Comparison

Standard Notes vs Noto

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Standard Notes

Securely capture and sync your thoughts across all devices with end-to-end encryption. This app offers a simple, lasting place for all your notes, from personal thoughts to sensitive information, with robust privacy features.

Highlights
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Offline access
  • Passcode and biometric lock
  • Tagging system
  • Open-source code
  • Optional productivity editors and themes
Features
Read full description

Standard Notes is a private and secure end-to-end encrypted notes app. It allows you to write and sync your notes across all your devices, including your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and web browser. Private means your notes are end-to-end encrypted, so only you can read your notes. Even we can't read the contents of your notes. Simple means it does one job and does it well. Standard Notes is a safe and lasting place for your life's work. Our focus is making it easy to write notes wherever you are and syncing them with encryption to all your devices. Our users love us for: • Personal Notes • Tasks & Todos • Passwords & Keys • Code & Technical Procedures • Private Journal • Meeting Notes • Cross-platform Scratchpad • Books, Recipes, & Movies • Health & Fitness Log Standard Notes comes free with: • Seamless sync across all your devices, with easy to use applications on iPhone, iPad, Mac, web browsers, and other platforms. • Offline access, so you can access your downloaded notes even without a connection. • No limit on number of devices. • No limit on number of notes. • Passcode lock protection, along with Touch ID and Face ID protection. • A tagging system to organize your notes (like #work, #ideas, #passwords, #crypto). • The ability to pin, lock, protect, and move notes to trash, which allows you to recover deleted notes until the trash is emptied. Standard Notes is completely open-source, which means when we say your notes are encrypted with industry-leading XChaCha-20 encryption, and that only you can read your notes, you don't have to take our word for it. Our code is open to the world to audit. We made Standard Notes simple because longevity is important to us. We want to make sure we're here, protecting your notes, for the next hundred years. You shouldn't have to find a new notes app every year. To sustain our development, we offer optional paid subscriptions which give you access to powerful tools like: • Productivity editors (like Markdown, Code, Spreadsheets) • Beautiful themes (like Midnight, Focus, Solarized Dark) • Powerful cloud tools including daily backups of your encrypted data delivered to your email inbox every day, or backed up to your cloud provider (like Dropbox and Google Drive). We're always happy to talk, whether it be a question, thought, or issue. Please feel free to email us any time at help@standardnotes.com. When you take the time to send us a message, we'll be sure to do the same. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Noto

A modern writing and note-taking application offering powerful text editing tools and extensive organization features. It supports unlimited attachments and various export formats, with optional Pro features for enhanced functionality. Syncs seamlessly across devices.

Highlights
  • Powerful text editing tools
  • Unlimited attachments (Pro)
  • Dark mode
  • iCloud sync
  • Gesture organization
  • Multiple export formats
  • Desktop-class organization
Features
Read full description

Features: - Powerful text editing tools - Bold / Italic / Underline / Strikethrough / Highlight - Number list / Bullet list / Check list - Unlimited attachments (Pro): - Image / Video / Scan / Drawing / File - Table / Block quote / Code / Math Equation - Dark mode - iCloud sync - Organize with gesture - Export to HTML, Markdown, PDF, & JPG - Lock notes (Pro) - Desktop class organization - Drag to reorder your list and paragraph - Drag to organize your notes - Rapid multi select Noto is free to use, including iCloud Sync support. Unlock Noto Pro to enable all features including * Attachments * Note lock * Export * Support future Noto development Terms and Conditions: https://noto.ink/terms Privacy Policy: https://noto.ink/privacy

Screenshots

Standard Notes4 screens
Noto4 screens

Verdict

The call

Standard Notes and Noto are too close to call on the numbers: across 10 compared parameters — price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Standard Notes sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $119.99 per year and Noto sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Standard Notes against 4.6 for Noto. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.8K and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 64% of Standard Notes's written reviews are positive against 68% of Noto's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Standard Notes ships an update every 5 weeks, Noto every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Standard Notes versus Noto: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStandard NotesNoto
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3.8K ratings) — better4.6 (1.3K ratings)
Positive reviews64.1% of reviews68.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.8K — better1.3K
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size92 MB87 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStandard Notes Ltd.Soysauce Lab

Customer experience

Standard Notes

All ratings3,751 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral2.2%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews594 reviews
Positive64.1%
Neutral10.4%
Negative25.4%

Noto

All ratings1,292 ratings
Positive90.8%
Neutral3.6%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews351 reviews
Positive68.4%
Neutral14.5%
Negative17.1%

User reviews

Standard Notes

From 3.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and reliable sync
  • 🔒 Excellent privacy and security
  • 👍 Simple and intuitive interface
  • 📚 Great for organizing notes
  • 💻 Cross-platform availability

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes
  • 🔑 Frustrating login/authentication issues
  • 💰 Expensive premium subscription
  • 📱 Limited features in free version
  • 🖍️ Lack of formatting options

Noto

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth and fast
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive UI
  • 🎨 Customizable folders and colors
  • 📁 Excellent organization and hierarchy
  • 💻 Works well across devices

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and sync issues
  • 🔒 Limited free features, requires subscription
  • 📁 Difficulty moving/organizing folders and notes
  • 🖌️ Lack of font/text customization options
  • 🔍 Poor search functionality

Bugs and requests

Standard Notes

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes disappearing or getting deleted unexpectedly
  • Sync issues between devices
  • Keyboard and UI bugs on mobile
  • Compatibility problems with older iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for images and attachments
  • Implement a more robust search function
  • Introduce a dark mode option
  • Allow for better note organization (folders, nested tags)
  • Add undo/redo functionality

Noto

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Folders and notes disappearing after updates
  • Crashes when trying to access certain folders
  • Widgets not displaying note content properly

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add tags or keywords for better organization
  • Improve table editing and formatting
  • Implement better export options (PDF, HTML, etc.)
  • Add support for Apple Pencil and handwriting
  • Integrate calendar and reminder features
Show 1 more
  • Allow custom backgrounds and themes

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Standard Notes

Subscriptions1
  • Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
3 purchases

Noto

Subscriptions2
  • Noto Pro Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Noto Pro Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Noto Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is Standard Notes free?
Standard Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Noto free?
Noto is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Standard Notes or Noto?
Standard Notes is rated higher. Standard Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 3.8K ratings, while Noto averages 4.6 from 1.3K ratings.
Do Standard Notes or Noto have ads?
Neither Standard Notes nor Noto shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Standard Notes or Noto?
Standard Notes ships an update every 5 weeks, and Noto every 4 weeks. Most recently, Standard Notes was updated on October 14, 2026 and Noto on October 11, 2026.

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