Cryptee vs Standard Notes
We give Cryptee and Standard Notes the same GPA: 3.2 out of 4.0. Cryptee grades higher on value for money. Standard Notes grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cryptee
Encrypted documents, notes and photo storage from Estonia
Standard Notes
End-to-end encrypted notes app with open source clients
How we grade them
| 3.2GPACrypteeVery good | 3.2GPAStandard NotesVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A€3 a month buys 10 GB of encrypted storage for documents, photos and videos, and it's the same price billed monthly or yearly. That's a low start for this category. The next step is a big one, though: 400 GB at €9 a month billed yearly. | CProductivity is $90 a year, about $7.50 a month where this category typically starts at $5.99, and only yearly prices are listed. That buys Markdown, rich text and folders, but still no file storage. Files need Professional at $120. |
| Free plan and trial | B100 MB, free forever, with no email address or phone number asked for. That's a lot of text and not many photos. Since the same account holds your photo and video library, 100 MB is tight. | BFree forever, with encryption, sync on unlimited devices, offline access and daily email backups. That's generous. But notes are plain text only, there are no folders, and history only covers your current session. |
| Features | AAn editor with Markdown, KaTeX math, tables, checkboxes, hashtags and links between documents, all encrypted with AES-256. It opens DOCX, ODT and PDF files, imports Evernote notes, stores photos in albums, and can hide whole folders until you type their names. | AEnd-to-end encryption on everything, rich text and Markdown notes, spreadsheets, a 2FA authenticator, a web clipper, note history and 100 GB of encrypted file storage on Professional. That's the whole job, done privately. |
| Ease of use | BPick a username and you're in. Installing means adding the site from your browser, not visiting an app store, and on an iPhone Lockdown Mode has to be off for it. No App Store rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. | A4.67 from about 3,700 App Store ratings. The free plan is plain text and tags, so there's not much to learn. The catch is knowing which note types go read-only if a paid plan lapses. |
| Platforms and integrations | CIt's a web app and nothing else. It does install from the browser on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS, and the installed app works offline. But there are no native apps, and the listing shows no integrations or API. | BWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, plus a clipper for Chrome and Firefox on paid plans. You can host the server yourself too. But the listing shows no integrations and no API, so it keeps to itself. |
| Best for | private notes and photos nobody else can read | private notes nobody else can read |
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: Cryptee and Standard Notes. How we grade
Where they differ
- Cryptee starts at €3 per month (10 GB). Standard Notes starts at $90 per year (Productivity).
- Only Standard Notes lists macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android apps.
- Only Standard Notes lists a browser extension.
- Standard Notes is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Cryptee also covers linked notes and documents.
- Standard Notes also covers web clipper.
At a glance
| Cryptee | Standard Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | €3 per month (10 GB) | $90 per year (Productivity) |
| Free plan | 100 MB of encrypted storage, described as free forever. Signing up needs a username and no email address or phone number. | Standard plan: end-to-end encrypted plain-text notes, unlimited device sync, offline access, tags, password-protected notes, two-factor authentication and daily encrypted email backups. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Cryptee (Svartlab OÜ) | Standard Notes |
| Price read from | crypt.ee | standardnotes.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Cryptee
- Private journals and notes that the provider cannot read
- Keeping documents and a photo library in one encrypted account
- Signing up without giving an email address or phone number
Standard Notes
- Private notes that the provider cannot read
- Keeping sensitive records and documents alongside notes
- People who want open source apps and the option to self-host
- Small groups: Professional can be shared with up to 5 accounts
Worth knowing
Cryptee
- There are no native or app-store apps: it is a progressive web app installed from the browser, and iOS Lockdown Mode has to be turned off for the site.
- The free plan stops at 100 MB; paid plans are sold by storage size and priced only in euros.
- The client apps are open source, but the backend is not published and the service cannot be run on your own server.
Standard Notes
- The free plan is limited to plain-text notes; Markdown, rich text, spreadsheets and folders need Productivity at $90 per year.
- The pricing page lists yearly prices only, and there is no free trial; refunds are offered within 14 days (Productivity) or 90 days (Professional).
- Encrypted file storage comes only with Professional, and files cannot be viewed or downloaded after a subscription expires.
- When a subscription lapses, notes in the paid editors become read-only until switched back to plain text.
Key features
Cryptee
- Encrypted document editor
- Documents, notes and journals are encrypted with AES-256 on your device before they leave it, and only you hold the keys. They sync across your devices in encrypted form.
- Markdown, math and structure
- The editor takes Markdown and hotkeys, inline code and KaTeX math, checkboxes, tables and inline #hashtags, builds a table of contents, and cross-links documents and attached files.
- Encrypted photos and videos
- Photo and video storage has albums, hashtags, typo-tolerant search and support for RAW files. Albums can be shared through end-to-end encrypted links.
- Ghost folders and albums
- Folders and albums can be hidden from the account entirely and brought back only by someone who knows their names.
- File format support
- It opens and edits DOCX, ODT and PDF files, imports Evernote notes, opens and saves Markdown files and exports documents as PDFs. PDFs and ebooks can sit beside a document.
- Installable web app
- Cryptee runs in a browser and installs as a progressive web app on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS. The installed app also works offline.
Standard Notes
- End-to-end encryption
- Notes, tags and other data are encrypted on the device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before syncing, so the server stores only data it cannot read.
- Note types
- A note is plain text on the free plan. A subscription adds Super notes for Markdown, rich text, checklists and code, plus spreadsheets and an authenticator for 2FA codes.
- Sync and offline access
- Notes sync across unlimited devices on the web, desktop and mobile, and an offline copy stays available without an internet connection.
- Revision history and backups
- Daily encrypted email backups come with every plan. Note history covers the current session on the free plan, 1 year on Productivity and is unlimited on Professional.
- Encrypted file storage
- Professional includes 100 GB of encrypted storage for photos, videos and documents, with no file size limit (tested up to 2 GB) and offline file access.
- Web Clipper and folders
- Paid plans add a Chrome and Firefox extension that clips a full page, an article or a selection into a note, and nested folders built from tags.
Plans
Cryptee
Free€0
100 MB of encrypted storage for documents, photos and videos.
10 GB€3
per month, on monthly or yearly billing
10 GB of encrypted storage. The price is the same whether billed monthly or yearly.
400 GB€9
per month, billed yearly; €11 billed monthly
400 GB of encrypted storage. Yearly billing saves €24 a year compared with monthly.
2000 GB€27
per month, billed yearly; €30 billed monthly
2,000 GB of encrypted storage. Yearly billing saves €36 a year compared with monthly.
Standard Notes
StandardFree
Plain-text notes with end-to-end encryption, unlimited device sync, offline access, tags and daily encrypted email backups.
Productivity$90
per year
Adds the Super note type for Markdown and rich text, spreadsheets, Daily Notebooks, folders, the Web Clipper, an authenticator and 1-year revision history.
Professional$120
per year
Adds 100 GB of encrypted file storage, subscription sharing with up to 5 accounts, maximum revision history and hardware security key support.
Ways to pay less
Cryptee
- Annual discount
Save €24 or €36 a year with yearly billing
On yearly billing the 400 GB plan is €9 a month instead of €11, and the 2000 GB plan is €27 instead of €30. The 10 GB plan costs €3 a month either way.
Standard Notes
- Education
30% student discount
Students get 30% off any plan, except offline subscriptions, by emailing the support team from a student email address.
- Other savings
Help for people who cannot afford a plan
Standard Notes invites anyone facing economic difficulty to email support with their circumstances so a plan that works for them can be arranged.
- Other savings
Discounted offline subscription for self-hosting
Offline subscriptions, which unlock the paid features on a self-hosted server, are sold at what the vendor calls a steep discount from the hosted plans.
