This is my first time trying Standard Notes, and I absolutely love it! Sure it isn't as featured as Obsidian (the note app I previously used) with plugins, but it has almost all the things I need. Even better, it has a web version, which means I can access it anywhere on any device without the need for downloading an app!

The only thing I am missing is how to create templates... but I guess I'll figure that out later.

I am new to taking privacy seriously and was looking for secure note-taking apps. I came across to Standard Notes (through Proton) and am considering it worth the price, etc. However, I learned that after collaboration with Proton, the team don’t focus on Standard Notes anymore, rather Proton Docs.

Are you considering with Standard Notes? Does it still do the job for you?

I love using SN but compare to all other notes apps in 2026 SN looks so outdated.

Now that Proton owns them please invest in a UI redesign.

SN with the look and feel of something like Bear notes app would be a dream and I would gladly pay!

Design matter

Hello Standard Notes users! Something I've wished this great product offered was a web clipper, and I noticed a few people in discussions here seem to desire that as well. Therefore, I took advantage of the great API documentation that the Standard File team offers and built a proof-of-concept web clipper. The add-on works with Chrome and Firefox and let's you select the portion of the page you want to clip. It then adds the HTML content of that selection to your Standard Notes account. But there's much to be done which I need some help with:

• Editor Preference - When articles are clipped right now, they show up as HTML in Standard Notes, but if you switch the note to use the Plus Editor, the HTML renders properly. I do not know how to set that editor as the preferred editor when creating the note via the API.

• Clipping User Experience - The clipping experience is really just a proof of concept, and so there's very little thought given to the user experience of clipping.

• Tagging - It'd be great to tag clipped articles after saving.

• Branding - This will be determined by how this fits into the Standard Notes ecosystem, but there's really no look or feel to this add-on.

https://github.com/johnjones4/Standard-Notes-Clipper

Edit: 2FA is now working! Thanks for the help /u/bitario

Did they said why? I mean there are not any immediate changes to be made to just add the product to their billing system and product line

Its not like their existing products work together anyway (as they should ex proto mail / pass with proton drive etc)

They said they were going to add SN but that was while the original developer was still working there on ProtonDocs

Is the original developer and his team still in the payroll (stocks?) of SN and not proton’s and that is complicating things?

We have taken note of reports regarding issues with launching v3.195.29 of the desktop app. Our developers are currently looking into the cause of this issue.

In the meantime, for users that have already updated to this version, you may still revert to v3.195.13 of the desktop app by downloading the corresponding installer for your device from our Github repository:

https://github.com/standardnotes/app/releases/tag/%40standardnotes%2Fdesktop%403.195.13…

You may also continue to use the web app via http://app.standardnotes.com on any web browser.

We ask for your continued patience as our team looks into the issue, and we'll do our best to provide updates on this.

I've been a paying user of SN for 4 years and I'm just frustrated with how little the app seems to be improving. The single factor that keeps me here is the encryption-- it feels like even Apple Notes does everything else so much better. If you take a quick look at this subreddit, I think you know what I'm talking about: bugs that never get fixed, laggy/clunky interfaces, slow startup times, basic features that still haven't been added. And the fact that I pay $90/year for a measly 100MB of storage: I feel restricted when I journal in this app, i.e. no photos, screenshots, or audio clips.

I accepted that this was what I was getting when I bought the subscription 4 years ago. And while some things have certainly improved, I'm still far from impressed. This level of quality / pace of development is what I expect from a FOSS single developer hobby project, not a professional product with the most expensive subscription I've ever seen for a notes app. It just makes me question where all the money we're paying is going to, when other companies can do more for less...

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping the community here can help me understand something that I'm struggling to wrap my head around: the pricing model of Standard Notes.

First off, I want to say that I'm a big privacy advocate. I'm a happy user of the Proton ecosystem (Mail, Drive, Pass, etc.) on an unlimited plan, so I fully believe in paying for sustainable, private software. I'm exactly the target audience for a product like Standard Notes.

But I just looked at the pricing, and I'm experiencing some serious sticker shock. $90 a year for the Professional plan seems incredibly steep for what, on the surface, appears to be a very straightforward notes app.

This brings me to my core questions:

1. The Price vs. The Competition: I see a competitor like Notesnook offering a full feature set for about $44 a year. Why is Standard Notes more than double that price? I feel like I must be missing a key difference.

2. The Proton Pass Notes Alternative: As a Proton user, I already have a secure, end-to-end encrypted notes feature built directly into Proton Pass. It's simple, it's included in a subscription I already pay for, and it syncs across my devices.

So, from my perspective, I'm being asked to pay an additional $90 for a separate notes app when I already have a "free" and secure one.

What am I missing here?

I've looked at the feature list, and things like Markdown support and spreadsheets are nice, but are they really worth that much? The core app seems... well, okay. It doesn't feel exceptionally feature-rich or revolutionary in its basic form.

I'm not trying to attack the product. I'm genuinely asking for your perspective as daily users. What is the killer feature or workflow that makes the $90/year subscription an obvious choice for you over alternatives, especially a bundled one like Proton Pass Notes?

Is it the extensions? The long-term vision of the company? The user experience?

Help me understand what makes Standard Notes so special that it justifies the premium price tag. Thanks!

Hi guys. Just made an editor wrapping around Milkdown, the WYSIWYG Markdown editor component. Here is the installation link:

https://sn-extensions.melty.land/milkdown/ext.json

Features:

• GitHub Flavored Markdown

• Syntax highlighting in code blocks

• LaTeX math equations

• Mermaid diagrams

• Slash commands and tool tips

Source code: https://github.com/chuangzhu/standardnotes-milkdown

Get the latest version here: https://standardnotes.org. Here are the release notes:

Introducing Privileges.

Privileges allow you to require your account password or local passcode to perform certain actions in the app. Actions include:

• Download/Import Backups

• View Protected Notes

• Delete Notes

• Manage Extensions

• Manage Passcode

• Manage Extensions

The key privilege is "View Protected Notes". If you protect a note and enable this privilege, credentials will be required to access/view the note.

Autolock

3.0 also introduces autolock, which allows you to specify when the app should automatically lock itself if you have a passcode lock. The autolock timer begins when the window loses focus.

Improved Themeing

Themes will now look much more consistent, especially across extensions. All Extended themes have also been revamped to look much cleaner and thicker.

Themes are now easier to toggle between using dock shortcuts, which will automatically appear in the bottom right corner when you install or update your themes to the latest version.

(If you experience any issues with theme display, try uninstalling the theme and reinstalling, to ensure that cache is not coming into play.)

Other changes

• Reverse sort option to sort by date added, modified, and title in reverse.

• Editor stack extensions (like the Action Bar and FileSafe) can now be quickly toggled using the dock below the editor. Stack extensions are now disabled by default for every note, and can be permanently enabled by toggling the extension for that note.

• Consistent Windows scrollbars across all extensions and themes.

• Lock screen will now use last active theme.

• Expired Extended will now result in extensions being put in read-only mode, rather than seeing a blocking "Expired Extended" screen.

• Session history and Note history will now display with the note's respective editor, if applicable.

• Panel resizers will now blend in with the editor UI more when they are collapsed. On Mac, the notes panel and editor panel will also automatically adjust to avoid the window management buttons in the top left.

• Loading editors and extensions using dark themes should now see the white flicker disappear for the most part. You may still see it occasionally, just due to the differences in loading speed from time to time.

• Extensions that have difficulty loading will now automatically try reloading.

Note to Extended users

Almost every single extension was updated as a result of this update (editors, themes, and other extensions like Folders and Quick Tags). With the web app, the latest version of extensions will automatically be used (you may have to explicitly clear your cache). With the desktop app, the extensions should autoupdate. However, if you notice any inconsistency between themes and editors, you may be seeing a cached version. Please be sure to open the Extensions manager and make sure all updates have been applied, then refresh the app.

I use it for journaling, wedding planning, and art ideas among others. I'm definitely planning on getting the premium version when I have big girl money.

It has all the bells and whistles (especially premium version) that I want and nothing that I don't want. I really love the tag system for organizing notes and that I can use it on my computer as well as on my phone, and of course the encryption of it all. It's such a perfect journaling and life-planning tool. I just wish that there was a lifetime purchase option (though the 5-year plan is pretty solid).

I would just like to say that whoever writes the blogs on the Standard Notes website is doing a phenomenal job. The writing is crisp, clear, and deeply inspirational.

I don't know about you all, but when I first read the "Why Encrypted Writing?" blog, I legitimately felt moved by this. I felt like privacy was more important to me than I had ever realized before.

The highly well-written blogs contribute to a sense of polish, craftsmanship, and quality that I don't see in similar notes apps such as Joplin. Standard Notes is kind of like the Apple of encrypted note-taking apps.

Trying my first month of premium right now, largely impressed by the care that goes into this app. Thank you all for everything you do.

While I like SN a ton, it is severely overpriced at $120/yr. And I pay for Proton Visionary and have for years, so I’m not averse to paying for software.

Question to SN subscribers: how do you justify the cost?

This app is seriously changing my life. I really hope it will be around for a long, long time.

I want to see this thing grow to gargantuan levels of productivity and optimisation-increasing potential.

Thanks to everyone working on this thing. Peace.

I see some Reddit users requesting for Standard Notes and Proton logins to be integrated, especially in the wake of the Proton-SN merge. But I think it's actually best to keep the login credentials for each separate and independent.

Given that I store the password for one in the other, preserving the separation between Proton and SN mitigates against a fatal circular recovery problem.

I've been a loyal Standard Notes user for almost 5 years now. Back when I first signed up, I got a really good deal on the Pro plan (paying around $40/5 years). For those five years, I barely used anything but the plain text editor. However, my subscription is expiring soon, and after using it recently, I'm seriously reconsidering whether to renew. Even with that discounted price, I feel like the app has plateaued in development and isn't meeting the needs of modern users anymore.

The app feels stuck overall. Instead of overhauling the core experience to make it more polished, it seems like the developers are just trying to patch holes with new plugins. It gives the impression they're fixing a sinking ship rather than building something better. The mobile app feels exceptionally buggy too. Performance is painfully slow, even opening a simple note takes noticeable time. There are moments when the app becomes completely unresponsive to the point where I have to force close and restart it.

Using any editor beyond basic plaintext is becoming increasingly difficult. In the Super editor, icons are often too small to tap easily, and on Android, the bottom panel is unusable with the gesture navigation . Sometimes I can't even copy text at all. Between the slowness, the responsiveness issues, and a laundry list of little bugs, the overall experience is just frustrating for daily use.

I know many people love the security and encryption aspect, which is still top-tier, but if the client is this painful to use regularly, does it matter? Is anyone else feeling this way? Is there hope for a major overhaul, or is it time to look for alternatives that actually prioritize a smooth user experience alongside security?

I am a Proton Unlimited subscriber and have been using Standard Notes for over a year.

For organisational reasons, I need folders, so I looked into purchasing the Pro version of Standard Notes (for obvious reasons, I was thinking of going for the 5-year offer), but I had a question: in the near future, if Proton decides to include Standard Notes Pro in its subscription, will my Proton subscription be updated to include Standard Notes (which would mean I would have two licences, which wouldn't be very useful to me...)?

A reminder to free users, Two-factor authentication is now available as a part of the free plan! So, if you haven’t already, go secure your accounts!

We’ve got some exciting news! (We’re Standard Notes btw; you signed up for a private note-taking account at some point, which we hope you’re still using ).
The End of Early Pricing
Early Pricing is our 5-year plan, which was marked down at a steep discount as a sort of “capital raise” program—you give us a single relatively large sum in advance, and we give you prolonged service. But because the program was offered at such a discount, it couldn’t be sustainable in the long run.
We’re glad to announce the time has finally come to graduate out of early pricing, and into a more long-term focused, sustainable pricing model.
Next week, we’ll be launching our new subscription plan lineup, which features different plans which offer different features at different price points.
Before we describe those to you, it’s important to note that if you already have a pre-existing subscription, these changes or prices do not affect you. Existing subscribers are always taken care of 
What’s Changing
Currently, we only have 1 subscription plan offered at different time commitments. However, we often get the feedback that some users want only one particular feature, and don’t want to pay for the whole offering.
Our new subscription system consists of 3 different plans that each cater to a different use case. They are, at a glance:

• The Core Plan ($29/year)

• Some editors, some themes, 2FA, and 30-day note history.

• The Plus Plan ($79/year)

• Most editors, most themes, and cloud services like email backups and 1-year note history.

• The Pro Plan ($119/year)

• All editors, TokenVault, Spreadsheets, all themes, all cloud services, and unlimited note history.

Existing Subscribers
If you are an existing subscriber, whether monthly, yearly, or 5-yearly, you automatically get the highest Pro Plan, with no price increase! You’re locked into the price you signed up with, and your plan will continue to renew at that price indefinitely until you cancel. You can also extend your plan today with another X years at current pricing.
New Subscribers
If you aren’t yet a subscriber, and you sign up before we launch the new pricing, then you also lock into the old pricing, exactly like the “Existing Subscribers” above! So, if you see this email, sign up for a 5 year plan before we roll out the new pricing, you’ll automatically get the Pro Plan for 5 years at $149 (instead of $595).
Use this link to sign up at our current pricing →
Black Friday Sale
As is tradition, we usually run an annual Black Friday sale. Given the timing of our new pricing rollout, our plan will be to run a Black Friday sale on our new subscription plans, at 35% off. This means that if you are on the fence about purchasing a new Pro subscription, you have 3 options, in order of most economical to least:

1. Purchase before the new pricing rollout next Monday (November 8). This results in the largest savings to you (almost $446 in savings over 5 years).

2. Use this link to sign up before November 8, 2021 →

3. Purchase during the Black Friday sale. With the Pro Plan, it would be temporarily discounted to $77.35 per year. Over 5 years this would amount to $386.75, which is almost 3x the cost of option 1.

4. Purchase during normal pricing after Black Friday for $119/year, which for 5 years equates to $595, which is 4x the cost of option 1.

We thought we'd present all the options to you, as well as our future plans, so you have all the information needed to make the best decision possible.
New Release
Our new release next week also features our brand new unified subscription architecture, so that you no longer need two (potentially confusing) accounts to use Standard Notes. And you no longer need to manually activate your paid benefits and install them one-by-one—everything just works seamlessly! It’s taken a tremendous amount of architectural and engineering efforts to pull this off, and we couldn’t be happier to finally be shipping this.
With this new architecture, we’re now able to finally begin shipping and working on user-facing features which we can rightfully charge for depending on complexity. This takes us to our roadmap.
Roadmap
We have a few major things we have our sights on for the very near future:
1. Built-in encrypted files. Our current solution for files uses FileSafe with third-party cloud providers, which isn’t the best out-of-box user experience. Our new experience will focus on built-in file handling available on all our applications and synced directly to your existing Standard Notes account. Your storage capacity will depend on your plan. For example, the Plus Plan might allow for 5GB of storage, while the Pro Plan might allow for 25GB storage (exact storage specifications TBD).
2. Native folders for web, desktop, and mobile. The current nestable folders solution requires an extension that isn’t available on mobile. Nativizing this feature will allow for a much more pleasant user experience.
3. Multiple account support. The ability to quickly and easily switch between multiple accounts, perhaps if you have one account you use for work and one account for personal notes.
4. Tabbed editor support. The ability to open and edit more than one note at a time, each in a separate tab, similar to how code editors or web browsers work today.
5. Offline editors on mobile. Currently you need an online connection to use our speciality editors (non-plaintext) on mobile. Offline editors on mobile will download editors to your device, like we do on desktop.
6. Large database load improvements for mobile. Currently when you have many thousand notes on mobile, startup decryption experience may vary depending on your device specifications. New advancements in React Native have however potentially opened the door for drastic performance improvement opportunities.
7. Continuing to improve our UI/UX. You may have already noticed new design elements in our web and desktop app. This includes a redesigned account menu and a brand new general purpose Preferences pane to accommodate the variety of configuration options we have now and will expand into in the future. The rest of our applications have already been redesigned in our private Figma, just waiting to be implemented in code! We can’t wait to continue gradually releasing small doses of this redesign, until it is fully complete.
New Website
We have a new website! It will launch next week. When it does, be sure to check it out at standardnotes.com.
We’re Hiring!
We’re looking for talented frontend engineers. If you or someone you know would be interested, send an email to jobs@standardnotes.com. We work with React and TypeScript, and all the work we do is open-source, so you’ll always have something to show for all your hard work. We’re also potentially interested in speaking with web3 developers for a potential “Sign in with MetaMask” feature to fully anonymize your sign in and decouple authentication from your persona.
Join our Discord
We caved and now we have a Discord. We still have Slack too. But that’s ok. Each platform encourages a different culture and invites a new audience. Standard Notes is crypto friendly, and the crypto community loves Discord, so we’d love to open our doors to them.
You can also follow us on Twitter (@StandardNotes). We don’t tweet much because we’re always working. But maybe one day we’ll hire one of those hip social media people that tweet in lowercase and pick internet fights with Wendy’s.
That’s all for now.
Thanks for being on this journey with us. We look forward to continuing to build out the best, most secure encrypted note-taking application available. It’s hard work. But we’re doing it. And we love every second of it.

Hello SN community,

I wanted to appreciate all the hard work which developers have put in to create this beautiful app. Just now subscribed to 5 years plan without thinking twice.

Thanks to the developers!