Hazelnote vs. Goodnotes: an honest comparison for studying.

Goodnotes is one of the best-known note-taking apps for tablets, and Hazelnote is a young app for students and professionals. The two overlap, but they start from different places. Here we compare them point by point, including everything Goodnotes does better, as of November 2026.

Hazelnote and Goodnotes at a glance

Both apps are notebooks for pen and finger, both import PDFs and both use AI. Goodnotes offers more around writing and sharing, Hazelnote more around studying. The table shows the main differences.

Taking notes in the notebook

When it comes to writing itself, the two are close. You write with an Apple Pencil, a stylus or your finger, choose paper like grid, lined or Cornell, and annotate imported PDFs. Both export your pages as PDFs. In Hazelnote, once your pen has touched the screen, the pen writes and your finger scrolls and zooms.

Goodnotes does more here: it searches your handwriting, converts it to text, and has whiteboards, typed documents and a template marketplace. Hazelnote, in turn, has the AI pen in the Pro plan: circle an equation and the solution, with the steps, appears in your handwriting. Goodnotes offers similar help with its math AI. Hazelnote comes with templates like Cornell and Feynman, and you can create your own.

Recordings and summaries

Goodnotes records audio and links it to what you're writing: tap a note later and you hear that moment. According to its pricing page, a transcript with a short summary is available for recordings on iOS only. The free plan records up to twenty minutes, the paid plans have no limit, and with Pro or the AI Pass Goodnotes transcribes 99 languages.

Hazelnote turns a recording, a PDF, a photo, a text or a web link into an organized summary: the key points at the top, the sections below. While recording, you can take photos of the whiteboard or slides, and each photo appears in the note at its moment. It works the same on iPhone, iPad and Android.

Flashcards, quizzes and questions about your notes

Here the two apps are more alike than many people think. Goodnotes creates flashcards from your handwriting with Study Sets, schedules reviews using spaced repetition and has a quiz generator. With Ask Goodnotes you can ask questions about your notes.

Hazelnote creates quizzes and flashcards from every note, each question with an explanation, and whatever you don't know yet comes up more often. Your material also becomes small study games, like matching pairs. It answers questions about your notes only from your material and with the source. Both are included in Essential, and studying with what's already been created never counts against your AI allowance.

Study plan, practice exams and AI tutor

This is the biggest difference. With Pro, you tell Hazelnote when your exam is and get a study plan with a small step for every day. At the end come practice exams with questions from your material, graded by the AI.

On top of that there's an AI tutor you talk to out loud about your notes and can interrupt at any time. Hazelnote also turns every note into an audio version, short, detailed or as a conversation between two voices. A study plan up to a date, practice exams, a tutor you talk to or audio versions are not listed on the Goodnotes pricing page.

Why it matters: if you review in small sessions on the way to your exam and test yourself under real conditions beforehand, you notice early where you're still stuck. How to do that even without an app is covered in A study plan for the last two weeks and Using practice exams the right way.

Devices, sync and pricing

Goodnotes runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision, on Android and Windows, and in the browser. A library that syncs between Apple and non-Apple devices, however, is only part of the Pro plan. Hazelnote runs on iPhone, iPad and Android, and your notes and study sets are the same on every device in both plans. Your account, notes and files are stored on servers in the EU.

Goodnotes has a free plan with three files and twenty minutes of audio, plus yearly plans and, on Apple devices in some countries, a one-time purchase. Hazelnote has no free plan: you choose Essential or Pro, and you can try the yearly plan free for three days. Current prices for your country are on our pricing page and at Goodnotes.

How to test both

• Download Goodnotes for free and start the yearly plan's trial in Hazelnote
• Take notes on the same lecture in both apps
• Have flashcards created from those notes
• Add your next exam in Hazelnote and try the study plan

Which app is right for whom?

The decision depends less on single features than on what you need your notes for. These four cases help you sort it out.

• Goodnotes, if you write on a Mac, on Windows or in the browser, work on notes with others, or search your handwriting often.
• Goodnotes, if you want to start for free or would rather pay once on Apple devices.
• Hazelnote, if you record lectures or meetings and want summaries and flashcards from them, on Android too.
• Hazelnote, if you're working toward an exam and want a plan, practice exams and a tutor you can talk to.

Common questions

The bottom line

Goodnotes is the more versatile notebook, especially if you work on a Mac or on Windows, want to search your handwriting or write together with others. Hazelnote is the better choice if your notes need to stick for an exam: summary, flashcards, study plan, practice exam and tutor all work together there. For more apps, see our overview of Goodnotes alternatives.

The Hazelnote teamWe’re a small team in Baden, Germany, building Hazelnote, the AI notebook for school, college and work.