Milanote Pricing: Free Plan Limits and Paid Costs in 2026

How much does Milanote cost?

The choice is free access, a yearly bill, or a monthly bill. The yearly plan costs less over a full year. The monthly plan gives you a shorter billing period. Check the final bill for tax and any price changes.

Source: Milanote's official plans, checked September 5, 2026. The paid totals are before tax. Paying yearly saves $30.12 over 12 monthly bills at these rates. Team plans are separate.

What are Milanote's free plan limits?

The free plan includes 100 notes, images, or links and 10 file uploads. It has no time limit and allows unlimited shared boards. More boards do not remove the item limit. Start with one real project and see whether it fits.

For example, you might make a small board for a logo brief. Keep only the images and notes that help explain the direction. If you need many large boards at once, review the paid plan before you build out the whole project.

When is Milanote worth paying for?

Pay when the shared board helps you do work that matters. A client may need a link to review your ideas. A teammate may need to edit the same plan. Those tasks can make a recurring bill worthwhile.

The sharing guide explains who can view or edit a board. Check those settings before you send a client link.

Try this short check before you choose a plan:

• List the boards you use each week.
• Note who else needs to use them.
• Check which files must stay on the board.
• Try the free plan with a real project.
• Pay only if its limits get in your way.

If you mainly want a board beside your drawing app, read Milanote vs PureRef. You may need a different kind of tool.

What if Milanote is too expensive for solo work?

A desktop app may cost less if you do not need shared online boards. Compare the whole task, though. Saving money will not help if you still need a second paid tool to send work to clients.

refern is a desktop reference app for artists. It joins an Eagle-style file library, a PureRef-style canvas, and an Obsidian-style graph of links. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can find your saved images, then place them on a board.

The refern license costs $35 one-time. The trial lasts 30 days. After that, a license unlocks the app; your normal files and workspace data remain on disk. Updates are currently included.

It is for one person's work. It has no live shared editing or mobile app today. You can still send a client an image or a canvas as an online link through refern cloud (beta), included with a purchased license after you sign up; viewers open it in a browser and can save their own copy. A normal workspace reads existing files in place. Imports and copy actions can make new files.

Choose refern if the core task is finding and using your own images. Keep Milanote if a shared client board is part of the job. See more Milanote alternatives if neither fits.

What should you check before switching?

Export a small board first. Open the result and check the images, notes, and file names. A flat image of a board can be a useful record, but it is not the same as a board where each item can still move.

Keep your old board until you know the export meets your needs. Read Milanote's export guide for its file choices. For a closer look at the two products, see refern vs Milanote.