Joplin vs Standard Notes
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Joplin
Open source Markdown notes with sync through a service you choose
Standard Notes
End-to-end encrypted notes app with open source clients
Where they differ
- Joplin starts at 2.40€ per month, billed yearly at 28.69€ (Joplin Cloud Basic). Standard Notes starts at $90 per year (Productivity).
At a glance
| Joplin | Standard Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | 2.40€ per month, billed yearly at 28.69€ (Joplin Cloud Basic) | $90 per year (Productivity) |
| Free plan | The Joplin apps are free and open source, and can sync through your own Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV or S3 storage. Joplin Cloud is an optional paid service. | 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 | 14-day free trial of the paid plans; cancel during the trial and you are not charged. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Laurent Cozic | Standard Notes |
| Price read from | joplinapp.org | standardnotes.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Joplin
- People who want open source notes synced through their own storage
- Privacy-minded users who want end-to-end encrypted sync
- Leaving Evernote: its export files import with formatting and attachments
- Markdown writers who work across Windows, macOS, Linux and mobile
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
Joplin
- End-to-end encryption is not on by default, and a forgotten encryption password cannot be recovered.
- Joplin Cloud and Joplin Server Business prices are listed in euros.
- On Joplin Cloud Basic you can join a shared notebook but not share your own; that and Email to Note need Pro.
- The browser-based web app and Joplin Cloud AI (beta) are available only with a Joplin Cloud subscription.
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
Joplin
- Markdown notes and to-dos
- Notes and to-dos are written in Markdown or a rich text editor, organized into notebooks with tags, and found through full-text search on every platform.
- Multimedia, math and diagrams
- Notes can hold images, videos, PDFs and audio files, and math expressions and diagrams are created inside the app.
- Sync through a service you choose
- Notes synchronize through Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV, S3 or the local file system, and switching from one service to another is supported.
- End-to-end encryption
- Synchronized notes can be end-to-end encrypted so that the sync service cannot read them. It is off by default and has to be enabled on one device first.
- Web clipper
- Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox save web pages and screenshots as notes.
- Plugins, themes and publishing
- Plugins, custom themes and an extension API change how the app works. With Joplin Cloud, a note can be published to a URL and notebooks shared for collaboration.
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
Joplin
Joplin appFree
The open source desktop, mobile and terminal apps, with sync through third-party storage and optional end-to-end encryption.
Joplin Cloud Basic2.99€
per month, or 28.69€ per year (2.40€ / month)
2 GB of storage and 10 MB per note or attachment, with note publishing, the web app and Joplin Cloud AI (beta). Can join shared notebooks only.
Joplin Cloud Pro5.99€
per month, or 57.48€ per year (4.79€ / month)
30 GB of storage and 200 MB per note or attachment, plus sharing notebooks, Email to Note and a custom publishing banner.
Joplin Cloud Pro 100 GB9.99€
per month, or 95.88€ per year (7.99€ / month)
Everything in Pro with 100 GB of storage space.
Joplin Cloud Teams7.99€
per user / month, or 80.28€ per user / year; minimum 2 users
50 GB of storage, with multi-user management, consolidated billing, share permissions and priority support.
Joplin Server Business3.33€
per user / month for 2-10 users, billed annually (40.00€)
Self-hosted server with source code available and no storage or attachment limits. 2.92€ per user for 11-50 users, 2.50€ beyond that.
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
Joplin
- Annual discount
Roughly 16% to 20% lower price when paying yearly
Basic works out to 2.40€ a month on yearly billing against 2.99€ monthly, Pro to 4.79€ against 5.99€, and Teams to 6.69€ per user against 7.99€.
- Education
50% Education Discount for students and teachers
Students and teachers who write in from a school or university email address get 50% off Joplin Cloud for a year, renewable for as long as they remain in education.
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.
