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Over the previous 12 months, I’ve appeared for productiveness apps that stability nice options with privateness. Nonetheless, I not often discover this equilibrium. On the subject of feature-rich apps, many don’t give customers a lot privateness, or they lock important options behind paywalls.

However, there are a selection of privacy-focused apps to select from. However they both don’t have that many options, or there’s some talent required in organising and sustaining them (resembling self-hosting your sync server).

That’s till I discovered Notesnook. The app’s free plan has loads of helpful options, together with multi-device syncing, whereas additionally offering privateness for customers.

When note-taking apps, there are some things I prioritize. Since shifting away from Google Maintain, I sought out apps that supplied privateness for my notes. On the similar time, I wanted one thing with a free plan, since I can’t actually afford extra subscriptions in the intervening time.

That’s once I seen a sample when it got here to note-taking options. Some provided nice options and privateness, however required self-hosting or workarounds for syncing. I presently self-host Jotty Web page, which provides me entry to a wealthy textual content editor and retains my information non-public. However as a result of my server depends alone {hardware}, downtime could make my notes inaccessible.

An app like Customary Notes gives each syncing and end-to-end encryption without cost, however with out a subscription, you possibly can solely save plain textual content notes. This works effectively for jotting down fast ideas, however I like to have the ability to create checklists and tables for extra complete note-taking.

You get feature-rich apps like Evernote. However the service doesn’t prioritize privateness and locks options like multi-device syncing behind a paywall.

So once I got here throughout Notesnook, I used to be shocked by how a lot it provided without cost. You get multi-device syncing that’s easy to arrange. You don’t even need to depend on a third-party cloud service; you possibly can sync notes straight by Notesnook. Your notes are additionally encrypted to guard your information.

In case you are all for self-hosting, you possibly can self-host the sync server. The app is open-source, whereas additionally supporting all main platforms, together with Linux. This implies you’re not locked into a particular platform and may simply migrate your notes if you happen to change gadgets.

By way of your precise notes, you’ve entry to a rich-text editor. Not solely does this assist you to apply formatting like headers, however you may as well add checklists, bullet lists, and tables.

I discover checklists helpful for issues like buying or packing for journeys. In the meantime, the desk function actually got here in useful once I wanted to check the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S26 sequence with older gadgets.

You may as well add information to your notes, with a restrict of 10MB per file and 50MB monthly. These notes may be organized with tags, and you may as well create totally different notebooks.

The app additionally helps reminders and shortcuts, which may come in useful despite the fact that they aren’t typical options for note-taking apps.

If it sounds too good to be true, it’s possible you’ll be questioning what limitations Notesnook has. For easy note-taking, not many. However its paid plans give entry to extra options, bigger file sizes, and extra textual content components.

On the free plan, your photos are compressed when uploaded. You may as well solely add seven colours to your notes, create 50 tags, and create 50 notebooks. You’re additionally restricted to 10 energetic reminders and shortcuts.

Nonetheless, I’ve discovered this plan is fairly permissive. For instance, I delete outdated reminders to get across the restrict. I additionally solely sometimes add photos to my notes, so the 50MB month-to-month restrict works effectively for me.

There are three paid plans obtainable (Important, Professional, and Believer), starting from $1.99 monthly to $8.99 monthly. Relying on the plan, you get entry to greater limits (or no limits), components like process and description lists, recurring reminders, Markdown shortcuts, and extra customization.

Nonetheless, these extra options cater extra to energy customers. In case you’re shifting from one thing like Google Maintain, the free plan has extra superior formatting and group options obtainable.

With that stated, I recognize its easy method to notes. One thing like Notion has extra superior templates obtainable, however it may be overwhelming to make use of.

Surprisingly, when outdated opinions of Notesnook, I noticed that the app has really turn into extra permissive over time. This can be a uncommon pattern to see, with most apps including extra limitations to push folks to paid plans.

I hope that extra apps take one of these method. In a sea of choices, it might actually make an answer stand out.