Standard Notes
by Standard Notes · End-to-end encrypted notes and file storage across unlimited devices
BenchRank score
Screenshots of Standard Notes
Homepage
Overview
Standard Notes is a note-taking app that encrypts notes and files end to end using XChaCha20-Poly1305, so only the account holder has the keys to decrypt them. It syncs across web, desktop and mobile on unlimited devices, keeps an offline copy of data, and runs automated encrypted email backups. Paid plans add richer note types, folders, and encrypted file storage.
- Best for
- People who want encrypted notes and files synced across unlimited devices, with offline access
- Pricing
- Free Standard tier, then $90/year for Productivity or $120/year for Professional, with a 30% student discount.
- Runs on
- WebAndroidmacOSWindowsLinuxSelf-hosted
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- End-to-end encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305; you hold the keys
- Free tier covers unlimited device sync and offline access
- Open source code with published independent security audits
- Full data export in encrypted or plaintext format on all plans
Trade-offs
- Free tier is plain text only; rich text, folders and files need a paid plan
- Note history on the free tier covers the current session only
- No free trial; you rely on the 14-day or 90-day refund window instead
- Paid plans are shown as annual prices only, with no monthly option listed
How Standard Notes markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on Standard Notes’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“Free your mind.”
- Angle: Security / trust-led
- Hero: 3D render
Pricing
Published plans and prices from Standard Notes’s own pricing page.
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
MCP support
Whether an agent can drive the product through the Model Context Protocol, and how much setup that takes.
API quality
Public API surface: machine-readable spec, official SDKs, documented auth, errors, rate limits and versioning.
Documentation
Publicly reachable docs — coverage, freshness, code samples and machine readability.
Agent friendliness
How readable the site is to an automated client: llms.txt, structured data, server-rendered content, crawler access.
Pricing transparency
Whether real prices are published, self-serve signup exists, and usage costs are knowable without a sales call.
Changelog
A public, dated record of what shipped and when — the clearest signal that a product is still alive.
Marketing site structure
Whether the site answers a buyer's questions: clear positioning, the pages that matter, and accessibility.
Page speed
How fast the site loads for real visitors: Chrome UX Report 75th-percentile LCP, INP and CLS, with a Lighthouse mobile run standing in where a site has too little traffic for field data.
Operational trust
Status page and incident history, security disclosure, compliance and data-processing documentation.
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
Openness
Source availability, self-hosting, data export and open standards. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — paid SaaS is not worse for being paid SaaS.
Maintenance
Release cadence and repository activity. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — it is only measurable for open repositories.
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Where this comes from
The Standard Notes pages BenchRank reads when it scores the product — its documentation, release notes, status and security pages, and its repository where there is one.
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Is this your product?
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