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Productivity · head to head

Hubstaff vs Microsoft OneNote

Hubstaff logo

Hubstaff

Productivity

Time tracking and team management for remote teams

From
$5.99/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft OneNote logo

Microsoft OneNote

Productivity

Microsoft's free-form notebook, free with a Microsoft account and synced through OneDrive

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Microsoft OneNote has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Hubstaff no pricing amounts published on pricing page; specific dollar amounts for plans not disclosed; Microsoft OneNote notes live in a proprietary notebook format on OneDrive or SharePoint and the only exports are a OneNote file, a PDF or a Word document, produced section by section, so a large notebook is effectively unmovable to any other tool.
  • They diverge on capability: Hubstaff covers Time tracking with timer, Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hubstaff and Microsoft OneNote actually diverge.

Attributes where Hubstaff and Microsoft OneNote differ
AttributeHubstaffMicrosoft OneNote
Starting price$5.99/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionfreemium
Free tierNoYes
Founded20121975

Identical on both: platforms (Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hubstaff

  • Time tracking with timer
  • Activity monitoring
  • GPS location tracking
  • Screenshots
  • Reports and analytics
  • Invoicing
  • Team management
  • Mobile apps

Only in Microsoft OneNote

  • Free-form page canvas
  • Notebook hierarchy
  • Indexed handwriting
  • Audio recording
  • Web clipper and Outlook capture
  • Shared notebooks
  • Cross-platform clients
  • Tags and cross-notebook search

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hubstaff

  • Productivitynot Microsoft OneNote
  • Collaborationnot Microsoft OneNote
  • Task managementnot Microsoft OneNote
  • Organizationnot Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote

  • Handwritten notes on a pen tablet that you still need to find months later by searching for a word you wrote.not Hubstaff
  • Lecture or meeting notes where a recording needs to line up with what you were typing at the time.not Hubstaff
  • A team already inside Microsoft 365 that needs a shared notebook without buying anything or seeking approval.not Hubstaff
  • Collecting mixed material such as screenshots, clippings and sketches on one page, where a document editor would force a linear structure.not Hubstaff

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hubstaff

  • No pricing amounts published on pricing page; specific dollar amounts for plans not disclosed
  • Per-seat pricing structure means users charged per team member regardless of active tracking use
  • Billing model includes prorated charges on annual plans but full rates for new monthly users, creating potential cost complications

Microsoft OneNote

  • Notes live in a proprietary notebook format on OneDrive or SharePoint and the only exports are a OneNote file, a PDF or a Word document, produced section by section, so a large notebook is effectively unmovable to any other tool.
  • Personal notebooks consume OneDrive quota, which is 5 GB on a free Microsoft account, so a notebook full of scans, images and recordings quietly exhausts the whole account including the space Outlook needs for mail.
  • Sync happens at section level and conflicts are resolved by placing both versions on the page, so simultaneous edits to a large or media-heavy section produce duplicated content that somebody has to merge by hand.
  • Search behaves differently across clients, so what the Windows desktop app finds inside handwriting, images and attachments is not necessarily what the browser or mobile version finds, and the same query gives different answers on different devices.
  • There is no relational structure, no database and no properties, so anything that needs a table of records with fields has to be maintained by hand or moved elsewhere, and OneNote's own tables cannot be queried or filtered.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hubstaff

$5.99/month
  • FreeFree
    • Basic time tracking
    • Limited to 1 user
    • Basic reports
  • Starter$5.99/month
    • Time tracking
    • Team management
    • Reports
  • Pro$9.99/month
    • Everything in Starter
    • GPS tracking
    • Activity monitoring

Microsoft OneNote

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Microsoft OneNote review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Hubstaff if

  • You need time tracking with timer.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows.
  • You also want activity monitoring.
Hubstaff review

Choose Microsoft OneNote if

  • You need free-form page canvas.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows.
  • You also want notebook hierarchy.
Microsoft OneNote review

Questions people ask

Is Hubstaff or Microsoft OneNote better?
Neither clearly leads. Hubstaff starts at $5.99/month and Microsoft OneNote at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hubstaff or Microsoft OneNote?
Microsoft OneNote has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $5.99/month for Hubstaff and Free for Microsoft OneNote.
Does Hubstaff or Microsoft OneNote run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Microsoft OneNote for free?
Yes. Microsoft OneNote has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hubstaff starts at $5.99/month.
What is Hubstaff best used for?
Hubstaff is most often used for productivity, collaboration, task management, organization. Of those, productivity and collaboration are not what Microsoft OneNote is typically brought in for.
What can Hubstaff do that Microsoft OneNote cannot?
Hubstaff covers Time tracking with timer, Activity monitoring, GPS location tracking, Screenshots. Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas, Notebook hierarchy, Indexed handwriting, Audio recording.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hubstaff: How much does Hubstaff cost?

Specific pricing amounts are not published on the pricing page. Hubstaff offers monthly and annual billing options with a per-seat pricing structure, a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans, and a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Source
Microsoft OneNote: Is OneNote really free?

Yes. The application is free with a Microsoft account, with no time limit and no feature gate. What you may end up paying for is the OneDrive storage the notebooks consume.

Hubstaff: Is there a free trial for Hubstaff?

Hubstaff offers a free 14-day trial with no credit card required, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans excluding the free trial period.

Source
Microsoft OneNote: Can I keep notebooks off Microsoft's cloud?

The Windows desktop app can keep local notebooks, but they will not sync to other devices and any shared access requires OneDrive or SharePoint.

Hubstaff: How does Hubstaff billing work when adding team members mid-cycle?

For annual plans, Hubstaff prorates charges when adding seats mid-cycle. For monthly plans, full rates apply for new users with no prorating offered.

Source
Microsoft OneNote: How do I get my notes out?

Section by section as a OneNote file, a PDF or a Word document. A OneNote package preserves a whole notebook but only for another copy of OneNote. Third-party converters exist and the page layout usually does not survive them.

Hubstaff: Can Hubstaff plans be canceled anytime?

Plans can be canceled anytime by contacting support or archiving the associated organization. Users removed from monthly plans do not receive prorated refunds.

Source
Microsoft OneNote: Which version should I install?

Microsoft consolidated onto a single OneNote application on Windows after retiring the Store version, so install the one distributed with Microsoft 365 rather than looking for an alternative.

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