# Goodnotes vs The North

Goodnotes records 3,227,341 monthly visits with +10.8% month-over-month growth and Freemium, Free Trial pricing. The North records 2,094 monthly visits with -53.8% growth and Freemium pricing.

| Metric | [Goodnotes](https://openaitools.app/tool/goodnotes) | [The North](https://openaitools.app/tool/the-north) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Website URL | https://goodnotes.com | https://thenorth.io |
| Categories | AI Note Taker, AI Spell Check, AI Writing Assistants | AI Copilot, AI Project Management, AI Productivity Tools |
| Pricing Model | Freemium, Free Trial | Freemium |
| Monthly Visits | 3,227,341 | 2,094 |
| MoM Growth Rate | +10.8% | -53.8% |
| Primary Market | United States | United States |
| Direct Visits | 1,638,916 | 825 |
| Review Score | 4.4 | 3.9 |
| Saved Count | 2 | 0 |
| 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)

## The North

North is built for organisations that already believe in outcome-based planning but are tired of running OKRs in spreadsheets. Instead of tracking tasks, North asks each team to name the metric it wants to change, then connects the initiatives that should move that number. The result is a workspace where a check-in answers a simple question: are we on pace, and what are we doing about it?

The product bundles three layers that are usually spread across different tools: a strategy layer for company vision and annual targets, a goals layer for hierarchical OKRs, and an initiatives layer for the projects that deliver them. Teams see the big picture through alignment views, while leads get a clear ranking of work by expected impact rather than by who shouted loudest.

Onboarding is deliberately light — the free plan lets a small team try outcome thinking before committing, and paid plans scale up with unlimited goals, more storage, private teams and priority support. North also invests heavily in education, publishing a full guide library on OKR practice alongside the software, which makes it a reasonable starting point for companies running OKRs for the first time.

**Pricing & Plans:** Freemium. Free plan for up to 5 users and 5 goals with 10 MB storage. Basic is $5 per user/month, Business is $10 per user/month when billed annually (US$7 and US$14 monthly). Annual billing includes invoicing and Business adds free onboarding; nonprofits and eligible startups get 80% off.

- **Goal and OKR alignment:** Set company, department and team objectives with numeric key results, so everyone can see how their work ladders up to the wider plan.
- **Metric-based goal tracking:** Give each objective target metrics and review pacing in lightweight check-ins instead of long status meetings.
- **Initiative planning:** Tie day-to-day projects to the goals they are meant to move, and rank work by expected impact on the metric.
- **Team workspaces and check-ins:** Build org charts of who owns what, follow team check-in rhythm and recognise progress with awards.
- **Google SSO and integrations:** Sign in with Google and hook North into the rest of your stack on every plan, including the free tier.

**Strengths:** Clear free tier that lets a small team test the outcome-based workflow; Pricing is low relative to enterprise OKR suites at $5–$10 per user/month; Strong educational content on OKRs alongside the product; Goal, initiative and strategy views live in one place rather than separate tools

**Limitations:** No native mobile apps; the app is web-based; Some capabilities such as project management, SAML SSO and audit log are still marked as coming soon; Free plan caps goals at 5 and storage at 10 MB; Only public teams are available on Free and Basic, so private planning needs the Business tier

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/the-north.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do Goodnotes and The North compare in monthly traffic?

Goodnotes has 3,227,341 monthly visits, while The North has 2,094. 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%; The North has -53.8%.

### 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. The North: Freemium. Freemium. Free plan for up to 5 users and 5 goals with 10 MB storage. Basic is $5 per user/month, Business is $10 per user/month when billed annually (US$7 and US$14 monthly). Annual billing includes invoicing and Business adds free onboarding; nonprofits and eligible startups get 80% off.

## Alternatives

| # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | [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) |
| 2 | [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) |
| 3 | [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) |
| 4 | [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) |
| 5 | [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) |
| 6 | [Capacities](https://openaitools.app/tool/capacities) | 339,396 | +5.7% | Freemium, Paid | Organizes notes into interconnected typed objects rather than traditional notebooks, but lacks handwritten ink support. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/capacities.md) |
| 7 | [Noteey](https://openaitools.app/tool/noteey) | 230,694 | -1.6% | Freemium | Uses an infinite visual canvas for note organization, but lacks Goodnotes' paper templates and PDF annotation polish. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/noteey.md) |
| 8 | [Heptabase](https://openaitools.app/tool/heptabase) | 179,905 | -5.8% | Free Trial, Paid | Offers spatial whiteboards for organizing complex research, but lacks Goodnotes' freehand handwriting stylus support. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/heptabase.md) |
| 9 | [NoteLyn AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/notelyn-ai) | 111,347 | +23.5% | Freemium | Automatically converts lectures and PDFs into structured study guides, but lacks freehand ink and drawing tools. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/notelyn-ai.md) |
| 10 | [Nifty](https://openaitools.app/tool/nifty) | 99,051 | -7.7% | Freemium, Free Trial | All-in-one project management where human teams and AI agents work from one plan | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/nifty.md) |

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Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/goodnotes-vs-the-north

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