Keep notes, tags and files encrypted on your devices and sync them through a server you run, with clients for phones, desktop and the browser. The V2 server is four containers, and the official apps accept your own address under Advanced options.
How Standard Notes stacks up against other productivity apps. Add or remove apps to change the comparison.
| Requirement | Standard Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free + Paid | Free | Free | Free + Paid | Free |
| Web UI | Yes | Yes | Yes | – | Yes |
| Architecture | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM |
| Min hardware | 1 core · 2 GB RAM | Not stated | a few hundred MB RAM | Not stated | Not stated |
| Containers | Worth checking: 4Plus MySQL, Redis, LocalStack | 1The app alone | 1The app alone | 1The app alone | 1The app alone |
| Database | MySQL | SQLite | file only | SQLite | SQLite |
| Runtime | Node.js | Node.js | Rust | Node.js | Go |
| Docker | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Linux package | – | Yes | Yes | – | – |
| Windows | – | Yes | Yes | – | – |
| macOS | – | Yes | Yes | – | – |
| iOS | Yes | – | – | Yes | – |
| Android | Yes | – | – | Yes | – |
| macOS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Windows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Linux | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
| Full comparison | This app | Standard Notes vs Trilium Notes | SilverBullet vs Standard Notes | – | – |
Official client for phone and desktop.
No, the hosted web app only talks to Standard Notes' own servers. Self-host the web app separately for browser access, and point the desktop and mobile apps at your server in Advanced options.
Four, being the server, MySQL 8, Redis and LocalStack, which stands in for S3 storage for file uploads. The self-hosting guide was written on 1 CPU and 2 GB of RAM.
Server-side premium roles can be switched on with a few SQL commands, but Super notes, nested tags and other client-side features need a paid offline plan.
More apps in Productivity.
Sync notes between the official Joplin desktop and mobile apps using a server kept on your own network.
Keep a large personal knowledge base as a tree of notes and sync your desktop apps with a server at home using this hierarchical FOSS note-taking app.
Capture a thought in Blinko and it sits as a Markdown card you can tag, search and expand into a full note. The note app's AI search, tagging and chat run against Ollama on your own hardware, or a hosted model if you prefer.
CryptPad is an encrypted office suite you host yourself. Write a document, sheet or slide deck in the browser and it encrypts the copy on your machine before it reaches the server. Rich text, forms, kanban boards, diagrams and whiteboards use the same encryption. Shared drives, access lists, document history and guest links cover a household or a small group.
Write markdown together in a browser-based editor and watch the edits land as they are typed. HedgeDoc keeps the notes on your server, renders diagrams and slides from the same text, and gives each note a permission level you pick before you share the link.
Save quick Markdown notes to a private timeline on your own server, with tags, search and optional sharing.
Write notes in Markdown in a browser tab and keep them as plain files in a folder on your own server. SilverBullet adds wiki links, live queries and Lua scripting. The same space can hold a journal, a task list and a small database that updates itself.
Write Markdown notes with block-level links in a privacy-first workspace, served to your browser from your own server.
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