The best encrypted note taking apps

1

Notion

Notion: Notion is also not end-to-end encrypted and not considered a security-minded note-taking app. However, the product’s extensive templates for shopping lists, education, and project management have made it quite popular among consumers and students.

#Productivity #Work Collaboration #Note Taking 438 social mentions

2

Evernote

Evernote: Evernote is incredibly popular, compatible across many devices, and easy-to-use. The company introduced many of the modern rich text processing features all note-taking apps use today, such as embeddings, pinned or favorite notes, and simple tagging and organization tools for individual notes. It provides simple synchronization across devices and mobile apps.

#Note Taking #Todos #Personal Productivity 63 social mentions

3

Obsidian.md

For a consumer coming from Evernote, Notion, OneNote, or a similar product, we would advise trying Obsidian along another product on this list as it has the largest learning curve. However, if you are an expert with markdown, experts, linking, and graph views, Obsidian could be an excellent choice. Like many other configuration options, Obsidian leaves end-to-end encryption as an option for the user; you can create either end-to-end encrypted vaults, or “managed” vaults where Obsidian maintains a copy of the encryption keys. For this reason as well, unless you are prepared to manage your own keys and passwords, an app like Skiff or Standard Notes may yield a more intuitive experience.

#Knowledge Management #Knowledge Base #Markdown Editor 1453 social mentions

4

Microsoft OneDrive

A new era for productivity has made the next generation of products for writing, sharing, and collaborating popular among consumers. Big tech and startups alike have offered new productivity solutions, from Notion and Evernote to Obsidian and OneDrive. Similarly, new note-taking formats and features, such as markdown formatting, mobile sync, and project management functionality, have made consumer expectations for new note-taking apps significantly higher.

#Cloud Storage #File Sharing #Encrypted Cloud Storage 1 user reviews

5

Google Keep

Google Keep: Google Keep is generally quite similar to Apple Notes in privacy and encryption. Notes are “encrypted in transit” and “at rest,” but not end-to-end encrypted, yielding many of the same privacy concerns that plagued the note-taking products mentioned above.

#Note Taking #Personal Notes #Notes

6

Apple Notes

Apple Notes: Apple notes is native to every Apple device, including iPhones, iPads, Mac, and more. Notes also synchronize to users’ iCloud accounts, enabling simple backup for quick notes and writing. As a result, it is a popular default choice for consumers. By default, notes are not end-to-end encrypted, but consumers can create “secure notes” that are end-to-end encrypted with a user-chosen password. This does add a level of privacy protections and optionality for users but not the same level of privacy-by-default that the cloud services mentioned below can provide.

#Note Taking #Task Management #Project Management

7

OneNote

OneNote: OneNote is Microsoft’s note-taking addition to their office suite. The product is simple, easy-to-use, and provides a text editor familiar to many current office users. However, notes are not end-to-end encrypted, which means you may want to take your private notes and thoughts to one of our top picks listed below.

#Note Taking #Todos #Personal Productivity

8

Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper: Dropbox Paper is a familiar product to existing Dropbox users. It provides a very simple, minimalist text editor with a basic set of features for planning, distributing tasks, and working together - suggesting a more team-based usage context. Notes, as with all files on Dropbox, are not end-to-end encrypted. For Dropbox users, we recommend reading our blog on encrypted cloud storage providers.

#Project Management #Note Taking #Communication

9

Skiff

Skiff: Skiff is a privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted workspace that offers note-taking and collaboration, email (Skiff Mail), and file upload, storage, and sharing (Skiff Drive). Every email, file, and note on Skiff is end-to-end encrypted, keeping your personal information private to you. The company also offers a sophisticated technical whitepaper, open-source repositories covering encryption and most client code, and a technical audit.

#Web App #Productivity #Writing Tools 47 social mentions

10

Standard Notes

Standard Notes: Standard Notes is a well-featured note-taking app that provides cross platform apps as well as end-to-end encrypted storage. Standard Notes offers marketing materials emphasizing how encryption, security, and privacy yield critical benefits for collaboration and creativity. Standard Notes’ source code is open-source and links to information about cryptographic audits and security.

#Security & Privacy #Notes #Personal Notes 128 social mentions

11

Joplin

Joplin is open-source, maintains Linux, Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows apps, and also offers built in cloud-sync functionality called “Joplin cloud.” Finally, Joplin scores highly on their use of end-to-end encrypted to keep all user notes private. For more convenience features Joplin offers a web clipper directly integrated into the notes app to allow for cataloging, storing, and sharing webpage content. Joplin can also be self-hosted for the more technically minded users.

#Note Taking #Notes #Todos 350 social mentions