Comparison

Standard Notes vs ShiftLedger

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

ShiftLedger

Easily track your work hours, understand overtime pay, and analyze your earnings. Designed for irregular schedules, it helps you see where your time goes and identify your most valuable shifts.

Highlights
  • Track scheduled vs. actual work times
  • Configure custom pay profiles
  • Estimate overtime earnings
  • Analyze overtime trends
  • Export shift records and summaries
  • Local-first privacy with no ads or tracking
Features
Read full description

ShiftLedger makes it easy to track the hours you actually work, understand your overtime, and see where your time is going. Built for healthcare professionals, shift workers, per-diem employees, moonlighters, and anyone with an irregular schedule, ShiftLedger turns your work calendar into a clear record of shifts, hours, and earnings. TRACK YOUR SHIFTS Import your schedule from supported calendar feeds or add shifts manually. Keep scheduled and actual work times together so you can see when you stayed late, left early, or worked beyond your original shift. UNDERSTAND YOUR OVERTIME Create pay profiles that reflect how you work. Configure overtime rules, pay rates, differentials, rounding, and other settings to estimate how additional hours affect your earnings. FIND YOUR MOST VALUABLE SHIFTS ShiftLedger's overtime tools can help identify when additional work may have the greatest estimated value based on your configured pay and overtime rules. SEE THE BIG PICTURE Quickly review: • Total hours worked • Scheduled vs. actual hours • Regular and overtime hours • Estimated earnings • Weekly, biweekly, and monthly totals • Overtime trends • Work across multiple jobs or pay profiles EXPORT YOUR RECORDS Generate clean reports when you need a record of your hours. Export your shift history and summaries for your own records, reconciliation, or review. BUILT FOR PRIVACY Your work history and pay information stay on your device. ShiftLedger is designed as a local-first app without advertising, behavioral tracking, or analytics collecting your shift data. You remain in control of your information and can create backups or exports when you choose. FLEXIBLE ENOUGH FOR REAL SHIFT WORK Schedules rarely fit neatly into a 9-to-5 calendar. ShiftLedger is designed for rotating schedules, overtime, call shifts, moonlighting, multiple employers, and the strange collection of rules employers have invented to calculate what an hour of your life is worth. ShiftLedger provides estimates based on the information and rules you enter. It is not payroll, legal, tax, or employment advice. Always verify pay and hours against your official records and applicable policies. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Standard Notes4 screens
ShiftLedger4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ShiftLedger at every 2 days against Standard Notes's every 5 weeks. ShiftLedger also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Standard Notes's advantage is ratings volume (3.8K vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, 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 ShiftLedger sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ShiftLedger 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 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Standard Notes ships an update every 5 weeks, ShiftLedger every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Standard Notes versus ShiftLedger: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStandard NotesShiftLedger
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3.8K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3.8K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size92 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStandard Notes Ltd.Alan Chang

Customer experience

Standard Notes

All ratings3,751 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral2.2%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews595 reviews
Positive64.0%
Neutral10.4%
Negative25.5%

ShiftLedger

All ratings1 ratings
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

ShiftLedger

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Standard Notes

Subscriptions1
  • Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
2 purchases

ShiftLedger

Subscriptions1
  • Full Access Monthly14 Days trial$1.991 Month
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$19.99

Questions

Is Standard Notes free?
Standard Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ShiftLedger free?
ShiftLedger is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Standard Notes or ShiftLedger?
ShiftLedger is rated higher. Standard Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 3.8K ratings, while ShiftLedger averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Standard Notes or ShiftLedger have ads?
Neither Standard Notes nor ShiftLedger shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Standard Notes or ShiftLedger?
Standard Notes ships an update every 5 weeks, and ShiftLedger every 2 days. Most recently, Standard Notes was updated on October 19, 2026 and ShiftLedger on October 9, 2026.

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