Comparison
Great notes app. Different kind of private.
Standard Notes has earned its reputation: open-source, end-to-end encrypted, everywhere. Sealby plays a different position — notes and files and media in one sealed place, no account, and vaults whose existence can’t be proven.
What’s the difference between Sealby and Standard Notes?
Standard Notes is an account-based encrypted notes service that syncs across every platform. Sealby is a local-first vault for notes plus photos, videos and any file — with no account, encryption on-device, and deniable hidden vaults. Pick by job: universal synced notes, or a sealed private archive.
Where Standard Notes shines
- Open-source, audited clients with a long privacy track record
- Syncs notes to every platform, including the web
- Generous free tier for plain-text notes
Where it falls short
- Account-based: your identity and (encrypted) notes live with the provider
- Notes-centric — media and files are secondary and largely paid features
- No deniability: the account and its data visibly exist
- Rich text and file storage sit behind a subscription
The honest verdict
If you need the same notes on a work laptop, an Android phone and the web, Standard Notes is a fine choice. If your notes sit next to photos, scans and documents that should be sealed — and ideally unprovable — Sealby is built for exactly that, with no account to tie it to you.
Common questions
Is open-source a security advantage?
It helps auditability, and Standard Notes deserves credit for it. What matters most is the trust model around the code: who holds keys, what a server learns, and what exists to compel. Sealby’s answer is structural — no account, no server, nothing to enumerate.
Can Sealby sync my notes to other platforms?
Sealby is iPhone-first (iOS 17+); Premium syncs vaults between your devices via an encrypted iCloud blob. If universal cross-platform notes are the priority, a synced notes service fits better — many people keep both, for different tiers of privacy.
Related: Private journaling · Notes & documents · Best encrypted vault apps
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iPhone & iPad · iOS 17+ · Free