Microsoft OneNote is a free, general-purpose digital notebook, not a meeting-recording or AI meeting-notes tool. CraftNote is built specifically to record meetings bot-free and generate AI summaries and action items. The honest comparison isn't 'which note app is better,' it's that OneNote's free tier is genuinely free forever with no CraftNote-equivalent AI meeting features, while its meeting-audio and Copilot AI features require a Microsoft 365 subscription and, in the case of audio recording and transcription, only work on Windows. Verified against Microsoft's own OneNote and Microsoft 365 pricing and support pages as of 2026-08-25.
Overview
CraftNote
CraftNote is a bot-free AI meeting assistant for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and the web, with a free tier and paid Individual ($9.99/mo, $8.33/mo billed annually) and Teams ($15/user/mo, $12/user/mo billed annually) plans. Every meeting produces a transcript, AI summary, and action items automatically in 100+ languages, whether the meeting is online or in person.
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is a free digital notebook, unlimited notes, 5GB of OneDrive storage, sync across devices, and a web clipper, with no Microsoft 365 subscription required. It supports free-form text, drawing, and handwriting. Its AI layer, Copilot in OneNote, and its audio 'Record & Transcribe' feature both require a Microsoft 365 subscription (Personal $9.99/mo, Family $12.99/mo, or Premium $19.99/mo, or an enterprise Copilot license); audio recording and transcription inside OneNote is currently Windows-only and capped at 300 transcription minutes per month.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | CraftNote | Microsoft OneNote | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core purpose | Purpose-built AI meeting assistant: bot-free recording, transcription, and AI summaries for meetings and conversations. | General-purpose digital notebook for free-form notes, drawings, clipped web pages, and typed or handwritten content, meetings are not its primary use case. | ― |
| Cost to get started | Free tier: 10 uploads/imports per week, 2 hours of recording per week, AI summaries included, 100+ languages. | 100% free without any Microsoft 365 subscription, unlimited notes, 5GB OneDrive storage, sync, and a web clipper. No credit card required. | ✓ |
| Bot-free meeting recording | Purpose-built: records online meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and Webex directly from your device, no bot joins the call. | No dedicated online-meeting recording feature. Its audio tool records and links ambient/in-person audio to a note as you type, it isn't built to capture a Zoom or Teams call. | ✓ |
| Audio recording and transcription | Available on every platform (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web), on every plan including free. | The 'Record Audio' + Transcribe feature is Windows-only, not available on Mac, web, or mobile OneNote, and requires a Microsoft 365 subscription, capped at 300 minutes of transcription per month. | ✓ |
| AI summaries and action items | Automatic AI summary, decisions, and action items generated from every meeting transcript, on every plan. | Copilot in OneNote drafts plans, generates ideas, creates lists, and organizes information from prompts, a general writing assistant, not an automatic meeting-transcript summarizer. Requires a Microsoft 365 subscription for full access. | ✓ |
| Drawing and handwriting | Not a focus; CraftNote is built around transcripts, summaries, and structured meeting output. | Strong native support for stylus input, freehand drawing, and annotating PDFs or images, a genuine strength for visual note-takers. | ✓ |
| Cross-platform availability | iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and web, with full feature parity for meeting recording and AI summaries on each. | Available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and web for note-taking, but the audio recording/transcription feature specifically works on Windows only. | ✓ |
| Language support | 100+ languages with automatic detection for both transcription and AI summaries. | OneNote's interface and Copilot support a broad set of major languages for writing assistance; the audio transcription feature's language coverage is narrower and tied to Microsoft's dictation language list. | ✓ |
| Storage | Cloud storage included on every plan; unlimited notes and meeting history on paid tiers. | 5GB of OneDrive storage on the free tier; Microsoft 365 subscriptions add up to 1TB. | ✓ |
Who Should Pick Which?
Choose CraftNote if…
Anyone who needs a meeting specifically recorded, transcribed, and summarized with action items, across any video platform or in person, without hunting for a Windows-only feature buried inside a general note-taking app.
Choose Microsoft OneNote if…
People who want a free, flexible personal notebook for typed notes, handwriting, sketches, and web clippings, and who are already on Microsoft 365 and want lightweight Copilot writing assistance alongside their notes.