Benchpad vs Standard Notes
If end-to-end encryption is a requirement, use Standard Notes — genuinely. Here's the trade you'd be making either way.
The problem: True privacy comes with a steep tax
Standard Notes is the privacy-maximalist choice. It offers zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption (E2EE). The server holds ciphertext it cannot read. The clients are open source and audited. Your notes survive subpoenas, breaches, and rogue employees.
If you are a journalist protecting sources, a lawyer holding privileged material, or someone who simply demands mathematical rather than contractual privacy, Standard Notes is the correct tool.
But true E2EE comes with a steep tax on both the product experience and the price. Because the server cannot read the data, building collaborative features, web clippers, or fast full-text search across thousands of notes becomes incredibly difficult.
To fund this development, Standard Notes locks its best features behind a ~$90/year "Pro" tier. The free tier is strictly plain text. If you want headings, task lists, tables, or syntax highlighting, you must pay. Furthermore, because of the architecture, these rich features exist as "bolt-on" editors rather than a single unified writing surface. You are paying a massive premium for an encryption model you might not actually need.
The solution: Encryption at rest and a premium editor for $20
Benchpad encrypts your data at rest, but it is not end-to-end encrypted. We built a very sharp, very fast knife, not a fortress.
If E2EE is a hard requirement, use Standard Notes. But if you just want a fast, beautiful scratchpad with a real editor, Benchpad is $20/year against roughly $90.
Benchpad — three pads and a block editor, encrypted at rest
The honest comparison
| Feature | Standard Notes | Benchpad |
|---|---|---|
| Encryption | End-to-end, zero-knowledge | Encrypted at rest (not E2EE) |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Free tier | Plain text only | One pad, full block editor |
| Paid price | ~$90/year (Pro) | $20/year Pro |
| Structure | Notes, tags, folders (paid) | Three named pads, flat |
| Editor | Plain text (rich editors paid) | Block editor (tables, tasks, code) free |
| Platforms | Web, desktop, iOS, Android | Native iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Web |
When you should use Standard Notes
Privacy, without qualification. Standard Notes provides mathematical certainty that no one—not even the company operators—can read your notes. It is one of the very few products that actually delivers on that promise. If your threat model includes state actors or compelled data disclosure, Standard Notes is the tool you need.
When to switch to Benchpad
The writing experience. Standard Notes' free tier is aggressively plain text. If you want to bold a word, you have to buy the $90/year subscription. Benchpad's block editor—which includes markdown headings, task lists, tables, syntax-highlighted code blocks, images, and multi-column layouts—is the core product, and it is available immediately in the free tier.
Tables, task lists, code blocks, images — in the free tier
Structure that decides for you. Standard Notes gives you an infinite pile of notes plus tags. Benchpad gives you exactly three pads. You never have to tag or file anything.
Sync that merges. If you edit a Standard Note on two offline devices, you often get a conflict copy. If you edit a Benchpad pad on two offline devices, the Yjs CRDT engine reconciles the edits flawlessly at the character level.
Price. Benchpad is $20/year flat. Standard Notes is roughly $90/year for the comparable rich-text tier.
What "encrypted at rest" actually means
Your Benchpad pads are encrypted on our servers using a per-user key (contentKey), so a database leak only yields unreadable ciphertext. However, the server can technically derive access to that key when you authenticate.
This is exactly why Benchpad is not end-to-end encrypted, and why we refuse to market it as such.
Our threat model protects against server breaches and casual snooping. It does not protect against a malicious operator or a compelled government subpoena. That is the honest trade-off, stated clearly in the place where most companies would just put a fake "Secure" badge.
Pick the trade you are actually making. If you have an E2EE requirement, buy Standard Notes. Otherwise, Benchpad is a beautifully fast scratchpad you'll open twenty times a day, for $20 a year.
Related: A private notes app · A note app without AI · Benchpad vs Joplin
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On every platform
Native apps for iPhone & Android, and a Mac menu bar & Windows tray app — same three pads, offline-first, synced everywhere.