Standard Notes vs PrivacyNotes
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/
PrivacyNotes
Securely manage your notes, tasks, and journal with end-to-end encryption. This app ensures your data is private by design, with no trackers or ads. It works offline and syncs encrypted across your devices without requiring an account.
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Markdown-native notes
- Task management
- Private journaling
- Offline functionality
- Cross-device sync
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PrivacyNotes is an end-to-end encrypted workspace for your notes, tasks, and journal. A 12-word recovery phrase, generated on your device, is the only key. Everything is encrypted before it leaves your phone, so no one, not even us, can read it. Three pillars, one private home: - Notes: fast and markdown-native, fully searchable, with note-links between them. - Tasks: capture and organize what you need to get done. - Journal: a quiet, private space for daily entries. Private by design: - Zero-knowledge encryption (XChaCha20-Poly1305). We store only ciphertext. - No trackers, no ads, no telemetry, ever. - Works offline; syncs encrypted across your devices. - No email or account required to start. Pro is a one-time purchase that unlocks unlimited devices, more encrypted storage, full note history, locked and PIN-protected notes, the mood and wellness suite, every color theme, and Zen mode. Your privacy is never the product. Privacy Policy: https://lifetimelabs.dev/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PrivacyNotes at every 3 days against Standard Notes's every 5 weeks. PrivacyNotes also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Standard Notes's advantage is ratings volume (3.7K vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 PrivacyNotes sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PrivacyNotes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Standard Notes has 3.7K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Standard Notes ships an update every 5 weeks, PrivacyNotes every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Standard Notes | PrivacyNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 63.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3.7K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 92 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Standard Notes Ltd. | Lifetime Labs LLC |
Customer experience
Standard Notes
PrivacyNotes
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
PrivacyNotes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Standard Notes
- Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
PrivacyNotes
- 1 GB Encrypted Storage$4.991 Year
- 2 GB Encrypted Storage$8.991 Year
- 5 GB Encrypted Storage$17.991 Year
- PrivacyNotes Pro$49.99
Questions
Is Standard Notes free?
Is PrivacyNotes free?
Which has better reviews, Standard Notes or PrivacyNotes?
Do Standard Notes or PrivacyNotes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Standard Notes or PrivacyNotes?
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