Productivity · head to head
Microsoft OneNote vs WPS Office
Microsoft OneNote
Productivity
Microsoft's free-form notebook, free with a Microsoft account and synced through OneDrive
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
WPS Office
Productivity
Office suite from Kingsoft with Microsoft file compatibility, including maintained Linux builds
- 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.; WPS Office the free tier is funded by advertising, and the adverts and upgrade prompts appear inside the editing window rather than on a website, so the cost of not paying is charged in interruptions while you work.
- They diverge on capability: Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas, WPS Office covers One application.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Microsoft OneNote and WPS Office actually diverge.
| Attribute | Microsoft OneNote | WPS Office |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows | Web |
| Founded | 1975 | Unknown |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), 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 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 WPS Office
- One application
- Microsoft format handling
- PDF tools
- Linux builds
- WPS AI
- Cloud storage
- Mobile apps
- Templates
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 WPS Office
- Lecture or meeting notes where a recording needs to line up with what you were typing at the time.not WPS Office
- A team already inside Microsoft 365 that needs a shared notebook without buying anything or seeking approval.not WPS Office
- Collecting mixed material such as screenshots, clippings and sketches on one page, where a document editor would force a linear structure.not WPS Office
WPS Office
- A Linux desktop where the free alternatives keep breaking the layout of colleagues' DOCX and PPTX files.not Microsoft OneNote
- A small business that edits and converts PDFs regularly and does not want an Acrobat subscription for each person.not Microsoft OneNote
- Students and home users who need Microsoft-compatible documents without a Microsoft 365 subscription.not Microsoft OneNote
- Older or low-specification Windows machines where the full Microsoft suite is slow to install and slow to run.not 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.
WPS Office
- The free tier is funded by advertising, and the adverts and upgrade prompts appear inside the editing window rather than on a website, so the cost of not paying is charged in interruptions while you work.
- Kingsoft is a Chinese company and cloud sync stores documents on its infrastructure by default, which is a procurement blocker for government, defence and many regulated buyers no matter how well the software performs.
- Complex Microsoft files still drift, so heavily formatted documents with tracked changes, PowerPoint animations and workbooks using recent functions or VBA macros can open with differences that only become visible when the file goes back to a Microsoft user.
- There is no tenant administration, so an organisation has no central console for licences, policy, retention or offboarding, and every installation has to be managed on the individual machine.
- Cloud storage stops at 1 GB free and 20 GB per user when paid, so it works as sync for documents and stops being viable for anyone handling media, scans or large PDF archives.
Pricing, plan by plan
Microsoft OneNote
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Microsoft OneNote review.
WPS Office
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the WPS Office review.
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 WPS Office if
- You need one application.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want microsoft format handling.
Questions people ask
- Is Microsoft OneNote or WPS Office better?
- Neither clearly leads. Microsoft OneNote starts at Free and WPS Office at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Microsoft OneNote or WPS Office?
- Microsoft OneNote starts at Free and WPS Office at Free.
- Does Microsoft OneNote or WPS Office run on more platforms?
- Microsoft OneNote runs on Web, IOS, Android, MacOS, Windows. WPS Office runs on 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 WPS Office is typically brought in for.
- What can Microsoft OneNote do that WPS Office cannot?
- Microsoft OneNote covers Free-form page canvas, Notebook hierarchy, Indexed handwriting, Audio recording. WPS Office covers One application, Microsoft format handling, PDF tools, Linux builds.
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.
WPS Office: Will it open and save Microsoft Office files properly?
It reads and writes DOCX, XLSX and PPTX natively and ordinary documents round-trip cleanly. Files with macros, tracked changes or complex animation can differ, so check anything going back to a Microsoft user.
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.
WPS Office: Is the free version genuinely free?
Yes, and it is not time-limited. It shows adverts, caps cloud storage at 1 GB, and holds back PDF editing and conversion, text recognition and electronic signature for the paid plan.
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.
WPS Office: Does it run on Linux?
Yes, with maintained desktop builds, which is unusual for a commercial office suite. The Linux version can trail Windows on newer features.
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.
WPS Office: Is it suitable for a regulated organisation?
Usually not without a review. The vendor is Chinese, cloud sync is on by default, and there is no administrative or compliance tooling of the kind a regulated buyer will be asked to evidence.
Related pages
More on Microsoft OneNote
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- WPS Office vs Forest
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- WPS Office vs Microsoft 365
- WPS Office vs MindMeister
- WPS Office vs Google Slides
- WPS Office vs Alfred
- WPS Office vs Beautiful.ai
- WPS Office vs LibreOffice
- WPS Office vs tldraw
- WPS Office vs PDF Expert
- WPS Office vs TickTick
- WPS Office vs Pitch
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