Beaver Notes vs Notesnook
We give Beaver Notes a 3.4 GPA and Notesnook a 4.0, out of 4.0. Notesnook grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Notesnook
Open source, end-to-end encrypted notes on every platform
How we grade them
| 3.4GPABeaver NotesVery good | 4.0GPANotesnookExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AThe whole app is free and open source under the MIT licence, with no monthly fee and no paid tier. The project says it will stay free and takes donations. | AEssential is $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year on the US App Store, a third of the $5.99 this category typically starts at. Pro is $6.99. Paid plans mainly buy storage, so plenty of people will never need one. Students get Pro for $19.99 a year. |
| Free plan and trial | AEverything is free with no account: the editor, locked notes, attachments and sync through your own storage. There's nothing to upgrade to. A hosted sync option, BeaverSync, is announced for later this year. | AFree forever, no card: unlimited encrypted notes on unlimited devices. Most people could stay here. The caps are 50 MB of attachments a month, 10 MB a file, 50 notebooks, 50 tags and 10 active reminders. |
| Features | BMarkdown with LaTeX equations, code blocks and Mermaid diagrams, links between notes, labels, a command palette, password-locked notes, and PDFs, audio and drawings inside a note. But version history, backlinks and plugins are only planned, for version 5. | AEnd-to-end encryption on everything, an editor with tables, task lists, code, maths and attachments, notes that link to each other, a vault behind a second password, reminders, a web clipper and publishing a note as a web page. |
| Ease of use | BWe have no store rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. You install it and write, with no sign-up. Sync means picking a folder inside Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud or Syncthing yourself. | A4.7 from about 670 App Store ratings. The encryption happens without you doing anything, and the free plan needs no card. The plans take a minute to compare, as they differ mostly in storage numbers. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWindows, Mac and Linux, as installers or through Scoop, Homebrew, Flatpak and the AUR. Sync rides on a folder in Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud or Syncthing. No phone app in the stable release, though, and no web version. | AWindows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone and the web, plus a clipper for Chrome and Firefox. An inbox API lets Zapier, IFTTT or your own script drop notes in, encrypted with your key. |
| Best for | free Markdown notes kept on your own computer | private, encrypted notes that are free to keep |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Beaver Notes and Notesnook. How we grade
Where they differ
- Beaver Notes is free. Notesnook starts at $1.99 per month, or $19.99 per year (Essential).
- Only Notesnook lists a web app.
- Only Notesnook lists Android and iOS apps.
- Only Notesnook lists a browser extension.
- Notesnook is self-hostable and end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Notesnook also covers web clipper.
At a glance
| Beaver Notes | Notesnook | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $1.99 per month, or $19.99 per year (Essential) |
| Free plan | The whole app is free and open source under the MIT license, with no account and no monthly fee. The project says it will stay free and takes donations. | Free forever, no card: unlimited encrypted notes on unlimited devices, with 50 MB of attachment storage a month, 10 MB per file, 50 notebooks, 50 tags and 10 active reminders. |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial on monthly and yearly plans; a payment method is required. The 5-year plan has no trial. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Beaver Notes | Streetwriters (Private) Ltd. |
| Price read from | raw.githubusercontent.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Beaver Notes
- People who want notes kept on their own device with no account
- Windows, Mac and Linux users looking for an MIT-licensed notes app
- Markdown note-takers who want math, diagrams and file attachments
Notesnook
- People who want notes the provider cannot read
- Unlimited notes across many devices on a free plan
- Users who want open source clients and sync server
- Students and educators, who can get Pro for $19.99 a year
Worth knowing
Beaver Notes
- The stable release, 4.4.0, covers Windows, macOS and Linux only; the site says a mobile app is in the works and takes beta sign-ups.
- There is no hosted sync yet: you pick a folder in your own cloud or sync service. A hosted option, BeaverSync, is announced for later this year.
- Version 5 is a rewrite still in beta; real-time collaboration, version history, backlinks and plugins are planned for it.
- The docs say auto sync does not work on Linux folders mounted through GVFS.
Notesnook
- The free plan allows 50 MB of attachment uploads a month and 10 MB per file, and caps notebooks and tags at 50 each.
- Paid tiers mainly raise storage and limits: Essential gives 1 GB a month, Pro 10 GB and Believer 25 GB.
- Prices on notesnook.com are localized by country and shown with tax; the dollar prices here come from the US App Store listing.
- The 5-year plan is prepaid and does not include the 14-day trial.
Key features
Beaver Notes
- Local Markdown notes
- Notes are stored on your device and written in Markdown, with LaTeX equations, code blocks and Mermaid diagrams. No account or server is involved.
- Note linking and labels
- Notes can link to one another, and labels typed with a # sort and filter them. Home and Archive views show notes as cards that can be bookmarked.
- Command Prompt
- A command palette, available on every page, searches notes by title, content or label and runs commands such as opening settings.
- Locked notes
- A note can be locked with a password, which encrypts its content until the password is entered again.
- Files, audio and drawings
- PDFs, presentations, images and audio can be placed inside notes, and sketches or handwritten sections can be inserted as drawings.
- Sync through your own storage
- Sync works by choosing a folder inside a service such as Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud or Syncthing, with an auto-sync option or manual sync buttons.
Notesnook
- End-to-end encryption
- Everything is encrypted on the device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2 before it syncs, so the servers hold only data they cannot read.
- Rich editor
- The editor handles tables, task lists, outlines, code blocks, maths formulas, images and file attachments, with Markdown support.
- Vault and app lock
- The app can require a fingerprint, PIN or password to open, and a vault puts selected notes behind a second password.
- Linked notes
- Notes link to one another, and each note lists both the notes it points to and the notes that reference it.
- Web clipper and published notes
- An open source clipper for Chrome and Firefox saves pages or selections into notes. A single note can be published as a web page, optionally behind a password.
- Reminders and Inbox API
- Reminders can be set on any note and fire from the device. An inbox API lets Zapier, IFTTT or your own script add notes, encrypted with your key.
Plans
Beaver Notes
Beaver Notes$0
The full desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux, as installers or through Scoop, Homebrew, Flatpak and the AUR.
Notesnook
Free$0
Unlimited notes and devices, 50 MB of attachment storage a month, 10 MB file size, 50 notebooks, 50 tags and 100 versions per note.
Essential$1.99
per month, or $19.99 per year (US App Store prices)
1 GB of storage a month, 100 MB file size, 500 notebooks and tags, 50 active reminders and 1,000 versions per note.
Pro$6.99
per month, or $69.99 per year (US App Store prices)
10 GB of storage a month, 1 GB file size and unlimited notebooks, tags, colors and reminders. Also sold as a prepaid 5-year plan.
Believer$8.99
per month, or $89.99 per year (US App Store prices)
25 GB of storage a month and 5 GB file size, with every limit removed. Also sold as a prepaid 5-year plan.
Ways to pay less
Beaver Notes
No public discounts listed.
Notesnook
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
The pricing page labels yearly billing as 2 months free. On the US App Store, Essential is $19.99 a year against $1.99 a month, and Pro is $69.99 against $6.99.
- Education
Pro for $19.99 a year for students and educators
Students and educators can apply with an EDU email address or an official document to get Notesnook Pro for 19.99 USD per year. It lasts one year and can be reclaimed.
- Other savings
Prepaid 5-year plans for Pro and Believer
Pro and Believer can be paid for five years at a time, at a lower monthly rate than the standard yearly price shown on the pricing page.
