Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Explain Everything VS PrivacyNotes

Compare Explain Everything VS PrivacyNotes and see what are their differences

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Explain Everything logo Explain Everything

Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that...

PrivacyNotes logo PrivacyNotes

Zero-knowledge encrypted notes, tasks, journals, files, and passwords in one app. Your keys never leave your device. One-time price, no subscription. Hosted in Switzerland.
Visit Website
  • Explain Everything Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-10
  • PrivacyNotes Journal
    Journal //
    2026-06-25
  • PrivacyNotes Settings
    Settings //
    2026-06-25
  • PrivacyNotes Website
    Website //
    2026-06-25

PrivacyNotes is a zero-knowledge encrypted workspace that brings your notes, tasks, journals, files, and passwords into one app, so you stop juggling four separate subscriptions.

Everything is encrypted on your device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before it ever syncs. Your keys are derived from a recovery phrase that never touches our servers, so we cannot read your content, your filenames, or anything else. This is real zero-knowledge, not a marketing label.

Five pillars, one encrypted app:

  • Notes - a live markdown editor with note-to-note links, tags, and fast full-text search
  • Tasks - native checklists and task management next to your notes
  • Journals - daily entries with built-in mood, sleep, and medication tracking
  • Files - an encrypted vault for images, audio, and attachments
  • Vault - lock sensitive notes and logins behind a PIN or biometrics

Built for privacy, not surveillance:

  • No ads, no trackers, no analytics, ever
  • Sign in anonymously with a recovery phrase or with Google. No email or personal details required.
  • Open core: the encryption layer and database schema are published for independent review
  • Burn notes: self-destructing shares the server cannot read

Pricing that respects you:

  • Free covers every pillar with two-device sync and offline use
  • Pro is a one-time free, not a subscription, adding unlimited devices, note history, and more storage
  • Optional storage add-ons when you need them

Works on web, macOS, and soon iOS, Android, Windows and Linux with a responsive mobile layout. Import from Apple Notes, Standard Notes, Google Keep, Obsidian, and markdown in a few clicks.

PrivacyNotes

$ Details
freemium $48.0 / One-off (Early adopter price)
Platforms
MacOS Web Firefox Google Chrome Edge Safari
Release Date
2026 June
Startup details
Country
Switzerland
Employees
1 - 9

Explain Everything features and specs

  • Versatile Toolset
    Explain Everything provides a robust set of tools for creating interactive and engaging presentations, including drawing tools, animation features, and multimedia integration.
  • Collaborative Features
    The platform allows multiple users to collaborate in real-time, making it ideal for group projects and collaborative learning environments.
  • Cross-Platform Availability
    It is available on multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, and the web, providing flexibility and accessibility to a wide range of users.
  • Cloud Integration
    Explain Everything supports cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox, making it easy to store and share projects.
  • Interactive and Engaging
    The platform's tools encourage interactive and dynamic content, which can enhance engagement and retention in an educational setting.

Possible disadvantages of Explain Everything

  • Learning Curve
    The extensive toolset may be overwhelming for new users, leading to a steeper learning curve compared to simpler presentation tools.
  • Cost
    While it offers a free version, advanced features require a subscription, which might not be affordable for all users, especially in educational institutions with limited budgets.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported performance issues, such as lagging or crashing, particularly when handling larger projects or on older devices.
  • Complex Interface
    The interface can be perceived as cluttered due to the multitude of available options, which could detract from the user experience.
  • Limited Offline Capabilities
    Certain features and functionalities are limited or unavailable without an internet connection, which can be a drawback in environments with unreliable or no internet access.

PrivacyNotes features and specs

  • Privacy-focused
    PrivacyNotes is designed with privacy as a core principle, aiming to keep your notes secure and away from third-party access, which appeals to users concerned about data confidentiality.
  • Encryption
    The service typically emphasizes encryption to protect note content, meaning your data is scrambled and less vulnerable to unauthorized reading if intercepted or stored.
  • Ephemeral notes
    Many privacy note services offer self-destructing or temporary notes that automatically delete after being read or after a set time, reducing the digital footprint left behind.
  • Simple and lightweight
    Such tools often provide a clean, minimal interface focused on quick note creation and sharing without unnecessary features, making it easy to use.
  • No account required
    Privacy-oriented note apps frequently allow you to create and share notes without registration, lowering the barrier to entry and reducing personal data collection.

Analysis of Explain Everything

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Explain Everything is generally considered a good tool for educators, trainers, and professionals looking to create engaging and interactive content. Its cross-platform compatibility and cloud integration add to its appeal.

Why this product is good

  • Explain Everything is a versatile interactive whiteboard app that allows users to create presentations, animations, and screencasts with a wide range of multimedia elements. It's popular for its collaborative features, enabling real-time group participation, and its intuitive design, which makes it accessible for users of varying skill levels.

Recommended for

  • Educators who want to enhance classroom presentations and lectures.
  • Students for creating dynamic projects and presentations.
  • Corporate trainers designing interactive training modules.
  • Content creators seeking tools for producing educational videos or tutorials.

Analysis of PrivacyNotes

Overall verdict

  • I don't have verified, specific information about PrivacyNotes (privacynotes.app) to make a reliable assessment of its quality, security practices, or features. I cannot confirm details about its encryption methods, privacy policy, company background, or user reviews.

Why this product is good

  • Unable to verify claims about encryption or zero-knowledge architecture without independent confirmation
  • No access to current user reviews, ratings, or reputation data for this specific service
  • Cannot confirm company legitimacy, ownership, or track record
  • Unable to verify uptime, reliability, or actual security audit results
  • No information available on pricing structure or terms of service specifics

Recommended for

  • Before using, research independently via security audit reports if available
  • Check for third-party security reviews or penetration testing results
  • Verify the company's privacy policy and data handling practices directly on their site
  • Look for user reviews on independent platforms rather than relying on marketing claims
  • Consider established, well-audited alternatives if handling highly sensitive information

Explain Everything videos

Explain Everything - Whiteboard, Annotation and a Touch of Awesome

More videos:

  • Review - EdTech Showdown: Educreations vs. Explain Everything
  • Review - Explain Everything Whiteboard and Explain EDU โ€“ Which version to get for your school?

PrivacyNotes videos

No PrivacyNotes videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Explain Everything and PrivacyNotes)
Digital Whiteboard
100 100%
0% 0
Note Taking
0 0%
100% 100
Education & Reference
100 100%
0% 0
Task Management
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Explain Everything and PrivacyNotes.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

PrivacyNotes's answer:

Honestly? We have no idea, and that is the entire point. Signup is anonymous (a recovery phrase or Google, no email or personal details), the app ships zero analytics and zero trackers, and zero-knowledge encryption means we cannot see who you are or what you store. We could not name a single customer if we tried. A privacy product that tracked its users closely enough to brag about them would be missing the plot.

What makes your product unique?

PrivacyNotes's answer:

PrivacyNotes is the only zero-knowledge encrypted workspace that keeps notes, tasks, journals, files, and a password vault behind one set of on-device keys. Most privacy apps do one of those well and rent it to you monthly. We do all five, encrypt everything with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before it leaves your device, and charge once instead of forever. The encryption core is open core, published so the claims can be verified rather than trusted.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

PrivacyNotes's answer:

Three reasons:

  • One app, not four subscriptions. Standard Notes, Day One, and Lunatask each rent you a slice (notes, journaling, tasks). PrivacyNotes covers all of them plus files and a vault, for a fair one-time fee.
  • Real zero-knowledge. Your keys come from a recovery phrase that never touches our servers, so we cannot read your notes, your filenames, or your metadata. Some encrypted apps leave note or task metadata in the clear; we do not.
  • Verifiable, not just trusted. The crypto and schema are open core and published for review, and there is no ad, tracker, or analytics anywhere in the app.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

PrivacyNotes's answer:

Privacy-conscious individuals and independent professionals who handle information they would not want a vendor reading: lawyers, journalists, healthcare and mental-health practitioners, developers, security specialists, researchers, and founders. It also fits anyone who simply wants one private home for their notes, tasks, journaling, and wellness tracking instead of spreading them across surveillance-funded apps.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

PrivacyNotes's answer:

React, TypeScript, Vite and Tailwind CSS.

What's the story behind your product?

PrivacyNotes's answer:

PrivacyNotes started from a simple frustration: staying organized meant scattering your life across half a dozen apps, most of which could read everything you typed and billed you monthly for the privilege. We wanted one place for notes, tasks, journals, files, and passwords, encrypted so thoroughly that the people running the servers could not read a word of it, and paid for once rather than forever. So we built the encryption first, made the keys live only on your device, and published the crypto as open core so the promise could be checked, not just believed. Everything else grew from one rule: your data is yours, and no one else's to mine.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Explain Everything and PrivacyNotes

Explain Everything Reviews

5 Best Microsoft Whiteยญboard Alternatives
Explain Everything works a little like the whiteboard option in Zoom or Meet, where you will create a whiteboard and send an invite code to others. There are no desktop apps, but it works on any browser and has dedicated mobile apps. It was created to help teachers and others who give presentations to explain how things work. It also supports audio and video recording.
The 11 best online whiteboards
As a whiteboard, Explain Everything lets you draw, add text, upload files, and create basic shapes. All fairly standard. But because it offers video recording capabilities, it allows you to record your whiteboardโ€”and voiceโ€”as you draw, then edit or split elements to refine the finished video. Once you're satisfied, you can save the video to be shared online as a link or...
Source: zapier.com
6 Jamboard Alternatives to Interactive Whiteboard
Known to have similar features to our traditional Microsoft Paint, Explain Everything is a jamboard that allows you to draw, add text, upload files, and create basic shapes while teaching. Without paying, you will be able to utilize up to 3 jamboards with collaboration over voice chat. Explain Everything has more elaborate drawing tools, with features that enable you to...
Source: blog.heyhi.sg

PrivacyNotes Reviews

  1. Feature rich

    The best thing about this: No subscription model, it's a one-time fee for a lifetime license. But you can start for free with the generous freemium model. I only needed to upgrade to pro because I wanted to use the app on my phone, laptop and desktop. Highly recommended! Btw, it's a perfect markdown editor as well, not sure why they don't emphasize this more.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Explain Everything seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 6 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Explain Everything mentions (6)

  • Use cases for the Canvas
    Logseq even has a Beta Canvas (whiteboard). There's even a Microsoft Windows Whiteboard app on my computer. Here's an app called "Explain Everything" that's on my tablet. It lets us, on a whiteboard, 'explain everything" just like a teacher might do on a blackboard. One. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Apple removes headphone jack from new 10th generation iPad
    Like any other tool, it's in how you use it. If it's just a case of, "Go play games to learn how to spell!" then yes, I agree (and is why I never installed Angry Birds, much to some teacher's chagrin). But you have some pretty neat learning tool; Explain Everything was popular where I was at where they key is to enhance and augment the student's learning. The goal here is it to make the iPad a tool both engage... Source: almost 4 years ago
  • What is the best simple setup for recording high quality audio on an iPad with the Explain Everything app?
    I am helping a friend out who makes educational YouTube videos on their iPad Pro (2018 model with USB-C) with the Explain Everything app. It's a whiteboarding app that allows you to make videos by whiteboarding and talking at the same time. Source: over 4 years ago
  • free or inexpensive eLearning software?
    What's your definition of e-learning? A series of tutorial videos, inside HTML pages can be a good solution. Try Explain Everything ... https://explaineverything.com/. Source: almost 5 years ago
  • Online teaching tech
    Explain Everything to make explanation videos of some concepts seen in class. Source: about 5 years ago
View more

PrivacyNotes mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of PrivacyNotes yet. Tracking of PrivacyNotes recommendations started around Jun 2026.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Explain Everything and PrivacyNotes, you can also consider the following products

ActivInspire - ActivInspire interactive whiteboard software is a classroom teaching software from Promethean for...

Standard Notes - A safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work

Gynzy - Gynzy is the ultimate educational software that helps teachers create engaging lesson plans that will raise student engagment and save time for educators.

Apple Notes - Apple Notes functions as a service for making short text notes.

LiveBoard - Cross-platform whiteboard solution, whether you're teaching or tutoring online, or you want to provide a more interactive experience for classroom teaching.

Simplenote - The simplest way to keep notes. Light, clean, and free. Simplenote is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, and the web.