School means juggling deadlines, class notes, group projects and study time. The right apps make that easier, and the best ones for students have useful free plans. This guide covers three apps that handle different parts of student life: tasks, organizing everything, and taking notes. Facts come from each company's official pages. Prices are as of November 1, 2026.
At a glance
TickTick
Notion
Goodnotes
Best for
Assignments, habits and focused study
Organizing classes, notes and group projects
Handwritten notes and PDF markup
Price
Free; Premium US$49.99/year
Free; Plus US$10/member/month
Free; Essential US$11.99/year; Pro US$35.99/year
Platforms
iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web, Chrome
iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web
iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web
1Assignments, habits and focused study
TickTick
Free plan; Premium yearly
TickTick combines to-do lists, schedules, reminders and calendar views with a Pomodoro focus timer, habit tracking, countdowns and notes. For students, that means assignments, a study timer and exam countdowns in one app. It runs on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, the web and Chrome, so it works on a phone and a school computer. The free plan covers the basics, and Premium is US$49.99 a year.
Pick it if you want to track assignments and study in focused sessions.
Notion is a workspace for knowledge, documents, projects and tasks, built from pages and databases. Students can use it to keep class notes, a course tracker and group project pages in one place, and share them with classmates. It includes collaboration, publishing and AI features. The Free plan costs nothing; Plus is US$10 per member per month. It runs on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and the web.
Pick it if you want one place to organize every class and work on group projects together.
Goodnotes is a digital paper app for handwritten and typed notes, PDF markup and document organization, with collaboration and AI features. It is best known on iPad with Apple Pencil, and also runs on Android, Windows and the web. There is a free plan; Essential is US$11.99 a year and Pro US$35.99 a year. An Apple-only one-time edition is also available.
Pick it if you take notes by hand on a tablet or mark up lecture slides and readings.
Also consider: RemNote, which combines notes with flashcards and spaced repetition for studying, and Notability for handwriting plus audio recording of lectures.
TickTick is the best pick for keeping on top of assignments and study time. Notion is the best for organizing everything about your classes and collaborating with classmates. Goodnotes is the best for students who take handwritten notes on a tablet. All three have free plans, so you can start without paying.
Organizing classes, notes and group projects