Study tools 🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom Since 2011 4.7 · 460K ratings

Goodnotes

A note-taking app for handwriting, PDF markup and AI study help on tablets.

Visit goodnotes.com All companies
monthly active users, according to Goodnotes
25M+
US App Store, 460K ratings
4.7
Essential for a year, US
$11.99
UK turnover, year to March 2025
£103.8M

About Goodnotes

Goodnotes is a note-taking app for handwriting, PDF markup, whiteboards and typed documents, made by Goodnotes Limited in London. Steven Chan started it as a maths student in Australia and launched it on the iPad in 2011. The app is free for up to 3 notebooks. On the US App Store, Essential costs $11.99 a year, Pro $35.99 a year, and Special Edition is a one-time purchase of $35.99 for Apple devices only. Goodnotes runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows and the web, and the US App Store gives it 4.7 from 459,990 ratings.

Goodnotes turns a tablet into a notebook. You write with a stylus, mark up PDFs, draw on an infinite whiteboard or type a text document. The app searches handwriting, converts it to text and straightens hand-drawn shapes. Goodnotes AI answers questions about your notes, builds quizzes, explains maths and summarises meetings. Free users get 3 notebooks, 3 whiteboards and 3 text documents.

Steven Chan studied mathematics at the University of Queensland when the first iPad came out in 2010. He wrote a note app for his own lecture notes, and Goodnotes launched in 2011. Chan built it alone for about five years. After the Apple Pencil came out in 2015, he started hiring. Apple named Goodnotes the iPad App of the Year in 2022.

Goodnotes Limited was registered in London on 18 September 2020 and is the company users sign the terms with. Its press kit names London as headquarters, and the about page lists offices in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Until 2023 the app sold as GoodNotes 5 with a one-time purchase. Goodnotes 6 brought a subscription and a separate one-time option on 9 August 2023. In September 2025 the plans became Free, Essential, Pro, Special Edition and AI Pass.

History

  1. 2010 Steven Chan, a maths student at the University of Queensland, starts a note app for the new iPad.
  2. 2011 GoodNotes launches on the iPad.
  3. 2015 After about five years alone, Chan starts building a team once the Apple Pencil comes out.
  4. 2019 The current App Store listing, then GoodNotes 5, goes live on 15 January.
  5. 2020 Goodnotes Limited is registered in London on 18 September. Race Capital invests US$6 million in a seed round, according to SCMP.
  6. 2022 Apple names Goodnotes the iPad App of the Year. The Windows app appears in the Microsoft Store on 17 November.
  7. 2023 Goodnotes 6 launches on 9 August for $9.99 a year or $29.99 once. Android, Windows and web leave beta on the same day.
  8. 2023 Goodnotes invests $1.9 million in WeBudding, a Korean digital stationery platform, in September.
  9. 2024 Goodnotes buys Dropthebit, the Korean maker of the AI note service Traw, in January.
  10. 2025 On 23 September Goodnotes launches Essential, Pro, AI Pass, Whiteboards and Text Documents. The Android & Windows Yearly plan stops for new buyers.
  11. 2025 Goodnotes Limited reports £103.8 million turnover for the year to 31 March 2025, up from £88.7 million.
  12. 2026 Paul Eric Onnen joins the board of Goodnotes Limited on 30 March.

Goodnotes funding and investors

US$6M disclosed seed round, 2020
  1. 2020
    Seed US$6M

    Lead: Race Capital Race Capital

    Source: SCMP, August 2022

SCMP reports a US$6 million seed round from Race Capital in 2020. The Goodnotes about page says the company was “bootstrapped and profitable from day one”. No other rounds are published.

Leadership

  • Steven Chan Founder and CEO

Chan studied mathematics at the University of Queensland and taught himself to code. Companies House lists Minh Ngan Tran (since March 2024) and Paul Eric Onnen (since March 2026) as the other directors of Goodnotes Limited.

Careers

Greenhouse job board
3London 1Singapore
4 open roles on 7 October 2026
  • Insights2
  • Engineering1
  • Good Systems1

Perks

  • Salary and equity
  • Medical insurance for the family
  • Monthly wellness budget
  • Flexible hours and hybrid work
  • Home office equipment
  • Learning and development budget
  • Relocation and sponsorship to Singapore
  • Annual team off-site

How Goodnotes works

notebooks on the free plan
3
AI credits a month on paid plans
525
App Store languages
15
  • Handwriting search
  • Convert handwriting to text
  • Handwriting spellcheck
  • Shape recognition
  • PDF annotation
  • Audio recording synced to notes
  • Layers on Pro
  • Whiteboards
  • Text Documents
  • Study Sets flashcards
  • Math AI: Teach Me and Solve
  • Presentation mode and laser pointer
  • Backup to Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive
  • iCloud sync between Apple devices
  • Goodnotes Cloud sync across platforms on Pro
  • Offline editing

Products

  • Notebooks and PDF markup Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil or another stylus, PDF annotation, searchable handwriting, shape recognition, templates and audio recording synced to the page. Goodnotes on the App Store
  • Goodnotes AI Answers questions about your notes, generates quizzes, explains and solves maths, checks handwriting spelling and drafts content in Create Mode on Pro. Usage runs on monthly AI credits. AI features by plan
  • Goodnotes AI for Meetings Records audio, transcribes it in the cloud and writes a live summary and meeting notes, with calendar integration. Cloud transcription comes with Pro or AI Pass. Free and Essential get on-device transcription on iOS. Meeting notes
  • Whiteboard An infinite canvas for brainstorming, mind maps and diagrams, with real-time collaboration on Pro. Whiteboard
  • Study Sets Flashcards built from your notes, with active recall and spaced repetition. Apple devices only for now. App Store description
  • Goodnotes Education Free for schools through the Admin Console. Teachers distribute documents, view student screens live by page or question and group similar answers for faster grading. Education plan
  • Marketplace In-app store for planners, templates, stickers and digital stationery, including a Hello Kitty and Friends collection since January 2025. Marketplace help
  • Goodnotes for Business Teams and Enterprise plans with SAML SSO, domain control, an Admin Console, consolidated billing and AI permissions. Plans for teams

How much is Goodnotes?

  • Free $0/mo Free, no time limit
  • Lowest paid plan Essential $1.00/mo $11.99 a year, billed yearly, 7-day free trial
  • Pro $3.00/mo $35.99 a year, billed yearly, 7-day free trial, Goodnotes Cloud
  • Special Edition $35.99 one-time purchase, Apple devices only Pay once, no renewals
  • AI Pass $9.99/mo $9.99 a month, add-on to Special Edition, Essential or Pro
  • Teams $10/mo $120 per seat a year, billed yearly, 30-day free trial
  • Enterprise Custom on request, from 25 seats

Is Goodnotes free?

Goodnotes Free costs $0 with no time limit: 3 notebooks, 3 text documents and 3 whiteboards, 3 folders, 100 MB storage, a 5 MB import limit, watermarked exports, 20 minutes of audio per notebook and 10 AI credits a month.

US prices from goodnotes.com/pricing and the US App Store on 7 October 2026. Essential and Pro are billed yearly and include a 7-day free trial that renews automatically. The UK App Store lists Essential at £11.99, Pro at £35.99 and Special Edition at £35.99. Both stores also list a lower one-time item, $28.99 in the US (“Goodnotes 6 One-Time Payment”) and £28.99 in the UK. Goodnotes 5 owners get up to 33.3% off Special Edition and up to 100% off the first year of Essential. The help center gives AI Pass as +$10 a month, the pricing page as +$9.99.

How to cancel Goodnotes

Goodnotes help: cancel on Android, Windows or web
  • App Store ↗
    1. Open the Settings app and tap your Apple Account name
    2. Tap Subscriptions and select Goodnotes
    3. Tap Cancel Subscription
  • Goodnotes app on Android, Windows or web ↗
    1. Open the Goodnotes menu at the top right
    2. Tap your name, then Subscription
    3. Choose Manage Subscription, then Cancel Subscription
  • Google Play ↗
    1. Open Google Play and tap the gear icon
    2. Tap Payments and Subscriptions
    3. Select Goodnotes and tap Cancel subscription
  • Paddle receipt ↗
    1. Open the receipt email from Paddle
    2. Click “To learn more or cancel, review your subscription”
    3. Choose Cancel subscription
  • Uninstalling the app or deleting the account does not cancel the renewal.
  • Cancel at least one day before the renewal date. The trial turns into a yearly plan when it ends.
  • After the plan expires, the account returns to Free. You pick 3 documents to keep editable, and the rest stay read-only.
  • Special Edition owners who cancel a subscription keep Special Edition.
  • The Samsung exclusive offer does not renew, so it needs no cancellation.

Refund rules

App Store
Apple handles all refunds. Goodnotes cannot refund App Store purchases.
Other stores and web
A statutory 14-day right of withdrawal applies where local law requires it. Requests go through the Goodnotes refund form with the receipt.
After a refund
The subscription is deactivated at once. Export important notebooks first.

From the Goodnotes help center, articles updated between January and October 2026, checked on 7 October 2026.

Goodnotes for Business

Teams and Enterprise
  • 01Teams costs $120 per seat a year and comes with a 30-day free trial without a credit card.
  • 02Teams adds SAML SSO, domain control, user and admin management and consolidated billing.
  • 03Enterprise adds AI permissions, privacy and security requests, dedicated account support and the Microsoft Intune App SDK.
  • 04Card, debit card and PayPal work in 30+ currencies. Invoices are issued in USD, EUR and GBP.
  • 05Goodnotes holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 certificates and runs on AWS.

Prices on goodnotes.com/pricing on 7 October 2026. Enterprise is priced on request.

Goodnotes app ratings

4.1Trustpilot · Great 152 reviews · company profile claimed

App details, App Store US

Current version
7.1.27 on iOS, released 5 October 2026
First release of the current listing
15 January 2019
Size
834 MB on iOS
Requirements
iOS and iPadOS 18.6, macOS 15.6, visionOS 2.6 or later
Android
5M+ downloads on Google Play, updated 19 August 2026
Windows
Microsoft Store since 17 November 2022, updated 22 September 2026
Age rating
4+ on the App Store
App Store categories
Productivity, Education
Languages
English and 14 more, from Dutch to Vietnamese
Seller
Goodnotes Limited

Is Goodnotes worth it?

What users like

What users criticise

What users write in reviews, not our rating. Apple users rate Goodnotes 4.7 in the US and UK. Google Play gives 3.9 and the Microsoft Store 4.2. On Trustpilot 68% of 152 reviews give 5 stars and 19% give 1 star. Most 5-star reviews there praise support. Most 1-star reviews describe slow support and problems on Windows and Android.

Goodnotes reviews

  • Satisfied long time user
    “I’ve been using Goodnotes for the past four years, and I’ve been very satisfied with the app throughout that time.”
    Ralph Bucal · 18 June 2026 · App Store
  • Amazing customer service from Jennifer
    “I contacted goodnotes support and they responded immediately.”
    Katharina h · 3 October 2026 · App Store
  • Completely unreliable app
    “Worked fine until it didn’t anymore.”
    natalia · 3 June 2026 · App Store
  • absolutely unusable on windows devices
    “absolutely unusable on windows devices.”
    Dominik Prorok · 12 May 2026 · App Store

Latest news

  1. Goodnotes launches Essential, Pro and Goodnotes AI
  2. Apple: Goodnotes, maximizing the power of iPadOS since day 1
  3. Hello Kitty and Friends join the Goodnotes Marketplace
  4. Goodnotes acquires Korean AI startup Dropthebit
  5. Goodnotes invests $1.9 million in WeBudding
  6. Goodnotes 6 launches with AI handwriting features
  7. SCMP: Meet the GoodNotes founder

Contacts and company data

Legal entity
Goodnotes Limited, 5 Churchill Place, 10th Floor, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU, United Kingdom
Company number
12889528, Companies House
Registered
18 September 2020
Activity
SIC 58290, other software publishing
Controlling person
Ho Chuen Steven Chan, 75% or more of shares and votes
Result, year to March 2025
Turnover £103.8 million, loss after tax £1.1 million
Staff of the UK company
78 on average in the year to March 2025
Security
SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001

Alternatives to Goodnotes

How we built this profile

  1. Sources. Facts come from the company’s own website, press room, imprint and careers page, from Wikipedia, the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Every source is listed on the page.
  2. Checks. Kinescope checked every number on 7 October 2026. Prices, ratings and job counts change, and we refresh them with each update.
  3. Our words. Descriptions are written by the Kinescope team. Quotes from reviews are marked with the author and source, and we do not rate the company ourselves.
  4. Corrections. The company can send new facts or corrections, and we update the profile.

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Goodnotes FAQ

Yes, with limits. Goodnotes Free has no time limit and allows 3 notebooks, 3 text documents and 3 whiteboards, 100 MB of storage and 20 minutes of audio per notebook. Exports carry a watermark. Paid plans remove these limits.

In the US, Essential costs $11.99 a year and Pro $35.99 a year, both with a 7-day free trial. Special Edition is a one-time purchase of $35.99 on the App Store. AI Pass adds $9.99 a month. Teams costs $120 per seat a year. UK App Store prices are £11.99, £35.99 and £35.99. Prices checked on 7 October 2026.

Both. Essential, Pro, AI Pass and Teams are subscriptions. Special Edition is a one-time purchase that never expires, but it works only on Apple devices, is not sold in every region and does not include Goodnotes Cloud.

GoodNotes 5 sold with a one-time purchase. Goodnotes 6 launched on 9 August 2023 in the same App Store app, for $9.99 a year or $29.99 once. In September 2025 those plans became Essential and Special Edition. People who paid for GoodNotes 5 can keep using it and get up to 33.3% off Special Edition or up to 100% off the first year of Essential.

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