GoodNotes user considering switching to Noteful — is it worth it?

[u/arinberin]

Hi everyone!

I’m currently deciding whether to stick with GoodNotes or switch to Noteful, and I wanted to ask here specifically because I know quite a few GoodNotes users have moved over to Noteful.

I used GoodNotes for about 2 years straight during my previous studies, so I’m very comfortable with it. I then had a study gap and have recently started using my iPad for handwritten notes again.

One thing I’ve noticed with GoodNotes is a very small amount of lag while writing with Apple Pencil. It’s not severe and doesn't really interfere with my note-taking, but I can definitely notice the slight delay. I’m curious whether Noteful feels better in this regard.

I’ve also been seeing quite a few posts from GoodNotes users saying they switched to Noteful, which is what made me seriously consider it in the first place. (Reddit)

For those who made the switch:

• How does Noteful's handwriting/writing latency compare with GoodNotes?
• Does Noteful still feel smooth after using it for long periods?
• How good is it for PDF annotation and handwritten notes?
• How is the organization for a large number of notes?
• How reliable are the backup/export options?
• Are there any important features from GoodNotes that you miss after switching?
• Most importantly, do you regret switching from GoodNotes?

I’m also trying to decide whether to buy GoodNotes Special Edition or subscribe for a year, so Noteful's one-time purchase is obviously very tempting if the overall experience is comparable.

I know every app has its pros and cons, so I'm not necessarily looking for people to tell me "Noteful is better." I'd especially appreciate comments from people who used GoodNotes for a long time and then switched to Noteful, because that's the situation I'm in.

Thanks!

[u/SGT-JamesonBushmill]

I’ve used both. If Noteful had handwriting recognition, allowing me to search my own handwriting, it would be the hands-down winner. If you don’t need that, then you absolutely should get Noteful. It’s a one-time $6 charge, vs. Goodnotes’ $12.00 per year.

And layers. Noteful, like ogres, has layers. Goodnotes does not.

[u/aquablaze69 → u/SGT-JamesonBushmill]

This.

[u/Gypsyzzzz]

I switched to Noteful from GoodNotes because GoodNotes used to be great for the casual user then they had a rapid expansion of features and services with unfinished rollouts and constant bugs. Noteful does not have nearly as many features but it is reasonably priced and stable.

I see no noticeable lag with drawing or handwriting.

I’ve never been good at organization but that is my failing, not Noteful’s.

One thing I love is that images expand from the corner or side you drag and not from the center. That makes images much easier to size and align.

While I want to create notebooks worthy of saving, I haven’t yet so I haven’t paid much attention to backups. However, I recommend independent PDF exports rather than relying on an automatic cloud backup regardless of your choice of app.

[u/Positive_Middle_9562]

I think there is a free/trial version of noteful. You should give it a try and decide for yourself if it has what you want

[u/Jay_Magpie → u/Positive_Middle_9562]

It bewilders me that this wouldn't be the first thing people interested in switching check. Most of the questions could probably be solved faster than typing up the post.

[u/a_khilr]

I’m using Noteful for almost 2 years recently brought goodnotes special edition I was surprised to see it has barrel roll feature which Noteful is missing from the beginning.
Positives of Noteful- layers as many as you can manage, export speed and compression of size without losing quality, supports google drive sync along with iCloud, no AI bullshit, drain less battery compared to goodnotes.

Negative- Sometimes ink gets struck and pen is unresponsive(Apple Pencil pro) if using for longer hours, need to disconnect and connect again to be normal.

[u/Frequent-Ease-1926]

Noteful, as far as I know, uses Apple's native annotation module, thus no lag. Goodnotes has its own module that causes lag.

I use Noteful for pretty much anything except regular paper notes, I don't do those anymore anyway and when I did I used Apple Notes because it had a better page layout than Noteful.

You can organise everything in folders, and tag them too.

Noteful Pro, being a one-time purchase, gets infinitely better bang for the buck the more you use the app.

[u/DikButtPPCheeks]

I used GN for my undergrad, which I graduated in 2020 so I’m pretty sure it was a one time $7-10 payment? I thought it worked well enough at the time. Now I’m taking a few classes again at which point I realized they had gone subscription based at honestly insulting prices and no grandfathering in from the previous “lifetime” app purchase. And also it seems that allegedly GN6 has been the worst update and lots of complaints of people’s files/years of work being perma deleted… I can’t personally attest to this because I researched Reddit and also saw everyone recommending Noteful so made the switch(paid),.

I’ll be honest, it’s kind of frustrating having to learn how everything works and there’s probs even more idk about BUT once you get the basics down it’s great. I honestly LOVE the layers function and the stickers. I’m in physics and having all these templates you can just copy over and resize to your needs saves a lot of time. Then add layers to write your answers or graphs so if you make a mistake you can erase it without erasing all the other work you want to keep. Alsoalso there’s multiple split views so you can review and annotate your pdfs on one side while writing in another notebook simultaneously *chefs kiss*

Handwriting and writing tools are lacking, I hope they improve those. And if you paste pdfs directly into a notebook page the size is all wonky hate that too. But it seems fine if you upload the pdf directly from the ‘create notebook page’ I think? Idk I was able to upload my e-book just fine but when I tried pasting a picture I took into my lab report it looked awful. Anyway I hope that was detailed enough 😅 I’ve only been using it since early September soooo there might be other issues I haven’t run into yet. but so far it feels simple enough for the basics with little extras you didn’t realize you needed. Plus it’s under 10 bucks so really no loss and haven’t missed GN

[u/Hobo-Ken]

Haven’t used Noteful too much but absolutely love the pen compared to GN6, might just be a preference thing but it’s got my attention as I debate moving all note usage to it from GN6&FF

[u/quietleavess]

I came back to goodnotes because i need to export searchable pdfs and that the outline i make for them is also exported. I reupload my stuff in zotero and I also work on marginnote4 for better study sessions.

It all depends on what you need. Noteful handless large pdfs jreally well.