Software Alternatives & Reviews

Rnote VS xournal

Compare Rnote VS xournal and see what are their differences

Rnote logo Rnote

Rnote is a vector-based drawing app for sketching, handwritten notes and to annotate documents and pictures.Disclaimer: The file format is still unstable. It might change and break compatibility between versions.

xournal logo xournal

Lightweight notetaking and sketching app.
  • Rnote Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17
  • xournal Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-02-25

Rnote videos

Issue with RNote on Ubuntu.

xournal videos

Xournal: Annotate, Edit, Handwrite, Comment & Highlight on PDF

More videos:

  • Review - Xournal and OneNote - An Overview
  • Review - Xournal on Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Rnote and xournal)
Note Taking
18 18%
82% 82
Todos
22 22%
78% 78
Task Management
18 18%
82% 82
Handwritten Notes
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Rnote and xournal. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

xournal might be a bit more popular than Rnote. We know about 7 links to it since March 2021 and only 7 links to Rnote. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Rnote mentions (7)

  • Been urbancarliving for ~2 years now. Here's my battle station. I use Arch btw ;)
    It runs great! There's a few quirks since I'm not using the linux-firmware-full-surface-pro-3 , but other than that it's awesome. (it just has some issues recognizing when the flip cover is open once closed.) I especially love using Rnote with it. Source: about 1 year ago
  • I HATE CAPACITORS!!! What happens after you discharge a capacitor? Laplace transforms, integrals,...
    It's available on https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.github.flxzt.rnote for all Linux distributions. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Best compatible apps, extensions and tweaks for Linux on convertible laptops
    - Rnote : Follows Gnome HIG, but doesn't have input stabilization (the pen is not smoothed and is the least fluid I find. Source: over 1 year ago
  • An ode to Flatpak (and Fedora Silverblue)
    Flatpak also allowed me to greatly simplify my documentation, as most (apart from packages not available as a Flatpak) of the software installation process is now the same across all Linux distributions, no matter if I use Fedora, Ubuntu or Arch. And finally, I am now always excited whenever I see someone posting about their new Linux application with a link to Flathub, so that one can try it immediately. No need... Source: over 1 year ago
  • Fedora a good choice for school, stability-wise? Also, KDE or GNOME for Surface pro (touch + stylus)?
    Recently found Rnote and its the best one I've seen so far. These are for handwritten/drawing stuff. For typed notes, I just use notion. Source: almost 2 years ago
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xournal mentions (7)

  • Rnote – An open-source vector-based drawing app
    Please note that the original app was Xournal [1]. The one you link is a rewrite of the orignal (in C++) and is called Xournal++. [1] https://xournal.sourceforge.net/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: When did you stop using printers and why?
    I do the using Xournal [1] which is tailor-made for creating annotations. It leaves the PDF as is, saving your edits to a sidecar file (*.xoj) which when loaded pulls in the original PDF. It exports edited documents to 'real' PDFs with selectable text etc. [1] https://xournal.sourceforge.net/ (packaged by most distributions). - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Is there good way to apply a hand written signature to a pdf in linux?
    If you don't mind the signature being raster (not vector), I've used Xournal for this in the past. It's extremely lightweight and easy. Just open the PDF file with Xournal, draw the signature, and then export it to PDF (Control + E). This will not rasterise the PDF itself (to the best of my knowledge), but rather just superimposes a layer containing your signature on top of the original PDF. Source: about 2 years ago
  • The Xournal ++ app
    Xournal++ exists since 2013. Maybe you typoed and by your comment about abandoning you were referring to Xournal without the ++? The Xournal website even suggests to try Xournal++. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Adobe Acrobat not provided by the university, how do you read/edit PDFs?
    Xournal works pretty well for me on GNU/Linux. You just have to turn on the "Legacy PDF Export" option. Source: almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Rnote and xournal, you can also consider the following products

Xournal++ - Xournal++ is a handwriting notetaking software with PDF annotation support. Written in C++ with GTK3, supporting Linux (e.g. Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, SUSE), macOS and Windows 10. Supports pen input fr...

Stylus Labs Write - Write is a word processor for handwriting, designed primarily for tablets with an active stylus.

OneNote - Get the OneNote app for free on your tablet, phone, and computer, so you can capture your ideas and to-do lists in one place wherever you are. Or try OneNote with Office for free.

Framework Laptop - Framework Laptop: upgradeable, repairable, and 100% yours. Starting at $999, with a fully refundable $100 deposit.

GoodNotes - GoodNotes lets you take notes and annotate PDF documents.

Butterfly - Butterfly is the web platform & chat-bots that offer real-time coaching to continuously develop managers based on their team's feedback.