Standard Notes is an [[AGPLv3]] licensed knowledge management and note taking app written in [[Typescript]]. - [Website](https://standardnotes.com/) - [Source](https://github.com/standardnotes/app) - Documentation - [AlternativeTo](https://alternativeto.net/software/standard-notes/about/) > Standard Notes is an end-to-end encrypted note-taking app for digitalists and professionals. Capture your notes, files, and life’s work all in one secure place. # Notability ??? # Thoughts Everything about Standard Notes just feels "off" to me. It's an ok looking app, but there's very few plugins available even after you pay for them and the site has this scammy marketing vibe to it. Like even the demo notes are full of crypto-bro stuff. Actually, you know what it looks like? It looks like a weird email client from 2015. It's clearly not pulling people in because they only have one dev and the founder is off doing something else. # Philosophy ## License The client and server software is fully open source. This is good! Unfortunately, even after several years they never attracted any kind of contributor community. ## Misleading Claims Standard Notes' comparison page[^2] against [[Obsidian Editor]] implies a lot of things that aren't true. Obsidian sync is also end-to-end encrypted. Two factor authentication for *logins* isn't a huge win over Obsidian because accessing any vault requires a dedicated decryption key - which *is* a second form of authentication. Also, while Standard Notes has a built in web clipper, unlike the plugins available for Obsidian, the former is paid while the latter is free. I also have no idea what Standard Notes' "daily email backup" means and they do not explain the feature anywhere.[^3] ## Pricing It is currently [[2024-02-05]] $90/yr for access to [[Markdown]] and folders. I am not kidding. The free version is [[Plain Text]] with no folders and no plugins or themes. This can of course be trivially circumvented by returning `FeatureStatus.Entitled` from the `fetFeatureStatus` function of the `FeatureService` [[Typescript]] file,[^1] but it just feels weird to have to do so. ## Slop I don't see any obvious evidence of [[Generative AI|Slop]] code in their source and there's no [[LLM]] integrations in the promoted list of plugins. But the founder and current primary developer are both connected to "vibe coding" and "AI", so it is likely that it simply isn't visible from the outside. The site itself is covered in images that have that distinct look of [[Stable Diffusion]] and even older generative "AI" models. ## Development It seems like the last couple of years the app has been maintained by a single hired developer. The original founder, after building some vibe-coding apps is working on a new venture aimed at replacing [[Slack]] and hasn't touched the code since [[2024]]. # Platform Support # Features - Security - Local encryption - End-to-end encrypted sync - Mobile app lock - Fast, free, and encrypted cross-platform sync on unlimited devices. # Tips # References [^1]: https://github.com/IHappyDayI/StandardNotesApp/commit/0574e59ecca7acf4b5ccd3026497dd1745769140 [^2]: https://standardnotes.com/compare/obsidian-alternative [^3]: https://standardnotes.com/help/28/how-do-i-enable-daily-email-backups