Education · paid tool
Notability alternatives
Note-taking and annotation app for classes and meetings.
Free alternatives
Highest score first. The score weighs licence openness, repository activity, traction, feature coverage, and cost; factors without data are left out and the rest are reweighted.
Xournal++
Ranking score 87/100
Handwriting notes and PDF annotation for tablets and styluses.
- Licence
- GPL-2.0
- Platforms
- macos, windows, linux
- Self-hostable
- No
- Repo activity
- Last release September 26, 2026
- GitHub stars
- 15,572
- Last verified
- October 24, 2026
Why this rank
Score breakdown for Xournal++ Factor Points Weight Licence opennessGPL-2.0 licence (open); not self-hostable 17.5 25% Repository activityLast activity 0 day(s) before 2026-10-26 25 25% Popularity15572 GitHub stars 17.8 20% Feature coverage5 of 6 curated capability tags covered 16.7 20% Costfree pricing model 10 10% Points add up to the score. Factors without data are left out and the remaining weights are renormalised.
Saber
Ranking score 84.9/100
Handwritten notes with sync and PDF annotation on tablets.
- Licence
- GPL-3.0
- Platforms
- macos, windows, linux, ios, android
- Self-hostable
- No
- Repo activity
- Last release October 26, 2026
- GitHub stars
- 4,967
- Last verified
- October 24, 2026
Why this rank
Score breakdown for Saber Factor Points Weight Licence opennessGPL-3.0 licence (open); not self-hostable 17.5 25% Repository activityLast activity 0 day(s) before 2026-10-26 25 25% Popularity4967 GitHub stars 15.7 20% Feature coverage5 of 6 curated capability tags covered 16.7 20% Costfree pricing model 10 10% Points add up to the score. Factors without data are left out and the remaining weights are renormalised.
Rnote
Ranking score 83.2/100
Infinite-canvas note app for handwriting and sketches.
- Licence
- GPL-3.0
- Platforms
- macos, windows, linux
- Self-hostable
- No
- Repo activity
- Last release May 1, 2026
- GitHub stars
- 11,811
- Last verified
- October 24, 2026
Why this rank
Score breakdown for Rnote Factor Points Weight Licence opennessGPL-3.0 licence (open); not self-hostable 17.5 25% Repository activityLast activity 0 day(s) before 2026-10-26 25 25% Popularity11811 GitHub stars 17.3 20% Feature coverage4 of 6 curated capability tags covered 13.3 20% Costfree pricing model 10 10% Points add up to the score. Factors without data are left out and the remaining weights are renormalised.