For students and solo projects
A free Milanote alternative for student projects, and where Milanote is better
Milanote is a good tool for collecting ideas on a board, and its free plan has no time limit. It also runs out quickly: Milanote's plans page says Free is 100 notes, images or links and 10 file uploads. Here is what Milanote's own pages say, what Instaboard's free plan gives a school or personal project, where Milanote is clearly better, and a ready board to try.
Updated
The short answer
- Milanote's Free plan is "with no time limit": 100 notes, images or links, 10 file uploads and unlimited shared boards. Paid is $9.99 a month billed annually or $12.50 billed monthly, per person (milanote.com/plans, read November 5, 2026).
- Instaboard Free is 5 boards and 150 items across your account. Pen strokes, sections and arrows don't count toward the 150. Free allows only 3 images and 1 file per board, so for a board full of pictures Milanote is the better choice.
- Both ask the people who edit to sign in for free. Milanote's read-only links and Instaboard's shared boards can be viewed without signing in.
- Instaboard has no web clipper and can't open Milanote boards. Milanote can export a board as PDF, PNG, Word, Markdown or plain text, so you can take your notes with you.
What Milanote's free plan gives you
From Milanote's plans page (read November 5, 2026): Free "with no time limit" gives "100 notes, images or links", "10 file uploads" and "Unlimited shared boards". Pay per person is $9.99 a month billed annually or $12.50 billed monthly, with unlimited notes, images, links and uploads. There is also a team price of $49 a month billed annually; check the page for how many people it covers.
Milanote's sharing help (May 13, 2026) says a person you invite to edit "will need to signup for a free Milanote account to edit", and that "none of the content you've added will count towards their free account total". A read-only link needs no Milanote login. If you turn on the editor link, "any Milanote user with the URL will be able to see and edit" the board.
What students say about the limit (one person's view each)
- r/Milanote, December 15, 2023: a high-school writer who found Milanote through a YouTuber wrote that they "found out that there was a limit of 100 cards" and asked for "good alternatives that are free for students". A commenter replied "We do offer a discount for students" and linked Milanote's discount help page.
- r/PKMS, February 27, 2025: someone wrote that they "quickly used all the free space", and another user replied "I use the free version of Milanote as well but it does get filled quickly".
Milanote's student discount is by email: its help page (August 27, 2025) says to contact education@milanote.com with the details of your institution or course. It doesn't give a discounted price.
Milanote Free and Instaboard Free, side by side
| Milanote Free | Instaboard Free | |
|---|---|---|
| What's limited | 100 notes, images or links, and 10 file uploads (plans page) | 5 boards, and 150 items across your account; pen strokes, sections and arrows don't count |
| Images and files | Images count inside the 100; 10 uploads | 3 images and 1 file per board |
| Shared boards | Unlimited shared boards | Link, QR or opt-in 4-digit code; unlimited collaborators. A board someone opens from a link counts as 1 of their own 5 |
| Who can edit | Editors sign in to a free Milanote account | Writing needs a free sign-in with Google, Apple or email; anyone with the link can view. Meant for students 13 and older |
| Boards inside boards | Nested boards; sharing a board shares its sub-boards (help, November 18, 2024) | A card can open into its own board |
| Drawing | Draw on an image in the iPad app (help, June 24, 2024) | Pressure-sensitive pen and highlighter, laser pointer; ink sits on the board |
| Calls | Not checked | Video call on the board: 60 minutes per call, a warning 10 minutes before the end; everyone on the call signs in free; no recording; Pro has no limit |
| Paid | $9.99 a month billed annually, or $12.50 monthly, per person | Pro: $59.99 a year ($5 a month billed yearly) or $7.99 monthly |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Milanote: plans page and Help Center articles, read November 5, 2026. Instaboard: our own free-plan limits. The "100" and "150" are not the same unit, so they can't be compared one for one; Instaboard's cap on images is the reason it suits text and idea boards better than picture boards. Prices as listed; our arithmetic: $9.99 x 12 is $119.88 a year.
When Milanote is the better choice
- You collect lots of images. Free Instaboard allows 3 images per board. Milanote counts images inside its 100 items, so a mood board of pictures fits better there.
- You clip from the web. Milanote's Web Clipper is a free browser extension for Chrome, Safari and Firefox (Help Center, January 6, 2026). Instaboard has no web clipper.
- You need your work out of the app. Milanote's export menu offers PDF Standard, PDF Large, PNG, Word, Markdown and Plain text, and a ZIP of images and files (help, June 25, 2024). On Instaboard you can save a selection of cards as a PNG, and we don't claim more than that for a card board.
- You want a student discount. Milanote offers one by email. Instaboard has no student price: Free is free, Pro is $59.99 a year.
- You want a desktop app. Milanote's plans page links a desktop app and the web clipper. Instaboard runs in a browser and has apps for iPad, iPhone and Android.
When Instaboard is the better choice
- Your board is mostly words. Sources, outlines, to-dos and questions are cards and lists, and 150 items across your account goes further when pictures aren't the point.
- You write and draw on it. Pen strokes, sections and arrows don't count toward the 150, so an outline in ink, circled words and arrows cost nothing against the limit.
- You work on it with other people live. Everyone with the link can open the same board, and a built-in video call is free for 60 minutes per call.
- You want one account price. Instaboard Pro is $59.99 a year for the account; Milanote's price is per person.
Writing a novel with scene cards? See our digital corkboard page, which compares Cork, Plottr, Scrivener and Milanote for that job.
Moving a project over
- In Milanote, export the board you want to keep: choose Export in the top right and pick PDF, PNG, Word, Markdown or plain text. Milanote says its home board can't be exported, so move the work into a normal board first. Its help also says PDF and PNG exports are limited to a single page, so a big board may export better as Word.
- Open the ready board above and replace the topic, the sources and the to-dos with your own.
- Rebuild the cards you still need. Instaboard can't open Milanote boards or any other tool's boards, so there is no one-click import.
- Share the link with your group. They open it in a browser and sign in free once to write.
What Instaboard doesn't do
- No web clipper and no way to save a web page to a board with one click.
- No full-board export for card boards. Selected cards or lists can be saved as a PNG.
- 3 images and 1 file per board on Free, which is why picture-heavy boards fit Milanote better.
- No import from Milanote or any other tool's boards.
- Writing needs a free sign-in, and Instaboard is meant for students 13 and older.
Start from the ready board
It opens in your browser in a few seconds, with nothing to install. Sign in for free when you want to save it and share it.
Questions
Is Milanote free?
Yes, with limits. Milanote's plans page (read November 5, 2026) says Free is "with no time limit" and gives 100 notes, images or links, 10 file uploads and unlimited shared boards. Paid starts at $9.99 a month billed annually, or $12.50 billed monthly.
Is there a free Milanote alternative for students?
Instaboard's free plan is 5 boards and 150 items across your account, with pen strokes, sections and arrows not counted, so a text-and-ink project board goes a long way. Free allows only 3 images and 1 file per board, so for picture boards Milanote is the better choice. Milanote also has a student discount by email.
Does Milanote have a student discount?
Milanote's help page (August 27, 2025) says to email education@milanote.com with the details of your institution or course. It doesn't give the discounted price.
Can I import my Milanote boards into Instaboard?
No. Instaboard can't open Milanote boards. Milanote can export a board as PDF, PNG, Word, Markdown or plain text, and you rebuild the cards you need on an Instaboard board.
Do my group members need an account?
On both, people who edit sign in for free. On Instaboard, anyone with the link can view a board without signing in, and writing needs a free sign-in with Google, Apple or email. Instaboard is meant for students 13 and older. Milanote says editors "will need to signup for a free Milanote account", and a read-only link needs no login.
Does Instaboard have a web clipper?
No. Milanote has a free Web Clipper extension for Chrome, Safari and Firefox.
How much is Instaboard Pro compared with Milanote?
Instaboard Pro is $59.99 a year ($5 a month billed yearly) or $7.99 monthly for the account. Milanote is $9.99 a month billed annually ($119.88 a year by our arithmetic) or $12.50 billed monthly, per person.
Sources
- Milanote: Plans & pricing (read November 5, 2026)
- Milanote Help Center: Sharing a board (May 13, 2026; read November 5, 2026)
- Milanote Help Center: Exporting your work (June 25, 2024; read November 5, 2026)
- Milanote Help Center: Can I have a discount? (August 27, 2025; read November 5, 2026)
- Milanote Help Center: Milanote iPad app (June 24, 2024; read November 5, 2026)
- Milanote Help Center: Nesting boards (November 18, 2024; read November 5, 2026)
- Milanote Help Center: Web Clipper for Chrome (January 6, 2026; read November 5, 2026)
- Reddit r/Milanote: Free alternatives to Milanote? (December 15, 2023; one user's view)
- Reddit r/PKMS: Is there a Milanote alternative? (February 27, 2025; one user's view)
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