Pencora vs OneNote

OneNote is free and everywhere, but on iPad it needs a Microsoft account, can’t draw graphs, and turns PDFs into pictures. Pencora needs no account and puts graphs, geometry and your own handwriting on the page.

Where Pencora is ahead of OneNote

Pencora compared with OneNote
Feature Pencora OneNote
Account
YesNot needed — open the app and write
NoA Microsoft account is required; notebooks live in OneDrive
Typed text in your handwriting
YesTeach it your letters once, then type or paste a whole Markdown document — lists, formulas — and it’s written in your own hand. Russian and English, on the iPad
NoNot available
Graphs on the page
YesFunctions, implicit curves, points and tables — typed, imported from CSV or read from a hand-drawn table; ink on the plane sticks to its coordinates
NoNot on iPad — graphing is only in OneNote for the web and Windows
Geometry constructions
YesBisectors, perpendiculars, tangents, reflections, triangle centres — drag a point and everything built on it follows, in real millimetres
NoShape recognition only — no constructions
PDFs from other apps
YesHandwriting comes in as real, editable strokes on the right paper — lasso, recolour or erase any of it
NoPDF pages are inserted as images you ink over
Paper
YesLined, grid, dotted and more — or any PDF page as your paper
PartlyRuled or grid lines per page; no page templates on iPad

Moving over from OneNote

  1. In OneNote, send your pages to PDF (Share → Create PDF).
  2. Open the PDF with Pencora — from the Share sheet, or with Import inside a notebook — and choose to bring it in as editable ink.
  3. Pencora detects the paper ruling and turns the handwriting into real strokes, page by page. Long notebooks open at once and finish converting as you go.

Other comparisons

Compared with what OneNote says about itself on its own website and App Store page, checked September 2026. Apps change — if something here is out of date, tell me and I’ll fix it. OneNote is a trademark of its owner; Pencora is not affiliated with or endorsed by it.