professionals can use the same mixed-format workspace for meetings and shared work, while schools can use the free Education offering with administrator configuration and supported MDMs. It is less suited to people who need more than five notes but do not want a paid tier, or who only need uncomplicated text notes.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Notes can combine handwriting, text, audio, images and documents, accommodating material that does not fit neatly into a text-only format.
• Pro: Learn includes transcription, summaries, quizzes, flashcards and chat with notes, giving students several ways to review their material.
• Pro: Sharing, real-time collaboration, offline access and broad platform support cover individual and shared workflows.
• Con: Starter caps users at five notes, limiting its usefulness for an ongoing notebook.
• Con: Lite, Plus and Business have custom pricing, and the Plus and Pro study-tool quotas differ substantially.
• Con: Mobile app requirements exclude devices below iOS/iPadOS 17 or Android 12.

Alternatives

For more options, browse Note-taking apps or AI Note-Taking Apps.

• Notesnook is another freemium note-taking option, with a free plan and support for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web and Windows.
• Zoho Notebook is a freemium alternative with a free Essential plan that includes 500 MB cloud storage, 20 note versions, a 3 MB maximum notecard size and 10 MB file uploads.
• Obsidian is worth considering if Linux support matters; its listed Sync Standard plan costs $5 a month, billed annually, per user, and includes one synced vault with 1 GB total storage and a 5 MB maximum file size.
• Craft has a free plan with 1,500 blocks, 1 GB storage, a 25 MB media upload limit, seven-day version history and 15 AI assistant credits.
• Goodnotes is another freemium option with a free plan capped at three notebooks, three text documents, three whiteboards, three folders and 100 MB storage.
• Workflowy offers a free Basic plan with 100 nodes per month and 100 MB file uploads.
• Evernote has a free plan with 50 notes, one notebook, five spaces, 20 tags, 200 attachments and 1 GB storage.
• Standard Notes is another freemium option, with a free Standard plan that includes end-to-end encryption, unlimited device sync, plain text notes and offline access.

Verdict

Choose Notability if you want a single workspace for handwritten and recorded material, with study tools and collaboration close at hand. Its strongest case is the combination of mixed-format notes and built-in ways to review them. Look elsewhere if the five-note free cap is too restrictive, your device misses the app requirements, or you want predictable pricing before committing to a paid plan.