Standard Notes is described as 'An end-to-end encrypted note-taking by Proton. Offline access, unlimited sync across devices, tagging, passcode and biometric security, plus advanced premium privacy features' and is a leading Note-taking tool in the security & privacy category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Standard Notes for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Web-based, Windows, Android and Linux apps. The best Standard Notes alternative is Obsidian, which is free. Other great apps like Standard Notes are Joplin, Logseq, Anytype and Notion.
Supports open formats like plain text, Markdown, RTF, stores notes on disk, offers live sync with external editors, iCloud Drive and Dropbox sync, elastic pane views, fast search, tagging, markdown preview, code highlighting, and robust multi-folder management.
Ukraine
Octarine is a fast, lightweight tool for writing, planning, and organizing — in Markdown that stays yours.
Self-hosted and open source note-taking app focused on minimalism and efficiency. Offers simple folder organization, keyboard shortcuts, instant URL formatting, and local media storage under /notes, reducing complexity in organizing thoughts.
Q is a writing and memory tool that uses semantic search instead of folders. It allows markdown formatting on any device, provides math evaluations, and adds punctuation.
Heptabase is a visual note-taking tool that helps you make sense of your learning, research, and projects. It helps you get into the flow of thinking and brings together everything you need to do better research.
United States
Privacy Friendly Notes allows you to take and manage notes on Android devices. It belongs to the Privacy Friendly Apps group developed by the research group SECUSO at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. More information can be found an secuso.org/pfa
Germany
EU
A local-first, open-source workspace — a self-hostable alternative to Notion and Obsidian.
SpainEU
A local-first Markdown workspace that opens real folders in your browser and saves changes directly to .md files on disk.
OpenNotas is an open-source note-taking application, cross-platform based on PWA, focusing on security and device synchronization.
Prism is for quick thoughts and links. It feels like texting, rather than writing in a document. Capture easily, organize with tags, develop ideas across threads, review to keep only what matters. Free — unlimited notes, AI tags, and sync.
Minimal - Writing & Notes is a writing app inspired by meditation. It includes features such as note lifetime, collaborative writing, note-to-website publishing, Todo integration, and cross-device syncing, with a focus on spacious and modern design.
