OneNote
Free digital notebooks with free-form pages, handwriting, multimedia capture and Microsoft 365 collaboration.
Strong free-form pages, ink, multimedia and collaboration, with some premium variations.
Familiar notebook hierarchy and Microsoft ecosystem, accessible across common devices.
Core app remains free, though Microsoft 365 bundle pricing can confuse product-level comparisons.
Native OneDrive/SharePoint and Microsoft accounts; organizations must configure sharing and storage policy.
Scored by Surabhi Singh
Quick facts
- Vendor
- Microsoft Corporation
- Pricing model
- Core OneNote app free; optional Microsoft 365 Personal/Family productivity subscriptions for additional cloud storage and eligible premium/Copilot features.
- Plan pricing
- Free; optional Microsoft 365 Personal from $9.99/month or $99.99/year
- Free plan
- Yes — check limits
- Free trial
- Not confirmed
- Last verified
- 11/6/2026
About OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is a digital notebook application for typed, handwritten and mixed-media notes. It arranges information into notebooks, sections and pages, and each page acts as a free-form canvas. Instead of requiring the user to type into a single linear document, OneNote lets notes, images, file printouts, drawings and lists sit in different parts of a page. The app is especially useful for classes, meeting records, brainstorms, research scrapbooks and project reference material. It connects naturally with Microsoft accounts, OneDrive and organizational Microsoft 365 environments, making it a familiar option for people who already use Word, Outlook and Teams. The basic OneNote application is free to download and use on supported platforms. This is a separate fact from the price of Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Users do not have to buy Microsoft 365 Personal or Family to create notebooks, type notes and organize pages. Optional Microsoft 365 bundles can provide more OneDrive storage and access to select premium or Copilot functions where the account is eligible. The free Microsoft account includes 5 GB of OneDrive storage shared across relevant Microsoft services, which is not a dedicated 5 GB OneNote-only allotment. Notebook size, attachment use and other files stored in OneDrive can affect available capacity. OneNote cloud storage depends on Microsoft account/tenant storage; advanced AI and other premium features require eligible subscriptions, and sharing can expose an entire notebook.
Best for
Students, teachers, Microsoft 365 users, meeting-heavy professionals and teams who need free-form pages, handwriting and shared digital notebooks.
OneNote pros and cons
Pros
- Free core app supports substantial note-taking without a disclosed 50-note limit.
- Flexible notebook, section and page hierarchy handles visual, typed and handwritten material.
- Natural OneDrive, SharePoint and Microsoft 365 ecosystem connectivity.
- Notebook sharing and collaborative editing suit classes and small project teams.
- Optional subscriptions add broader Microsoft 365 apps, storage and eligible AI features.
Cons
- −Cloud notebook storage shares OneDrive capacity with other Microsoft account data.
- −Proprietary notebook format is less portable as plain text than Markdown-based Obsidian.
- −Some premium, pen, OCR and Copilot capabilities differ by app, device and license.
- −Notebook-level sharing needs care when pages contain sensitive information.
- −Broad Microsoft 365 plan prices are not comparable with a stand-alone per-app OneNote premium tier.
Features
Platforms
Integrations
Pricing — verified 11/6/2026
What you’ll actually pay
Core notes app is free. Cloud notebooks use available Microsoft account storage; free OneDrive allowance is shared.
$9.99 monthly or $99.99 annually for an entire Microsoft 365 Personal bundle; priceAnnual is rounded monthly equivalent.
$12.99 monthly or $129.99 annually for a Microsoft 365 Family bundle; not required for basic OneNote.
Official pricing / availability source · Checked 6 November 2026. Confirm current taxes, regional terms and allowances. A listed plan is not necessarily the cheapest option.
Editorial verification: 11/6/2026. Check the vendor's site for current pricing.
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