# Goodnotes vs Heptabase Goodnotes records 3,227,341 monthly visits with +10.8% month-over-month growth and Freemium, Free Trial pricing. Heptabase records 179,905 monthly visits with -5.8% growth and Free Trial, Paid pricing. | Metric | [Goodnotes](https://openaitools.app/tool/goodnotes) | [Heptabase](https://openaitools.app/tool/heptabase) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Website URL | https://goodnotes.com | https://heptabase.com | | Categories | AI Note Taker, AI Spell Check, AI Writing Assistants | AI Note Taker, AI Knowledge Management, AI Research Tool, Whiteboard AI | | Pricing Model | Freemium, Free Trial | Free Trial, Paid | | Monthly Visits | 3,227,341 | 179,905 | | MoM Growth Rate | +10.8% | -5.8% | | Primary Market | United States | Taiwan | | Direct Visits | 1,638,916 | 97,771 | | Review Score | 4.4 | 4.6 | | Saved Count | 2 | 1 | | Supported Platforms | Website | Website | ## Goodnotes Goodnotes is a digital note-taking app designed around the feel of writing on paper, then extended with everything a paper notebook cannot do. The core notebook experience uses a low-latency ink engine so handwriting feels natural on a tablet with a stylus. You can rest your hand on the screen, cross out to erase, and convert handwritten text into typed characters when you need something searchable or exportable. Around that core sits a flexible document workspace. The app handles PDF annotation, typed documents, infinite whiteboards, imported images, and recorded audio in the same environment, so a meeting, lecture, or project space can mix formats without switching tools. Notes and documents sync across iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows, and the web, letting you start a page on a tablet and finish it at a desk. Goodnotes also layers in AI and collaboration. AI-powered search looks across typed text, handwriting, and sketches at once, and can turn a page of notes into a mind map, a summary, or a project plan with action items. Real-time collaboration, shared notebooks, and education-focused deployments make it a practical fit for students, teachers, and knowledge-heavy teams in fields like architecture, engineering, legal, and consulting. **Pricing & Plans:** Freemium with a free tier and paid subscription plans, plus separate offerings for education and business. A free trial is available; exact regional prices are listed on the official pricing page. - **Natural handwriting engine:** Low-latency ink with palm rejection, cross-out to erase, and handwriting-to-text conversion keeps writing close to pen on paper. - **PDF annotation and markup:** Import contracts, papers, or textbooks and mark them up by hand, with searchable annotations and clean exports. - **AI search and transformation:** Search across typed text, handwriting, and sketches, and turn notes into summaries, mind maps, or structured plans. - **Real-time collaboration:** Work together in shared notebooks, documents, and whiteboards simultaneously, without version conflicts or file ping-pong. - **Cross-device sync:** Continue the same notebook on tablet, phone, desktop, or web so notes follow you between work and study settings. **Strengths:** Best-in-class handwriting feel makes the transition from paper notebooks easy; Combines notebooks, PDFs, whiteboards, and audio in a single app; AI search reads handwriting and sketches, not just typed text; Broad device support with reliable cross-platform syncing **Limitations:** The best features sit behind the paid subscription or one-time purchase; Advanced AI and collaboration features require an account and internet connection; Heavy notebooks with large PDFs can be slow on older devices [Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/goodnotes.md) ## Heptabase Heptabase is designed for people who want to understand material rather than merely collect it. At its core is a whiteboard where you break any source into cards — by hand or with AI — and then read deeper by following each citation back to its origin. Supported sources include PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos, podcasts, Readwise and Zotero, so research from different places lands in a single visual space. Nested databases, tags and properties then give that material a structure you can reshape as your understanding changes. AI features are framed as learning aids rather than answer machines. An AI Tutor turns a goal into a personalised course, and AI assist helps process readings and organise cards on the board. For those who already work inside other AI tools, Heptabase exposes your knowledge base through Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex and Grok Bot, plus a plugin, MCP server and CLI, so notes can be queried from the assistant you already use. The practical basics are covered too: a block editor with daily journals, bi-directional links and web clipper; PDF highlight and annotation; offline access; mobile apps; and real-time collaboration for co-annotating boards. Heptabase offers a 7-day trial across mobile and desktop and positions itself as a long-term knowledge home rather than a quick note dump. **Pricing & Plans:** Heptabase offers a 7-day free trial, with paid subscription plans published on its pricing page covering individual use. Refer to the pricing page itself for current figures. - **Whiteboards for breaking down sources:** Split PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos, podcasts and Readwise or Zotero items into cards and read deeper through every citation. - **AI Tutor and AI-assisted reading:** Turn any goal into a personalised course and process readings with AI help before arranging ideas on the board. - **Nested databases, tags and properties:** Give your knowledge a structure that can be reworked as you learn, using nested tags and properties rather than flat folders. - **Works with the AI tools you already use:** Query your knowledge base from Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex or Grok Bot through the plugin, MCP server and CLI. - **PDF annotation, offline access and collaboration:** Highlight and annotate PDFs, work offline, sync in real time and co-annotate boards with other people on desktop and mobile. **Strengths:** Whiteboard-plus-database model suits understanding, not just storage; Ingests PDFs, web pages, YouTube, podcasts, Readwise and Zotero; Integrates with Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex and Grok through plugin, MCP and CLI; Offline access, mobile apps and real-time collaboration included **Limitations:** Whiteboard metaphor takes time to learn if you are used to linear note apps; Only a 7-day trial before committing to a paid plan; Heavy canvases can become unwieldy without disciplined card naming [Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/heptabase.md) ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How do Goodnotes and Heptabase compare in monthly traffic? Goodnotes has 3,227,341 monthly visits, while Heptabase has 179,905. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality. ### How do their growth rates compare? Goodnotes has a month-over-month growth rate of +10.8%; Heptabase has -5.8%. ### How does pricing compare? Goodnotes: Freemium, Free Trial. Freemium with a free tier and paid subscription plans, plus separate offerings for education and business. A free trial is available; exact regional prices are listed on the official pricing page. Heptabase: Free Trial, Paid. Heptabase offers a 7-day free trial, with paid subscription plans published on its pricing page covering individual use. Refer to the pricing page itself for current figures. ## Alternatives | # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 1 | [Miro](https://openaitools.app/tool/miro) | 30,749,206 | +1.7% | Freemium, Contact for Pricing | An AI-powered visual workspace where teams think, plan, and build together | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/miro.md) | | 2 | [Knowt](https://openaitools.app/tool/knowt-com) | 4,183,953 | +5.4% | Free | Excels at automatically generating flashcards and practice quizzes from study notes, but lacks freehand drawing features. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/knowt-com.md) | | 3 | [StudyFetch](https://openaitools.app/tool/study-fetch) | 1,750,520 | +1.7% | Freemium | Turns course materials into interactive AI study tools, but focuses less on handwritten digital notebooks. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/study-fetch.md) | | 4 | [LightPDF](https://openaitools.app/tool/lightpdf-com) | 1,742,568 | -15.3% | Freemium | Stronger online PDF editing and AI chat capabilities, but lacks tablet-optimized handwritten note-taking workflows. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/lightpdf-com.md) | | 5 | [Studley AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/studley-ai) | 1,031,545 | -19.5% | Freemium | Converts notes and PDFs into quizzes and flashcards, but lacks stylus-based handwriting and sketching tools. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/studley-ai.md) | | 6 | [Whimsical](https://openaitools.app/tool/whimsical) | 966,895 | -18.7% | Freemium | The collaborative whiteboard built for product builders | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/whimsical.md) | | 7 | [ResearchRabbit](https://openaitools.app/tool/researchrabbit) | 831,571 | +3.1% | Free | Map the literature around the papers you love—free | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/researchrabbit.md) | | 8 | [Craft](https://openaitools.app/tool/craft-do) | 703,417 | +8.9% | Freemium | Provides gorgeous structured block-based document editing, but is built for typed text rather than handwritten notes. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/craft-do.md) | | 9 | [Capacities](https://openaitools.app/tool/capacities) | 339,396 | +5.7% | Freemium, Paid | Organizes notes into connected typed objects rather than visual whiteboards and infinite spatial canvases. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/capacities.md) | | 10 | [Flowith](https://openaitools.app/tool/flowith) | 324,679 | -27.3% | Contact for Pricing | Pairs a spatial visual canvas with multi-model chat agents, offering a more agentic research experience than Heptabase. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/flowith.md) | --- Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/goodnotes-vs-heptabase More Markdown: [Categories](https://openaitools.app/categories.md) · [Traffic rankings](https://openaitools.app/rankings.md) · [llms.txt](https://openaitools.app/llms.txt)