Standard Notes

Switzerland Note-taking

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.

Quick facts

Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland
Company Proton AG
Founded 2017
Ownership Non-profit
Hosting 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇩🇪 Germany
Infrastructure Own infrastructure
Data jurisdiction EFTA
Open source Full
GDPR Compliant
Pricing Freemium · from Free
Free tier Yes
Platforms Web, iOS, Android, Desktop, Self-hosted
Languages
EN
95 · Certified European
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Why does it score 95?

Legal jurisdiction
EFTA country HQ
25/30
Ownership & control
Non-profit ownership
25/25
Data sovereignty
Own infrastructure
30/30
Accountability & trust
Fully open source + GDPR + audited
15/15
EuroPoints total
95/100
How we calculate EuroPoints →

See how they compare

Standard Notes
Joplin
XWiki
EuroPoints
95 Certified European
100 Certified European
100 Certified European
Legal jurisdiction
EFTA country HQ25/30
EU member-state HQ30/30
EU member-state HQ30/30
Ownership & control
Non-profit ownership25/25
Independent ownership25/25
Independent ownership25/25
Data sovereignty
Own infrastructure30/30
Own infrastructure30/30
Own infrastructure30/30
Accountability & trust
Fully open source + GDPR + audited15/15
Fully open source + GDPR12/15
Fully open source + GDPR12/15
Independence bonus
—
Bootstrapped, no outside investors5/5
Bootstrapped, no outside investors5/5
Headquarters
Geneva, Switzerland
Paris, France
Paris, France
Founded
2017
2016
2004
Open source
Full
Full
Full
Infrastructure
Own infrastructure
Own infrastructure
Own infrastructure
GDPR
✓
✓
✓
Free tier
✓
✓
✓
Pricing
Freemium · from Free
Open-core · from Free
Open-core · from Free
Platforms
Web, iOS, Android, Desktop, Self-hosted
Web, iOS, Android, Desktop, Self-hosted
Web, Self-hosted
Languages
en
en, fr, de, es, it, nl, pl, pt
en, fr, de, es, it, nl, pt, pl

What does it replace?

Notion Evernote Apple Notes Google Keep

More European Note-taking alternatives

#1

Joplin

100 · Certified European

France EU

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.

See Joplin details
#2

XWiki

100 · Certified European

France EU

French open-source enterprise wiki founded in 2004 in Paris. Used by Amazon, Lenovo, and governments across Europe for knowledge management and collaboration. Self-hostable with full data sovereignty. Also the company behind CryptPad.

See XWiki details
#3

Tuta Notes

100 · Certified European

Germany EU

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.

See Tuta Notes details