Halfway through my second year, I opened Evernote to review for a final and hit a wall: 50 notes max. I had 47. The app let me see what I already had, but I couldn’t add a single new note until I deleted old ones. That was the day I stopped treating “free” as a promise.
Evernote’s free tier gives you 50 notes, one device, and 250 MB per month of uploads. That is not a free note-taking app. It is a free trial of the welcome screen. And Evernote is just the most extreme example. Most “free” note-taking plans look generous until you hit a hard limit—storage cap, notebook count, edit ceiling, or device restriction—and that moment usually comes right when you need the app most.
This article is not a “10 best features” list. It is a hard-numbers expose. I pulled the actual limits from each vendor’s documentation, checked them against multiple sources, and then ran a simulation: a typical student taking five courses for a full semester. The question is simple: which free plans will still be usable in week 15?
What each “free” plan actually gives you
Below is the raw data. I have included every app a student is likely to consider. No marketing language—only the numbers that matter when you are trying to get through the semester without paying.
| App | Free storage / capacity | Notebooks / notes | Devices | File upload limit | OCR / search | Collaboration | AI features | Real takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft OneNote | 5 GB OneDrive | Unlimited | Unlimited | 2 GB per file | Yes (handwriting search, OCR) | Yes (real-time) | Copilot only on paid M365 | Best all-around free plan |
| Notion (free) | Unlimited blocks | Unlimited | Unlimited | 5 MB per file | Yes (basic search) | Yes (up to 100 guests with .edu) | Trial AI only | Good if .edu; upload limit kills PDFs |
| Obsidian (local) | Local storage (unlimited) | Unlimited | 1 (sync extra) | N/A (local files) | Yes (full text search) | No (local only) | No | Genuinely free – but no sync |
| Apple Notes | 5 GB iCloud | Unlimited | Apple devices only | No hard limit (within storage) | Yes (handwriting search, OCR) | Yes (via iCloud) | No | Best for Apple-only students |
| Google Keep | 15 GB Google Drive | Unlimited notes | Unlimited | No hard limit (within storage) | Limited (image text scan) | Yes (real-time) | No | Good for quick notes, not long term |
| Joplin | Local / optional cloud | Unlimited | 1 (sync optional) | N/A (local) | Yes (full text search) | Yes (via sync service) | No | Open-source alternative to Obsidian |
| Evernote | 250 MB/month uploads | 50 notes total | 1 | 25 MB per note | Yes (basic OCR) | No (read-only) | No | Not worth using for a semester |
| GoodNotes | 3 notebooks total | 3 notebooks | Unlimited (with sync) | No hard limit (within storage) | Yes (handwriting search) | Yes (via iCloud) | AI pass optional | Runs out after 4–5 weeks |
| Notability | Undisclosed monthly edit limit | Unlimited notes | 1 (sync paid) | No hard limit (within storage) | Yes (handwriting search, standard tier) | Yes (iCloud, standard tier) | Limited AI on Starter | Edit cap is a black box |
OneNote’s 5 GB is shared with your entire OneDrive—if you also store photos, assignments, or backup files there, cut that estimate in half. Some school-issued Microsoft 365 accounts include 1 TB of OneDrive storage; if your school provides that, OneNote becomes effectively unlimited.
Notion’s free plan for non-.edu users limits file uploads to 5 MB per file — most lecture PDFs are 2–5 MB, so you can upload only a few before reaching the limit. The .edu Plus plan removes that cap and adds 30-day version history. Eligibility depends on WHED database enrollment; check Notion’s help page to see if your school qualifies.
The 5-course, 15-week simulation: exactly when each free plan breaks
Numbers in a table are abstract. Let’s make them concrete. Imagine you are taking five courses this semester: three with lecture PDFs, two with typed or handwritten notes. Here is a realistic weekly note load:
- 20 MB of lecture PDFs per course per week (10 lectures × 2 MB each) — total 100 MB/week
- 10 pages of handwritten notes per course per week (negligible storage)
- Typed notes, outlines, and summaries: ~2 MB per course per week — total 10 MB/week
That is roughly 110 MB of new content per week, or about 1.5 GB over the full semester. Now watch what happens to each free plan.
Let’s walk through the timeline:
| App | Weeks until limit | What fails |
|---|---|---|
| Evernote | 2 – 3 | 50-note cap exceeded (4 notes/week/course × 5 courses = 20 notes/week → 60 notes by week 3). Upload limit also exceeded (250 MB/month vs 440 MB/month). |
| GoodNotes | 4 – 5 | 3 notebooks filled (one notebook per course → all 3 used by week 5). |
| Notion (free, non-.edu) | 6 | 5 MB upload limit blocks PDFs after a few lectures. You can type notes, but you cannot store lecture slides. |
| Notability | Unknown | Undisclosed monthly edit limit — user reports suggest it kicks in mid-semester. No public number to calculate. |
| OneNote | Entire semester | 5 GB storage is enough for 1.5 GB of notes. Handwriting search, OCR, and collaboration all work. Only limit: shared OneDrive storage. |
| Apple Notes | Entire semester | 5 GB iCloud is sufficient for text and handwritten notes. PDFs count against same pool, but still under limit. |
| Obsidian (local) | Entire semester | No limits — files are local. But no cross-device sync without paying $4–5/month. |
| Google Keep | Entire semester (limited use) | 15 GB storage is plenty, but Keep is designed for short notes, not full course organization. |
| Joplin (local) | Entire semester | Similar to Obsidian: fully free locally, sync optional. |
Only OneNote and Apple Notes survive a full semester without hitting a hard wall on the free plan. Notion (non-.edu) and GoodNotes break early. Evernote is unusable from week one. Notability’s limit is a black box — you won’t know until it hits.
Which free plans actually survive? (Decision flow based on your workload and devices)
Based on the simulation, here is how to choose — not by features, but by limits:
- If your school provides a Microsoft 365 account (check your email), you almost certainly have 1 TB of OneDrive storage. Use OneNote — it is free, unlimited, cross-platform, and includes handwriting search, OCR, and real-time collaboration.
- If you have a .edu email, try Notion’s free Plus upgrade. It removes the 5 MB upload limit and gives you 30-day version history. It is the best free option for students who love databases and project tracking.
- If you are entirely in the Apple ecosystem and do not need Windows access, Apple Notes works flawlessly — handwriting search, PDF annotation, and iCloud sync are all free.
- If you prefer offline, local-only files and do not need sync, Obsidian is the most genuinely free app — no limits, no upsells. You lose cross-device sync unless you pay $4–5/month.
- For quick, lightweight notes, Google Keep is fine, but it is not a replacement for a full course notebook. Joplin is a good open-source alternative to Obsidian if you want more flexibility.
- Avoid Evernote, GoodNotes, and Notability for a full semester unless you are willing to pay. Their free plans are effectively timed trials.
For a broader overview of free note-taking apps, including feature comparisons and major-based recommendations, see our main student roundup. And if you want to understand the general freemium trap — why apps hobble their free tiers — read this analysis.
Before you commit, visit the official app page to confirm the current free-tier limits. Pricing and caps change. These numbers were last verified in June 2026.
Don’t choose a note-taking app for its features. Choose it for its limits.
The free tier that lasts until finals is the one that does not cap notebooks, notes, or uploads in a way that breaks a standard course load. Everything else is a trial.
Pick OneNote or Apple Notes unless you have a specific reason — and a .edu email — to go with Notion. Pick Obsidian if you never need to open your notes on another device. And leave Evernote, GoodNotes, and Notability for the paid plans they were always designed to sell.