Notebook vs Standard Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notebook
This app offers a natural journaling experience by organizing daily notes on a single page, allowing you to flip through your entries like a physical book. It prioritizes simplicity, security with passcode locks, and seamless iCloud synchronization for easy access across devices.
- Realistic page-turning effect
- One page per day organization
- iCloud sync and backup
- Passcode lock with Face ID/Touch ID
- Dark mode and font adjustment
- Ad-free Premium option
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Record your days like turning the pages of a book. A simple, elegant note-taking and diary app designed to make journaling feel natural. Over 2 million downloads worldwide. Average rating 4.7 from over 21,000 reviews. Notebook is a simple and elegant note-taking and diary app that lets you flip through your digital journal like a real book. Each day’s notes are automatically organized on one page, ready to revisit anytime with a smooth page-turning effect. ■ Your day on one page Keep your daily notes and thoughts neatly organized. You can easily look back on yesterday, last week, or even last month. Swipe or tap to turn the page and rediscover your memories like reading a personal journal. ■ Simple and ready to use Tap the Compose button to write a new note. Change dates by tapping the date field, or adjust the font size with one tap. Copy or print your entries directly — everything is intuitive, no manual required. ■ iCloud sync and backup support Keep your data secure with iCloud synchronization and backup. Access your notes across multiple devices, and restore them easily when you get a new iPhone. No complicated setup needed. ■ Private and secure Protect your personal diary with a passcode lock (Face ID / Touch ID supported). Deleted notes can be recovered within 30 days from “Recently Deleted” in settings. ■ Premium for a distraction-free experience All basic features are free. Upgrade once to Premium (one-time purchase) to remove ads and enjoy a calm, focused writing experience. Your purchase can be restored anytime, even after changing devices. Features • Page-turning effect for a realistic book-like feel • One page per day for simple organization and review • iCloud sync and backup support • Passcode lock (Face ID / Touch ID) for privacy • Dark mode, search, and font adjustment • Ad-free with Premium (one-time purchase) • Restore deleted notes within 30 days • Copy, print, or share all notes at once Capture your everyday moments, one page at a time — in your own private notebook.
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/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Standard Notes at none against Notebook's shown. Standard Notes also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Notebook's advantage is review sentiment (73% vs 63%) and ratings volume (14K vs 3.7K). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Notebook 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Notebook against 4.7 for Standard Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14K and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of Notebook's written reviews are positive against 63% of Standard Notes's.
Notebook ships an update every 9 days, Standard Notes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notebook | Standard Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (14K ratings) | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.7% of reviews — better | 63.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14K — better | 3.7K |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Koji Ito | Standard Notes Ltd. |
Customer experience
Notebook
Standard Notes
User reviews
Notebook
From 14K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🔒 Password protection
- 💡 Convenient for journaling and note-taking
- 🚀 Smooth and responsive
- 👍 Organized by date
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or glitches
- 🚫 Unable to insert photos or attachments
- 🚫 Limited formatting options
- 🚫 No cloud sync or backup
- 🚫 Not compatible with iPad
Standard Notes
From 3.7K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Notebook
Reported bugs
3 issues- Deleting entries causes the app to crash
- Long entries can cause the app to become unresponsive
- Password feature doesn't always work as expected
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to insert photos and attachments
- Implement cloud sync and backup
- Allow more formatting options (font, size, color, bold, italic, etc.)
- Develop an iPad version with optimized layout
- Add a search function to easily find past entries
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
Notebook
- Remove Ads$6.99
Standard Notes
- Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
Questions
Is Notebook free?
Is Standard Notes free?
Which has better reviews, Notebook or Standard Notes?
Do Notebook or Standard Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Notebook or Standard Notes?
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