Every notes app is a trade between how well it writes, where your notes live, and who can read them. These pages take one competitor at a time and lay out that trade plainly — including the cases where the other product is the better answer.
The distinction that matters most is not “encrypted” but who holds the keys. A service that encrypts your notes at rest with keys it manages can still read them. A zero-knowledge service cannot — the keys never leave your device, so the server stores ciphertext it has no way to open.
Scrinium is in the second category, and its editor renders Markdown inline as you type. That combination — real encryption, real Markdown, free unlimited sync — is what these comparisons are actually about.
A great shared workspace — with plaintext page content and no end-to-end encryption.
Unbeatable local-first Markdown editing — but your vault is plaintext files on disk and sync is a paid add-on.
Genuinely zero-knowledge and long-trusted — with a plain editor and advanced pieces behind a paid tier.
Free, fast, and deep in the OS — encrypted only with Advanced Data Protection on, and Apple-only.
A beautifully made Markdown notebook for Apple devices, with subscription sync that is not zero-knowledge.
Open source, self-hostable, and genuinely private once you configure encryption and sync yourself.
An ambitious encrypted, local-first object workspace with real power and a real learning curve.
Free, instant capture with no end-to-end encryption and no format you can hold.
Private, open, and cross-platform — with an editor that treats Markdown as an input rather than the document.
A long-running notes archive with per-snippet encryption, proprietary exports, and a shrinking free tier.
Reviewed September 2026. Competitor details change — verify current pricing and limits on the vendor’s own site.