Standard Notes

Notesnook

Notesnook is a note-taking app that prioritizes user privacy and security. It offers end-to-end encryption, zero-knowledge proof, and a minimalistic interface. Users can organize their notes using tags, folders, and pinning, and also collaborate with others in real-time.

Goodnotes

Goodnotes is a digital note-taking app built around natural handwriting, letting users write, type, sketch, and annotate PDFs on a tablet, phone, or laptop. It syncs notebooks across devices and adds AI features such as summarization, semantic search, meeting transcription, and action-item extraction on top of the core writing experience.

Simplenote

Simplenote is a minimalist note-taking app, made by Automattic, focused on simplicity and speed over complex features. Notes sync automatically and in real time across iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and the web with no manual sync step required.

Laverna

Laverna is a JavaScript note-taking app with a Markdown editor and encryption support. It's built to be an open-source alternative to popular note-taking apps like Evernote.

UpNote

UpNote is a note-taking application built for people who want a distraction-free space to capture and organize ideas across every device they own. It combines a Markdown-friendly rich text editor with nested notebooks, hashtags, and pinning so notes stay easy to find as a library grows, while a built-in web clipper and quick-capture tools make it simple to save content from anywhere. Notes sync automatically across Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android with full offline access, and features like version history, note locking, internal linking, and multiple export formats (PDF, HTML, Markdown, plain text) give it depth beyond a basic notes app. A generous free tier covers up to 50 notes, with a low-cost lifetime or monthly premium unlocking unlimited notes, attachments, and themes.

Cryptee

Cryptee is an end-to-end encrypted platform for storing notes, documents, and photos, built by an Estonian company for users who want an alternative to mainstream cloud storage that does not have access to their data. All content is encrypted on the user's device using AES-256 before it ever leaves for Cryptee's servers, and the service supports Markdown-based documents, tables, code formatting, and offline access alongside encrypted photo storage with hashtag-based organization. The platform includes a distinctive privacy feature called ghost folders, which hide the existence of certain folders entirely so users can plausibly deny having them if coerced into unlocking their account. Cryptee runs entirely in the browser and is accessible on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and Chrome OS, with no analytics, cookies, trackers, or ads, and offers anonymous signup for users who don't want to provide any personal information.