PrivacyNotes
Obsidian.md
Standard Notes
Apple Notes
Simplenote
Google Keep
Notion
Google Keep Notes
HelixNotes
CherryTree
Bear
MarkNote
Joplin
Filenotes
Trilium Notes
Zettlr
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:
Built for privacy, not surveillance:
Pricing that respects you:
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
HelixNotesPrivacyNotes'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.
HelixNotes's answer:
HelixNotes combines a clean visual editor with the durability of plain Markdown files.
PrivacyNotes's answer
Three reasons:
HelixNotes's answer:
Choose HelixNotes if you want a polished notes app without giving up control of your files.
Unlike cloud-first apps, HelixNotes does not require an account or store notes on company servers. Unlike more complex knowledge-management tools, it focuses on practical note-taking without turning every note into a database. Your vault remains a normal folder of Markdown files that can be opened, searched, backed up, or moved with other tools.
It also includes useful features out of the box: aggregated tasks, calendar scheduling, wiki links, graph view, daily notes, full-text search, version history, themes, math, diagrams, and optional self-hosted sync.
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.
HelixNotes's answer:
HelixNotes is built for people who want a capable notes app while keeping ownership of their data.
Its primary audience includes:
It is intended for personal knowledge management rather than hosted team collaboration.
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.
HelixNotes's answer:
HelixNotes started from a simple frustration: I wanted UpNote's clean editor with Obsidian's local files, but without the bloat or lock-in. That combination did not exist in the form I wanted, so I built it.
The result is a local-first notes app where the interface stays out of the way and every note remains a normal Markdown file on your own disk. Features such as tasks, wiki links, daily notes, search, and optional WebDAV sync were added around that principle rather than replacing it.
HelixNotes is developed as free and open-source software by ARKHOST LLC.
PrivacyNotes's answer
React, TypeScript, Vite and Tailwind CSS.
HelixNotes's answer:
SvelteKit & Rust/Tauri
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.
HelixNotes's answer:
This app checks every box for me. Clean interface, no learning curve, local-first encryption, and secure sync across all of my devices.
The biggest surprise is how many apps it replaced. Instead of juggling separate apps for notes, habits, mood, activities, and important dates, everything lives in one place now. It's made staying organized a lot simpler.
Paying once and knowing I won't lose access to my workflow because I canceled yet another subscription is incredibly refreshing. That peace of mind is worth a lot to me.
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.
Obsidian.md - A second brain, for you, forever. Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.
CherryTree - A hierarchical note taking application, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file.
Standard Notes - A safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work
Bear - Bear.app is a note-taking and content writing app that helps you boost productivity with its intuitive tools.
Apple Notes - Apple Notes functions as a service for making short text notes.
MarkNote - A simple markdown note management app.