24 ms·

Standard Notes is a safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work

286 points by sealeck 6y ago

zenjester 6y ago
tried it left because of price, lack of options, lack of reliable sync https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/ is far better and cheaper option
- ahofmann 6y ago
  After many years with google keep, evernote, standard notes, simplenote, org mode, plain files in git etc. I finally found joplin and couldn't be happier.
- Jiocus 6y ago
  +1. I remember checking out Standard Notes and their longevity mission is very positive. They seem to have a solid product, but their approach just doesn't click for me. Been using Joplin for a couple years. It's one of those few open-source apps that managed to find a golden ratio of functionality but still to the point, a coherent pleasant experience across desktop and mobile. Missing a basic collab or note sharing functionality though. It's all open formats and that, sure one could hack around it, but more in the spirit of mutual access to encrypted notebooks for example.
- ericol 6y ago
  Exactly this. Joplin kinda blows the competition out of the water in every aspect. The sync works flawlessly and this is one of the strongest features it has. I set it up using WebDAV and never ever had to worry about it working.
  - novok 6y ago
    When I tried the joplin app 9 months ago, the mobile app on iOS was just plain broken. As far as E2EE note apps with mobile and desktop apps that sync go when I last looked in 2020, you have Standard Notes, Joplin, Inkdrop, Amplenote, Day One and DevonThink. I tried out Inkdrop seriously, but it wasn't better enough for me to switch and was more expensive than standard notes. A lot of these apps are $5/month, and I feel like that is too much compared to the $3/month far more sophisticated utility apps like 1password are sold for.
    - sldksk 6y ago
      For Joplin, review the sync settings. Sorry I forget which one it is but on iOS there was a bad default and once you change it the mobile app works like a dream.
      - novok 6y ago
        No it was broken to the point where I couldn't even just write a note with a keyboard properly. Even if that was fixed the fact you have to change a bad default out of the box is indicative alone.
      - greenie_beans 6y ago
        Sync settings in the iOS or on the desktop app?
        sldksk 6y ago
        iOS app!
- zikzak 6y ago
  I wish more apps used git as a sync option. GitJournal is a great client for Android phones and then any editor on desktop platform works fine (plain text or markdown notes). I use it with vs code and Dendron.
  - flyingfsck 6y ago
    There’s a great iOS client too. I was overjoyed to stumble on it.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
  Yup. I switched from evernote which was syncing poorly to Joplin and it's been great. Writing ~daily notes for over 2 years between ~three devices and it's had a problem exactly once due to onedrive changing their APIs out from under Joplin
- Trasmatta 6y ago
  As a second data point, I've been using Standard for a little over a year now, and haven't had any syncing issues. Maybe I've been lucky, or maybe it's gotten better than it used to be.
  - jan_Inkepa 6y ago
    I sometimes (once every few months?) get a duplicated/conflicting file-pair appear. It's a bit annoying, but not very annoying. Can't remember it happening recently.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  I use Joplin too, and export my notes to https://notes.stavros.io https://notes.stavros.io. If you want a site like that from your notes, you can use the script I wrote: https://gitlab.com/stavros/notes/ https://gitlab.com/stavros/notes/ It's a bit ad-hoc, but it works well.
- drannex 6y ago
  You can load a custom extension repo, and get access to all of the extensions for free - https://github.com/kylejbrk/standard-notes-open-extended https://github.com/kylejbrk/standard-notes-open-extended
- skinkestek 6y ago
  Another happy user here :-) I use it with NextCloud sync to a Heztner NextCloud instance. Data is all mine, they can even be E2E-encrypted if I want. Now a healthy plugin ecosystem is forming as well. I've already sent some money once or twice and I am actively looking for places where I can contribute code as well. Recommending others consider that as well.
rvieira 6y ago
I've been enjoying using Noteplan and Obsidian. The main reason is actually data freedom. By having all the data as plain text I can sync it and backup as I like, move between platforms (macOS, Linux) and if I get bored with those apps or they disappear I switch easily or even write my own.
- justusthane 6y ago
  Obsidian is amazing. I can’t wait for it to get WYSIWYG Markdown editing.
- eclipxe 6y ago
  Love Noteplan!
legerdemain 6y ago
After clicking around in growing confusion, I finally found a single screenshot of the application in action in the GitHub README file. Spoiler: it looks like any other note-taking application.
- thatswrong0 6y ago
  Yeah if there's anything that will prevent me from downloading a free application like this.. it would be the complete lack of a preview of what the thing is. Strange decision not to include a screenshot or gif of the application in action ANYWHERE on the marketing site.
  - actinium226 6y ago
    You can also use the web version. To me that's what I like about SN. Joplin/Obsidian seem cool, but I'd rather everything be in the cloud, so that if change computers I don't have to go through endless setup.
- 13rac1 6y ago
  I was confused too without a screenshot in the readme, but realized I could just run it: https://app.standardnotes.org/ https://app.standardnotes.org/
CoryAlexMartin 6y ago
I really wish this weren't a clunky 200MB Electron app.
- cube00 6y ago
  From their homepage: "It's faster and lighter than most notes apps" VSCode is 69 MB, this is 101 MB
- qbasic_forever 6y ago
  I use the web version and it's great, no install or anything (obviously need internet access).
  - trinix912 6y ago
    > obviously need internet access Yea because no one ever needs to access their notes anywhere with bad/no connection.
    - qbasic_forever 6y ago
      Uhh, that's why I have the Android app too on my phone that's always in my pocket. It syncs everything offline.
    - pastylittlepimp 6y ago
      If you are doing it in your browser it does have offline storage if you stay logged in.
tomc1985 6y ago
The use of the name "Standard" annoys me, it's presumptuous. You have to earn "standard" status, you can't just claim it Also, Electron makes this a no-go for me.
- fastball 6y ago
  What's the problem with Electron?
  - sodality2 6y ago
    The usual arguments include performance waste of an entire browser for a single tab, especially while running concurrently with a web browser, and that is an "easy way out" of doing cross platform. Side note: this is why I run Trilium Notes, another notes app, in the web browser instead of as a desktop app; I am already good at managing tabs, and not being able to merge the electron tab into my browser makes it harder to deal with (and less performant)
layer8 6y ago
The alternativeTo link at the bottom has some screenshots and reviews: https://alternativeto.net/software/standard-notes/about/ https://alternativeto.net/software/standard-notes/about/ Not a native application, not my cup of tea.
mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
> Find out what it feels like to write with total privacy. This made me laugh. You mean like on a piece of paper?
- Trasmatta 6y ago
  A piece of paper doesn't have the same level of privacy as something like Standard Notes. Anyone who finds your written paper notes can read them. Standard Notes is encrypted, and password protected. It can't ever be read by the provider or the host (which is the major problem with the majority of syncing notes apps), and it can't be read by a nosy friend or family member, unless you leave your computer unlocked and unattended (at which point all bets are off anyway). It offers much, much better privacy than a piece of paper.
  - neolog 6y ago
    They can be read by another program on your computer too.
  - mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
    How do you know I'm not burning the notes afterward?
    - Trasmatta 6y ago
      I mean, if you never want to read your notes again, sure, that's more secure. But writing stuff you will immediately burn and never want to read again in the future is such a different thing from using a syncing notes tool that the comparison doesn't really make sense.
      - mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
        I just thought the implication of the copy was funny, wasn't really making a serious comparison of every possible use case and threat model for pen and paper versus this tool. Each has its own advantages.
grillermo 6y ago
It is not safe(long term wise) for me as long as it relies on a closed source app that develops a probably dead in a few years company.
- dsizzle 6y ago
  It is open source. The code is here https://github.com/standardnotes https://github.com/standardnotes
  - rdschouw 6y ago
    Plus you can even self-host and the mobile apps support this out of the box.
- qbasic_forever 6y ago
  In addition to it being open source as mentioned, the server is open source too and you can run your own self-hosted instance: https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-notes https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-n...
duxup 6y ago
Screen shots guys... you gotta have screen shots! Even folks who love the philosophy want screenshots.
- titzer 6y ago
  ..and a link to the source code. After the long rant about software complexity, I wanted to see their code to see if they walk the walk.
  - titzer 6y ago
    ..which I googled for and found on GitHub. > We believe in building software that lasts. (emphasis theirs). So, I had a look. Their GitHub has dozens of repos, and the desktop one depends on the web one? Wait, the whole thing is written in typescript? I have absolutely nothing against typescript, but I honestly would have expected a boring language, with a simple repo, not with git submodules....and definitely not something that depends on web tech, of any kind.
    - buzzert 6y ago
      I don’t know much about TS/Yarn, but is this really all the dependencies they have? https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/yarn.lock https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/yarn.l... That’s pretty insane if so. Especially for a “simple” note taking app.
      - ncallaway 6y ago
        That's the transitive closure of their dependencies, yes. This file contains their list of direct dependencies (which is a lot smaller, but that just tells you how much of a dependency explosion you get when you use `npm` packages): https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/package.json https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/packag... One thing to note is the yarn.lock is probably the transitive closure of the compile-time dependencies (`devDependencies`) and run-time dependencies (`dependencies`), so it's possible that the dependencies that actually ship with the application are quite a bit smaller. For example, `webpack` is in the devDependencies, which is the build tool. So the `yarn.lock` is listing all of the dependencies both for the runtime libraries that get used, but also the dependencies for all the build tooling as well.
climb_stealth 6y ago
I'm happy with Standard Notes. I just checked and my oldest note is from 13/04/2017 so it has been a few years. I don't use the desktop app as the web version works fine. The Android app works fine as well. Sync is great and note edit history is great. I mostly use plain text and the task editor for ticking off things. It works, it's open source, it gets out of your way and Mo and team are responsive when rare issues come up. I use it every day and I'm happy to be paying for it to support it.
- 3v1n0 6y ago
  I've given the Android version a quick try, but the task editor is not supported in the free version, isn't it?
  - thecodrr 6y ago
    SN's free version is...very limited. Almost all their cool features are in the paid version. Cool features being different editors. But even with that, their feature parity across platforms is not really great. (Aside: you can check Notesnook (https://notesnook.com https://notesnook.com) out as an alternative. Disclaimer: I am the dev).
  - climb_stealth 6y ago
    Nope, you don't get any of the extras with the free version.
bibinou 6y ago
Click [Web] and it starts https://app.standardnotes.org/ https://app.standardnotes.org/ Nice shade of blue.
PaulBGD_ 6y ago
I used Standard Notes paid for over a year, and switched to Obsidian recently. My experience with SN was that the editors are half fleshed out, incompatible with each other, and make it hard to use with other tools. The notes can be markdown, html, text, or other formats as well as being encrypted. This makes exporting very annoying to use. Contrast to other tools like obsidian.. it’s just markdown. I can sync it across devices just by sharing the folder. SN is a great concept, but there’s a lot of design decisions I hated while using it.
- aftergibson 6y ago
  I did the exact same swap recently. Obsidian is far superior. I even paid for the 5 year Standard Notes subscription as I believed in the project and assumed design improvements would come, but the editor experience never improved and just feels clunky.
  - onedr0p 6y ago
    I bought the 5 year sub and completely agree on the desktop app clunkiness, it's been so many years but there's still no right click menus. I use it once in awhile and still find myself trying to right click > archive or right click > pin or whatever.
  - nerdponx 6y ago
    Same here. I'm unlikely to renew. I'm now using Joplin and synchronizing it to a small Nginx WebDAV server, which I back up to Rsync.net using Borg. It's certainly "cloud" enough for me. But too involved and technical for most people.
- andrewrothman 6y ago
  I'm in the process of the same switch. I've liked Standard Notes. It's really nice that it's open source and encrypted. However I ran into some instances of cross-device conflicting edits which were a bit annoying, and Obsidian's UI and Second Brain features swayed me to try it. The graph view is really cool and I realized I didn't need syncing as much as I thought. Obsidian does seem to also have a paid sync feature (no mobile app yet). For now I've been emailing myself from my phone and taking small audio memos, then typing them into Obsidian when back at my laptop. Not an ideal workflow but it's not bad and has some advantages.
astaza123 6y ago
what's the point of "end-to-end encrypted" if the keys are still on the server?
- jan_Inkepa 6y ago
  Where does it say that? I see here - https://standardnotes.org/knowledge/2/what-is-end-to-end-encryption https://standardnotes.org/knowledge/2/what-is-end-to-end-enc... the claim is: "Whenever we move your encrypted data over a network, in order to deliver services to you, it is sent over a strictly secure connection to only our private servers. Because this data is encrypted, we can't read it, and we can’t sell it." (I use Standard Notes, and if there's some element of the security model that I'm misunderstanding, I'd like to know :) )
  - astaza123 6y ago
    it doesn't say that anywhere indeed, but this is my understanding: if you reload the page your login is being preserved without re-entering your password. there's no way to maintain this without storing a key on the server (i.e. either the master key (MK), or a key that encrypts the MK, if the MK is stored locally
    - sealeck 6y ago
      Can't you store it in LocalStorage or IndexedDB
      - astaza123 6y ago
        you can. however, i hope they don't store it unencrypted - it's a very bad security practice for many reasons. assuming they store it encrypted with a temporary session key, the session key will necessarily be on the server. honestly, storing it on the server in a session storage is not a big deal. my original points are that a) web security is hard b) web e2ee is sort of hype on practice
        6y ago
elias94 6y ago
I looked everywhere on the website and not a single screenshot. Has a CLI?
- sealeck 6y ago
  It's a GUI application.
ApolloVonZ 6y ago
Even though I mostly stay away from the Google ecosystem, I do use Keep for several years now. Mainly because of how easy it is to export notes as sorted individual html files that I can import as formatted text into Scrivener where I organize all my writing. I wish the native MacOS Notes app would be better but I lost once all of my notes after an iCloud error. Even Apple couldn't help me on the phone. The structure was still there on their servers, but strangely the notes were empty.
jan_Inkepa 6y ago
After almost a decade of use I moved away from Simple Note (originally with notational velocity...) to Standard Notes over a year ago (their obligate unencrypted cloud storage was a deal-breaker for me. I use standard notes for a more or less unfiltered brain dump, so security is my #1 priority), and have been pretty happy with it, using it cross-platform. The support is pretty good - the forums (well, the slack) are quite active. There're one or two minor issues (not being able to search within individual notes, and some scrolling bugs on iOS iirc that I need to report at some point), but given that I'm using it across 4 platforms (iOS/macOS/Windows/Android), it seems to be working really well. And the lead developer seems quite sincerely committed/principled to the software's principles, which is nice. edit: I haven't tried out Joplin/Obsidian, which people seem to like here. Oh gosh I think I'm ok for now - my current solution solves my problem.
ergot_vacation 6y ago
I don't mean to be snarky, but what's the purpose of apps like this? Notepad.exe is 227 KB, runs instantly and flawlessly on even ancient environments, and gives all the basics. If you need something more "Power User," Notepad++ gives some language-sensitive formatting, tabs for easy switching between files, and plugins for custom use cases. If you need something more specific to a given language, that's an IDE, not a note taking program. If you need to write something with a bunch of rich formatting, that's a word processor, not a note taking program. The point of a note taking program is to be as blindingly simple, fast, and reliable as possible. It's the software equivalent of grabbing a scrap of paper (or maybe a little flip notebook) and scratching something down before you forget it. All this complexity defeats the purpose. A 200MB Electron app with web integration definitely defeats the purpose. For the curious and lazy, this is what it looks like: https://files.catbox.moe/kcelmg.PNG https://files.catbox.moe/kcelmg.PNG. Note that this was after I clicked off a large, complex dialog nagging me to create an account and sign in. Already this looks way too complex for my taste. Why are people so endlessly fascinated with forcing everything on the cloud? I have txt and rtf documents from decades ago that have survived through backup after backup. Meanwhile, if this program's servers go down tomorrow, tough luck.
- bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
  I see comments like this from time to time and can’t help but wonder if they’re serious or just satire at this point. People have mobile devices. People have windows and Mac (and Linux!) devices. People want seamless sync and sharing, simple formatting, for it to work across platforms, and for it to be exportable into some portable format. Sure, you can spend a lot of time forcing notepad and word into some sad version of a real app. Or you can pony up $5-10 a month, save your time for something valuable, and actually have a note taking app that’ll serve you well.
- 13rac1 6y ago
  > I don't mean to be snarky, but what's the purpose of apps like this? 1. Note organization via tags with a searchable database 2. Secure off-site backup 3. Device-to-device syncing I'm sure there are more. I wish it wasn't written in Electron, but it wouldn't exist otherwise. As a web application: https://app.standardnotes.org/ https://app.standardnotes.org/ > Meanwhile, if this program's servers go down tomorrow, tough luck. It is open source, you can run the server yourself: https://github.com/standardnotes/syncing-server https://github.com/standardnotes/syncing-server
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
GekkePrutser 6y ago
I really miss tomboy (not the new ng version). I used it for years and it was amazing. Rich text without having to use markdown. Razor fast responsiveness when searching. Instant hyperlinks just by typing the name of another note. Excellent keyboard shortcuts too. I really miss it but it was no longer maintained and falling into disrepair on newer OSes due to lacking support for DPI scaling and dark modes. I use onenote now as it comes with O365 anyway but like most things microsoft it's bloated and slow. It offers a lot more features (tomboy couldn't even do inline pictures!) But fast responsiveness means more to me. I'd consider standard notes but there's so many of these apps around and most are not WYSIWYG editors but instead markdown with a separate preview window. I hate that. And they tend to be slow electron stuff which makes them no better than onenote. Not sure if this one is an exception but if so I might try it.
- da39a3ee 6y ago
  > And they tend to be slow electron stuff I've read this a couple of times on HN. Can someone fill me in here? Is the claim that electron apps are slow justified? If so why, technically, are they slow? The main one I use is Slack and it is perfectly fine on my machine.
  - thecodrr 6y ago
    It's mostly hearsay. Electron is highly optimized (it's chromium after all). Making an electron app doesn't make it automatically slow and clunky. That's absurd. Sure it is a browser and it takes a little more Ram than you are used to (but most machines nowadays have 8 to 16 gigs of RAM so not a huge issue). What does make an electron app slow is the app itself. Obviously. You have VSCode that is blazing fast even for humongous files and you also have some other not so fast apps. Another huge issue raised is size. To be honest, 100 MB isn't abnormal for a desktop app. Look at any Qt app, it can be around 100 MB too. Same for dotnet. Of course native is better but most developers don't have the resources for that. Edit: I see people down voting without giving any reason. I know this is an unpopular opinion but come on. The days when you could use VSCode as an example of slow, clunky Electron app are gone. What's slow and huge is Jetbrains IntelliJ or Visual Studio; both native. VSCode proved that you can make a fast electron app; it just needs work like any other thing.
bmarquez 6y ago
I have a love/hate relationship with Standard Notes (and with most encrypted editors in general). Standard Notes is one of the few apps that has end-to-end encrytion AND password protection on the desktop (or Face ID on mobile devices). Joplin is E2E but refuses to encrypt locally, meaning someone who browses your computer can view your notes unless you use Joplin Portable in an encrypted container (with the added performance overhead). However, compared to Joplin, uploading images to notes is a pain. Standard Notes has multiple text editor options and they all suck. Only the "bold" editor allows you to upload images, and using FileSafe is extremely fiddly. Personally I would rather have one really good text editor than a bunch of half-baked ones. But Joplin is sluggish compared to both Standard Notes and Obsidian.md. Obsidian.md has the benefit of having everything as plain text files, for easy editing in other apps (there's also no need to export anything if they go out of business compared to Standard Notes/Joplin). But Obsidian's mobile app is still in development, and I'm a bit iffy about buying another subscription just for encrypted sync. ...And, if open source doesn't matter to you, there's always Microsoft OneNote.
- crooked-v 6y ago
  > But Obsidian's mobile app is still in development, and I'm a bit iffy about buying another subscription just for encrypted sync. Obsidian's pricing seems a bit weird to be in general, in that its publish/hosting functionality is priced around individual workspaces rather than either users or total usage. Because of that I'm never going to actually use said publish functionality (even though I would have paid for it in an instant if it was set up differently), because my use cases for it would involve publishing from a number of different small workspaces for entirely different audiences, and the devs apparently haven't considered at all that people may want to do that.
- thecodrr 6y ago
  You should give Notesnook[1](i am the developer) a try as well. It should solve most, if not all, of the above issues and its cheaper than every other notes app out there as well. [1]https://app.notesnook.com/ https://app.notesnook.com/ (it has a 14 day free trial)
  - 6y ago
bachmeier 6y ago
I don't mind paying, but I've never cared for this product's pricing. If you want to pay monthly, it's $10 a month, which no sane person would pay for a plain notes editor and nothing else. The reasonable price is $30/year but you have to pay for five years in advance. Sure, we all have to eat, but it's not a sign of confidence if you're trying to push me to pay for five years in advance. If you believe in what you're selling, charge me $2.50 a month and give me a reason to stay.
- thecodrr 6y ago
  For this, you might find Notesnook (https://notesnook.com/ https://notesnook.com/) a better alternative. I mean its still $4.49 but I suppose that's still a lot cheaper. (Disclaimer: I am the developer so this may be a shameless plug, idk).
  - system_32 6y ago
    Is there a limit of how many times you can try to self promote in one post?
whisk 6y ago
I do seeking for a lifetime note recently to store all my data. But considering lifetime, choosing subscription should be cautious. The price $2.48/month means $1488/50 years, I would rather choose a buyout payment for $200.
- aorth 6y ago
  If you pay them $200 now, how do you know they will be around in ten years, let alone fifty?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
thecodrr 6y ago
Standard Notes is a phenomenal note taking app and one of the first to bring encryption in note taking. They take security very seriously and have multiple third party audits. With that said, the bad outweigh the good. I don't mean to be a pessimist here (SN is inspirational) but: 1. Their free plan is extremely lacking. You can't even try out many of their editors. 2. Their pro plan mostly only offers editors. I am not sure how having 3 kinds of rich text editors is helpful but they have them. 3. They don't allow any form of account recovery. Which sounds really epic on paper but once you forget your password, you lose all your data. 4. The feature parity between their different apps across platforms is abysmal. The android app is notoriously feature lacking compared to the Web version. (They did put out an update which hopefully changes things). 5. In my extensive usage of the app, conflicts are very normal. I have no issue with that but there's no way to resolve them without creating duplicate copies of the note which clutters up the UI. 5. the UX is poor. No right click on notes, no distraction free mode, no way to collapse the huge notes list. 6. Search and organization seems like an after thought. The only way to organize is via tags. Tags are nice and all but there's not much you can do with them. 7. Their pricing seems absurd. 8. The development seems to be going no where. They are active but many of the above issues are still not addressed. But as I said, it's not all bad. Most people won't notice the above in their initial usage. They have a solid app with okay features. If you are a new user looking for encrypted notes and all that hosh posh or just an alternative to SN, you should also give Notesnook[1][2] a try; it solves all of the above issues in a sensible way. Do note that I am the dev so I am obviously biased. It's not perfect but I think it is a better alternative. [1]https://notesnook.com/ https://notesnook.com/ [2]https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook/ https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook/ (it's not open source but the repo has some good FAQ that you might be interested in reading).
- sillysaurusx 6y ago
  Well yeah they don’t offer any account recovery — that’s a sign the encryption might be trustworthy. It’s only a negative if you don’t care about that.
  - thecodrr 6y ago
    I myself thought no account recovery automatically meant safety. It sounds very cool. However, in the past week alone, around 10 users of Notesnook came asking for a way to recover their account because they had forgotten their password. I mean, why should privacy be at such a huge risk to users' data? For the tech savy, Notesnook offers account recovery by giving the user option (actual kind of forcing) to save the encryption key someplace safe. Not ideal, of course, but better than nothing.
crossroadsguy 6y ago
UX is very lacking. You can’t have local text files (that you can backup on your own). The entire thing is, and feels just like, a web app in a poorly designed wrapper app. There were few more glaring issues the last time I was comparing note apps to replace notion + nv (+ Dyrii) setup. I’ve decided to give FSNotes a try. Hope I like it and it doesn’t go Electron or subscription later.
ExtraE 6y ago
Why is this better than the built in notes app on my phone or Atom and a private GitHub repo? That’s what I use and I’m yet to have a problem.
- sealeck 6y ago
  It's end-to-end encrypted?
  - ExtraE 6y ago
    I guess I trust Apple not to leak/read my notes more than this guy.
remram 6y ago
Feedback: Every platform option takes you to a page with the same text: > Your download has started. Didn't start? Click here to start manually. Both for Android and Web, your download will NOT start until you click the link, which takes you to Google Play and the web app, respectively.
xipho 6y ago
Vim + potwiki. command mode -> space-w-w to my index, and notes away. https://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1018 https://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1018
kushan2020 6y ago
Me including lot of people hate the following about todays note apps which have one or more of the following: - Forces you to split screen of writing markdown on one side and rendered version on another. - Is a bloated electron app. - Data is not portable i.e. there is proprietary format or saved in the servers. It is a shameless pug but I am working on creating a WYSIWYG note taking app [1] that is web based, portable and fast. I would love to offer that as an alternative if anyone is interested. [1] https://bangle.io https://bangle.io
- mickeyd290 6y ago
  Bangle.io looks interesting, thanks. I can edit my local Markdown files in a web browser. How does it connect to GitHub? I tried the "Workspace: Import workspace from a Github URL" but it didn't appear to do anything. It would be great if Bangle.io could use GitHub as a backend store as an alternative to local hard drive storage.
pugworthy 6y ago
Can we at least acknowledge that there's an apparent eternal stream of "the best note app" being constantly developed or improved or touted?
thomasfromcdnjs 6y ago
I've been using the web version for several years. I've never committed to a note taking app for that long. Kudos to the team, I love your vision and impressed with the implementation.
cascom 6y ago
Why would you not just use a doc saved on an encrypted cloud drive (e.g. text file saved via Cryptomator on google drive?). It’s cross device, secure, and free(ish)
SCLeo 6y ago
Just making sure, Standard Notes is text only (i.e. No support for hand-draw lines), right? If that is correct, I assume then it will be very difficult for people like me whose note taking habits heavily revolves around drawing diagrams/annotating pictures to use. Nothing wrong with Standard Notes. I am just trying to confirm it is indeed not the tool for me.
tekchip 6y ago
They take security very seriously...if you pay. Two factor being behind the paywall is absurd. I called this concern out with the creators and was summarily dismissed with no good explanation why security, a key feature, takes a back seat to money.
jerednel 6y ago
The comments here prove their marketing could use work. SN Extended is basically a completely different app than the free version. Nested folders, smart tags (i organized a workflow with untagged notes going to an inbox folder, notes with due:yyyy-mm-dd being pulled into a Next Items folder etc..) Also there is a markdown editor, an editor that encrypts and stores attachments in an S3/webdav/drive/dropbox folder. There is a simple spreadsheet editor as well that I use for simple personal sheets. None of this you would really internalize on a cursory view of the homepage or by really even downloading the free app.
- xvector 6y ago
  The spreadsheet editor is really underrated. I haven't found a single other E2EE notes app that supports spreadsheets.
1MachineElf 6y ago
I use two open source note taking apps on my Android device. Anything that needs to be protected and private stays in Standard Notes. Everything else goes into Markor. Markor strikes an amazing balance between features and simplicity. Syncthing handles sync. Standard Notes does fine for the other stuff, but as said by other commenters, even it's Extended editor options are lacking, and there's also no convenient way to "share" content from another app into Standard Notes. People have been asking for that feature for years, but bizzarely it seems never to have been prioritized.
yarcob 6y ago
I'm always curious who is behind a company. How many people work there, how it is funded, where they are based, type of corporation, etc. These things make a big difference. Eg I typically trust a non profit that's been around for a couple of years more than a venture funded startup that just launched. This company doesn't even state where they are based or what the name of the company is on the website. They have a statement on longevity on their website, but no mention at all who this company even is. This does not inspire trust.
- ttiurani 6y ago
  Company information can in fact be found on the website, but I hate it that they use a .org website when they're clearly just yet another startup.
  - Sebguer 6y ago
    What does this mean? Their app is open source: https://github.com/standardnotes/web https://github.com/standardnotes/web The first release was in 2017? I don't see any sign of them having taken any funding?
    - ttiurani 6y ago
      Being open source does not mean they aren't commercial. IMO using a .org as their only domain is flat out misleading: the honest way is to have only the source code and community in the .org and the commercial offering in a .com.
      - Sebguer 6y ago
        That's entirely fair! I don't think they're a 'typical startup' though, at least from a cursory look. Generally, it doesn't feel like there's much adherence to TLD norms these days at all.
    - austhrow743 6y ago
      I don’t think they’re a startup. They are a software company selling a saas though. .com for commercial, .org for non commercial organisations is the historic breakdown. Sure, people use all sorts of domain extensions these days. That said I don’t think Twitch is trying to trick people in to thinking they’re based in Tuvalu whereas I can’t say the same with this company and being a non commercial organisation. Don’t see what open source has to do with anything. Tons of very much profit seeking companies have open source code.
misterremote 6y ago
I just came across Standard Notes when I did a research for companies who work 4 days a week: https://remotehunt.com/standardnotes https://remotehunt.com/standardnotes Very cool!
mastazi 6y ago
is there an issue with my browser, or there are zero screenshots on that page? Anyone has a screenshot? I'm a bit of a visual person and I need to see stuff, just reading features lists won't do it for me... Edit: under the "extensions" page, if you scroll down a bit, you will eventually find some screenshots.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
ysee 6y ago
There was a Standard Notes app on fdroid. I don't know why they removed it
aryehof 6y ago
Does Standard Notes require a network connection to store data, or is data stored locally and synced when a network connection is available? I wonder how important (offline) local first storage of data is these days to users of these types of apps?
- windthrown 6y ago
  It is stored locally (encrypted) and then synced when a connection is available. Personally, I write enough notes on my phone in situations without an internet connection (airplane travel, subway commuting etc) that losing local storage would be a deal-breaker for me.
  - aryehof 6y ago
    Many thanks!
beders 6y ago
I find those discussions around how secure this app is or not is pretty funny. The answer is: It's not. Not for any kind of end device attack. You are literally typing a note into a text field provided by the OS. You are reading it in an app through the OS rendering system. It is in clear-text in memory several times. There's no privacy on the internet. There's only hurdles of maybe increasing difficulty, but the decision to use a cloud-based note-taking app should be around the actual important features. Yes, I still want apps I'm using to follow best practices with encryption for data in transfer and at rest, but can't be the main trick.
YuukiRey 6y ago
I have a 5 year subscription but I'm not sure if I would recommend SN to others. They're vision is secure, encrypted notes. User interface and editing experience is unfortunately not part of that vision. Rather than giving users over a dozen editors, some maintained by the SN folks, some merely integrated, I'd prefer a single, opinionated and robust editor. You often can't easily go from one editor to another. Some of them have bugs or are just a bit annoying to use. All my SN notes are therefore plaintext. I honestly think all note taking solutions out there kinda suck. You always end up sacrificing something. Often that's seamless cross device sync and security. Sometimes it's editor features. Google Keep for example is great for what it tries to achieve but it's just too limited for serious note taking in my opinion.
tanin 6y ago
Shameless plug. I wrote a go app that keeps syncing your notes to GitHub/gitlab. I simply maintain a giant plain text note. Sometimes I hope there is a better way to search, but it's decent enough. https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes It runs on Mac, windows, and Ubuntu
jively 6y ago
Best notes app I've used - love the encryption philosophy. Editors could be better. I actually real like the blogging integration. Definitely recommended over bloat ware like EverNote, OneNote etc.
nt2h9uh238h 6y ago
Trying to give feedback (heavy user of evernote, notion) Hate: - huge lack of basic hotkeys: CMD+N for new notes - no styling / formatting at all in the free version, which is a huge bummer. - CMD+, doesn't show the "preferences window" I expected - Markdown styling Love - extremely fast (evernote and notion became exremely slow to the point I'm close to dropping both) -
88840-8855 6y ago
I tried them all: - Joplin - Standard Notes - Simplenote - Onenote, Evernote, Keep I ended up using the iOS/macOS built-in notes app. It just works. Hear me out why: + it is free, incl. tables, dark mode, basic formatting, pictures inline + sync works great (Joplin was the worst of them all) + the UI is simple, clean and intuitive. Apps feel polished and smooth + I can rely on apple that the app will not suddenly be discontinued from one day to the other + all apps have identical features What I really wished apple notes would offer: - encryption - AAA webapp - better tables (if you need tables, you will suffer with the current implementation) I will not go back to the alternatives as they provide an overall worse package for my daily use.
marchides 6y ago
Online privacy. Lol.
gustavorg 6y ago
100 mb download? No, thanks. Long time ago I implemented a small application to store my passwords and personal notes, using Imgui, and it has encription and everything I need: < 5mb. I should publish it.
austincheney 6y ago
From the comments it seems there is a dedicated following to a variety of note taking apps. Is that following almost exclusively limited to smartphones? Do people use note taking apps on their desktops/laptops?
spamtarget 6y ago
this doesn't need to be an internet service, your computer is absolutely capable of do something like this and you can choose any of your favorite backup service. 10 bucks a month , its a joke
fattybob 6y ago
ah, the way they handle images is just lamentable - go take a look at joplin, free and good enough. That Notesnook app looks good too, fast and slick, but they're gouging you on the price and unclear on who they're selling your info to...
truth_ 6y ago
Does it offer free sync among devices? If I write somethin on the Andeoid app, does my Linux desktop client instantly reflect the change? How is it different from Simplenote?
wjntzf 6y ago
I guess it all comes down to building a secure cross-platform note taking app is had. Building a business around it (in the abstract sense of putting food on the table) is even harder. And then factor in the low switching cost & endless competition... So I accept the imperfection of SN, and use other tools for specific use cases

286 points by sealeck 6y ago

tried it left because of price, lack of options, lack of reliable sync https://joplinapp.org/ https://joplinapp.org/ is far better and cheaper option

ahofmann 6y ago
After many years with google keep, evernote, standard notes, simplenote, org mode, plain files in git etc. I finally found joplin and couldn't be happier.
Jiocus 6y ago
+1. I remember checking out Standard Notes and their longevity mission is very positive. They seem to have a solid product, but their approach just doesn't click for me. Been using Joplin for a couple years. It's one of those few open-source apps that managed to find a golden ratio of functionality but still to the point, a coherent pleasant experience across desktop and mobile. Missing a basic collab or note sharing functionality though. It's all open formats and that, sure one could hack around it, but more in the spirit of mutual access to encrypted notebooks for example.
ericol 6y ago
Exactly this. Joplin kinda blows the competition out of the water in every aspect. The sync works flawlessly and this is one of the strongest features it has. I set it up using WebDAV and never ever had to worry about it working.
- novok 6y ago
  When I tried the joplin app 9 months ago, the mobile app on iOS was just plain broken. As far as E2EE note apps with mobile and desktop apps that sync go when I last looked in 2020, you have Standard Notes, Joplin, Inkdrop, Amplenote, Day One and DevonThink. I tried out Inkdrop seriously, but it wasn't better enough for me to switch and was more expensive than standard notes. A lot of these apps are $5/month, and I feel like that is too much compared to the $3/month far more sophisticated utility apps like 1password are sold for.
  - sldksk 6y ago
    For Joplin, review the sync settings. Sorry I forget which one it is but on iOS there was a bad default and once you change it the mobile app works like a dream.
    - novok 6y ago
      No it was broken to the point where I couldn't even just write a note with a keyboard properly. Even if that was fixed the fact you have to change a bad default out of the box is indicative alone.
    - greenie_beans 6y ago
      Sync settings in the iOS or on the desktop app?
      - sldksk 6y ago
        iOS app!
zikzak 6y ago
I wish more apps used git as a sync option. GitJournal is a great client for Android phones and then any editor on desktop platform works fine (plain text or markdown notes). I use it with vs code and Dendron.
- flyingfsck 6y ago
  There’s a great iOS client too. I was overjoyed to stumble on it.
X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
Yup. I switched from evernote which was syncing poorly to Joplin and it's been great. Writing ~daily notes for over 2 years between ~three devices and it's had a problem exactly once due to onedrive changing their APIs out from under Joplin
Trasmatta 6y ago
As a second data point, I've been using Standard for a little over a year now, and haven't had any syncing issues. Maybe I've been lucky, or maybe it's gotten better than it used to be.
- jan_Inkepa 6y ago
  I sometimes (once every few months?) get a duplicated/conflicting file-pair appear. It's a bit annoying, but not very annoying. Can't remember it happening recently.
StavrosK 6y ago
I use Joplin too, and export my notes to https://notes.stavros.io https://notes.stavros.io. If you want a site like that from your notes, you can use the script I wrote: https://gitlab.com/stavros/notes/ https://gitlab.com/stavros/notes/ It's a bit ad-hoc, but it works well.
drannex 6y ago
You can load a custom extension repo, and get access to all of the extensions for free - https://github.com/kylejbrk/standard-notes-open-extended https://github.com/kylejbrk/standard-notes-open-extended
skinkestek 6y ago
Another happy user here :-) I use it with NextCloud sync to a Heztner NextCloud instance. Data is all mine, they can even be E2E-encrypted if I want. Now a healthy plugin ecosystem is forming as well. I've already sent some money once or twice and I am actively looking for places where I can contribute code as well. Recommending others consider that as well.

rvieira 6y ago

I've been enjoying using Noteplan and Obsidian. The main reason is actually data freedom. By having all the data as plain text I can sync it and backup as I like, move between platforms (macOS, Linux) and if I get bored with those apps or they disappear I switch easily or even write my own.

justusthane 6y ago
Obsidian is amazing. I can’t wait for it to get WYSIWYG Markdown editing.
eclipxe 6y ago
Love Noteplan!

legerdemain 6y ago

After clicking around in growing confusion, I finally found a single screenshot of the application in action in the GitHub README file. Spoiler: it looks like any other note-taking application.

thatswrong0 6y ago
Yeah if there's anything that will prevent me from downloading a free application like this.. it would be the complete lack of a preview of what the thing is. Strange decision not to include a screenshot or gif of the application in action ANYWHERE on the marketing site.
- actinium226 6y ago
  You can also use the web version. To me that's what I like about SN. Joplin/Obsidian seem cool, but I'd rather everything be in the cloud, so that if change computers I don't have to go through endless setup.
13rac1 6y ago
I was confused too without a screenshot in the readme, but realized I could just run it: https://app.standardnotes.org/ https://app.standardnotes.org/

CoryAlexMartin 6y ago

I really wish this weren't a clunky 200MB Electron app.

cube00 6y ago
From their homepage: "It's faster and lighter than most notes apps" VSCode is 69 MB, this is 101 MB
qbasic_forever 6y ago
I use the web version and it's great, no install or anything (obviously need internet access).
- trinix912 6y ago
  > obviously need internet access Yea because no one ever needs to access their notes anywhere with bad/no connection.
  - qbasic_forever 6y ago
    Uhh, that's why I have the Android app too on my phone that's always in my pocket. It syncs everything offline.
  - pastylittlepimp 6y ago
    If you are doing it in your browser it does have offline storage if you stay logged in.

tomc1985 6y ago

The use of the name "Standard" annoys me, it's presumptuous. You have to earn "standard" status, you can't just claim it Also, Electron makes this a no-go for me.

fastball 6y ago
What's the problem with Electron?
- sodality2 6y ago
  The usual arguments include performance waste of an entire browser for a single tab, especially while running concurrently with a web browser, and that is an "easy way out" of doing cross platform. Side note: this is why I run Trilium Notes, another notes app, in the web browser instead of as a desktop app; I am already good at managing tabs, and not being able to merge the electron tab into my browser makes it harder to deal with (and less performant)

layer8 6y ago

The alternativeTo link at the bottom has some screenshots and reviews: https://alternativeto.net/software/standard-notes/about/ https://alternativeto.net/software/standard-notes/about/ Not a native application, not my cup of tea.

mandelbrotwurst 6y ago

> Find out what it feels like to write with total privacy. This made me laugh. You mean like on a piece of paper?

Trasmatta 6y ago
A piece of paper doesn't have the same level of privacy as something like Standard Notes. Anyone who finds your written paper notes can read them. Standard Notes is encrypted, and password protected. It can't ever be read by the provider or the host (which is the major problem with the majority of syncing notes apps), and it can't be read by a nosy friend or family member, unless you leave your computer unlocked and unattended (at which point all bets are off anyway). It offers much, much better privacy than a piece of paper.
- neolog 6y ago
  They can be read by another program on your computer too.
- mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
  How do you know I'm not burning the notes afterward?
  - Trasmatta 6y ago
    I mean, if you never want to read your notes again, sure, that's more secure. But writing stuff you will immediately burn and never want to read again in the future is such a different thing from using a syncing notes tool that the comparison doesn't really make sense.
    - mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
      I just thought the implication of the copy was funny, wasn't really making a serious comparison of every possible use case and threat model for pen and paper versus this tool. Each has its own advantages.

grillermo 6y ago

It is not safe(long term wise) for me as long as it relies on a closed source app that develops a probably dead in a few years company.

dsizzle 6y ago
It is open source. The code is here https://github.com/standardnotes https://github.com/standardnotes
- rdschouw 6y ago
  Plus you can even self-host and the mobile apps support this out of the box.
qbasic_forever 6y ago
In addition to it being open source as mentioned, the server is open source too and you can run your own self-hosted instance: https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-notes https://standardnotes.org/help/47/can-i-self-host-standard-n...

duxup 6y ago

Screen shots guys... you gotta have screen shots! Even folks who love the philosophy want screenshots.

titzer 6y ago
..and a link to the source code. After the long rant about software complexity, I wanted to see their code to see if they walk the walk.
- titzer 6y ago
  ..which I googled for and found on GitHub. > We believe in building software that lasts. (emphasis theirs). So, I had a look. Their GitHub has dozens of repos, and the desktop one depends on the web one? Wait, the whole thing is written in typescript? I have absolutely nothing against typescript, but I honestly would have expected a boring language, with a simple repo, not with git submodules....and definitely not something that depends on web tech, of any kind.
  - buzzert 6y ago
    I don’t know much about TS/Yarn, but is this really all the dependencies they have? https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/yarn.lock https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/yarn.l... That’s pretty insane if so. Especially for a “simple” note taking app.
    - ncallaway 6y ago
      That's the transitive closure of their dependencies, yes. This file contains their list of direct dependencies (which is a lot smaller, but that just tells you how much of a dependency explosion you get when you use `npm` packages): https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/package.json https://github.com/standardnotes/desktop/blob/develop/packag... One thing to note is the yarn.lock is probably the transitive closure of the compile-time dependencies (`devDependencies`) and run-time dependencies (`dependencies`), so it's possible that the dependencies that actually ship with the application are quite a bit smaller. For example, `webpack` is in the devDependencies, which is the build tool. So the `yarn.lock` is listing all of the dependencies both for the runtime libraries that get used, but also the dependencies for all the build tooling as well.

climb_stealth 6y ago

I'm happy with Standard Notes. I just checked and my oldest note is from 13/04/2017 so it has been a few years. I don't use the desktop app as the web version works fine. The Android app works fine as well. Sync is great and note edit history is great. I mostly use plain text and the task editor for ticking off things. It works, it's open source, it gets out of your way and Mo and team are responsive when rare issues come up. I use it every day and I'm happy to be paying for it to support it.

3v1n0 6y ago
I've given the Android version a quick try, but the task editor is not supported in the free version, isn't it?
- thecodrr 6y ago
  SN's free version is...very limited. Almost all their cool features are in the paid version. Cool features being different editors. But even with that, their feature parity across platforms is not really great. (Aside: you can check Notesnook (https://notesnook.com https://notesnook.com) out as an alternative. Disclaimer: I am the dev).
- climb_stealth 6y ago
  Nope, you don't get any of the extras with the free version.

bibinou 6y ago

Click [Web] and it starts https://app.standardnotes.org/ https://app.standardnotes.org/ Nice shade of blue.

PaulBGD_ 6y ago

I used Standard Notes paid for over a year, and switched to Obsidian recently. My experience with SN was that the editors are half fleshed out, incompatible with each other, and make it hard to use with other tools. The notes can be markdown, html, text, or other formats as well as being encrypted. This makes exporting very annoying to use. Contrast to other tools like obsidian.. it’s just markdown. I can sync it across devices just by sharing the folder. SN is a great concept, but there’s a lot of design decisions I hated while using it.

aftergibson 6y ago
I did the exact same swap recently. Obsidian is far superior. I even paid for the 5 year Standard Notes subscription as I believed in the project and assumed design improvements would come, but the editor experience never improved and just feels clunky.
- onedr0p 6y ago
  I bought the 5 year sub and completely agree on the desktop app clunkiness, it's been so many years but there's still no right click menus. I use it once in awhile and still find myself trying to right click > archive or right click > pin or whatever.
- nerdponx 6y ago
  Same here. I'm unlikely to renew. I'm now using Joplin and synchronizing it to a small Nginx WebDAV server, which I back up to Rsync.net using Borg. It's certainly "cloud" enough for me. But too involved and technical for most people.
andrewrothman 6y ago
I'm in the process of the same switch. I've liked Standard Notes. It's really nice that it's open source and encrypted. However I ran into some instances of cross-device conflicting edits which were a bit annoying, and Obsidian's UI and Second Brain features swayed me to try it. The graph view is really cool and I realized I didn't need syncing as much as I thought. Obsidian does seem to also have a paid sync feature (no mobile app yet). For now I've been emailing myself from my phone and taking small audio memos, then typing them into Obsidian when back at my laptop. Not an ideal workflow but it's not bad and has some advantages.

astaza123 6y ago

what's the point of "end-to-end encrypted" if the keys are still on the server?

jan_Inkepa 6y ago
Where does it say that? I see here - https://standardnotes.org/knowledge/2/what-is-end-to-end-encryption https://standardnotes.org/knowledge/2/what-is-end-to-end-enc... the claim is: "Whenever we move your encrypted data over a network, in order to deliver services to you, it is sent over a strictly secure connection to only our private servers. Because this data is encrypted, we can't read it, and we can’t sell it." (I use Standard Notes, and if there's some element of the security model that I'm misunderstanding, I'd like to know :) )
- astaza123 6y ago
  it doesn't say that anywhere indeed, but this is my understanding: if you reload the page your login is being preserved without re-entering your password. there's no way to maintain this without storing a key on the server (i.e. either the master key (MK), or a key that encrypts the MK, if the MK is stored locally
  - sealeck 6y ago
    Can't you store it in LocalStorage or IndexedDB
    - astaza123 6y ago
      you can. however, i hope they don't store it unencrypted - it's a very bad security practice for many reasons. assuming they store it encrypted with a temporary session key, the session key will necessarily be on the server. honestly, storing it on the server in a session storage is not a big deal. my original points are that a) web security is hard b) web e2ee is sort of hype on practice
      - 6y ago

elias94 6y ago

I looked everywhere on the website and not a single screenshot. Has a CLI?

sealeck 6y ago
It's a GUI application.

ApolloVonZ 6y ago

Even though I mostly stay away from the Google ecosystem, I do use Keep for several years now. Mainly because of how easy it is to export notes as sorted individual html files that I can import as formatted text into Scrivener where I organize all my writing. I wish the native MacOS Notes app would be better but I lost once all of my notes after an iCloud error. Even Apple couldn't help me on the phone. The structure was still there on their servers, but strangely the notes were empty.

jan_Inkepa 6y ago

After almost a decade of use I moved away from Simple Note (originally with notational velocity...) to Standard Notes over a year ago (their obligate unencrypted cloud storage was a deal-breaker for me. I use standard notes for a more or less unfiltered brain dump, so security is my #1 priority), and have been pretty happy with it, using it cross-platform. The support is pretty good - the forums (well, the slack) are quite active. There're one or two minor issues (not being able to search within individual notes, and some scrolling bugs on iOS iirc that I need to report at some point), but given that I'm using it across 4 platforms (iOS/macOS/Windows/Android), it seems to be working really well. And the lead developer seems quite sincerely committed/principled to the software's principles, which is nice. edit: I haven't tried out Joplin/Obsidian, which people seem to like here. Oh gosh I think I'm ok for now - my current solution solves my problem.

ergot_vacation 6y ago

I don't mean to be snarky, but what's the purpose of apps like this? Notepad.exe is 227 KB, runs instantly and flawlessly on even ancient environments, and gives all the basics. If you need something more "Power User," Notepad++ gives some language-sensitive formatting, tabs for easy switching between files, and plugins for custom use cases. If you need something more specific to a given language, that's an IDE, not a note taking program. If you need to write something with a bunch of rich formatting, that's a word processor, not a note taking program. The point of a note taking program is to be as blindingly simple, fast, and reliable as possible. It's the software equivalent of grabbing a scrap of paper (or maybe a little flip notebook) and scratching something down before you forget it. All this complexity defeats the purpose. A 200MB Electron app with web integration definitely defeats the purpose. For the curious and lazy, this is what it looks like: https://files.catbox.moe/kcelmg.PNG https://files.catbox.moe/kcelmg.PNG. Note that this was after I clicked off a large, complex dialog nagging me to create an account and sign in. Already this looks way too complex for my taste. Why are people so endlessly fascinated with forcing everything on the cloud? I have txt and rtf documents from decades ago that have survived through backup after backup. Meanwhile, if this program's servers go down tomorrow, tough luck.

bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
I see comments like this from time to time and can’t help but wonder if they’re serious or just satire at this point. People have mobile devices. People have windows and Mac (and Linux!) devices. People want seamless sync and sharing, simple formatting, for it to work across platforms, and for it to be exportable into some portable format. Sure, you can spend a lot of time forcing notepad and word into some sad version of a real app. Or you can pony up $5-10 a month, save your time for something valuable, and actually have a note taking app that’ll serve you well.
13rac1 6y ago
> I don't mean to be snarky, but what's the purpose of apps like this? 1. Note organization via tags with a searchable database 2. Secure off-site backup 3. Device-to-device syncing I'm sure there are more. I wish it wasn't written in Electron, but it wouldn't exist otherwise. As a web application: https://app.standardnotes.org/ https://app.standardnotes.org/ > Meanwhile, if this program's servers go down tomorrow, tough luck. It is open source, you can run the server yourself: https://github.com/standardnotes/syncing-server https://github.com/standardnotes/syncing-server

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

GekkePrutser 6y ago

I really miss tomboy (not the new ng version). I used it for years and it was amazing. Rich text without having to use markdown. Razor fast responsiveness when searching. Instant hyperlinks just by typing the name of another note. Excellent keyboard shortcuts too. I really miss it but it was no longer maintained and falling into disrepair on newer OSes due to lacking support for DPI scaling and dark modes. I use onenote now as it comes with O365 anyway but like most things microsoft it's bloated and slow. It offers a lot more features (tomboy couldn't even do inline pictures!) But fast responsiveness means more to me. I'd consider standard notes but there's so many of these apps around and most are not WYSIWYG editors but instead markdown with a separate preview window. I hate that. And they tend to be slow electron stuff which makes them no better than onenote. Not sure if this one is an exception but if so I might try it.

da39a3ee 6y ago
> And they tend to be slow electron stuff I've read this a couple of times on HN. Can someone fill me in here? Is the claim that electron apps are slow justified? If so why, technically, are they slow? The main one I use is Slack and it is perfectly fine on my machine.
- thecodrr 6y ago
  It's mostly hearsay. Electron is highly optimized (it's chromium after all). Making an electron app doesn't make it automatically slow and clunky. That's absurd. Sure it is a browser and it takes a little more Ram than you are used to (but most machines nowadays have 8 to 16 gigs of RAM so not a huge issue). What does make an electron app slow is the app itself. Obviously. You have VSCode that is blazing fast even for humongous files and you also have some other not so fast apps. Another huge issue raised is size. To be honest, 100 MB isn't abnormal for a desktop app. Look at any Qt app, it can be around 100 MB too. Same for dotnet. Of course native is better but most developers don't have the resources for that. Edit: I see people down voting without giving any reason. I know this is an unpopular opinion but come on. The days when you could use VSCode as an example of slow, clunky Electron app are gone. What's slow and huge is Jetbrains IntelliJ or Visual Studio; both native. VSCode proved that you can make a fast electron app; it just needs work like any other thing.

bmarquez 6y ago

I have a love/hate relationship with Standard Notes (and with most encrypted editors in general). Standard Notes is one of the few apps that has end-to-end encrytion AND password protection on the desktop (or Face ID on mobile devices). Joplin is E2E but refuses to encrypt locally, meaning someone who browses your computer can view your notes unless you use Joplin Portable in an encrypted container (with the added performance overhead). However, compared to Joplin, uploading images to notes is a pain. Standard Notes has multiple text editor options and they all suck. Only the "bold" editor allows you to upload images, and using FileSafe is extremely fiddly. Personally I would rather have one really good text editor than a bunch of half-baked ones. But Joplin is sluggish compared to both Standard Notes and Obsidian.md. Obsidian.md has the benefit of having everything as plain text files, for easy editing in other apps (there's also no need to export anything if they go out of business compared to Standard Notes/Joplin). But Obsidian's mobile app is still in development, and I'm a bit iffy about buying another subscription just for encrypted sync. ...And, if open source doesn't matter to you, there's always Microsoft OneNote.

crooked-v 6y ago
> But Obsidian's mobile app is still in development, and I'm a bit iffy about buying another subscription just for encrypted sync. Obsidian's pricing seems a bit weird to be in general, in that its publish/hosting functionality is priced around individual workspaces rather than either users or total usage. Because of that I'm never going to actually use said publish functionality (even though I would have paid for it in an instant if it was set up differently), because my use cases for it would involve publishing from a number of different small workspaces for entirely different audiences, and the devs apparently haven't considered at all that people may want to do that.
thecodrr 6y ago
You should give Notesnook[1](i am the developer) a try as well. It should solve most, if not all, of the above issues and its cheaper than every other notes app out there as well. [1]https://app.notesnook.com/ https://app.notesnook.com/ (it has a 14 day free trial)
- 6y ago

bachmeier 6y ago

I don't mind paying, but I've never cared for this product's pricing. If you want to pay monthly, it's $10 a month, which no sane person would pay for a plain notes editor and nothing else. The reasonable price is $30/year but you have to pay for five years in advance. Sure, we all have to eat, but it's not a sign of confidence if you're trying to push me to pay for five years in advance. If you believe in what you're selling, charge me $2.50 a month and give me a reason to stay.

thecodrr 6y ago
For this, you might find Notesnook (https://notesnook.com/ https://notesnook.com/) a better alternative. I mean its still $4.49 but I suppose that's still a lot cheaper. (Disclaimer: I am the developer so this may be a shameless plug, idk).
- system_32 6y ago
  Is there a limit of how many times you can try to self promote in one post?

whisk 6y ago

I do seeking for a lifetime note recently to store all my data. But considering lifetime, choosing subscription should be cautious. The price $2.48/month means $1488/50 years, I would rather choose a buyout payment for $200.

aorth 6y ago
If you pay them $200 now, how do you know they will be around in ten years, let alone fifty?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

thecodrr 6y ago

Standard Notes is a phenomenal note taking app and one of the first to bring encryption in note taking. They take security very seriously and have multiple third party audits. With that said, the bad outweigh the good. I don't mean to be a pessimist here (SN is inspirational) but: 1. Their free plan is extremely lacking. You can't even try out many of their editors. 2. Their pro plan mostly only offers editors. I am not sure how having 3 kinds of rich text editors is helpful but they have them. 3. They don't allow any form of account recovery. Which sounds really epic on paper but once you forget your password, you lose all your data. 4. The feature parity between their different apps across platforms is abysmal. The android app is notoriously feature lacking compared to the Web version. (They did put out an update which hopefully changes things). 5. In my extensive usage of the app, conflicts are very normal. I have no issue with that but there's no way to resolve them without creating duplicate copies of the note which clutters up the UI. 5. the UX is poor. No right click on notes, no distraction free mode, no way to collapse the huge notes list. 6. Search and organization seems like an after thought. The only way to organize is via tags. Tags are nice and all but there's not much you can do with them. 7. Their pricing seems absurd. 8. The development seems to be going no where. They are active but many of the above issues are still not addressed. But as I said, it's not all bad. Most people won't notice the above in their initial usage. They have a solid app with okay features. If you are a new user looking for encrypted notes and all that hosh posh or just an alternative to SN, you should also give Notesnook[1][2] a try; it solves all of the above issues in a sensible way. Do note that I am the dev so I am obviously biased. It's not perfect but I think it is a better alternative. [1]https://notesnook.com/ https://notesnook.com/ [2]https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook/ https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook/ (it's not open source but the repo has some good FAQ that you might be interested in reading).

sillysaurusx 6y ago
Well yeah they don’t offer any account recovery — that’s a sign the encryption might be trustworthy. It’s only a negative if you don’t care about that.
- thecodrr 6y ago
  I myself thought no account recovery automatically meant safety. It sounds very cool. However, in the past week alone, around 10 users of Notesnook came asking for a way to recover their account because they had forgotten their password. I mean, why should privacy be at such a huge risk to users' data? For the tech savy, Notesnook offers account recovery by giving the user option (actual kind of forcing) to save the encryption key someplace safe. Not ideal, of course, but better than nothing.

crossroadsguy 6y ago

UX is very lacking. You can’t have local text files (that you can backup on your own). The entire thing is, and feels just like, a web app in a poorly designed wrapper app. There were few more glaring issues the last time I was comparing note apps to replace notion + nv (+ Dyrii) setup. I’ve decided to give FSNotes a try. Hope I like it and it doesn’t go Electron or subscription later.

ExtraE 6y ago

Why is this better than the built in notes app on my phone or Atom and a private GitHub repo? That’s what I use and I’m yet to have a problem.

sealeck 6y ago
It's end-to-end encrypted?
- ExtraE 6y ago
  I guess I trust Apple not to leak/read my notes more than this guy.

remram 6y ago

Feedback: Every platform option takes you to a page with the same text: > Your download has started. Didn't start? Click here to start manually. Both for Android and Web, your download will NOT start until you click the link, which takes you to Google Play and the web app, respectively.

xipho 6y ago

Vim + potwiki. command mode -> space-w-w to my index, and notes away. https://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1018 https://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1018

kushan2020 6y ago

Me including lot of people hate the following about todays note apps which have one or more of the following: - Forces you to split screen of writing markdown on one side and rendered version on another. - Is a bloated electron app. - Data is not portable i.e. there is proprietary format or saved in the servers. It is a shameless pug but I am working on creating a WYSIWYG note taking app [1] that is web based, portable and fast. I would love to offer that as an alternative if anyone is interested. [1] https://bangle.io https://bangle.io

mickeyd290 6y ago
Bangle.io looks interesting, thanks. I can edit my local Markdown files in a web browser. How does it connect to GitHub? I tried the "Workspace: Import workspace from a Github URL" but it didn't appear to do anything. It would be great if Bangle.io could use GitHub as a backend store as an alternative to local hard drive storage.

pugworthy 6y ago

Can we at least acknowledge that there's an apparent eternal stream of "the best note app" being constantly developed or improved or touted?

thomasfromcdnjs 6y ago

I've been using the web version for several years. I've never committed to a note taking app for that long. Kudos to the team, I love your vision and impressed with the implementation.

cascom 6y ago

Why would you not just use a doc saved on an encrypted cloud drive (e.g. text file saved via Cryptomator on google drive?). It’s cross device, secure, and free(ish)

SCLeo 6y ago

Just making sure, Standard Notes is text only (i.e. No support for hand-draw lines), right? If that is correct, I assume then it will be very difficult for people like me whose note taking habits heavily revolves around drawing diagrams/annotating pictures to use. Nothing wrong with Standard Notes. I am just trying to confirm it is indeed not the tool for me.

tekchip 6y ago

They take security very seriously...if you pay. Two factor being behind the paywall is absurd. I called this concern out with the creators and was summarily dismissed with no good explanation why security, a key feature, takes a back seat to money.

jerednel 6y ago

The comments here prove their marketing could use work. SN Extended is basically a completely different app than the free version. Nested folders, smart tags (i organized a workflow with untagged notes going to an inbox folder, notes with due:yyyy-mm-dd being pulled into a Next Items folder etc..) Also there is a markdown editor, an editor that encrypts and stores attachments in an S3/webdav/drive/dropbox folder. There is a simple spreadsheet editor as well that I use for simple personal sheets. None of this you would really internalize on a cursory view of the homepage or by really even downloading the free app.

xvector 6y ago
The spreadsheet editor is really underrated. I haven't found a single other E2EE notes app that supports spreadsheets.

1MachineElf 6y ago

I use two open source note taking apps on my Android device. Anything that needs to be protected and private stays in Standard Notes. Everything else goes into Markor. Markor strikes an amazing balance between features and simplicity. Syncthing handles sync. Standard Notes does fine for the other stuff, but as said by other commenters, even it's Extended editor options are lacking, and there's also no convenient way to "share" content from another app into Standard Notes. People have been asking for that feature for years, but bizzarely it seems never to have been prioritized.

yarcob 6y ago

I'm always curious who is behind a company. How many people work there, how it is funded, where they are based, type of corporation, etc. These things make a big difference. Eg I typically trust a non profit that's been around for a couple of years more than a venture funded startup that just launched. This company doesn't even state where they are based or what the name of the company is on the website. They have a statement on longevity on their website, but no mention at all who this company even is. This does not inspire trust.

ttiurani 6y ago
Company information can in fact be found on the website, but I hate it that they use a .org website when they're clearly just yet another startup.
- Sebguer 6y ago
  What does this mean? Their app is open source: https://github.com/standardnotes/web https://github.com/standardnotes/web The first release was in 2017? I don't see any sign of them having taken any funding?
  - ttiurani 6y ago
    Being open source does not mean they aren't commercial. IMO using a .org as their only domain is flat out misleading: the honest way is to have only the source code and community in the .org and the commercial offering in a .com.
    - Sebguer 6y ago
      That's entirely fair! I don't think they're a 'typical startup' though, at least from a cursory look. Generally, it doesn't feel like there's much adherence to TLD norms these days at all.
  - austhrow743 6y ago
    I don’t think they’re a startup. They are a software company selling a saas though. .com for commercial, .org for non commercial organisations is the historic breakdown. Sure, people use all sorts of domain extensions these days. That said I don’t think Twitch is trying to trick people in to thinking they’re based in Tuvalu whereas I can’t say the same with this company and being a non commercial organisation. Don’t see what open source has to do with anything. Tons of very much profit seeking companies have open source code.

misterremote 6y ago

I just came across Standard Notes when I did a research for companies who work 4 days a week: https://remotehunt.com/standardnotes https://remotehunt.com/standardnotes Very cool!

mastazi 6y ago

is there an issue with my browser, or there are zero screenshots on that page? Anyone has a screenshot? I'm a bit of a visual person and I need to see stuff, just reading features lists won't do it for me... Edit: under the "extensions" page, if you scroll down a bit, you will eventually find some screenshots.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

ysee 6y ago

There was a Standard Notes app on fdroid. I don't know why they removed it

aryehof 6y ago

Does Standard Notes require a network connection to store data, or is data stored locally and synced when a network connection is available? I wonder how important (offline) local first storage of data is these days to users of these types of apps?

windthrown 6y ago
It is stored locally (encrypted) and then synced when a connection is available. Personally, I write enough notes on my phone in situations without an internet connection (airplane travel, subway commuting etc) that losing local storage would be a deal-breaker for me.
- aryehof 6y ago
  Many thanks!

beders 6y ago

I find those discussions around how secure this app is or not is pretty funny. The answer is: It's not. Not for any kind of end device attack. You are literally typing a note into a text field provided by the OS. You are reading it in an app through the OS rendering system. It is in clear-text in memory several times. There's no privacy on the internet. There's only hurdles of maybe increasing difficulty, but the decision to use a cloud-based note-taking app should be around the actual important features. Yes, I still want apps I'm using to follow best practices with encryption for data in transfer and at rest, but can't be the main trick.

YuukiRey 6y ago

I have a 5 year subscription but I'm not sure if I would recommend SN to others. They're vision is secure, encrypted notes. User interface and editing experience is unfortunately not part of that vision. Rather than giving users over a dozen editors, some maintained by the SN folks, some merely integrated, I'd prefer a single, opinionated and robust editor. You often can't easily go from one editor to another. Some of them have bugs or are just a bit annoying to use. All my SN notes are therefore plaintext. I honestly think all note taking solutions out there kinda suck. You always end up sacrificing something. Often that's seamless cross device sync and security. Sometimes it's editor features. Google Keep for example is great for what it tries to achieve but it's just too limited for serious note taking in my opinion.

tanin 6y ago

Shameless plug. I wrote a go app that keeps syncing your notes to GitHub/gitlab. I simply maintain a giant plain text note. Sometimes I hope there is a better way to search, but it's decent enough. https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes It runs on Mac, windows, and Ubuntu

jively 6y ago

Best notes app I've used - love the encryption philosophy. Editors could be better. I actually real like the blogging integration. Definitely recommended over bloat ware like EverNote, OneNote etc.

nt2h9uh238h 6y ago

Trying to give feedback (heavy user of evernote, notion) Hate: - huge lack of basic hotkeys: CMD+N for new notes - no styling / formatting at all in the free version, which is a huge bummer. - CMD+, doesn't show the "preferences window" I expected - Markdown styling Love - extremely fast (evernote and notion became exremely slow to the point I'm close to dropping both) -

88840-8855 6y ago

I tried them all: - Joplin - Standard Notes - Simplenote - Onenote, Evernote, Keep I ended up using the iOS/macOS built-in notes app. It just works. Hear me out why: + it is free, incl. tables, dark mode, basic formatting, pictures inline + sync works great (Joplin was the worst of them all) + the UI is simple, clean and intuitive. Apps feel polished and smooth + I can rely on apple that the app will not suddenly be discontinued from one day to the other + all apps have identical features What I really wished apple notes would offer: - encryption - AAA webapp - better tables (if you need tables, you will suffer with the current implementation) I will not go back to the alternatives as they provide an overall worse package for my daily use.

marchides 6y ago

Online privacy. Lol.

gustavorg 6y ago

100 mb download? No, thanks. Long time ago I implemented a small application to store my passwords and personal notes, using Imgui, and it has encription and everything I need: < 5mb. I should publish it.

austincheney 6y ago

From the comments it seems there is a dedicated following to a variety of note taking apps. Is that following almost exclusively limited to smartphones? Do people use note taking apps on their desktops/laptops?

spamtarget 6y ago

this doesn't need to be an internet service, your computer is absolutely capable of do something like this and you can choose any of your favorite backup service. 10 bucks a month , its a joke

fattybob 6y ago

ah, the way they handle images is just lamentable - go take a look at joplin, free and good enough. That Notesnook app looks good too, fast and slick, but they're gouging you on the price and unclear on who they're selling your info to...

truth_ 6y ago

Does it offer free sync among devices? If I write somethin on the Andeoid app, does my Linux desktop client instantly reflect the change? How is it different from Simplenote?

wjntzf 6y ago

I guess it all comes down to building a secure cross-platform note taking app is had. Building a business around it (in the abstract sense of putting food on the table) is even harder. And then factor in the low switching cost & endless competition... So I accept the imperfection of SN, and use other tools for specific use cases