If you’ve been using OneNote for years, you might be wondering whether Microsoft Loop is here to replace it. Time to put things to the test – Microsoft Loop vs OneNote.
The reality is these two tools aren’t really competing. They’re designed for different things, and once you understand that, it all starts to make sense.
A Quick Recap of Both Tools
OneNote has been around since 2003. That’s a long time in tech years! It’s a personal note-taking app, brilliant for capturing thoughts and ideas, storing reference materials, and keeping everything in one searchable place.
Microsoft Loop is newer and feels more modern. It’s a flexible workspace designed with collaboration in mind. Think of it less like a notebook and more like a shared project hub.
The good news? Both are part of Microsoft 365, so depending on your licence, they’re likely to already be available. After all, you’re probably already paying for them.
Where OneNote Still Wins
I’ll be honest — OneNote is my go-to for personal notes. Everything gets dumped in there until I need it. It’s familiar, flexible, and works well both online and offline.
It’s great for:
- Reference materials you want to keep long-term
- Personal thoughts and ideas
- Notes you don’t need to share with anyone
The three-level structure (notebooks, sections, and pages) might feel old-fashioned compared to newer tools, but that familiarity is actually a strength. You can find things quickly, and there’s very little you can’t store in there somehow.
Where Loop Has the Edge
Here’s where Loop really comes into its own — collaborative projects. If you’re working with colleagues, a virtual assistant, or even just organising a complex project on your own, Loop gives you something OneNote doesn’t.
You can create a whole workspace for a project, collaborate on individual pages, or even share just a single content block (a specific section of a page) with someone. That flexibility is genuinely useful.
Loop also supports tasks, checklists, and status updates — so it can double up as a lightweight project management tool as well as a place to store information.
It also has a much more modern feel. If you’ve ever found OneNote a little clunky, Loop will feel like a breath of fresh air.
So Which One Should You Use?
Here’s my honest answer — you don’t have to choose just one.
Think of it this way:
Use OneNote when:
- You’re capturing personal notes and ideas
- You want a long-term reference library
- You don’t need to share the content with anyone
Use Loop when:
- You’re working on an active project
- You need to collaborate with others
- You want a more visual, modern workspace
I use both regularly, switching between them depending on what I’m working on. Once you stop thinking of them as competitors and start thinking of them as complementary tools, it gets much easier.
Give Loop a Try
If you’ve never opened Loop before, it’s worth having a poke around. You’re likely already paying for it as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription, so there’s nothing to lose.
And if you’re a loyal OneNote user — don’t worry. It’s not going anywhere. You might just find you end up using both.
Written with the help of Claude AI from an original transcription.
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