I've been using Standard Notes for over a year now for journaling and storing sensitive information. The encryption and local-first approach give me real peace of mind, knowing my data is truly private. The interface is clean, sync works reliably across my devices, and the basic features are solidβthough some of the extended features require a paid subscription.
I appreciate the focus on privacy and open-source philosophy, but the app feels clunky and underdeveloped. The free tier is severely limited, and the subscription feels expensive for what you getβbasic features like rich text editing require a paid plan. Syncing between my phone and desktop was unreliable, with notes sometimes taking hours to appear, which defeats the purpose of a notes app. For a tool that's supposed to simplify note-taking, it adds more friction than it removes.
Standard Notes delivers on its promise of extreme privacy, and I appreciate the peace of mind that comes with end-to-end encryption and open-source code. However, its focus on security comes at a cost to user experience; the interface feels spartan and some basic formatting or organizational features I'm used to are locked behind paid extensions. For someone who needs a vault, it's excellent, but for daily note-taking, it can feel restrictive and requires more effort than mainstream apps.
Based on 3 reviews
Standard Notes is an open-source, encrypted notes app that focuses on privacy and security. It stores all notes locally by β¦
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