Best private and encrypted note-taking apps
End-to-end encryption, local files and self-hosting, for notes nobody else should be able to read.
Top pick: Grape at 9.0 out of 10. The most AI you can point at your own notes while keeping them on your own machine. Young, and it shows in the missing web app and in sharing that stops at email invites, but the study tools, the $9 AI plan and the lifetime license make it hard to ignore. Compare it with Obsidian.
Grape
Take the note. The AI does the filing, the studying and the searching.
Mac / Win / Linux / iOS / Android
Best for: Students and individual note-takers who want AI over their own notes, kept on their own device, and who now and then share a folder with a classmate or a colleague.
$3/mo
Obsidian
Plain markdown files on your disk, with a plugin ecosystem bolted on top.
Win / Mac / iOS / Android / Linux
Best for: Long-term thinkers who want to own the files and are willing to tinker.
$4/mo
Day One
A journal that has been quietly perfecting one job since 2011.
iOS / Mac / Android / Win / Web
Best for: Anyone keeping a personal journal who wants it to outlive the app.
$49.99/yr
AFFiNE
Docs and an infinite whiteboard that are the same document.
Web / Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android · Open source
Best for: People who want Notion plus a whiteboard, on their own server.
$8.90/mo
Joplin
Open source, end-to-end encrypted, and it syncs wherever you tell it to.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android / Web · Open source
Best for: Privacy-minded people leaving Evernote who want to control the storage.
$3/mo
Octarine
Local markdown files, a clean editor and one payment.
Mac / Win / Linux / iOS
Best for: Obsidian-minded people who would rather buy a finished app than build one.
$79 once
Anytype
Notion-shaped, but the data is encrypted and lives on your machine.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android · Open source
Best for: People who want a Notion-style workspace without the cloud.
$99/yr
Logseq
A journal-first outliner with flashcards baked in, over local files.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android · Open source
Best for: Daily journalers and students who want linked notes plus revision.
Free
Reflect
A networked daily journal with GPT and Whisper wired in.
Web / Mac / iOS / Android
Best for: Daily journalers who talk more than they type.
$10/mo
Notesnook
Zero-knowledge encryption without giving up a modern editor.
Web / Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android · Open source
Best for: People who want Evernote-style notes with Signal-style privacy.
$4.49/mo
Standard Notes
Encrypted first, everything else second. Now part of Proton.
Web / Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android · Open source
Best for: Anyone whose first requirement is that nobody else can read their notes.
$8/mo