European alternatives to Apple Notes
Apple's built-in notes app, synced across devices and increasingly capable. Private and convenient inside the Apple world, but locked to it and to a US company.
Company information about Apple Notes
- Company
- Apple Inc.
- Headquarters
- Cupertino, United States
- Founded
- 2007
- Data jurisdiction
- United States
- Ownership
- Publicly traded
- GDPR
- No
- Open source
- No
- Infrastructure
- Own infrastructure
Why people switch away from Apple Notes
European alternatives to Apple Notes
Open-source note-taking app created by French developer Laurent Cozic. Supports end-to-end encryption, Markdown, web clipping, and sync via Joplin Cloud (France-hosted) or self-hosted. Available on all platforms with a rich plugin ecosystem.
End-to-end encrypted note-taking built into Tuta Mail by German company Tutao GmbH. Post-quantum TutaCrypt encryption. Notes stored on own German servers. Included in all Tuta plans including free.
End-to-end encrypted note-taking app acquired by Proton AG in April 2024. Now running on Proton's Swiss infrastructure. Open source, independently audited four times, self-hostable. 300,000+ active users. Continues operating as a standalone product under Proton ownership.
Want more options? Browse all European Note-taking alternatives →
People also replace
Notion 
Evernote 
Google Keep Start somewhere.
Switching everything overnight is not realistic. Start where it matters most: your email, your cloud storage, your business tools. Replace one thing at a time.
The European Alternative already exists.
Pick Europe.
Why avoid United States-owned services?
CLOUD Act
Forces US companies to hand over data stored anywhere in the world upon government request, including data on European servers.
FISA Section 702
Authorises mass surveillance of non-US persons using data held by US tech platforms, without a warrant or notification.
GDPR vs US law conflict
EU courts have repeatedly found that US surveillance law conflicts with European fundamental rights. Schrems I and II both invalidated EU-US data transfer agreements.