Comparison

Standard Notes vs EteSync Notes

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

EteSync Notes

This app offers a secure and private note-taking experience. It features a change journal for data history, allowing you to restore or revert to past versions. An EteSync account is required, which can be hosted on a free, open-source server.

Highlights
  • Secure and privacy-respecting
  • Open-source client and server
  • Full data history and change journal
  • Easy to use with credentials
  • Data restoration and versioning
Features
Read full description

EteSync is a secure and privacy respecting note taking application. In order to use this application you need to have an EteSync account, either on an existing server or your own (it's free and open source). Easy to Use =========== EteSync is very easy to use, you just put in your credentials and the app is ready to use. Secure & Open ============ EteSync is secure and respects your privacy. Don't believe us? You shouldn't, just verify yourself, both the client and server are open source. Full History ========= A full history of your data is saved in a change journal which means your data is never lost, even if deleted, and you can always restore, revert and access past versions of your data.

Screenshots

Standard Notes4 screens
EteSync Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Standard Notes at 4.7 against EteSync Notes's 3.0. Standard Notes also leads on ratings volume (3.7K vs 2). EteSync Notes's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 64%) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ads and device support 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. EteSync Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Standard Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Standard Notes has 3.7K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Standard Notes's written reviews are positive against 100% of EteSync Notes's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Standard Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, EteSync Notes weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and June 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Standard Notes versus EteSync Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStandard NotesEteSync Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews63.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.7K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size92 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStandard Notes Ltd.EteSync Ltd

Customer experience

Standard Notes

All ratings3,714 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews581 reviews
Positive63.5%
Neutral10.7%
Negative25.8%

EteSync Notes

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

EteSync Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Standard Notes

Subscriptions1
  • Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
None

EteSync Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Standard Notes free?
Standard Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is EteSync Notes free?
EteSync Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Standard Notes or EteSync Notes?
Standard Notes is rated higher. Standard Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 3.7K ratings, while EteSync Notes averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Standard Notes or EteSync Notes have ads?
Neither Standard Notes nor EteSync Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Standard Notes or EteSync Notes?
Standard Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, and EteSync Notes weekly. Most recently, Standard Notes was updated on September 25, 2026 and EteSync Notes on June 4, 2026.

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