Notesnook

Notesnook is a fully open-source, end-to-end encrypted note-taking app that pitches itself as an Evernote alternative for people who care about privacy. We rate it 86/100 — it is the most polished privacy-first notes app we've tested, and the right pick for anyone who wants real zero-knowledge encryption without giving up cross-device sync.

What is Notesnook?

Notesnook is a private notes app built by Streetwriters (Private) Ltd. The first commit landed on GitHub on April 1, 2021, and the team open-sourced the entire stack — clients and the sync server — under GPL-3.0 on September 1, 2022. The repository at streetwriters/notesnook currently sits at 13,975 stars and 944 forks, and the company says it has crossed 200,000 users worldwide.

Where Evernote, Notion, and Google Keep all rely on you trusting their servers, Notesnook is built so that the server cannot read your notes even if it wanted to. Everything is encrypted on-device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 and an Argon2id key derivation step before sync, which is the same modern primitive used by Signal and 1Password. There is no "turn on encryption" toggle — it is the default, the only mode, and it covers titles, body, attachments, and tags.

Key Features of Notesnook

• Zero-knowledge encryption everywhere: XChaCha20-Poly1305 + Argon2id. Notes are encrypted before they leave the device, including attachments up to 5GB on the Believer plan.
• True cross-platform parity: Native apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, plus a web client — built from the same TypeScript/React codebase.
• Vault for sensitive notes: A second password-locked layer inside the app for entries you don't even want unlocked when the app is open.
• Monographs: Publish a single note as an end-to-end encrypted public link — the recipient needs the password you share out-of-band to decrypt it.
• Web Clipper: A first-party browser extension that saves articles directly into your encrypted vault rather than a vendor's cloud.
• Self-hostable sync server: The full sync stack is open source, so privacy maximalists can run their own server and keep no data on Streetwriters' infrastructure.
• Rich editor blocks: Tables, callouts, code blocks with syntax highlighting, math via KaTeX, task lists, and outline lists — respectable parity with Notion.

What Users Say About Notesnook

Sentiment across r/Notesnook, Privacy Guides, and the AlternativeTo listing is unusually positive for a privacy app. The most upvoted threads on r/PrivacyGuides praise the editor and call it "the only private notes app that actually feels finished," and the Privacy Guides community formally added Notesnook to its recommended notes list after community vetting.

The recurring complaints are equally consistent: the free tier's 50MB/month attachment quota feels tight if you paste images, and a few Android users on the GitHub issue tracker reported feature drift between the desktop and mobile clients (numbered list options and toolbar customization landing on desktop first). Reviewers on the Apple App Store and Google Play average 4.6+ stars but flag that the "real" experience — full attachments, unlimited notebooks, and version history — only unlocks at the Pro tier.

Notesnook Pricing

Notesnook is freemium. There is a meaningful free tier, three paid tiers (Essential, Pro, Believer), and a 14-day money-back guarantee on every paid plan.

Plan	Price	Storage / file size	Notebooks & tags
Free	$0	50MB/mo, 10MB files	50 each, 100 versions
Essential	$1.99/mo or $19.99/yr	1GB/mo, 100MB files	500 each, 1,000 versions
Pro	$6.99/mo, $49.99/yr, or $299.99 / 5 years	10GB/mo, 1GB files	Unlimited, unlimited versions
Believer	$8.99/mo, $89.99/yr, or $399.99 / 5 years	25GB/mo, 5GB files	Unlimited, unlimited versions

Education discounts are available, and the apps run on unlimited devices per account — you do not pay per seat or per platform.

Who Should Use Notesnook?

Best for: journalists, lawyers, researchers, security-conscious developers, and anyone who currently keeps a "sensitive" folder in Notion or Apple Notes that probably shouldn't live there. Also a strong fit for self-hosters who want an Obsidian-style commitment to user data ownership but with real cloud sync.

Not ideal for: teams that need real-time collaborative editing — Notesnook is single-user-first and does not have multiplayer cursors. Heavy Notion power users who depend on databases, relations, and embedded apps will find Notesnook deliberately simpler.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Genuine zero-knowledge encryption with audited modern primitives, on by default.
• Fully GPL-3.0 open source, including the sync server — verifiable claims, not marketing.
• Native clients on every major platform with feature parity that is rare for indie apps.
• Lifetime-style 5-year plans ($299.99 Pro / $399.99 Believer) make long-term cost predictable.
• Web Clipper, Vault, and Monographs are first-party — no third-party trust required.

Cons:

• Free tier's 50MB/mo storage runs out fast for image-heavy notes.
• No real-time collaboration; sharing is read-only via Monographs.
• Mobile and desktop occasionally drift on advanced editor features — a recurring complaint on GitHub.
• UI is competent rather than delightful; reviewers consistently call it "clean but not Notion-pretty."

Alternatives to Notesnook

Standard Notes is the closest philosophical peer — also encrypted and open source — but its free tier is text-only and the editor feels older. Joplin is a free, fully open-source alternative if you can self-host or BYO cloud, but the UX is rougher around the edges. Obsidian trades cloud sync for plain-text Markdown files on your machine, which is great for tinkerers but less seamless across mobile and desktop.

Verdict: Is Notesnook Worth It?

If you want a notes app where the company physically cannot read your notes — and you want it to feel like a 2020s product, not a 2010s one — Notesnook is the best answer on the market right now. The free tier is enough to evaluate it honestly, and the Essential plan at $19.99/year is one of the cheapest legitimate privacy upgrades you can buy. Skip it only if real-time collaboration or Notion-style databases are non-negotiable. We rate it 86/100.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Notesnook free?

Yes. Notesnook has a permanent free tier with 50MB of monthly storage and 10MB max file size. Paid plans start at $1.99/month (Essential) or $19.99/year, and the Pro plan starts at $4.17/month billed annually.

What platforms does Notesnook support?

Notesnook runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and the web. It also offers a browser-based Web Clipper extension and supports unlimited devices on a single account.

How does Notesnook compare to Standard Notes?

Both are end-to-end encrypted and open source. Notesnook ships a richer editor (tables, callouts, math, code blocks) on the free tier, while Standard Notes restricts those features to paid plans. Standard Notes has a longer track record; Notesnook has the more modern UI and faster mobile clients.

Is Notesnook open source?

Yes. The full Notesnook stack — web, desktop, mobile, and sync server — is licensed under GPL-3.0 on GitHub. The repository has more than 13,900 stars and active community contributions.

Can I self-host Notesnook?

Yes. The sync server is published in the same monorepo and can be self-hosted, so you can keep both the data and the infrastructure under your control while still using the official native clients.

What encryption does Notesnook use?

Notesnook uses XChaCha20-Poly1305 for note encryption and Argon2id for password-derived key generation. Encryption happens on-device before any sync request leaves your machine.