Price checkMonthly
FreeFreeIncluded in Microsoft 365Custom
See all 2 plans

All Microsoft OneNote Plans & Pricing

Prices unverified — last checked Oct 11, 2026

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
View all features by plan (compare side-by-side)

Free

  • Free with a Microsoft account
  • Web, desktop and mobile apps

Included in Microsoft 365

  • Microsoft OneNote has no price of its own; it is sold as part of Microsoft 365
  • See Microsoft 365 pricing for the plans that include it
Pricing Alerts

Track Microsoft OneNote pricing

Get an email when Microsoft OneNote's pricing changes — plus the weekly SaaS Price Watch: verified price changes and deals across 3,000+ products. One-click unsubscribe.

Try Microsoft OneNote Free
Compare Microsoft OneNote with alternativesAdjust seats, lock a tier, add up to 2 more products side-by-side. Shareable URL.
Quick Answer
Last verified:
High confidence

Microsoft OneNote has a free plan; paid plans are quote-based. Plan: Free (free). Custom pricing is available on request. The median contract is $809/year based on 59 community cost mentions.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: Yes

Microsoft OneNote offers 2 pricing tiers: Free, Included in Microsoft 365. The Included in Microsoft 365 plan is teams already on microsoft 365.

Compared to other note-taking apps software, Microsoft OneNote is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.

  • Median contract: $809/yr from 59 purchases Directional
  • 4 documented hidden costs beyond list price
  • Contracts auto-renew
Last verified: | Sources: 2 pricing pages and reviews

How much does Microsoft OneNote cost?

Microsoft OneNote has a free plan; paid plans are quote-based. Plans include Free (free), Included in Microsoft 365 (custom pricing).

Microsoft OneNote Pricing Overview

Microsoft OneNote has a free plan; paid plans are quote-based. The Free plan is free and is best for getting started at no cost. The Included in Microsoft 365 plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for teams already on microsoft 365.

Microsoft OneNote contracts auto-renew, with a Until the anniversary date for annual subscriptions minimum commitment.

The median Microsoft OneNote customer pays $809/year based on 59 community cost mentions.

There are at least 4 documented hidden costs beyond Microsoft OneNote's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in October 11, 2026 from 2 independent sources.

Try Microsoft OneNote Free

Microsoft OneNote is free with a Microsoft account, offering unlimited notebooks, handwriting recognition, web clipping, and cross-device sync with 5GB of OneDrive storage at no cost. For users who need more storage or offline mobile access, Microsoft 365 Personal starts at $9.99/month ($8.33/month billed annually), while Microsoft 365 Family at $12.99/month ($10.83/month annually) extends those benefits to up to 6 people. Businesses requiring enterprise security and device management can opt for Microsoft 365 Premium at $19.99/month ($16.67/month annually).

How Microsoft OneNote Pricing Compares

Compare Microsoft OneNote pricing against top alternatives in Note-Taking Apps.

Microsoft 365 View pricing → Bear $0-$2.99/user/mo Compare → Capacities $0-$14.99/user/mo Compare →

Compare Microsoft OneNote vs Alternatives

Before committing to Microsoft OneNote, compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.

VSMicrosoft 365
Custom

The plans Microsoft OneNote is sold in

Compare pricing
VSBear
Free

Casual note-takers on single device

Full comparison
VSCapacities
Free

Personal knowledge management

Full comparison

All Microsoft OneNote alternatives & migration guides

What Companies Actually Pay for Microsoft OneNote

The median Microsoft OneNote buyer pays $809/year based on 59 community cost mentions.

What companies actually pay $809/yr Median across 59 community cost mentions Directional
Review scores
TrustRadius 8out of 10 (950)
Trustpilot 1.3out of 5 (20)
Third-party review aggregates, as of Oct 2026
Top pricing complaints
Notes frequently lost during sync — entire days of work can disappear without warningApp is extremely laggy and unresponsive, especially with pen/drawing toolsSync does not work reliably between phone and laptopPoor and unhelpful customer support with long, unproductive interactions
Source: Community cost mentions (Reddit, Hacker News) — aggregated from 59 distinct user reports. Indicative only — not contract-grade data.

Microsoft OneNote Cost by Company Size

Example costs for teams of different sizes. Each figure is labelled with the period it covers.

Individual — Free Plan $0 per year

$0/year

Solo user using OneNote for personal note-taking with under 5GB storage needs, no Office apps required.

Current tier data

How Microsoft OneNote Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
Microsoft OneNote Custom Custom
Amplenote $6.99/month $29.99/month
Bear $2.5/month $2.99/month
Capacities Free $14.99/month
Craft Free $60/month
Evernote Free $24.99/month

Detailed pricing comparisons:

Browse all Note-Taking Apps pricing →

4 Microsoft OneNote Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, Microsoft OneNote has at least 4 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 4 hidden costs
  • Microsoft 365 Subscription Required for Full Features Varies; Microsoft 365 pricing is custom with no published number
    medium 1 source
    Trustpilot “It really looks like people at Microsoft are trying everything they can to push users away from OneNote and to Microsoft 360.”
  • OneDrive Ecosystem Lock-In 5-15% of license costs
    medium 1 source
    Trustpilot “if you don't store on OneDrive you'll get innumerable issues, from OneNote moving your notebook there behind your back to innumerable syncing issues”
  • Data Migration Costs When Leaving 5-15% of license costs
    medium 1 source
    Trustpilot “when you want to get out of it and move your info out (e.g. importing in Obsidian or other) you face bandwidth limitations down to few kB/s (same for OneDrive by the way. So moving out is a pain in the *$#!”
  • Support Quality — Time Cost 5-10% of license costs
    low 2 sources
    Trustpilot “She repeated back my problem incorrectly for almost an hour and kept making me explain the issue, yet kept misunderstanding me and responding with horrible grammar.”
    Trustpilot “You get sent to India and they hang up on you when they do not feel like talking. The fact that a company like Microsoft would have tech support that treats their customer like that is disconcerting.”
Tip

Ask your Microsoft OneNote sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Intelligence sourced from 3 independent sources
Trustpilot Consumer reviews grounded summary TrustRadius Enterprise reviews
Key claims include inline source attribution. Data verified against multiple independent sources. 8 source citations total.

Microsoft OneNote Contract Terms

Microsoft OneNote contracts auto-renew. Changes require advance notice. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.

Contract Terms
Auto-Renewal Yes
Minimum Commitment Until the anniversary date for annual subscriptions
Based on 2 verified sources

Microsoft OneNote Price History

Pricing changes CostBench has tracked for Microsoft OneNote, verified across 3 snapshots going back to 2026Q4.

  1. Microsoft OneNote tier restructure

    Changed from 4 to 3 pricing tiers

  2. Microsoft OneNote tier restructure

    Changed from 3 to 4 pricing tiers

Price stable over 0.5 years

View Microsoft OneNote's full price history →

Microsoft OneNote Pricing FAQ

01 Is OneNote really free?

Yes, OneNote is available as a free standalone app with full note-taking features and 5 GB of OneDrive storage. For more storage and the Office apps, Microsoft 365 Personal costs $8.4/month or $99.99/year (October 11, 2026).

02 What's included with Microsoft 365 Family?

Microsoft 365 Family costs $12.99/month or $129.99/year for 1–6 people and includes OneNote plus Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with 2 TB of shared OneDrive storage. Evernote, by comparison, charges for note-taking alone.

03 How does OneNote pricing compare to Evernote?

OneNote is free as a standalone app, at $0/month billed monthly or $0/month billed annually. It is also included in Microsoft 365, which has custom pricing with no published number. Many users cite Evernote price increases as a reason for switching to OneNote.

04 Is Microsoft OneNote free?

Yes. Microsoft OneNote is free with a Microsoft account and includes unlimited notebooks, handwriting recognition, web clipping, and cross-device sync. The free plan includes 5GB of OneDrive storage. If you need more storage or offline mobile access, upgrading to Microsoft 365 Personal starts at $8.33/month billed annually ($9.99/month if paid monthly).

05 What is the difference between Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family for OneNote?

Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99/month or $8.33/month billed annually) covers one person. Microsoft 365 Family ($12.99/month or $10.83/month billed annually) covers up to 6 people, each with their own 1TB of OneDrive storage — making the per-person cost significantly lower for households with multiple users.

06 What is Microsoft 365 Premium and who needs it?

Microsoft 365 Premium ($19.99/month or $16.67/month billed annually) is a business-tier plan that adds enterprise security features, device management via Microsoft Intune, and Microsoft Entra ID P1 on top of everything in the standard plans. It is primarily aimed at small businesses needing centralized security controls rather than individual OneNote power users.

07 What happens when you exceed the 5GB free storage limit in OneNote?

OneNote stores notebooks in OneDrive. When the free 5GB OneDrive quota is full, syncing stops and you cannot add new content until space is freed or you upgrade to a Microsoft 365 plan, which includes 1TB of OneDrive storage. The free tier's 5GB is shared across all OneDrive files, not reserved exclusively for OneNote.

08 Do I need a Microsoft 365 subscription to use OneNote?

No, OneNote works without a Microsoft 365 subscription, and the Free plan costs $0/month billed monthly. However, offline access on mobile devices, more than 5GB of cloud storage, and the full Office suite require a paid Microsoft 365 plan, which has custom pricing with no published number.

09 Why do OneNote notes sometimes disappear or fail to sync?

Sync reliability is a well-documented weakness of OneNote. Multiple users report losing entire days of notes after sync operations, with errors preventing data recovery. This is a recurring complaint across multiple years of reviews. Regular local backups are strongly recommended, especially for important work.

10 How difficult is it to migrate away from OneNote?

Users report significant friction when exporting data from OneNote. One reviewer noted severe bandwidth throttling when exporting to platforms like Obsidian, making large migrations very slow. If you have years of notes, plan for substantial time investment when switching tools.

11 What is the storage limit on the free OneNote plan?

The free plan includes 5GB of OneDrive storage shared across all your OneDrive files — not just OneNote. Notebooks with many images, embedded PDFs, or audio recordings can exhaust this quickly. Upgrading to Microsoft 365 Personal ($8.33/month billed annually) provides 1TB of storage.

12 Can I use OneNote on mobile without paying?

You can install and use the OneNote mobile app for free, but offline access on mobile requires an active Microsoft 365 subscription. Without a paid plan, mobile use requires an internet connection.

Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.