Standard Notes vs Private Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- End-to-end encryption
- Cross-device syncing
- Offline access
- Passcode and biometric lock
- Tagging system
- Open-source code
- Optional productivity editors and themes
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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/
Private Notes
This app transcribes and summarizes audio recordings entirely on your device, ensuring complete privacy. It offers real-time transcription, AI-generated summaries of key points and action items, and supports multiple languages, all without requiring an internet connection or account.
- 100% on-device processing
- Real-time transcription
- AI-powered summaries
- Multilingual support (10 languages)
- Offline functionality
- Export in Markdown
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Your meetings stay private. Every word, every summary, every action item - processed entirely on your device. No servers. No uploads. No accounts. Just you and your notes. COMPLETELY OFFLINE - TRULY PRIVATE Unlike other AI notetakers that upload your audio to cloud services, Private Notes - AI Note Taker processes everything using Apple Intelligence directly on your iPhone. Your sensitive work discussions, confidential calls, and personal voice memos never leave your device. No internet required (except for time you subscribe). Sync is off by default. No data collection. Period. REAL-TIME TRANSCRIPTION Watch your words appear instantly as you speak. Private Notes - AI Note Taker uses Apple's speech recognition for real-time transcription with minimal latency. AI-POWERED SUMMARIES Stop wasting hours reviewing recordings. When your meeting ends, Apple Intelligence instantly generates: • Comprehensive narrative summary • Key points and highlights • Important decisions made • Action items with assignees • Main topics and themes discussed • Handles recordings of any length with full context preserved. MULTILINGUAL SUPPORT Transcribe in 10 languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. DESIGNED FOR PRIVACY FROM DAY 1 • Zero data collection - we literally cannot access your data • No account required - start recording in seconds • Audio never leaves your device - all processing happens on-device • Optional encrypted iCloud backup - sync transcripts across devices • Works in airplane mode - recording and AI work fully offline • Encrypted local storage - iOS-level security built in • No analytics or tracking - your usage is your business SIMPLE AND POWERFUL FEATURES • One-tap recording with elegant, intuitive interface • Background recording - switch apps without stopping your session • Full searchable transcript with accurate timestamps • Beautiful dark mode support • Compact app size - no bloated AI models to download • Export transcripts and summaries in Markdown DEVICE REQUIREMENTS AI summaries require Apple Intelligence enabled device. Speech transcription works on all devices. WHY PRIVATE NOTES - AI NOTE TAKER Most AI notetakers and voice recorder apps process your voice on remote servers. That means your confidential discussions - therapy sessions, doctor visits, legal consultations, salary negotiations, business strategies - travel through the internet and sit on someone else's computer indefinitely. Private Notes - AI Note Taker is different. We built this offline note taker from the ground up to be 100% local and on-device. No compromises. No "mostly private" half-measures. Paid users who want backup can enable optional iCloud sync - encrypted by Apple, with no third-party access. Sync is off by default, and we still can't see your data. When you delete a recording, it's gone forever - because we never had access to it in the first place. PERFECT FOR • Lawyers and legal professionals • Business professionals who value confidentiality • Students and academic researchers • Journalists and content creators • Anyone who wants AI without surveillance FREE TO TRY Start recording with Private Notes - AI Note Taker for free and experience truly private AI note-taking. No account required, no time limits. Start recording with Private Notes for free — no account required, no time limits. Get 3 recordings per month, real-time transcription, AI summaries, and export features - all processed 100% on your device. When you're ready for more, upgrade to Premium: • Unlimited recordings • Full export and sharing • Optional encrypted iCloud sync • Monthly or yearly subscription options — cancel anytime Download Private Notes - AI Note Taker and experience the future of note-taking — intelligent, instant, and completely private. Terms of Use: https://privatenotes.app/terms-of-use
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Private Notes at 100% against Standard Notes's 64%. Private Notes also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Standard Notes's advantage is ratings volume (3.8K vs 11) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Standard Notes sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $119.99 per year and Private Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Private Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Standard Notes has 3.8K ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Standard Notes's written reviews are positive against 100% of Private Notes's.
Standard Notes ships an update every 5 weeks, Private Notes every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Standard Notes | Private Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3.8K ratings) | 5.0 (11 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 64.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3.8K — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 92 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Standard Notes Ltd. | App Incubator Inc. |
Customer experience
Standard Notes
Private Notes
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
Private Notes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Standard Notes
- Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
Private Notes
- Weekly Plan3 Days trial$4.997 Days
- Monthly Plan$4.991 Month
- Yearly Plan$24.991 Year
Questions
Is Standard Notes free?
Is Private Notes free?
Which has better reviews, Standard Notes or Private Notes?
Do Standard Notes or Private Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Standard Notes or Private Notes?
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