Strawberry Notes vs Freenotes
Freenotes is a free handwriting and PDF app for iPad, iPhone, and Android. Ads pay for it, and Plus and Pro plans unlock more. Strawberry Notes has no ads and puts your notes, flashcards, and tasks in one simple, private app, with flashcards that schedule themselves and a map of how your notes connect.
Go with Freenotes if…
- You want to start for free and don't mind ads
- You're on Android and need it today
- You want to record lectures and get a transcript
Go with Strawberry Notes if…
- You don't want ads in your notes
- You want notes, flashcards, and tasks in one simple app, with docs and a calendar coming soon
- You want flashcards with spaced repetition and image occlusion
- You want to link your notes and see them all on a map
Side by side
Checked against Freenotes’s own website in September 2026.
| Feature | Strawberry Notes | Freenotes |
|---|---|---|
| Works on | ||
| Works on | iPad and iPhone. Android, Windows, and Mac coming soon | iPhone, iPad, Android, and Apple silicon Macs |
| Price | ||
| Price | $19.99 a year (7 days free), $4.99 a month, or $39.99 once | Free with ads. Plus $9.99 a year or $29.99 once. Pro $19.99 a month or $39.99 a year |
| Handwriting | ||
| Handwriting | Yes:Smooth, realistic-looking ink with pens, pencil, highlighter, study tape, and shape recognition | Yes:Smooth writing with pens, shape tools, and recall tape |
| Page style | ||
| Page style | Yes:Infinite notebook or infinite whiteboard, with infinite zoom and templates | Yes:Page notebooks with templates, plus an infinite canvas |
| Write on PDFs | ||
| Write on PDFs | Yes:Write on PDFs and scans, or read side by side | Yes:Highlight, underline, and comment |
| Typed notes | ||
| Typed notes | Yes:Text boxes mixed in with your handwriting. Full typed docs coming soon | Partly:Mainly a handwriting app |
| Record audio | ||
| Record audio | No:Not yet | Yes:Records with live transcription |
| Flashcards | ||
| Flashcards | Yes:Built in, with FSRS spaced repetition, image occlusion, and Anki import | Partly:Study sets from your pages. No spaced repetition or image occlusion that we could find |
| AI study tools | ||
| AI study tools | Yes:Chat, summaries, study guides, games, and quizzes with matching, fill-in-the-blank, and ordering questions. Free starter credits, then pay only for what you use | Yes:Summaries, chat with PDFs, and homework help |
| Tasks | ||
| Tasks | Yes:Tasks and reminders for every class, with a calendar coming soon | Partly:Planner templates only |
| Organize and link | ||
| Organize and link | Yes:Subjects, folders, subnotes, tags, links, backlinks, and Sky View, a map of your notes | Partly:Links for planners. No subnotes or map that we could find |
| Works offline | ||
| Works offline | Yes:Yes. Everything saves on your device first, then syncs to your other devices through iCloud | Yes:Yes, notes are stored on your device |
| Where your notes live | ||
| Where your notes live | Yes:Your device, plus your own iCloud if you want it. Back up your whole library as one file anytime. We can't read your notes | Partly:Your device, with optional iCloud or Google Drive. Shows ads that track you, per its App Store label |
| Share and work together | ||
| Share and work together | Partly:Publish a note, or export it as a .sbnote file, to share it. Live editing isn't here yet | No:Not that we could find |
Why Strawberry Notes
Everything for school, in one simple app
Notes, flashcards, and tasks live together, and docs and a calendar are on the way. Every subject, folder, and subnote gets its own notes, flashcards, and tasks, so nothing gets lost between apps.
- Notes
- Flashcards
- Tasks
- Docs (soon)
- Calendar (soon)
Notes that connect like your brain does
Link any note to any other, nest subnotes as deep as you like, and zoom in forever. Sky View shows it all as a map. You're free to think your way instead of going page by page.
Private by design
Your library lives on your devices, and we can't read it. iCloud sync is optional: keep everything on one device if you like, and export your whole library as one file anytime to back it up or bring it back in. Handwriting recognition runs on your device. AI only sees what you choose to share, and we don't store your chats.
Coming from Freenotes?
Export your Freenotes notebooks as PDFs, then import them into Strawberry Notes. You can keep writing right on the pages, and pull the important bits out into flashcards.
DownloadQuestions people ask
If you use Freenotes to study, yes. Strawberry Notes has no ads, and it adds flashcards with FSRS spaced repetition and image occlusion, linked notes and subnotes, and AI quizzes made from your notes. If you need Android or audio recording right now, Freenotes is the better fit.
Freenotes can make study sets from your pages, but we couldn't find any spaced repetition scheduling. Strawberry Notes schedules every review with FSRS, the modern algorithm Anki also offers.
More comparisons
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Sources: Freenotes on the App Store, Freenotes on Google Play, freenotes.ai. Prices are in US dollars and can change, so check before you buy.
Freenotes is a trademark of Freenotes Ltd, and Strawberry Notes isn't affiliated with them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we'll fix it.