OneDrive vs. OneNote

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
OneDrive
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
OneDrive from Microsoft is a cloud storage and file syncing service.
$5
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
OneNote
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft's OneNote is a digital note-taking app, supporting photos, annotating, web page clipping, emailing, and synchronizing notes across devices.N/A
Pricing
OneDriveOneNote
Editions & Modules
OneDrive for Business Plan 1
$5.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
$5.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
OneDrive for Business Plan 2
$10.00
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
$12.50
Per Month (Annual Commitment)
Microsoft OneNote
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
OneDriveOneNote
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsOneDrive can be purchased as a standalone tool, or as part of a Microsoft 365's business suite.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
OneDriveOneNote
Features
OneDriveOneNote
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
OneDrive
7.7
Ratings
9% below category average
OneNote
-
Ratings
Versioning7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Video files7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio files6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Document collaboration8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Access control8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
File search8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Device sync8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Cloud Storage Security & Administration
Comparison of Cloud Storage Security & Administration features of Product A and Product B
OneDrive
7.2
Ratings
19% below category average
OneNote
-
Ratings
User and role management7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
File organization8.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Device management6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Cloud Storage Platform
Comparison of Cloud Storage Platform features of Product A and Product B
OneDrive
7.1
Ratings
18% below category average
OneNote
-
Ratings
Performance6.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Reliability7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Storage Reports7.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
OneDriveOneNote
Small Businesses
SugarSync
SugarSync
Score 5.8 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Enterprises
Druva Security Cloud
Druva Security Cloud
Score 9.7 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
OneDriveOneNote
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
OneDriveOneNote
Likelihood to Recommend
  • For collaborative work both in education and professional areas.
  • For personal work in multiple devices, and "on the go" work.
  • It's great for work that takes a lot of memory space, because it is saved in the cloud, not the device itself.
  • It's a great tool for anyone working with a lot of creative files that can't be stored in small devices like USBs.
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It is well suited for capturing weekly departmental task lists. For example, each week we create a new page in a shared departmental notebook. In this new page, each department member enters his/her top 3 accomplishments for the week and the top 3 things which the member will attempt to accomplish in the coming week. We then use this page during our Monday morning stand-up meeting and it helps provide an agenda, structure, and discussion points for the meeting.
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Pros
  • OneDrive does a great job of keeping file version history. I have had to use this feature many times and it is very simple to use. This one feature has saved my butt many times.
  • OneDrive synchronizes across devices very quickly. There have been many instances when I have added files online and, within seconds, saw the file show up on my local computer. This happens the other direction also. I am very impressed and satisfied with the speed of syncing in all directions.
  • The OneDrive app on my phone has been particularly helpful since it automatically syncs my photos (usually within seconds) and allows me access to all my files.
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  • OneNote synchronizes across platforms very quickly. I often find that notes entered, or updated, on my desktop are synchronized to my laptop and smartphone well before I ever open them up to access the information.
  • OneNote has apps for just every major platform available. This includes Windows, iOS, and Android. The web app has plenty of features so you won't feel let down if you have to access your notebooks through a browser.
  • The multimedia features of OneNote are wonderful. I can draw pictures, add sound bites, add videos, add files, and much more. This helps me capture the full context of a note, including any references that I might need, all within the note itself. I don't have to go outside of OneNote to find a video clip, logo, or soundbite.
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Cons
  • Sending Links - Though you can easily share links to files from the web experience, it isn't the same on the native experience. It would be nice if you could right click on a file to share its location with someone vs. opening the office application to share with others.
  • File Character Restrictions - This isn't just with OneDrive, but sometimes files will not upload due to an unsupported character in the file name.
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  • OneNote could improve on its web clipping features. Evernote still beats it in terms of robustness, but OneNote is sufficient for most purposes.
  • OneNote could also improve on its tagging system. Its the other major way of categorizing notes, which Evernote uses to great effect, but OneNote de-emphasizes this in favor of a hierarchical ordering.
  • This is a silly point, but it drives me mad. OneNote's free-form editing on pages, meaning you can click anywhere and start editing makes for sloppier notes that aren't as well aligned. This could be an enjoyable feature for some, but for me, I like my pages orderly.
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Likelihood to Renew
I like Box better. If you sign into Microsoft using a personal account, be EXTREMELY careful. All of your downloads could suddenly be available to your entire company, and that is incredibly embarrassing. Did that happen to me? Not going to say, but just always check which MS account you sign into.
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As this is not a compulsory tool in our organization, I would say all depends on the decision makers, however since this is a part of MS Office, I am sure we will have it for as long as we will possibly need it. However, I would not be so sure, if it was a separate product
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Usability
I have given it this rating because it accomplishes the basic task that we use it for, storing and protecting our sensitive data. That being said, I hesitate to give it a completely positive rating, because I feel that the software performs at a bare minimum level, skimping out on some of the bells and whistles that would be nice.
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It is easy to use day to day and has become a common use application like Outlook or Teams. There is little to no learning curve, and you can use it in the way that is most suitable for you. Features like moving sections of text around and creating new tabs is self-explanatory.
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Performance
It has a good performance, the pages load normally, access to the files, management, reports, everything is working well. With regard to integration with other systems, we have not done so yet.
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I find OneNote to perform very well. I experience quick load times and automatic updates which are two things that are very important to our organization. I personally do not integrate OneNote with other software or systems but I do like that it can generate a sharing link for other people to view.
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Support Rating
It's a Microsoft product so there is a wealth of information online both from Microsoft directly and from millions of users but as a corporate user we also have access to direct Microsoft support through a variety of avenues (phone, email, etc.). This makes finding answers to issues more accessible, however, it does also mean that any new feature requests will get buried.
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Since it is part of Microsoft Office and used across the globe there are a lot of support options available. It's quickest to just do a google search which will have plenty of articles to help you since there are so many OneNote users but as an Office customer you also have access to Microsoft support and I have had good experiences with their support (probably because I'm with a large company who is a large customer to them).
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Alternatives Considered
OneDrive feels native is you are a Microsoft 365 user. The integration aspect of being a Microsoft customer and using all platform tools together helps with driving adoption, ease of learning, and overall efficiency. While Google Drive is widely used as well, there is a ramp up to learning those controls over OneDrive is you are not used to those platforms.
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I’ll be honest, once I met OneNote, I knew my search was over. I found a software package that could do everything I needed and more. Pen and paper are helpful but not searchable, not private, not easily shared. Your notebook can be misplaced or stolen. You cannot use it to access websites with a click. I was a user of Lotus notes back in the day and though it had better function than pen and paper, I lost my entire notebook twice because of system issues and it didn’t have 1/10th of the function OneNote had
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Return on Investment
  • OneDrive allows us to save much time on creating and archiving backup copies of our data. Microsoft gives a guarantee on the possibility of recovery of files or folders even from 30 days ago. It provides a great comfort of work.
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  • By giving employees this tool, each one can try to make the most out of it, and use it as they want. I know that many employees are utilizing features of OneNote every day, and it does help them to work more organized, and more efficiently.
  • I don't think there is any negative impact. Those who don't know how to use the tool are likely not to use it, so there is no risk for negative impact other than the cost of the license.
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ScreenShots