Goodnotes 6 is the best iPad app for college students who write by hand, and Notability is the closest second for lecture recording, while OneNote is the best free option for typed notes across devices. Notion Plus is free for students and educators who sign up with a school email address, with a 1-member limit, so many students never need to buy the $10 per member per month Plus plan. Goodnotes still sells a one-time Special Edition for $35.99 on Apple devices only, with no Goodnotes Cloud sync, while Notability has no one-time option and sells only subscriptions.
Pick one note app, one flashcard app and one task app, then add a writing checker only if you write long essays. Prices were checked on official vendor pricing pages on 12 November 2026. Notion Plus is free for students and educators who sign up with a school email address, with a 1-member limit. Goodnotes Special Edition is a $35.99 one-time purchase for Apple devices only, with no Goodnotes Cloud sync.
On this page
Best ipad apps for college students: comparison table
Swipe the table sideways on a phone to see every column.
| # | Name | Best for | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goodnotes 6 | Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil | $11.99 per year | Yes | Visit |
| 2 | Notability | Lecture notes with audio recording | $14.99 per year | Yes | Visit |
| 3 | Microsoft OneNote | Free typed and handwritten notes | $0 for OneNote | Yes | Visit |
| 4 | Notion | Course planning and group projects | $10 per member/month | Yes | Visit |
| 5 | Quizlet | Flashcards and practice tests | $35.99 per year | Yes | Visit |
| 6 | AnkiMobile | Spaced repetition flashcards | $24.99 one-time purchase | No | Visit |
| 7 | Todoist | Assignment deadlines and tasks | $5 per user/month | Yes | Visit |
| 8 | Grammarly | Essays and writing checks | $12 per member/month | Yes | Visit |
The 8 best best ipad apps for college students, in detail
Goodnotes 6
Best for: Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
Goodnotes 6 is built around handwriting on iPad with Apple Pencil, with notebooks, folders, PDF annotation and audio recording. Essential costs $11.99 per year and adds unlimited files, unlimited audio recording and limited AI features, including Ask Mode and Math AI. Pro costs $35.99 per year and adds real-time collaboration, private link sharing, Drive integration and Goodnotes Cloud sync.
- The free plan gives you 3 files and 20 minutes of recording.
- The AI Pass costs $9.99 per month as an add-on for fuller AI features.
- Special Edition is a $35.99 one-time purchase on Apple devices only, with limited AI and no Goodnotes Cloud sync.
- Choose Goodnotes if most of your notes are handwritten.
Pros
- Unlimited files on Essential
- unlimited audio recording on Essential
- 7-day free trial on Essential and Pro
Cons
- Free plan limited to 3 files and 20 minutes of audio recording
- full AI features need Pro at $35.99 per year or the AI Pass add-on at $9.99 per month
Notability
Best for: Lecture notes with audio recording
Notability pairs handwriting and typing with audio recording that stays in sync with your writing. Lite costs $14.99 per year and adds unlimited notes, third-party backups on iOS and 7-day version history. Plus costs $19.99 per year and adds audio transcription, handwriting search, AI quizzes and flashcards, YouTube link-to-note conversions and 30-day version history.
- Pro costs $99.99 per year and adds unlimited transcription, unlimited AI summaries, unlimited quizzes and flashcards, live audio transcription and cha
- The Starter free plan allows 5 notes, so it works as a trial but not as a term-long notebook.
- Plus caps AI quizzes and flashcards at 400 per month and YouTube conversions at 100 per month.
- Choose Notability if you record lectures and want to search your handwriting and replay audio from your notes.
Pros
- Audio recording and transcription on Plus
- handwriting search on Plus
- AI quizzes and flashcards on Plus
Cons
- Starter free plan limited to 5 notes
- unlimited transcription and unlimited AI quizzes need Pro at $99.99 per year
Microsoft OneNote
Best for: Free typed and handwritten notes
OneNote is the lowest cost starting point here, because the app itself is free with a Microsoft account and works for typed notes, handwritten notes and shared class notebooks. It syncs across iPad, phone and computer. Microsoft 365 Personal costs $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month and covers one person, sign-in on 5 devices at once, 1 TB of OneDrive storage and the desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote with Copilot.
- The first-year price shown on the Microsoft page on 12 November 2026 was $69.99 for the first year, with renewal at $99.99 per year, so check the rene
- Choose OneNote if your college already uses Microsoft tools.
- Skip the subscription if you only need notes, because the free app covers that job.
Pros
- Free with a Microsoft account
- notebooks sync across iPad, phone and computer
- 1 TB of OneDrive storage with Microsoft 365 Personal
Cons
- Desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote apps with Copilot need Microsoft 365 Personal
- Copilot AI features need a subscription
Notion
Best for: Course planning and group projects
Notion is a workspace for course plans, reading lists, group project trackers and revision databases, rather than a handwriting app. The Free plan covers one person with unlimited blocks, basic forms, basic sites, Notion Calendar and databases. Plus costs $10 per member per month when billed annually, or $12 when billed monthly, and adds unlimited blocks for teams, 5 GB file uploads, 30-day page history, custom forms and sites, charts and collaborative blocks.
- Business costs $20 per member per month when billed annually and adds Notion Agent, AI Meeting Notes and 90-day page history.
- The student offer is the key detail: the Plus plan, with a 1-member limit, is free for students and educators who sign up with a school email address.
- That makes Notion a strong free choice for a single student.
- Choose Notion if you plan essays, track deadlines in a database and share pages with a project group.
Pros
- Plus free for students and educators with a school email address, 1-member limit
- free solo workspaces have unlimited blocks
- databases, calendars and templates in one place
Cons
- Full Notion AI needs Business at $20 per member per month
- free workspaces with 2 or more members have limited blocks
Quizlet
Best for: Flashcards and practice tests
Quizlet turns course terms into flashcards, Learn rounds, practice tests and games, and it works on iPad, phone and web. Plus costs $35.99 per year, shown as $2.99 per month billed annually, and includes ad-free studying, 3 practice tests per month, 20 rounds of Learn questions per month and 3 Q and A or textbook solutions per month. Plus Unlimited costs $44.99 per year and removes those caps with complete access to practice tests and unlimited Learn rounds.
- Quizlet Family costs $83.99 per year for up to 5 accounts.
- The monthly Plus price is $7.99 per month, which totals $95.88 over 12 months against $35.99 on the annual plan.
- The 7-day free trial applies to annual plans only.
- Choose Quizlet if you study with flashcards every day and want ready-made sets plus practice tests.
Pros
- 7-day free trial on annual plans
- ad-free studying on Plus
- Plus Unlimited removes the monthly practice caps
Cons
- Plus caps Learn rounds at 20 per month, practice tests at 3 per month and textbook solutions at 3 per month
- monthly billing costs $7.99 per month and has no free trial
AnkiMobile
Best for: Spaced repetition flashcards
AnkiMobile is the official iOS and iPadOS app for Anki, a flashcard program built around spaced repetition, which schedules each card again before you are likely to forget it. The app costs $24.99 as a one-time purchase on the US App Store, with no subscription, and one purchase covers iPhone and iPad on the same Apple ID. The desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux is free, AnkiDroid for Android is free, and the AnkiWeb sync service is free.
- Anki states on its site that AnkiMobile purchases help fund development of the free desktop app and the sync service.
- Anki can handle decks of 100,000 or more cards, and it supports audio, images and video in cards.
- The trade-off is the upfront cost and the plain interface, which takes more setup than Quizlet, because you build or import your own decks.
- Choose AnkiMobile if you revise daily for months and want full control.
Pros
- One-time purchase with no subscription
- sync through the free AnkiWeb service
- desktop Anki and AnkiDroid are free
Cons
- No free iPad version and no trial on the App Store listing
- $24.99 is charged up front before you can test the app
Todoist
Best for: Assignment deadlines and tasks
Todoist is a task list for assignment due dates, exam dates and recurring weekly work, with list, board, calendar and table layouts. The Beginner plan is free and includes 5 personal projects, Smart Quick Add, task reminders, list and board layouts, 3 filter views and 1 week of activity history. Pro costs $5 per month when billed annually, at $60 billed yearly, and adds 300 personal projects, calendar layout, table layout, task duration, custom task reminders, 150 filter views, full reporting history and Task Assist.
- Business costs $8 per user per month when billed annually, at $96 billed yearly, and adds up to 500 team projects.
- The price changed on 10 December 2025, when Pro moved from $4 per month billed annually to $5 per month billed annually, and monthly billing moved fro
- Choose Todoist if you miss deadlines because tasks live in too many places and you want one list with dates, priorities and reminders.
- Skip Pro if 5 projects cover your courses, because the free plan already includes reminders.
Pros
- Pro adds 300 personal projects, calendar layout, custom reminders and 150 filter views
- Beginner free plan covers 5 projects
Cons
- Beginner free plan limited to 5 personal projects, 5 MB file uploads and 1 week of activity history
- Pro monthly billing costs $7 per month
Grammarly
Best for: Essays and writing checks
Grammarly checks spelling, grammar, punctuation, tone and clarity as you write in a browser, in documents and on iPad, which helps with essays and lab reports. The Free plan costs $0 per month and includes spelling and grammar checks, tone detection and 100 AI prompts per month. Pro costs $12 per member per month when billed annually, at $144 per year, and adds full-sentence rewrites, tone adjustment, fluency suggestions, plagiarism detection and 2,000 AI prompts per member per month.
- Enterprise is quoted by sales.
- Monthly billing costs $30 per member per month, which totals $360 over 12 months against $144 on the annual plan.
- The free plan already covers the core grammar and spelling checks, so Pro is a rewriting and AI tool rather than a basic checker.
- Choose Grammarly if you write long essays and want rewrites, tone control and plagiarism checks in one place.
Pros
- Free plan includes spelling, grammar, tone detection and 100 AI prompts per month
- Pro adds 2,000 AI prompts, rewrites and plagiarism detection
Cons
- Pro monthly billing costs $30 per member per month
- free plan limited to 100 AI prompts per month
How we chose
We chose apps that run on iPad, suit a full college term, and publish a clear price or a free plan on an official page. We checked prices and plan limits on official vendor pricing pages on 12 November 2026, and we used the US App Store listing for AnkiMobile, because the Anki site does not print the $24.99 price on its own download page. We did not test any tool hands-on.
Pick by budget
| Budget | Best pick | Cost in the first year |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | Microsoft OneNote plus Notion Free | $0 |
| Under $15 per year | Goodnotes Essential | $11.99 per year |
| Under $25 one-time | AnkiMobile | $24.99 one-time purchase |
| Under $40 per year | Quizlet Plus | $35.99 per year |
| Under $65 per year | Todoist Pro | $60 per year |
| Under $150 per year | Grammarly Pro | $144 per year |
Frequently asked questions
Which iPad app is best for college students who write by hand?
Goodnotes 6 is the best choice for most handwritten note takers, because Essential costs $11.99 per year, adds unlimited files and unlimited audio recording, and supports handwriting search and PDF annotation. Notability is the best second choice if you record lectures, because Plus at $19.99 per year adds audio transcription, while OneNote is the best free choice for mixed typed and handwritten notes.
How much do the best iPad apps for college students cost?
You can start at $0 with OneNote, Notion Free, Quizlet Free, Todoist Beginner and Grammarly Free. The lowest subscription prices are Goodnotes Essential at $11.99 per year and Notability Lite at $14.99 per year. AnkiMobile costs $24.99 once, Quizlet Plus costs $35.99 per year, Todoist Pro costs $60 per year, and Grammarly Pro costs $144 per year.
Which is best for exam revision with flashcards?
AnkiMobile is best for long-term revision with large decks, because spaced repetition schedules each card again before you forget it, and the $24.99 one-time purchase has no subscription. Quizlet is best for ready-made sets and practice tests, because Plus costs $35.99 per year and Plus Unlimited at $44.99 per year removes the cap of 20 Learn rounds and 3 practice tests per month.
Is Notion really free for students?
Yes, with a limit. Notion says the Plus plan, with a 1-member limit, is free for students and educators who sign up with a school email address. That gives a single student 5 GB file uploads, 30-day page history and unlimited blocks without paying the $10 per member per month Plus price. A shared workspace with 2 or more members on the free plan has limited blocks.
Do I need Microsoft 365 to use OneNote on iPad?
No. OneNote is free with a Microsoft account, and you can take typed and handwritten notes and sync them across devices without a subscription. Microsoft 365 Personal costs $99.99 per year and adds the desktop Office apps with Copilot, 1 TB of OneDrive storage and sign-in on 5 devices at once.
Which app should I buy first if I can only buy one?
Buy Goodnotes Essential at $11.99 per year if most of your lectures need handwriting, because it covers notes, PDFs and audio recording for a full year at the lowest subscription price here. Buy AnkiMobile at $24.99 once if exams matter more than notes, because it has no yearly charge. Start with the free plans first, and add Quizlet Plus or Todoist Pro only after the free limits block your work.
Sources
- https://www.goodnotes.com/
- https://www.goodnotes.com/pricing
- https://notability.com/
- https://notability.com/pricing
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products
- https://www.notion.com/
- https://www.notion.com/pricing
- https://quizlet.com/
- https://quizlet.com/upgrade
- https://apps.ankiweb.net/
- https://todoist.com/
- https://todoist.com/pricing
- https://www.grammarly.com/
- https://www.grammarly.com/plans
Prices and features were read on each company’s own website in November 2026. They change often, so confirm the current offer on the official site before you sign up or buy.