Standard Notes

Standard Notes is an end-to-end encrypted notes app with clients for web, desktop, iOS and Android, and an open-source server you can host yourself. It attracts people who want a long-lived, private place for text: journalers, developers and anyone burned by a notes app shutting down. The free Standard plan syncs unlimited plain-text notes across unlimited devices with no trial clock.

What the free plan gives you

Standard Notes' own plans page could not be loaded for this check, so this summary draws on third-party listings and should be confirmed on standardnotes.com.

• Unlimited notes and unlimited device sync on web, desktop and mobile
• End-to-end encryption on everything, with two-factor authentication
• Plain text editor with tags and offline access
• Self-hosting of the open-source server, which removes any dependency on the hosted plans

Where the free plan stops

The free plan is deliberately plain: no markdown or rich text editors, no spreadsheets, no file attachments and no revision history beyond the basics. The Productivity plan, listed at $90 per year, adds markdown and rich text editing, spreadsheets, Daily Notebooks, the Web Clipper and one year of note revision history. Professional, at $120 per year, adds 100 GB of encrypted file storage with no per-file size limit and lets you share the subscription with up to 5 accounts.

Who it suits

If plain text is enough and privacy is the point, the free plan is a complete product, and self-hosting means you are never dependent on the company. Writers who want formatting, people who need to attach files or images, and anyone who relies on version history will need Productivity or Professional, both billed annually.