The best Notion alternatives for students on Mac

Before you switch, check what you'd be leaving. Notion's Education Plan is free for students and educators at an accredited college or university. You need a school email as your main Notion address, you re-verify it once a year, and school-age students don't qualify. It gives a one-person workspace with unlimited pages and blocks, file uploads and 30 days of version history.

So the reason to leave usually isn't price. It's that Notion is a workspace, not a study tool: no flashcards of its own, AI that needs a Business plan, offline only page by page, and no Word export for an assignment. The apps below each fix one of those.

We make Koi, so it's first because it's ours, not because it's the best deal. It isn't: for a student, Koi's price is the problem, and we say so below. Facts about the other apps come from their own sites, with prices in USD, checked October 16, 2026. We didn't run tests.

Koi Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day trial that needs a card. There's no free plan and no student discount. Lifetime, paid once, is the cheapest way in: $59 for the first 25 buyers, then the price climbs as it sells. It keeps dictation, recorded lectures and documents for good, but its AI, which makes study notes and flashcards, comes as a fixed credit that runs out with use.

Plenty of apps students use cut their price. Bear takes 30% off the first year, Tana's Outliner gives 50% off for education, and dictation apps like Wispr Flow (50%), Superwhisper (40%) and Aqua Voice (70%) have student prices too. If the budget is tight, the free picks below come first.

From each app's own site, checked October 16, 2026. Prices are for one person, without discounts unless marked.

• Class notes: any of these. Koi and Bear draw LaTeX, Goodnotes takes handwriting, Obsidian links ideas together.
• Flashcards: Anki, RemNote, or Koi, which makes them from your notes, slides or a lecture.
• A planner or a deadline tracker: Notion's databases have no real match here. Koi has a calendar, with Google and Apple calendars beside its own, but no databases.
• Group projects: stay on Notion, or use a shared Google or Apple folder. Koi, Obsidian and Bear have no co-editing.
• Handing work in: Koi and Bear export Word and PDF. Notion exports PDF but not Word.

A recorded lecture means you can go back to what was said, and both Apple Notes and Koi record on a Mac. Koi keeps the sound on your Mac and only sends the transcript's words to its AI if you say yes to notes when it ends; more on recording with Koi. Apple Notes transcribes in the note.

Ask your lecturer first, and read your school's policy. Some universities limit recording, or sending recordings to an AI service, and Koi doesn't announce itself to the room.

• Happy with Notion, and at a college? Take the free Education Plan and stay.
• Want free notes that are files you own? Obsidian.
• Writing by hand on an iPad? Goodnotes, or Apple Notes for free.
• Flashcards first? Anki, or RemNote if you want notes with them.
• Slides, PDFs and lectures turned into notes and cards on a Mac, and the budget allows? Koi.

If equations are most of your notes, see our list of notes apps with LaTeX for Mac, and for flashcards alone, our Anki alternatives for Mac. Everything Koi does for studying is on its study tools page, and the prices are on the plans.