Simplenote
The simplest way to keep notes.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Kindle Fire
...
Made by the company behind
WordPress, Simplenote enables users to take notes, lists, and ideas. These notes are stored on the cloud and are accessible across multiple devices.
Simplenote's both client and server components are free and open-source. However, the service component of Simplenote requires free registration and accepting the terms of service.

Simplenote's both client and server components are free and open-source. However, the service component of Simplenote requires free registration and accepting the terms of service.
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Features Vote on or suggest new features
- Cloud sync
- MarkDown support
- Search by tags
- Protected by Password
- Android Sync
- Clean design
- Full text search
- Cross-device syncing
- Tagging
- File Versioning
- Tag based
- Simple text editor
- Rewind the changes
- Integrated Search
- Electron based
- Minimalistic
- Publish notes online
- Text Based Format
- Version and Source control
- Fast motion
Comments and Reviews Post a comment / reviewSort: relevance • date
Categories
Office & Productivity • DevelopmentTags
- web-app
- productivity-tool
Lists containing Simplenote
Simplenote
Summary and Relevance
Our users have written 27 comments and reviews about Simplenote, and it has gotten 505 likes
- Developed by Automattic, Inc
- Open Source and Free product.
- Average rating of 3.6
- 352 alternatives listed
Popular alternatives
View allSimplenote was added to AlternativeTo by haystackneedle on May 27, 2009 and this page was last updated Feb 26, 2021.
Not only is the service not fully open source (it was listed as open source here before - now corrected to "free" (as in beer, not birds)), the privacy policy is every bit as alarming as for any other service that "for free" stores your information on its servers in unencrypted format in US juridiction, including that they may sell it. From the privacy policy (10th January 2017):
Careful what you put into Simplenote, therefore. And follow the default advice for cloud services: put on other people's servers (services) only things you wouldn't mind becoming public/published.
For a much more private, open source alternative, try Turtl. It might not be mature/stable enough yet though, so check back every now and again to see if it will serve your needs. Otherwise, Laverna is also a good online note-taking app with security built in. It's also open source and supports markdown, unlike Simplenote.
[Edited by JohnFastman, March 10]
Everywhere you turn, Simplenote is celebrated as wonderfully convenient and brilliant for productivity. Oh, and it's free, didn't you know? But in truth, it's not very private - at least in principle. Your information is stored with a 3rd party in a form they can read and which they can give away to others (in fact they have to if the NSA asks). In that respect, your Simplenote data is every bit as vulnerable as it is in Dropbox or Evernote (both of which have been hacked before: see here for Dropbox, here for Evernote).
The alternative is Turtl. All the same and - in many cases - better features and, crucially, it's end-to-end encrypted. That means your data is encrypted using your password (don't forget it!) before it leaves your computer. The server responsible for syncing and the admins responsible for Turtl can't read your notes. If hackers get it they won't be able to read your data. And if the NSA asks for it, it won't matter: it's encrypted.
Not convinced?
Things that Simplenote and Turtl BOTH have:
What Turtl has that Simplenote doesn't:
What Simplenote has that Turtl doesn't:
Compare the privacy policies: Here for Turtl, here for Simplenote. Then think about where you want your notes to live.
Turtl for Android has only "Semi-offline mode" while SimpleNote has the full-fledged offline.
Turtl blog (http://turtlapp.tumblr.com/): Semi-offline mode is here, with one exception: you must be connected to log in to or join Turtl. Other than that, all changes you make to your profile will be queued up and synced to the server the next time you connect.
Simplenote help (https://simplenote.com/help/): Can I search notes without a connection to the internet?
Yes, using Simplenote for iOS and Android, you can search your notes even when you’re offline. Searching from our web app, however, currently requires a connection to the internet.
Also, Turtl always shows you his icon in notification bar (i didn't found way to disable it)
Reply written almost 4 years ago
Turtl can be self-hosted --- solving the "sync hosted in US" issue.
Turtl
Reply written over 3 years ago
Isn't this supposed to be a review for simplenote not turtl
Reply written almost 3 years ago
Whatever!
Reply written almost 3 years ago
Altough, this application is mentioned as open-source, it's not.
The service is centralised and no mention on its licensing is provided on the official site.
Ok, there are some clients published on Github under a free license here:
https://github.com/Automattic.
But that doesn't mean i can inspect the server code, modify it and redisribute in the sense of the OSI definition (https://opensource.org/licenses)
I could write an open-source client for Instapaper (It's now free in an unlimited version).
Would it mean that it's now an opensource software ?
To get real opensource alternatives to Evernote, please take a look at Laverna or Paperwork for instance.
So please, edit the license field and set FREE or FREEMIUM instead
[Edited by thierryl, January 07]
I agree. I've submitted an edit to change the licence category from 'Open Source' to 'Free'. Let's see of the AlternativeTo admins accept it.
Reply written about 4 years ago
Evidently they did not. Probably Automattic throwing weight around. This should be Freemium (imo), or even commercial since the server side is decidedly not and there is a lot of proprietary licensing strewn about. This is the stuff that irks me about alt to.
Reply written 11 months ago
so this is not really open source? only the app clients are open source and not the source code responsible for all the actual features and processes which power the app?
The code is open source, but only for the Android, MacOS and iOS platforms. So not for everything. More than that, there are other parts of the service which are not open source. And on top of that their privacy policy is about the same as every other proprietary US-based service.
Reply written almost 4 years ago
hmm, so are there any alternatives you would recommend which are open source and able to use on mobile?
Reply written almost 4 years ago
Do you mean Android? Try Turtl. I just wrote a little comparison of Simplenote and Turtl on Simplenote's review tab. Turtl is still in beta but it does everything Simplenote does except it's got end-to-end encryption. Might work for you.
Reply written almost 4 years ago
Simplenote is a very nice app. Fast, Intuitive, Clean, Syncronize.
But one bad point that does not use image files.
yeah for temporary i will use image hosting such as imgur to store images and paste link into notes
Reply written over 2 years ago
@Shojimeguro, you have a lot more patience than I do. This is a pretty crucial function for a note taking app I use, because I am a very visual person.
Reply written 11 months ago
yeah i can agree, most end user will want use direct approac to insert image instead of using imgur
Reply written 11 months ago