Top Cournal Alternatives for Collaborative PDF Annotation and Notetaking

Cournal was a promising project aimed at providing a full-featured note-taking application, similar to Xournal or Windows Journal, with the innovative ability for multiple users to annotate PDF files in real-time. While its original website is now archived, the need for robust, collaborative PDF annotation and versatile notetaking software remains high. If you're searching for a powerful Cournal alternative that offers similar or even enhanced functionalities, you've come to the right place.

Best Cournal Alternatives

Whether you're looking for advanced sticky notes, dedicated journal software, or robust PDF annotation tools, these alternatives offer diverse solutions for your notetaking and collaboration needs.

Notezilla

Notezilla is a colorful and powerful sticky notes app available for Windows, Web, Android, and iPhone. While not primarily a PDF annotator like Cournal, it excels in note organization with folders/tags, real-time collaboration on notes, and the ability to attach notes to any website or document. Its features like cloud sync, password encryption, and task management make it a strong Cournal alternative for general-purpose collaborative notetaking.

xournal

Xournal is a free and open-source application for notetaking, sketching, and journaling using a stylus, running on Linux and Windows. As one of the inspirations for Cournal, it provides excellent handwritten notes capabilities and robust PDF annotation. While it lacks real-time multi-user collaboration, its strong focus on pen-based input and PDF editing makes it a classic and highly effective Cournal alternative for individual users.

Jarnal

Jarnal is a free and open-source application available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It's designed for notetaking, sketching, journaling, presentations, and importantly, annotating documents, including PDFs, with a focus on collaboration. Its open-source nature and similar functionalities to Cournal in terms of journaling and PDF annotation make it a very relevant Cournal alternative for users seeking a versatile and collaborative tool.

Vov Sticky Notes

Vov Sticky Notes is a freemium software for Windows that allows users to add digital stickers to their desktop for reminders. While its feature set is more limited compared to Cournal's advanced annotation capabilities, it serves as a simple and intuitive tool for quick notes and reminders, offering a different approach to digital organization.

NoteLab

NoteLab is a free and open-source digital note-taking application available across Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and Solaris. It aims to replicate the experience of writing with a pen on real paper, offering handwritten notes, journaling, and sketching functionalities. While it doesn't explicitly mention real-time PDF annotation, its focus on digital pen input makes it a strong Cournal alternative for users prioritizing a natural writing experience.

MrWriter

MrWriter is a free and open-source notetaking and blackboard replacement application inspired by Xournal, written in C++/Qt for Linux, Windows, and Mac. It offers handwritten notes and journaling capabilities, making it a suitable Cournal alternative for users who appreciate the Xournal-style interface and functionality across different operating systems.

gournal

Gournal is a free and open-source note-taking application specifically designed for Tablet-PCs and stylus usage, running on Linux. It focuses on journaling and sketching with pen input rather than mouse or keyboard, making it an excellent Cournal alternative for Linux tablet users seeking a dedicated handwriting and drawing tool.

Windows Journal

Windows Journal was a free personal application designed for Tablet PCs, allowing users to handwrite notes and draw. While it's been superseded by OneNote and other modern solutions, its native Windows integration for handwritten notes and basic notetaking made it a historical Cournal alternative for Windows users focused on pen input.

MrWriter_PDF

MrWriter_PDF is a free and open-source fork of MrWriter, specifically enhanced with the ability to annotate PDF files and offering additional options. Available for Windows and Linux, this makes it a very direct and capable Cournal alternative, providing handwritten notes and essential PDF annotation features for users who need to mark up documents.

Each of these Cournal alternatives offers unique strengths, from broad multi-platform support to specialized pen input and PDF annotation capabilities. We encourage you to explore the features of each to find the best fit for your collaborative notetaking, journaling, or document annotation needs.