Comparison

Simplenote vs Standard Notes

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Simplenote

Capture ideas, create to-do lists, and jot down thoughts effortlessly. Organize your notes with tags and pins, and find them instantly with search. Your content syncs across all devices for free, ensuring it's always accessible.

Highlights
  • Simple note-taking experience
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Collaboration and sharing
  • Organization with tags
  • Instant search
  • To-do list creation
  • Passcode lock
Read full description

Simplenote is an easy way to take notes, create to-do lists, capture ideas, and more. Open it, jot down some thoughts, and you're done. As your collection grows, stay organized with tags and pins, and find what you need with instant search. Since Simplenote will sync across your devices for free, your notes are with you at all times. - A simple, note taking experience - Sync everything across all your devices - Collaborate and share - Stay organized with tags - Log in with your email or WordPress.com account SYNC WITH CONFIDENCE - Automatically sync seamlessly across any computer, phone or tablet. - Back up and sync everything as you take notes, so you never lose your content. COLLABORATE AND SHARE - Collaborate and work together -- share ideas with a colleague, or write a grocery list with your roommate. - Choose whether to publish your content to the web, and share a link with whoever you want. - Publish directly to a WordPress site by connecting your WordPress.com account. - Quickly and easily share with third-party apps. ORGANIZE AND SEARCH - Stay organized with tags, and use them for quick searching and sorting. - Instantly find what you’re looking for with keyword highlighting. - Use markdown to add formatting. - Create to-do lists. - Choose the sorting order of your notes and tags. - Pin the notes that you use the most. - Edit tags directly by renaming and reordering. - Protect your content with a passcode lock. -- Privacy Policy: https://automattic.com/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://simplenote.com/terms/ California Users Privacy Notice: https://wp.me/Pe4R-d/#california-consumer-privacy-act-ccpa -- Visit simplenote.com to download Simplenote for your other devices.

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/

Screenshots

Simplenote4 screens
Standard Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Simplenote at free against Standard Notes's free with in-app purchases. Simplenote also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 64%). Standard Notes's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Simplenote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month and Standard Notes sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $119.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Simplenote against 4.7 for Standard Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.3K and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of Simplenote's written reviews are positive against 64% of Standard Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, Standard Notes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Simplenote versus Standard Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimplenoteStandard Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.3K ratings)4.7 (3.7K ratings)
Positive reviews86.2% of reviews — better63.5% of reviews
Number of ratings4.3K — better3.7K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB92 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAutomatticStandard Notes Ltd.

Customer experience

Simplenote

All ratings4,313 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral1.5%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews1,717 reviews
Positive86.2%
Neutral4.5%
Negative9.3%

Standard Notes

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

User reviews

Simplenote

From 4.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Cross-platform availability
  • 🔍 Reliable search functionality
  • 🌐 Seamless syncing across devices
  • 📝 Simple, distraction-free interface
  • 🔒 Secure with password/fingerprint protection

Room to improve

  • 🔖 Limited formatting options (no bold, italic, etc.)
  • 🗂️ Lack of folder organization
  • 🔄 Occasional syncing issues
  • 🖼️ Unable to add images or attachments
  • 🔍 Search could be improved for long notes

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

Bugs and requests

Simplenote

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notes sometimes disappear or get duplicated
  • App crashes or freezes on certain devices
  • Syncing problems between mobile and desktop

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add bold, italic, and other formatting options
  • Implement folder-based organization
  • Improve syncing reliability across devices
  • Allow adding images, files, and other attachments
  • Enhance search capabilities for long notes

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

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Simplenote

Subscriptions2
  • Simplenote Sustainer Monthly$19.991 Month
  • Simplenote Sustainer Yearly$199.991 Year
1 purchases

Standard Notes

Subscriptions1
  • Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year

Questions

Is Simplenote free?
Simplenote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Standard Notes free?
Standard Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Simplenote or Standard Notes?
Simplenote and Standard Notes are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4.3K and 3.7K ratings respectively.
Do Simplenote or Standard Notes have ads?
Neither Simplenote nor Standard Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simplenote or Standard Notes?
Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, and Standard Notes every 2 weeks. Most recently, Simplenote was updated on September 29, 2026 and Standard Notes on September 28, 2026.

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