Standard Notes
Germany
End-to-end encrypted notes app with a plain-text focus and long-term archival philosophy.
European Alternative to:
An end-to-end encrypted notes app that has spent its whole life optimising for two things: longevity and not seeing your data. Originally founded by Mo Bitar, Standard Notes joined the Proton family in 2024, which puts the encryption keys, the company and the servers all under Swiss jurisdiction.
What you get
- End-to-end encrypted notes by default, with a simple plaintext editor at the core
- Optional rich-text, markdown, code and spreadsheet editors as extensions
- Cross-platform clients for web, desktop, iOS and Android, all built from open-source code
- Tags, nested tags, smart views and a fast search
- Sync across devices that goes through Standard Notes' servers without exposing content
What changed under Proton
Sync infrastructure has moved into Proton's stack, accounts can be linked with a Proton login, and the long-term plan is for Standard Notes to be the notes piece of a wider Proton suite alongside Mail, Drive, Calendar and VPN. Pricing has been simplified into Proton's tiers.
Honestly
The editor is intentionally minimal; if you want a Notion-style workspace with databases, this isn't it. The whole point is that Standard Notes is a private, durable text bucket you can trust to outlast trends. After the Proton acquisition that promise is arguably stronger, not weaker.
France