What is Rnote used for?

Rnote is an open-source vector-based drawing app for sketching, handwritten notes and annotating documents and pictures. It is a good fit for sketching and handwritten notes, and annotating documents and pictures.

Is Rnote open source?

Yes. Rnote is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at flxzt/rnote and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. Rnote is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Rnote?

Yes. Rnote can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Rnote an alternative to?

Rnote is an open-source alternative to Noteshelf and Microsoft OneNote. Other open-source alternatives to Noteshelf include Butterfly and Xournalpp.

Is Rnote actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Rnote was on 11 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.14.2, published on 1 May 2026. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.

Rnote: open-source alternative to Noteshelf

About Rnote

Rnote is an open-source vector-based drawing app for sketching, handwritten notes and annotating documents and pictures. It is targeted at students, teachers and those who own a drawing tablet.

The app provides features like PDF and picture import and export, an infinite canvas and an adaptive UI for big and small screens. It includes an adaptive UI focused on stylus input, pressure-sensitive stylus input with configurable stroke styles, and a shape tool for creating many different shapes.

Key features

Adaptive UI focused on stylus input
Pressure-sensitive stylus input with different and configurable stroke styles
Create many different shapes with the shape tool
Move, rotate, resize and modify existing content with the selection tool
Different document expansion layouts (fixed pages, continuous vertical, infinite in every direction)
PDF, bitmap and SVG image import and export to many formats including SVG, PDF, Xopp

Good fit for

Sketching and handwritten notes
Annotating documents and pictures

Built with: Rust tools
Tags: vector-drawing; handwritten-notes; annotation; stylus; open-source; cross-platform

Rnote: questions and answers

What is Rnote used for?: Rnote is an open-source vector-based drawing app for sketching, handwritten notes and annotating documents and pictures. It is a good fit for sketching and handwritten notes, and annotating documents and pictures.
Is Rnote open source?: Yes. Rnote is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at flxzt/rnote and is written mainly in Rust.
Is Rnote free?: Yes. Rnote is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Rnote?: Yes. Rnote can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Rnote an alternative to?: Rnote is an open-source alternative to Noteshelf and Microsoft OneNote. Other open-source alternatives to Noteshelf include Butterfly and Xournalpp.
Is Rnote actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Rnote was on 11 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.14.2, published on 1 May 2026. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.