Comparison

Standard Notes vs Proton Calendar

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

Proton Calendar

This app helps you manage your schedule with privacy in mind. It offers various viewing options, reminders, and recurring event creation. All your data is protected by end-to-end encryption and strict Swiss privacy laws, ensuring your personal information is not tracked or harvested.

Highlights
  • Agenda and day view
  • View and reply to invites
  • Automatic event addition from email
  • Light and dark mode
  • Multiple reminders
  • Recurring events
  • Cross-device sync
Features
Read full description

A calendar is a record of your life: Proton Calendar helps keep it private. Make the most of your time - See your upcoming events as you like with agenda or day view - View and reply to invites - Events and invites are automatically added to your calendar from your Proton Mail inbox - View your schedule in light or dark mode - Add multiple reminders for your events - Create recurring events on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or custom basis - Keep your calendar in sync across all your devices Private by default - No ads, no trackers, and no data harvesting - We can’t spy on your calendar or misuse your data - Protected by the same end-to-end encryption used in Proton Mail - Event names, descriptions, and participants are stored with zero-access encryption - Based in Switzerland, all your data is protected by strict Swiss privacy laws People before profits - Funded by users, not advertisers — Privacy is our business model - Built by scientists and engineers who met at CERN and MIT and founded Proton Mail - Used by high-profile journalists and organizations globally What others say about Proton: “Proton has now made it stupid-easy to encrypt your schedule. Information about what you plan to do, where, and with whom, can be just as sensitive as the messages you send and receive.” Gizmodo Follow Proton on social media for all the latest news and offers: Facebook: /proton Twitter/X: @protonprivacy Reddit: /protonmail Instagram: /protonprivacy EULA: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

Standard Notes4 screens
Proton Calendar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Standard Notes at 4.7 against Proton Calendar's 4.0. Standard Notes also leads on review sentiment (63% vs 41%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 weeks). Proton Calendar's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

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 Proton Calendar sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Standard Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.7K and 1.4K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Standard Notes's written reviews are positive against 41% of Proton Calendar's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Standard Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, Proton Calendar every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on September 22, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Standard Notes versus Proton Calendar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStandard NotesProton Calendar
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better4.0 (1.4K ratings)
Positive reviews63.4% of reviews — better41.2% of reviews
Number of ratings3.7K — better1.4K
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size92 MB185 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStandard Notes Ltd.Proton AG

Customer experience

Standard Notes

All ratings3,714 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews580 reviews
Positive63.4%
Neutral10.7%
Negative25.9%

Proton Calendar

All ratings1,415 ratings
Positive71.1%
Neutral13.7%
Negative15.2%
Written reviews626 reviews
Positive41.2%
Neutral25.7%
Negative33.1%

User reviews

Standard Notes

From 3.7K 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

Proton Calendar

From 1.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Intuitive interface
  • 🔒 Secure and private
  • 👍 Good integration with Proton suite
  • 👍 Visually appealing design

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Slow performance and crashes
  • 🔍 Lacking search functionality
  • 📅 Missing advanced calendar views (week, month)
  • 🔗 Limited integration with other calendars

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

Proton Calendar

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Issues with time zone settings
  • Notifications not working reliably
  • Inability to edit shared events

Requested features

5 requests
  • Widgets for quick access
  • Ability to invite and share calendars with others
  • Support for importing/exporting calendar data
  • Customization options (colors, alerts, etc.)
  • iPad-optimized version

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Standard Notes

Subscriptions1
  • Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
2 purchases

Proton Calendar

One-time2
  • Mail Plus (1 year)$59.99
  • Proton Unlimited$149.99

Questions

Is Standard Notes free?
Standard Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Proton Calendar free?
Proton Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Standard Notes or Proton Calendar?
Standard Notes is rated higher. Standard Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 3.7K ratings, while Proton Calendar averages 4.0 from 1.4K ratings.
Do Standard Notes or Proton Calendar have ads?
Neither Standard Notes nor Proton Calendar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Standard Notes or Proton Calendar?
Standard Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, and Proton Calendar every 5 weeks. Most recently, Standard Notes was updated on September 22, 2026 and Proton Calendar on September 22, 2026.

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