Standard Notes
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
Why does it score 95?
Standard Notes is owned by Proton AG, incorporated in Geneva, Switzerland, an EFTA country rather than a full EU member state.
The non-profit Proton Foundation holds a controlling stake in Proton, which acquired Standard Notes in April 2024.
Standard Notes migrated to Proton's own Swiss and German infrastructure after the acquisition.
Standard Notes is fully open source and has undergone four independent security audits.
See how they compare
Standard NotesWhat does it replace?
Notion 
Evernote 
Apple Notes 
Google Keep More European Note-taking alternatives
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.
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.
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.