Microsoft OneNote review

OneNote is the strongest free pick for people who think with a pen. Microsoft describes it as one cross-functional notebook, and it combines digital ink with typed text, so you can sketch a diagram, annotate a slide and type beside it on the same page. Voice transcription helps when a lecture moves faster than your hand, and Copilot in OneNote can draft plans or lists from a prompt. Notebooks can be shared for group work, and mobile apps cover iOS and Android. Signing up is free; the paid route is Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, which adds the desktop apps, Copilot features and 1 TB of storage for one person on 5 devices at once. That bundle is good value if you also need Word and Excel, but it is a lot to buy just for notes. OneNote's free-form pages also give you less structure than Notion if you like databases and linked pages.

Who it is for

Students and office workers who handwrite or sketch and already use Microsoft 365.

Price

Free sign-up; Microsoft 365 Personal with the OneNote desktop app, Copilot and 1 TB of storage is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99 /month
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 9, 2026.

Key features

• Digital ink for sketching, annotating and highlighting by hand
• Voice transcription for capturing spoken notes
• Copilot in OneNote drafts plans, lists and ideas from prompts
• Shared notebooks for collaborating with classmates or colleagues
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Free to sign up and start a notebook
• Strength: Microsoft 365 Personal adds 1 TB of cloud storage and use on 5 devices at once
• Strength: Microsoft promotes it for education, with searchable lesson notebooks for teachers
• Weakness: Copilot features in Microsoft 365 are limited to the subscription owner
• Weakness: The paid tier is a full Office bundle, which is more than a notes upgrade
• Weakness: Free-form pages are less structured than Notion databases

Key facts

• Free version: Yes, sign up for free
• Paid bundle: Microsoft 365 Personal, $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year
• Cloud storage on Personal: 1 TB
• Devices on Personal: 5 signed in at once
• Free trial: 1 month of Microsoft 365

Where it ranks

Microsoft OneNote is No. 1 in our Best Note Taking Apps verdict.