Free accounts come with a good set of features already, even in the long run if you are fine with plain text notes.
Reviewed by Gabriel Bachmann
Standard Notes
standardnotes.com 3 ratings so far*
Notebooks Open SourceE2E encryptedSelf-hostedBitcoinWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSWebFreemium United States
Rate Standard Notes: No account needed
Threat level
Covered
A covered pick. Anyone can use it as a private drop-in, with no setup or know-how. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
Audited and AGPL-licensed, which is exactly the combination this category should reward, and it’s the safer pick for anyone who wants verifiable end-to-end encrypted notes. The honest catch is that the free tier is deliberately plain text only; the features people actually want, like rich text and file attachments, sit behind a subscription. Choose it when long-term trust and a US-based, audited codebase matter more than a fancy editor, and accept you’ll likely pay to make it pleasant to use daily.
GitHub at a glance
standardnotes/app
Stars
6,544
+ 47 this week
Last commit
9d ago
healthy
License
AGPL-3.0
Latest release
@standardnotes/desktop@3.201.21
4mo ago
Stars, last 31d
Website at a glance
standardnotes.com
B score 75
Solid website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 14d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Standard Notes alternatives
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Turtl Free accounts come with storage of up to 50MB of note data and collaborate with 3 people each space.
Standard Notes license, in plain English
AGPL-3.0 Strong copyleft · network
Free to use, even commercially. Changes must be published under the same license, and running a modified version as a network service counts as distributing it.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Patent use
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Network use is distribution
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: The network clause is the point. Anyone who runs a modified version as a hosted service has to publish those changes, so the code handling your data stays inspectable. This is why privacy-first projects reach for AGPL.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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