Most note-taking apps encrypt your notes in transit, meaning the data is protected while it travels through the internet, but the company's server receives a readable version at the end. Standard Notes does something different. Every note is encrypted on your device before it leaves, using a key that only you hold. The server stores encrypted blobs (chunks of scrambled data that are meaningless without the decryption key) and has no way to read your content, whether someone breaks in, serves a legal order, or simply looks. The project has 6,576 stars on GitHub and is licensed under AGPL-3.0 (a copyleft open-source license that makes the software free to use and requires derivative works to stay open source), which makes it free to use.
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| What it is | End-to-end encrypted note-taking app |
| Built by | Standard Notes (open-source) |
| License | AGPL-3.0 -- free to use |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, web |
| Requires | Standard Notes account (free) or self-hosted sync server |
| Install method | Download app from standardnotes.com or self-host server via Docker |
| Verdict | Use the free plan if you want encrypted notes that sync everywhere; self-host if you need notes completely off any external server |
What Standard Notes actually is
Standard Notes is a note-taking app built around a single non-negotiable design decision: end-to-end encryption (a security model where data is encrypted on the sender's device and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient, so no server or third party ever sees the readable content) is on by default for every note, in every plan, always. There is no opt-in required and no tier where it gets switched off.
The practical meaning of that decision is worth spelling out plainly. When you type a note in Standard Notes, your device encrypts it using a key derived from your password before sending it anywhere. The Standard Notes server receives an encrypted blob and stores it. If someone breaks into their servers, they get encrypted blobs. If law enforcement serves them a subpoena, they get encrypted blobs. If a Standard Notes employee is curious about what you wrote, they see encrypted blobs. Nobody reads your notes except you.
Contrast that with the alternatives most people already use. Apple Notes encrypts data in transit to Apple's servers, but Apple's infrastructure receives and can process the readable content. Google Keep stores notes on Google's servers with access available for Google's systems. Evernote had a widely discussed policy change in 2017 that allowed employees to read notes for machine learning purposes (the policy was reversed after user backlash), and the company raised prices to $14.99 per month in recent years. Standard Notes was founded specifically as the privacy-first response to that category of product.
The project runs its own sync server, which you use when you create a free account at standardnotes.com. The sync server coordinates which encrypted blobs go to which devices. Because it only ever sees encrypted blobs, the server is genuinely blind to your content. If you prefer not to use Standard Notes' server at all, the sync server is open source and can be self-hosted with Docker (a tool that packages software and its dependencies so it runs consistently on any machine you control).
What you get after installing it
The free plan is not a stripped-down trial. It includes unlimited notes, end-to-end encryption on every note, sync across all your devices (macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and the web app), basic text formatting, and the mobile apps. Most people who want encrypted synced notes will never need to pay anything.
The paid plan, called Productivity, costs $10 per month or $90 per year and adds a set of editors on top of the encrypted base. The free plain-text editor is replaced with a choice of editors: a rich text editor with full formatting controls, a Markdown editor with live preview (Markdown is a plain-text formatting syntax where asterisks around a word make it bold and pound signs create headings, which then renders as styled text), a code editor with syntax highlighting for developers, and a spreadsheet editor for simple tabular data. The Productivity plan also adds a tasks view, daily automated backup of your notes to Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, and unlimited note history, meaning you can restore any previous version of a note or recover deleted notes from any point in time.
One detail relevant to AI agent users: Standard Notes has a built-in AI assistant feature on paid plans. The assistant connects to your notes and can answer questions about them, summarize content, or draft new notes. If you run workflows through Claude Code, ChatGPT Work, or Cowork, Standard Notes also exposes a developer API that lets agent automations read and write encrypted notes programmatically, which opens up workflows like logging research outputs directly into an encrypted notebook.
The install and setup experience
Standard Notes provides native apps for every major platform. Download from standardnotes.com and run the installer. On macOS it is a standard disk image drag-to-Applications install. On Windows it is a standard executable installer. Linux gets an AppImage (a self-contained portable format that runs on most Linux distributions without a package manager install) or a DEB package for Ubuntu and Debian-based systems. Mobile apps are on the App Store and Google Play.
First launch asks you to create a free account with an email and password. This is worth reading carefully: Standard Notes derives your encryption key from your password. If you forget your password and do not have a recovery kit (a downloadable set of recovery codes the app generates for you during signup), your notes are permanently unrecoverable, not "contact support and we will sort it out" unrecoverable but gone. The encryption model that protects your notes from the company also means the company cannot help you get back in. Download the recovery kit during signup and store it somewhere safe.
After creating an account and logging in on your first device, logging into any other device downloads your encrypted notes and decrypts them locally. Cross-device sync is automatic from that point.
For self-hosting, Standard Notes publishes a Docker Compose file (a configuration file that specifies which server components to run and how they connect) in the open-source sync server repository. If you run this on a home server or VPS (a virtual private server, a rented slice of a remote machine you fully control), your devices sync through your server instead of Standard Notes'. The sync server never sees decrypted content either, so self-hosting adds infrastructure control rather than privacy uplift. The privacy is already there in both cases. Self-hosting makes sense if you want no reliance on any external service or want the data physically under your control.
Where it fits and what to compare it to
Apple Notes is free and already on every Apple device. It is the path of least resistance for most Mac and iPhone users. The encryption story is weaker: Apple encrypts notes in transit and at rest on their infrastructure, but their systems can access the plaintext. For personal notes that do not contain anything sensitive, Apple Notes is fine. For anything you would not want Apple to be able to read under a government order, Standard Notes handles that class of note.
Google Keep is free, fast for quick captures, and integrates well with Google Workspace. Google's infrastructure has access to your note content. The calculus is the same as Apple Notes: convenient and functional, but the company can read what you write.
Evernote was the dominant note app for a decade and now costs $14.99 per month. It has no end-to-end encryption. The combination of high price and no end-to-end encryption makes Standard Notes a direct and specific replacement for anyone who is paying for Evernote and wants privacy without paying more.
Obsidian (popular among researchers and writers) is local-first by default, meaning your notes stay on your device as plain Markdown files and never leave unless you set up sync. Obsidian Sync, the paid sync feature, does use end-to-end encryption. Obsidian's editor is more powerful than Standard Notes' for long-form writing and personal knowledge management (linking notes, building a graph of connections between ideas). Standard Notes is simpler, lighter, and designed explicitly around the encryption guarantee as the primary feature. If you want the most capable writing environment and are comfortable managing sync yourself, Obsidian is worth comparing. If you want simple encrypted notes that just sync, Standard Notes requires less setup.
Notion has no end-to-end encryption. Your content lives on Notion's servers and is accessible to their systems. Notion is a more capable workspace than Standard Notes for structured projects and databases, but it is in a different privacy category entirely.
Verdict
Standard Notes is the right tool when your requirement is encrypted notes that sync across every device and cost nothing for the core use case.
The free plan covers the majority of what most people actually need from a note app: write a note on your phone, open it on your laptop, know that nobody in between can read it. That combination, free and genuinely private, is uncommon enough that it is worth calling out directly.
The paid plan adds real editing capability. If you want Markdown, a code editor, or note version history, $90 per year is a fair price for a tool that also happens to be the most private note-taking option in its class.
The one thing to go in knowing: the encryption model shifts responsibility. Forget your password without the recovery kit and your notes are gone. That is not a design flaw, it is the design. The note app cannot read your notes, which also means it cannot help you recover them. Save the recovery kit.
For anyone currently paying for Evernote, keeping work notes in Apple Notes or Google Keep, or looking for a place to store genuinely sensitive information such as client records, personal health information, or private research, Standard Notes is the install to make first.