Both are set up to sync a PDF copy to Dropbox. In the end, I primarily use Notability for taking notes, and GoodNotes for marking up images / PDFs and whenever I feel like taking handwritten notes rather than typing. Personally, I don’t feel that either app is better than another in that regard. There’s a difference in the way both apps handle the zoom window advance for handwriting, and I know that many people prefer GoodNotes’ implementation as more natural. GoodNotes is mainly a one time use for PDF markup. Honestly I didn’t even realize this was a problem, since I primary use Notability for more “permanent” notes that I keep coming back to. No way - that I know of - to search for notes outside of category you’re currently in.
No way (that I know of) to see all your notes in one view, only by category. Text box defaults to the center of the page when using toolbar button to add it. Can’t have different formatting in the same text box. Text feature is extremely basic and non intuitive. Notability is just one tap, but it’s now comparable. OK, looks like they’ve changed the notebook creation process in one of the last updates. Forces users to have multiple unrelated notes in the same notebook. Notebook creation is a multi step process. No way to quickly create a new individual note. PDF output 30-35% smaller than Notability with same initial file, while maintaining resolution.īetter implemented highlighter (doesn’t make the text look dull) Supports landscape and portrait pages in the same notebook
Larger PDF files (30-35% larger than GoodNotes with same content, blank background)Īutomatically OCRs handwriting, the scribbled text can even be searched in exported PDFs (but in the app itself, the search only works in the currently opened notebook) (as of June 2018, Notability actually has a slightly better implementation as it also allows to search handwriting across all notes) Importing of Office files is handled via Google Drive, results are often poor and it’s a privacy issue for those of us who are trying to avoid Google products.Ī large margin added around documents when importing PDFs. A major pain when importing a large PDF document with dozens of pages that you don’t want. Every page has to be independently selected and deleted via long tap menu. Support for hyperlinks in typed text (web page addresses, phone numbers, emails)Ĭan’t delete multiple pages quickly. I ended up with both by chance.ĭifferent formatted text in same text box Just in case someone is considering either one. June 2018: Notability v8 has added some major features so I am editing my original post