Productivity · head to head
Microsoft OneNote vs Pl@ntNet
Microsoft OneNote
Productivity
Microsoft's free-form notebook, free with a Microsoft account and synced through OneDrive
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Pl@ntNet
Education
Free plant identification app run by a consortium of French public research institutes
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Pl@ntNet it offers no plant care guidance, watering reminders or disease diagnosis, unlike commercial apps built around ongoing plant care.
- They diverge on capability: Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas, Pl@ntNet covers Photo identification.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Microsoft OneNote and Pl@ntNet actually diverge.
| Attribute | Microsoft OneNote | Pl@ntNet |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | freemium | Free, no ads and no in-app purchases |
| Platforms | Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows | iOS, Android, Web |
| Category | Productivity | Education |
| Founded | 1975 | Unknown |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
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 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
Only in Pl@ntNet
- Photo identification
- Large species coverage
- Multi-language support
- Community-sourced database
- Regional flora filtering
- Contribution to research
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Microsoft OneNote
- Handwritten notes on a pen tablet that you still need to find months later by searching for a word you wrote.not Pl@ntNet
- Lecture or meeting notes where a recording needs to line up with what you were typing at the time.not Pl@ntNet
- A team already inside Microsoft 365 that needs a shared notebook without buying anything or seeking approval.not Pl@ntNet
- Collecting mixed material such as screenshots, clippings and sketches on one page, where a document editor would force a linear structure.not Pl@ntNet
Pl@ntNet
- A gardener or hiker who wants free plant identification without a subscriptionnot Microsoft OneNote
- A student or researcher wanting a citation-friendly, institutionally-run identification toolnot Microsoft OneNote
- Someone identifying plants outside English-speaking regions who needs one of its 50-plus languagesnot Microsoft OneNote
- A forager wanting a second opinion on a plant before relying solely on one sourcenot Microsoft OneNote
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Pl@ntNet
- It offers no plant care guidance, watering reminders or disease diagnosis, unlike commercial apps built around ongoing plant care.
- Identification accuracy varies by region depending on how well local flora is represented in the community-submitted training data.
- The interface is more utilitarian than a commercial app, reflecting its research origins rather than consumer product design.
- It should never be relied on alone to determine whether a wild plant or fungus is safe to eat, and the project itself does not claim otherwise.
- Because it is run by a nonprofit research consortium rather than a company, feature development and interface updates move more slowly than a funded commercial competitor.
Pricing, plan by plan
Microsoft OneNote
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Microsoft OneNote review.
Pl@ntNet
Free- Pl@ntNetFree
- Full identification for over 80,000 species
- Available in over 50 languages
- No account required for basic identification
Which should you pick?
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.
Choose Pl@ntNet if
- You need photo identification.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on iOS, Android, Web.
- You also want large species coverage.
Questions people ask
- Is Microsoft OneNote or Pl@ntNet better?
- Neither clearly leads. Microsoft OneNote starts at Free and Pl@ntNet at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Microsoft OneNote or Pl@ntNet?
- Microsoft OneNote starts at Free and Pl@ntNet at Free.
- Does Microsoft OneNote or Pl@ntNet run on more platforms?
- Microsoft OneNote runs on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows. Pl@ntNet runs on iOS, Android, Web.
- Can I use Microsoft OneNote for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Microsoft OneNote best used for?
- Microsoft OneNote is most often used for handwritten notes on a pen tablet that you still need to find months later by searching for a word you wrote., lecture or meeting notes where a recording needs to line up with what you were typing at the time., a team already inside microsoft 365 that needs a shared notebook without buying anything or seeking approval., collecting mixed material such as screenshots, clippings and sketches on one page, where a document editor would force a linear structure.. Of those, handwritten notes on a pen tablet that you still need to find months later by searching for a word you wrote. and lecture or meeting notes where a recording needs to line up with what you were typing at the time. are not what Pl@ntNet is typically brought in for.
- What can Microsoft OneNote do that Pl@ntNet cannot?
- Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas, Notebook hierarchy, Indexed handwriting, Audio recording. Pl@ntNet covers Photo identification, Large species coverage, Multi-language support, Community-sourced database.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Pl@ntNet: Is Pl@ntNet free?
Yes, entirely free with no ads or in-app purchases, run by a consortium of French public research institutes.
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.
Pl@ntNet: How accurate is it?
Accuracy varies by region and species depending on how much community-submitted photo data exists for that flora, but it is generally strong for well-represented regions.
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.
Pl@ntNet: Can I use it to check if a plant is safe to eat?
No. It is an identification aid, not a safety tool, and should not be relied on alone for foraging decisions.
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.
Related pages
More on Microsoft OneNote
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