All comparisons

Strawberry Notes vs Notability

Notability is one of the best-known iPad note apps, loved for recording lectures while you write. It now runs almost everywhere and has AI study tools on its paid plans. Strawberry Notes puts your notes, flashcards, and tasks in one simple, private app for iPad and iPhone, with infinite pages and AI that studies from what you write.

Go with Notability if…

  • You record lectures and want the audio to replay with your writing
  • You need Android, Windows, or the web right now
  • You want to write on notes with classmates, live
  • You want a huge library of templates

Go with Strawberry Notes if…

  • You want notes, flashcards, and tasks in one simple app, with docs and a calendar coming soon
  • You want your notes private, on your device and your own iCloud
  • You want an infinite notebook and whiteboard with infinite zoom, not just pages
  • You want to link notes and see how they all connect
  • You want AI games and quizzes, and to pay only for the AI you use

Side by side

Checked against Notability’s own website in September 2026.

Strawberry Notes and Notability, feature by feature
Strawberry NotesNotability
Works on
iPad and iPhone. Android, Windows, and Mac coming soon
iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, and web
Price
$19.99 a year (7 days free), $4.99 a month, or $39.99 once
Free for 5 notes. Paid plans from $5.99 a month or $14.99 a year. Pro is $19.99 a month or $99.99 a year
Handwriting
Yes:Smooth, realistic-looking ink with pens, pencil, highlighter, study tape, and shape recognition
Yes:Smooth Apple Pencil writing with pens, highlighters, study tape, and shape recognition
Page style
Yes:Infinite notebook or infinite whiteboard, with infinite zoom and templates
Pages, scrolling or one at a time
Write on PDFs
Yes:Write on PDFs and scans, or read side by side
Yes:Also Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files
Typed notes
Yes:Text boxes mixed in with your handwriting. Full typed docs coming soon
Yes:Text boxes mixed in with your handwriting
Record audio
No:Not yet
Yes:Its signature feature: recordings that replay with your writing
Flashcards
Yes:Built in, with FSRS spaced repetition, image occlusion, and Anki import
Yes:Spaced repetition and Anki import
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, quizzes, and flashcards on Plus. Chat with notes on Pro
Tasks
Yes:Tasks and reminders for every class, with a calendar coming soon
Partly:AI pulls action items from notes. No task list that we could find
Organize and link
Yes:Subjects, folders, subnotes, tags, links, backlinks, and Sky View, a map of your notes
Partly:Subjects and dividers. No links between notes that we could find
Works offline
Yes:Yes. Everything saves on your device first, then syncs to your other devices through iCloud
Yes:Yes, then syncs when you're back online
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
Notability Cloud, their servers, or iCloud. AI features process your notes in the cloud
Share and work together
Partly:Publish a note, or export it as a .sbnote file, to share it. Live editing isn't here yet
Yes:Live, on iPad, Mac, and web

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 Notability?

Export your Notability 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.

Download

Questions people ask

If you use Notability to study, it's worth a try. Strawberry Notes gives you an infinite notebook and whiteboard, linked notes with a map of how they connect, flashcards with FSRS spaced repetition, and AI games and quizzes made from your notes. If you rely on audio recording or need Android or Windows, stick with Notability for now.

Notability's free Starter plan keeps up to 5 notes. Paid plans start at $5.99 a month or $14.99 a year. AI study tools start on Plus ($7.99 a month or $19.99 a year), and chatting with your notes needs Pro ($19.99 a month or $99.99 a year). Strawberry Notes is $4.99 a month, $19.99 a year, or $39.99 once, with AI paid separately only if you want it.

Notability has study tape for hiding parts of a page, but we couldn't find a way to turn it into flashcards that get scheduled for review. In Strawberry Notes, cover the labels on a diagram with study tape, turn it into an occlusion flashcard, and FSRS spaced repetition tells you when to review each label. It's great for anatomy, biology, and maps.

Notability sorts notes into subjects and dividers, but we couldn't find a way to link one note to another or nest notes inside notes. In Strawberry Notes you can link any note to any other, nest subnotes as deep as you like, and see how everything connects in Sky View.

More comparisons

Sources: Notability pricing, Notability on the App Store, Notability flashcard import. Prices are in US dollars and can change, so check before you buy.

Notability is a trademark of Ginger Labs, and Strawberry Notes isn't affiliated with them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we'll fix it.