The best European note-taking apps in 2026

More and more people want their notes to stay in Europe. Some have a job that requires it. Some write about their health, their family, or their clients and want that protected by European law. Some simply prefer to pay a European company that does not make money from their data.

The trouble is that "European" is used loosely. An app can be built in Europe and store your notes in the US. It can store your notes in Frankfurt and still belong to an American company. This guide shows what actually protects your notes, then compares the European apps worth your time on those terms.

We make Capacities, a note-taking app from Germany, and we think it is the best choice for most people on this list. We say why, we say where it falls short, and we recommend other apps when they fit you better. How we made this list explains the rest.

The short answer

What "European" should mean for your notes

When you check whether an app is really European, look at four things. Most apps pass one or two. Few pass all four.

1. Who owns the company

The company you sign with decides which law it answers to. A company based in the EU answers to EU law. A company with a US parent can also be required under US law, such as the CLOUD Act, to hand over data it controls, wherever that data is stored. So an American app with servers in Frankfurt is not the same as a European app with servers in Frankfurt.

Look at the contract, not the marketing. Slite, for example, was founded in Paris, but customers sign with Slite, Inc., a US company.

2. Where your notes are stored

This is what "EU-hosted" usually means. It matters for transfer rules and for your own peace of mind. Check whether all of your data stays in Europe, or only some of it. Evernote is owned by an Italian company, but it says that all Evernote data is stored in the United States.

3. Who can read your notes

This is the strongest protection. With end-to-end encryption, your notes are encrypted on your device and the company cannot read them, whoever asks. Anytype, Standard Notes, Proton Docs, CryptPad, and Joplin with encryption turned on all work this way.

The trade-off is real. If the server cannot read your notes, it cannot run AI on them, connect them to WhatsApp or your calendar, or offer a simple API. And if you lose your key, nobody can recover your notes for you.

4. How the company makes money and who owns it

Privacy is also about incentives. A company that earns money from subscriptions has no reason to look at your notes. A company funded by investors may one day be sold, and your notes go with it. When Notion bought the encrypted notes app Skiff in 2024, Skiff shut down within months. Ask who owns the company, whether it shows ads or sells data, and what happens to your notes if it is sold.

Questions to ask any note-taking app

Before you move years of notes, it is worth five minutes with the privacy policy. These questions sort the serious apps from the rest:

• Which company do I sign with, and where is it registered?
• Where is my data stored, including backups and file uploads?
• Can your staff read my notes? If so, when and how is that controlled?
• Where do AI features send my notes, and can I keep AI processing in the EU?
• Can I export everything in an open format, and can I automate that?
• Do you offer a data processing agreement for business use?
• How are you funded, and do you show ads or sell data?

Why we think Capacities is the best European choice

We are biased, so here is our case, point by point. You can check every claim.

European on every layer that we control. Capacities is made by Capacities Labs GmbH in Freiburg, Germany. Your contract is with that company, under German law. Your notes are stored on EU servers on encrypted disks, and we make daily encrypted backups to several locations in Europe. Capacities Labs GmbH is the controller under the GDPR, and we give every user GDPR rights, wherever they live.

Nobody earns money from your notes. Capacities is bootstrapped. We have no outside investors and no plan to sell. We earn money from one thing: people who pay for Pro. We never show ads and never sell data. On our website, we use a self-hosted analytics tool that stores only anonymous data, and we do not use tracking from big tech companies. In the app, usage statistics are anonymous: we can see that "a registration happened", not who registered.

AI that respects the same rules. When you use the AI assistant, models hosted entirely in the EU are marked in the model picker, and you can choose them. The providers we use may not keep your data for any purpose other than limited abuse monitoring. Read the details in AI and privacy.

Ready for work. Business customers can download a data processing agreement in German. You can export everything to Markdown, CSV, Word, HTML, or LaTeX at any time, and schedule automatic exports to your own device.

And, on top, the best app for thinking. A European app should not ask you to accept a worse product. In Capacities, every note is an object with a type, such as a person, a book, or a meeting. Links go both ways automatically, and a daily note catches everything you have not sorted yet. There are no folders to design and no databases to build. It works offline on the web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, with an AI assistant that knows your notes, and with Pro you can connect ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor through MCP. More than 50,000 active knowledge workers use it.

What we do not offer. Capacities is not end-to-end encrypted. We chose not to be, because end-to-end encryption would rule out the AI assistant, integrations such as WhatsApp, email, calendar, and Readwise, and the API. In theory, we could access your notes on our servers. In practice, production is isolated, access is strictly limited, and we have no business reason to look. If you need a provider that cannot read your notes even in theory, choose Anytype or Standard Notes. We explain our reasons in why Capacities is not end-to-end encrypted.

The best European note-taking apps

Every entry has the same parts: who makes it, where your notes are stored, what kind of encryption it uses, and where it falls short. Prices were checked on official pricing pages in October 2026. Apps priced in euros are listed in euros. Others are listed in US dollars, and European prices can differ.

Capacities

Made by: Capacities Labs GmbH, Freiburg, Germany. Bootstrapped, no outside investors. Your notes are stored: on EU servers, with daily encrypted backups in several European locations. Encryption: in transit and at rest. Not end-to-end.

Best for: knowledge work and personal notes that grow over years, for people who want a European company and a top-tier app.

Capacities is a note-taking and knowledge app built around connected objects instead of folders. A daily note, two-way links, typed objects, a graph view, and sync on every platform are included in the free plan. Pro adds the AI assistant, queries, PDF highlights, calendar integration, tasks, Readwise and Kindle imports, and MCP access for ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor.

Where it falls short: it is not end-to-end encrypted and not file-based. There is no real-time collaboration and no team plan, by design. The plugin ecosystem of Obsidian or the template gallery of Notion do not exist here.

• Price: free plan with unlimited objects. Pro is on our pricing page.
• Platforms: web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and tablets.
• Compare: why people choose Capacities, in their own words.

Anytype

Made by: Any Association, Zug, Switzerland, with its team and EU representative in Berlin, Germany. Your notes are stored: on your devices, with an encrypted backup on Anytype's network in Switzerland and the EU, or on your own server. Encryption: end-to-end.

Best for: people who want objects and relations like Capacities, with end-to-end encryption and a local-first app.

Anytype is the closest app to Capacities in its model, built for privacy first. It works fully offline, the source code is public, and you can self-host the sync or keep everything on one device.

Where it falls short: sync between devices is the weak spot in independent tests, and reviews in 2026 still report duplicate blocks after editing on two devices. Types and relations take more setup. If you lose your recovery key, nobody can restore your notes. Anytype's privacy policy also notes that some personal data, as opposed to your encrypted content, may be processed outside the EU.

• Price: free for local use, with 100 MB of encrypted backup. Plus is $4 a month, Pro $8, and Ultra $16, billed yearly.
• Platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.
• Compare: Capacities vs Anytype.

Craft

Made by: Craft Docs Limited, Budapest, Hungary. In 2026 the team announced it had bought out its outside investors. Your notes are stored: Craft's help center does not say which region. Encryption: in transit and at rest. Not end-to-end.

Best for: people who want beautiful documents and a calm writing app, especially on Apple devices.

Craft is a polished document app with daily notes, tasks, and simple databases. It won Apple's Mac App of the Year in 2021, and shared documents look good without any effort.

Where it falls short: it is organized around documents and folders, so you still decide where each note goes. If EU storage matters to you, ask Craft which region your workspace uses before you move in.

• Price: free up to 1,500 blocks. Plus is $6.40 a month billed yearly, or $8 monthly.
• Platforms: macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, and web.

Joplin

Made by: Laurent Cozic and JOPLIN SAS, France. Open source. Your notes are stored: on your device. Joplin Cloud servers are in Paris, or you can sync to your own Nextcloud, WebDAV, or S3 storage. Encryption: optional end-to-end encryption, which you turn on yourself.

Best for: people who want open source, Markdown, and full control over where sync happens.

Joplin is a free, open-source notes app with notebooks, tags, a Markdown or rich text editor, a web clipper, and plugins. Because notes live on your device and sync to a storage you choose, you can keep everything inside Europe.

Where it falls short: it looks and feels plainer than most apps here. Notes are organized in notebooks, with little support for linking ideas. You have to turn on encryption yourself, and self-hosting needs some technical skill.

• Price: the app is free. Joplin Cloud Basic is €2.40 a month billed yearly, or €2.99 monthly. Pro is €4.79 a month billed yearly.
• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and a terminal app.

Bear

Made by: Shiny Frog, Italy. Your notes are stored: in your own iCloud. Bear says it cannot see your notes. Encryption: you can encrypt single notes, and Bear supports Apple's Advanced Data Protection for end-to-end encrypted iCloud.

Best for: writers on Apple devices who want a beautiful Markdown app.

Bear is a lovely, fast Markdown editor with tags, wiki links between notes, and a focus on writing. It is one of the most polished apps on any platform.

Where it falls short: it runs only on Apple devices, with no Windows, Android, or web app. Your notes sit in iCloud. Organization is by tags, without types or a graph.

• Price: Bear Pro is $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year in the US. Prices in European App Stores are higher, for example €34.99 a year.
• Platforms: macOS, iOS, and iPadOS.

Agenda

Made by: Momenta B.V., the Netherlands. Your notes are stored: in your own iCloud or Dropbox. Encryption: end-to-end when you use iCloud with Apple's Advanced Data Protection.

Best for: people on Apple devices who think in projects and dates, and want notes next to their calendar.

Agenda puts notes on a timeline and links them to calendar events, so you can see what happened, what is on today, and what is coming. Its "Ask Agenda" feature answers questions about your notes on your device, and on the Mac you can connect an AI assistant through MCP.

Where it falls short: Apple only. Sync relies on iCloud or Dropbox. It is built around projects and dates, not around linking ideas.

• Price: free with no time limit. Premium features are $34.99 a year on the US App Store, or a lifetime purchase.
• Platforms: macOS, iOS, and iPadOS.

Standard Notes

Made by: Standard Notes, owned since 2024 by Proton AG, Geneva, Switzerland. Open source. Your notes are stored: on Standard Notes' servers, end-to-end encrypted. Encryption: end-to-end, independently audited.

Best for: people who want simple, private notes and do not need much structure.

Standard Notes encrypts everything on your device before it syncs. The free plan covers plain text notes on every platform. Paid plans add rich text, Markdown, checklists, spreadsheets, a daily notebook, and encrypted file storage.

Where it falls short: most editors are behind the paid plan, which is billed yearly. There is no real linking or structure beyond tags and folders, and end-to-end encryption rules out AI and most integrations.

• Price: free for plain text. Productivity is $90 a year and Professional $120 a year.
• Platforms: web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Proton Docs

Made by: Proton AG, Geneva, Switzerland. Your notes are stored: in Proton Drive, end-to-end encrypted. Encryption: end-to-end, including comments and suggestions.

Best for: people who want encrypted documents they can write together in real time, a private alternative to Google Docs.

Proton Docs is the document editor inside Proton Drive. The free plan includes 5 GB of storage. Real-time editing, comments, and suggestions all stay encrypted.

Where it falls short: it is a document editor, not a notes system. There are no backlinks, daily notes, or ways to connect ideas across documents.

• Price: free with 5 GB. More storage comes with Proton Drive and Proton Unlimited plans.
• Platforms: web, desktop, and mobile.

CryptPad

Made by: XWiki SAS, Paris, France. Open source. Your notes are stored: on cryptpad.fr, on another public instance, or on your own server. The managed CryptPad Cloud is hosted in France. Encryption: end-to-end.

Best for: groups and organizations that want an encrypted, open-source office suite in the browser.

CryptPad offers rich text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, kanban boards, whiteboards, forms, and Markdown slides, all encrypted so the server cannot read them. You can use it without giving personal details.

Where it falls short: it is a browser-based office suite rather than a notes app, and it has no way to link ideas across documents. Free accounts have limited storage.

• Price: free accounts on cryptpad.fr. Paid plans there run from €5 to €100 a month. Organizations can buy a managed instance.
• Platforms: web.

Nextcloud Notes

Made by: Nextcloud GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany, and contributors. Open source. Your notes are stored: as Markdown files on your Nextcloud server, at home, at work, or with a hosting provider you choose. Encryption: depends on how your Nextcloud is set up.

Best for: people and organizations who already run Nextcloud, or want every byte on a server they control.

Nextcloud Notes is a simple Markdown notes app inside Nextcloud, with categories and favorites. Notes are ordinary files, so any Nextcloud client can open them, and there are mobile apps.

Where it falls short: it is basic, with no links between notes, no AI, and no structure beyond categories. You, or your hosting provider, are responsible for updates, backups, and security.

• Price: free software. You pay for your server or Nextcloud hosting.
• Platforms: web, plus Android and iOS apps.

Nuclino

Made by: Nuclino GmbH, near Munich, Germany. Founder-owned. Your notes are stored: in Europe. Encryption: in transit and at rest. Not end-to-end.

Best for: small teams who want a fast, simple wiki from a German company.

Nuclino is a lightweight team wiki with real-time editing, a graph of linked pages, boards, and whiteboards. Capacities is built for individuals, so if your team needs a shared space, Nuclino is our European pick.

Where it falls short: fewer database and automation features than Notion, and every member counts as a paid user, including guests.

• Price: free up to 50 items. Starter is $6 per user a month and Business $10, billed annually.
• Platforms: web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

European on paper only

These apps often appear in lists of European software. Here is why they are not on ours.

• Evernote is owned by Bending Spoons in Milan, and your contract is with an Italian company. But Evernote says all Evernote data is stored in the United States. See Capacities vs Evernote.
• Slite was founded in Paris, but customers sign with Slite, Inc., a US company.
• Notion is an American company. It stores Free, Plus, and Business workspaces in the US and offers EU data residency only on Enterprise. See Capacities vs Notion.

And two apps that are not European but can still keep your notes in Europe: Obsidian and Logseq store notes as files on your own device, so your notes stay wherever your computer is. You choose how to sync them. See Capacities vs Obsidian.

Comparison table

Which one is right for you

• You want the best app, from a European company, and your notes in the EU. Choose Capacities.
• No company should be able to read your notes, ever. Choose Anytype for structured notes, or Standard Notes for simple ones.
• Every byte must sit on a server you control. Choose Nextcloud Notes, or Joplin with your own sync.
• You only use Apple devices and love writing. Choose Bear, or Agenda if you think in dates and projects.
• You need to write documents together, privately. Choose Proton Docs or CryptPad.
• Your team needs a wiki. Choose Nuclino.

Who should not use Capacities

We would rather point you to the right app than win you with the wrong one.

• You need end-to-end encryption. Capacities encrypts data in transit and at rest, but we can technically access it. Use Anytype, Standard Notes, or Joplin with encryption.
• You must self-host. Capacities is a cloud service. Use Nextcloud Notes, Joplin, or CryptPad.
• You want files on your own disk. Capacities exports Markdown, and you can schedule exports, but it is not file-based. Use Obsidian or Logseq.
• You share notes with a team. Capacities has no shared workspaces and none are planned. Use Nuclino.
• You only use Apple devices and want a minimal writing app. Bear will feel lighter.

How we made this list

• We make Capacities. It is first on this list because it is what we recommend for most people. Every entry has the same structure and says where the app falls short, including ours. Our other guides start with other apps.
• What counts as European. We included apps whose company, or whose parent company, is based in Europe, including Switzerland. We moved apps that are European in name only, such as Evernote, to a separate section and said why.
• Facts come from official sources. We read each app's pricing page, privacy policy, and help center in October 2026. Where a company does not publish something, such as Craft's hosting region, we say so instead of guessing.
• Independent reviews where noted. Statements about sync problems come from 2026 reviews and public forum threads, not from our own tests.
• This is not legal advice. If you have legal requirements, read each company's privacy policy and data processing agreement, and ask your data protection officer.
• We keep it current. The date at the top shows the last full review. If something is wrong, email [email protected] and we will fix it.

Leaving a US app? Our guides to the best Notion alternatives and the best personal knowledge apps go deeper on features.