Standard Notes review

Standard Notes is an encrypted note-taking app for writing and syncing notes across devices. The homepage says notes and files are end-to-end encrypted, so only you hold the keys to decrypt them. It also lists offline access, cloud sync across unlimited devices, automated backups and unlimited notes on the free plan.

The free Standard plan is for plain-text notes and syncing. According to the pricing page, it includes unlimited device sync, daily encrypted email backups and community support. Paid plans add editing tools and, at the top tier, encrypted file storage and sharing. Productivity costs $90 a year, or $7.50 a month when expressed as an annual rate; Professional costs $120 a year, or $10 a month on the same basis. Monthly billing prices are not published. Standard Notes is best understood as a private place for notes and small work—not a full-featured document suite.

Privacy is the clear reason to consider Standard Notes. Its end-to-end encryption covers notes and files, and the homepage says offline copies let you access your material without an internet connection. Cloud sync keeps notes available across devices, while the free plan includes unlimited notes and device sync. The pricing page also lists daily encrypted email backups on the free Standard plan.

The free tier is useful if plain text is enough: you can keep notes synced without paying for an editor upgrade. Productivity adds Markdown, rich text, spreadsheets and a one-year revision history. Professional adds 100GB of encrypted storage, sharing with up to five accounts and maximum note revision history. The pricing page says Professional has no file-size limit and has been tested with files up to 2GB; it also lists a 90-day refund period, compared with 14 days for Productivity.

Some Reddit users value that narrow focus. One commenter described using it for drafts, lists, code snippets and small spreadsheets rather than large documents. That is a better fit than expecting a broad productivity workspace.

The paid plans are expensive if you mainly want plain-text notes. Productivity is $90 a year and Professional is $120 a year, according to the pricing page; monthly prices are not published. That makes the free Standard plan the straightforward choice for basic encrypted notes, but it does not include the paid editing tools or Professional file storage and sharing.

There are also mixed reports about the app’s polish and development pace. In Reddit discussions, some users describe it as clunky, frustrating to search or slow to add new features; others say bug fixes and stability work are worthwhile. Those are user opinions, not a verified measure of development. One Reddit user reports hitting a 100MB limit for text notes, but that cap is not listed on the published pricing information, so we would not treat it as a published plan limit.

Professional’s 100GB storage cap may also be more than a notes-only user needs, while anyone needing a broad document editor may find the paid tiers hard to justify. The published refund periods are 14 days for Productivity and 90 days for Professional.

Standard Notes has a $0 Standard plan with unlimited notes and device sync, plain-text notes, daily encrypted email backups and community support. The pricing page lists Productivity at $90 per year, or $7.50 per month when paid annually. It adds a year of note revision history, Markdown, rich text, spreadsheets and dedicated support. Professional costs $120 per year, or $10 per month on annual billing, and adds 100GB of encrypted storage, sharing with up to five accounts and maximum note revision history. That’s a $30 annual jump from Productivity; Professional also lists no file-size limit, with files tested up to 2GB. Monthly billing prices are not published, so don’t assume the monthly equivalents are month-to-month rates. Productivity includes a 14-day refund period and Professional a 90-day refund period; those are refund windows, not a listed free trial. No add-ons are listed.

The published materials don’t document import tools, export formats or bulk migration, so the effort of moving an existing archive is unclear. Before switching, confirm how your current notes and files can be imported. Before leaving, confirm you can export and decrypt your data in a usable format; an encrypted sync or backup is not, by itself, proof of portable export. That matters more if you use Professional’s file storage or sharing with up to five accounts. Standard Notes’ end-to-end encryption means you hold the keys to decrypt your notes and files, while offline access and cloud sync keep them available across devices. The published material does not explain how those features affect migration. We also don’t have Reddit posts in the published sources, so we can’t responsibly name common reasons users leave based on Reddit reports.