What is Microsoft OneNote?

Microsoft OneNote is a Note-taking & docs tool: Free freeform digital notebook from Microsoft with ink and sync.

How much does Microsoft OneNote cost?

Microsoft OneNote is Free; there is no mandatory paid plan.

What are the best alternatives to Microsoft OneNote?

Community-listed alternatives to Microsoft OneNote include Notion, Display, Xmind, Evernote.

What does Microsoft OneNote integrate with?

Microsoft OneNote integrates with OneDrive, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, Zapier, Microsoft Copilot and more.

Which platforms does Microsoft OneNote support?

Microsoft OneNote is available on web, windows, macos, ios, android.

Microsoft OneNote

Free freeform digital notebook from Microsoft with ink and sync

FreeNote-taking & docs

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Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking & docs tool for Freelancers and Small businesses, offered as free. Based in United States, founded in 2003. Popular alternatives include Notion, Display, Xmind.

About Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is a free digital notebook that organizes notes into notebooks, sections and pages on a freeform canvas where text, images, ink, audio and files can sit anywhere. Microsoft first shipped it with Office 2003; it is part of Microsoft 365 but free on its own with a Microsoft account. Its core job is capturing mixed-media notes, from lecture handwriting to meeting minutes.

Notebooks sync through OneDrive, so the free 5 GB account limit is the real ceiling for heavy users with many images. The app runs on Windows, Mac, the web, iOS and Android, supports pen input with handwriting search, extracts text from pictures, records audio, tags to-dos and clips pages through the OneNote Web Clipper. Copilot features inside OneNote, such as summarizing pages or drafting from notes, need a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium plan or a business Copilot license.

OneNote fits students, teachers and Microsoft-centric teams who think on paper and want a free, pen-friendly notebook. It is weak for structured knowledge work: there are no databases, Markdown or backlinks, export options are poor, and large notebooks can hit sync conflicts. Evernote has stronger web clipping and search, Notion adds databases and team wikis, and Obsidian keeps notes as local Markdown files with links.

Microsoft ended support for the old OneNote for Windows 10 app on October 14, 2025, and moved Windows users to the OneNote app that ships with Microsoft 365, which is still a free download. Old-app users should reopen their notebooks there to keep syncing.

Key features of Microsoft OneNote

Freeform pages where text, images, ink and files can be placed anywhere
Notebook, section and page hierarchy with color-coded tabs
Pen and stylus inking with handwriting search and ink-to-text
Text extraction from images and printouts inserted into notes
Audio recording linked to notes and tags such as To Do and Important
OneNote Web Clipper for saving web pages into a notebook
Shared notebooks with real-time co-editing over OneDrive
Copilot summaries and drafting with a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan

Pros and cons

Pros

Completely free on every major platform with no note limits
Best-in-class pen experience for students and tablet users
Freeform canvas suits mixed media better than linear note apps
Tight integration with Outlook, Teams and the rest of Microsoft 365
Turkish interface and broad language support

Cons

Storage is capped by OneDrive, only 5 GB on free accounts
No databases, Markdown or bidirectional links
Weak export makes migrating to another app painful
Sync conflicts and slow loading in very large notebooks
Mac and web versions lack some Windows features

Microsoft OneNote pricing

Microsoft OneNote uses a free model.

Plan	Price	Includes
OneNote	$0	Free with a Microsoft account; notebooks sync via 5 GB OneDrive
Microsoft 365 Personal	$9.99 / mo	$99.99/year; 1 TB OneDrive and Copilot in OneNote
Microsoft 365 Family	$12.99 / mo	$129.99/year; up to 6 people, 2 TB shared storage

Source: www.microsoft.com · checked on Oct 20, 2026

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How Microsoft OneNote compares in Note-taking & docs

Rank by votes: #1 / 19
Starting price: $0
Free alternatives: 4

Microsoft OneNote ranks #1 of 19 note-taking & docs tools by community votes and is not directly comparable on price.

Common use cases

1Handwritten lecture notes on a tablet with searchable ink
2Meeting notes linked to Outlook meetings and shared with Teams
3Class notebooks for teachers distributing material to students
4Clipping research articles and annotating them in one place
5Personal journals mixing photos, audio and typed text

Best for

Students, teachers and Microsoft 365 users who want a free, pen-friendly notebook that syncs across every device.

Not ideal for

Knowledge workers who need databases, linked notes or plain-file ownership (Notion, Obsidian or Evernote suit them better).

Integrations

OneDrive
Outlook
Microsoft Teams
Power Automate
Zapier
Microsoft Copilot

Our take

OneNote is the best free notebook for handwriting and freeform capture, especially inside the Microsoft ecosystem. Use it if you think visually or write with a pen; choose Obsidian or Notion if you need structure, links or easy export.

FAQ

What is Microsoft OneNote?: Microsoft OneNote is a Note-taking & docs tool: Free freeform digital notebook from Microsoft with ink and sync.
How much does Microsoft OneNote cost?: Microsoft OneNote is Free; there is no mandatory paid plan.
What are the best alternatives to Microsoft OneNote?: Community-listed alternatives to Microsoft OneNote include Notion, Display, Xmind, Evernote.
What does Microsoft OneNote integrate with?: Microsoft OneNote integrates with OneDrive, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, Zapier, Microsoft Copilot and more.
Which platforms does Microsoft OneNote support?: Microsoft OneNote is available on web, windows, macos, ios, android.
Who is Microsoft OneNote for?: Students, teachers and Microsoft 365 users who want a free, pen-friendly notebook that syncs across every device.

Alternatives to Microsoft OneNote

See all 10

Notion
▲ 0
All-in-one workspace for notes, docs and projects
Freemium · $12Small businesses
checked Oct 20
Display
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Shared workspace where AI agents publish docs, prototypes and apps
Freemium · $12Developers
checked Nov 3
Xmind
▲ 0
Mind mapping app with an AI agent that builds maps through chat
FreemiumFreelancers
checked Nov 3
Evernote
▲ 0
Veteran note app with web clipping, tasks and AI search
Freemium · $15Freelancers
checked Oct 20
Coda
▲ 0
Docs that work like apps
Freemium · $15Small businesses
checked Oct 20
XWiki
▲ 0
Open-source enterprise wiki, self-hosted or cloud, now with MCP
Open sourceEnterprise
checked Oct 31

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Craft
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Beautiful native docs for Apple users
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checked Oct 20
Lex
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A word processor with AI built in
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checked Oct 20
GitBook
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Docs that sync with Git
Freemium · $65Developers
checked Oct 20
Logseq
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Open-source outliner with bi-directional links
Open sourceDevelopers
checked Oct 20
Anytype
▲ 0
Private, local-first Notion alternative
Freemium · $5Freelancers
checked Oct 20
AppFlowy
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Open-source workspace you can self-host
Open source · $16Developers
checked Oct 20

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