Secure Notepad vs Standard Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Secure Notepad
Securely store personal notes, contacts, and passwords with password protection. Features a simple interface, biometric unlock options, and password recovery. Keep your sensitive information private and organized.
- Password protection for all notes
- Biometric unlock (Face ID/Touch ID)
- Sort notes by date or alphabetically
- Automatic app lock
- Password recovery via security question
- Recover recently deleted notes
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This app will let you save personal notes, contacts, and passwords as well as any other personal or secret information which will be hidden from strangers' eyes and securely protected by a password. The free version has no ads! Another great feature of Secure Notepad is its simplicity and ease of use. The app has a clean and user-friendly interface, allowing you to quickly and easily create and edit notes. If you have forgotten your password for entering the app, it can be easily restored by answering the security question. Key features: • Very easy to use. • All of your notes are securely protected and accessible only to you. • Use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock the app. • Sort your notes by date or alphabetically. • Automatic lock (you have 30 seconds to return to the app without entering the password). • Restore password by answering the security question. • Ability to recover recently deleted notes. Whether you're taking notes in class, brainstorming ideas for a project, or just jotting down your thoughts, Secure Notepad is a great choice for keeping your information secure and organized. With its strong password protection and advanced security features, you can be sure that your notes will always be safe and secure.
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 update cadence: Standard Notes at every 2 weeks against Secure Notepad's every 5 months. Standard Notes also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). Secure Notepad's advantage is ratings volume (13K vs 3.7K). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Secure Notepad 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 Secure Notepad against 4.7 for Standard Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13K and 3.7K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Secure Notepad's written reviews are positive against 63% of Standard Notes's.
Secure Notepad ships an update every 5 months, Standard Notes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Secure Notepad | Standard Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (13K ratings) | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 69.9% of reviews — better | 63.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 13K — better | 3.7K |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dmytro Vynokurov | Standard Notes Ltd. |
Customer experience
Secure Notepad
Standard Notes
User reviews
Secure Notepad
From 13K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🔒 Password protection
- 🔒 Security question for password recovery
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🚀 Straightforward note-taking
- 🔒 Prevents others from accessing private notes
Room to improve
- 💰 Paid version required for more than 3 notes
- 🐛 Notes disappearing or not syncing across devices
- 🐛 Password/security question issues
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
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
Secure Notepad
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashing or freezing
- Inability to restore deleted notes
- Sync issues between iOS devices
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to change app icon
- Syncing notes across devices
- More formatting options (bold, italic, etc.)
- Ability to organize notes into folders
- Dark mode option
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
Secure Notepad
- Unlimited Notes$9.99
Standard Notes
- Professional Plan7 Days trial$119.991 Year
Questions
Is Secure Notepad free?
Is Standard Notes free?
Which has better reviews, Secure Notepad or Standard Notes?
Do Secure Notepad or Standard Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Secure Notepad or Standard Notes?
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