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Productivity · head to head

Memtime vs Microsoft OneNote

Memtime logo

Memtime

Productivity

Automatic time tracking that never leaves your machine

From
€10/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: Memtime no free tier. There is a 14 day trial and after that the cheapest route is €10 a user a month on a two-year commitment, or €15 quarterly.; 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: Memtime covers Automatic activity timeline, Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 24 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Memtime and Microsoft OneNote differ
AttributeMemtimeMicrosoft OneNote
Starting price€10/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionfreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxWeb, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows
Founded20161975

Identical on both: 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 Memtime

  • Automatic activity timeline
  • Local-only storage
  • Timesheet automation
  • Offline tracking
  • 100+ project software integrations
  • Calendar integration
  • Phone call tracking
  • Billability reporting

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.

Memtime

  • Reconstructing a day nobody remembered to timenot Microsoft OneNote
  • Billing clients accurately without running a stopwatchnot Microsoft OneNote
  • Tracking time where activity data must not leave the machinenot Microsoft OneNote
  • Filling timesheets in Jira or Asana from a recorded timelinenot Microsoft OneNote
  • Separating billable from non-billable work after the factnot 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 Memtime
  • Lecture or meeting notes where a recording needs to line up with what you were typing at the time.not Memtime
  • A team already inside Microsoft 365 that needs a shared notebook without buying anything or seeking approval.not Memtime
  • Collecting mixed material such as screenshots, clippings and sketches on one page, where a document editor would force a linear structure.not Memtime

Where each one falls short

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

Memtime

  • No free tier. There is a 14 day trial and after that the cheapest route is €10 a user a month on a two-year commitment, or €15 quarterly.
  • The integrations most buyers arrive for are on Connect, not Basic, so the entry tier is a local tracker with no link to the project software you already run.
  • Desktop only. There is no mobile app, so work done away from the computer has to be entered by hand.
  • Local-only storage is the product's point and also its limit: there is no central view for a manager, and a lost or wiped machine takes its timeline with it.
  • Tracking is at five or six minute granularity rather than to the second, which is right for reconstructing a day and wrong for anyone billing in one-minute units.

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

Memtime

€10/month
  • Basic$15/month
    • Per user, quarterly billing
    • €12 annual, €10 on two years
    • Automatic desktop tracking
  • Connect$22/month
    • Everything in Basic
    • €18 annual, €15 on two years
    • 100+ software integrations
  • Premium$30/month
    • Everything in Connect
    • €25 annual, €20 on two years
    • Call system integrations
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Custom pricing from 50 seats
    • From €10 a month on a two-year term
    • Team trial and onboarding

Microsoft OneNote

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Microsoft OneNote review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Memtime if

  • You need automatic activity timeline.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want local-only storage.
Memtime 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 Memtime or Microsoft OneNote better?
Neither clearly leads. Memtime starts at €10/month and Microsoft OneNote at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Memtime or Microsoft OneNote?
Microsoft OneNote has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at €10/month for Memtime and Free for Microsoft OneNote.
Does Memtime or Microsoft OneNote run on more platforms?
Memtime runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. Microsoft OneNote runs on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows.
Can I use Microsoft OneNote for free?
Yes. Microsoft OneNote has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Memtime starts at €10/month.
What is Memtime best used for?
Memtime is most often used for reconstructing a day nobody remembered to time, billing clients accurately without running a stopwatch, tracking time where activity data must not leave the machine, filling timesheets in jira or asana from a recorded timeline. Of those, reconstructing a day nobody remembered to time and billing clients accurately without running a stopwatch are not what Microsoft OneNote is typically brought in for.
What can Memtime do that Microsoft OneNote cannot?
Memtime covers Automatic activity timeline, Local-only storage, Timesheet automation, Offline tracking. Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas, Notebook hierarchy, Indexed handwriting, Audio recording.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Memtime: Does Memtime send my activity data to a server?

No. Activity is stored locally on the device that recorded it and never reaches a server, which is the basis of the product's "built for privacy" positioning and why no manager console exists.

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.

Memtime: What does Memtime cost?

Per user per month, falling with commitment: Basic is €15 quarterly, €12 annual or €10 on two years. Connect is €22, €18 or €15. Premium is €30, €25 or €20. Enterprise is custom from 50 seats. Every tier has a 14 day trial with no card required.

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.

Memtime: Which plan includes the integrations?

Connect and above. Basic covers automatic tracking, timesheets, calendars and reporting, but the 100+ project software integrations and the sync with them start at Connect.

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.

Memtime: How does the automatic tracking work?

It records the program and document in your foreground window at five or six minute granularity and builds a timeline from that. There is no timer to start, so nothing is lost to forgetting.

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.

Memtime: Which platforms does it run on?

Windows, macOS and Linux desktops. There is no mobile application.

Source
Memtime: Who makes Memtime?

Memtime GmbH, a German company founded in 2016.

Source
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