The best open source alternative to GoodNotes is Xournal++. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to GoodNotes and 16 is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to GoodNotes are xournal, OpenBoard Whiteboard, Linwood Butterfly and Rnote.
Handwritten note-taking and PDF annotation using pen input and pressure sensitivity, shape drawing, customizable toolbar layouts, image insertion, audio recording, multi-language options, LaTeX integration, and complete export in PDF or PNG formats across all platforms.
cross platform, not invasive
OSS alternative with many great features.
Xournal is an application for notetaking, sketching, keeping a journal using a stylus. It is free software (GNU GPL) and runs on Linux (recent distributions), Windows and other GTK+/Gnome platforms.
OpenBoard is a cross-platform (Linux / Windows / macOS) interactive whiteboard application. It is currently maintained by the Education Department (DIP) of the Canton of Geneva in Switzerland.
Butterfly is a note-taking app where your ideas come first. You can paint, add texts, and export them easily on every device. This app works on android, windows, linux, and in the web.
Rnote aims to be a simple but functional note taking application for freehand drawing or annotating pictures or documents. It eventually should be able to import / export various media file formats.
A (work-in-progress) cross-platform libre notes app. Please note that this app is still in early stages and not ready to trust with your notes yet.
It is the only somewhat good open-source alternative to Goodnotes & Notability. I know it is currently missing a lot of features found in Goodnotes, but in the future it could become a real competitor, so give it a try.
Quillpad is a fork of an original app called Quillnote. The development stopped on the original app and PR backlogs were not cleared up. The community showed much interest in the app for continued development and so this fork was created.
HelixNotes is a local markdown note-taking app built with Rust, Tauri 2.0, and SvelteKit. Your notes are standard .md files on your filesystem - sync with whatever you want or nothing at all.
Jarnal is an open-source application for notetaking, sketching, keeping a journal, making a presentation, annotating a document - including pdf - or collaborating using a stylus, mouse or keyboard. It is similar to Microsoft .
AINotes is an open-source notebook application similar to OneNote but focused on improving the experience for students.
SpeedyNote is a fast, open-source note-taking application designed for stylus users who need iPad-quality annotation on budget hardware. Built with native C++ and Qt, it delivers 360Hz stylus input on hardware as modest as an Intel Celeron N4000 at 1.
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It allows you to store your notes wherever you want and doesn't force you to use whatever cloud synchronisation