Comparison

Secure Notepad Pro 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

Secure Notepad Pro

Securely store your personal notes with password or biometric protection. This ad-free app offers a fast, simple interface with extensive customization options and automatic cloud synchronization for access across all your devices.

Highlights
  • Password and Face ID protection
  • Ad-free experience
  • 20+ customizable color themes
  • Automatic iCloud synchronization
  • Automatic local backup and restore
  • Note sorting by date or alphabetically
Features
Read full description

Secure Notepad Pro is the ultimate app for protecting your personal notes with a password, keeping them safe from prying eyes. Designed for speed and simplicity, it’s perfect for jotting down ideas, to-do lists, or anything else you need to remember. Choose from over 20 different color themes to customize your experience and make your notepad app unique. Even better, the free version of Secure Notepad Pro is completely ad-free, so you can focus on what matters without distractions. With automatic synchronization via iCloud, you can rest assured that your notes are always up-to-date and accessible on all your devices. Key features: • Fast and easy-to-use app with no ads. • Protect your notes with a password or Face ID. • Automatic lock (you have 30 seconds to return to the app without entering the password). • Choose from 20+ colorful themes to personalize your note-taking experience. • Automatic iCloud syncing. • Automatic local backup of notes with the ability to restore from a backup. • Sort your notes by date or alphabetically. Download Secure Notepad Pro today and experience the ultimate in note-taking security and convenience.

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

Secure Notepad Pro4 screens
Standard Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Standard Notes at every 5 weeks against Secure Notepad Pro's every 5 months. Secure Notepad Pro's advantage is review sentiment (76% vs 64%). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Secure Notepad Pro sells 1 one-off in-app purchase 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 — 4.8 for Secure Notepad Pro against 4.7 for Standard Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.7K and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Secure Notepad Pro's written reviews are positive against 64% of Standard Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Secure Notepad Pro ships an update every 5 months, Standard Notes every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Secure Notepad Pro versus Standard Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSecure Notepad ProStandard Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (2.7K ratings) — better4.7 (3.7K ratings)
Positive reviews76.1% of reviews — better64.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2.7K3.7K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB92 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDmytro VynokurovStandard Notes Ltd.

Customer experience

Secure Notepad Pro

All ratings2,718 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral2.6%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews234 reviews
Positive76.1%
Neutral10.3%
Negative13.7%

Standard Notes

All ratings3,735 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral2.2%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews592 reviews
Positive64.0%
Neutral10.5%
Negative25.5%

User reviews

Secure Notepad Pro

From 2.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Simple and secure
  • 🔒 Password protection
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Alphabetical organization
  • 🚀 Fast and lightweight

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Notes disappearing after updates
  • 🐛 Syncing and backup issues
  • 💡 Lack of advanced features (formatting, folders, etc.)
  • 🐛 Crashes and bugs
  • 💰 Questionable pricing model

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

Secure Notepad Pro

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes disappearing after updates
  • Syncing and backup issues
  • Crashes and freezes
  • Incompatibility with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to add photos/images
  • Sync across devices
  • Backup and restore functionality
  • More customization options (fonts, colors, etc.)
  • Touch ID/Face ID support

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

1 purchases

Secure Notepad Pro

One-time1
  • Unlimited Storage$14.99
1 purchases

Standard Notes

Subscriptions1
  • Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year

Questions

Is Secure Notepad Pro free?
Secure Notepad Pro 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, Secure Notepad Pro or Standard Notes?
Secure Notepad Pro is rated higher. Secure Notepad Pro averages 4.8 out of 5 from 2.7K ratings, while Standard Notes averages 4.7 from 3.7K ratings.
Do Secure Notepad Pro or Standard Notes have ads?
Neither Secure Notepad Pro nor Standard Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Secure Notepad Pro or Standard Notes?
Secure Notepad Pro ships an update every 5 months, and Standard Notes every 5 weeks. Most recently, Secure Notepad Pro was updated on October 4, 2026 and Standard Notes on October 7, 2026.

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