Simplenote Review

Simplenote, developed by the company behind WordPress (Automattic), is a free and open-source tool for gathering notes. While we love some of the other work Automattic does, however, we’re sad to say that its note-taking app does not impress.

When it comes right down to it, there are more features missing than included, with no notebooks, formatting tools or at-rest encryption. These are just a few flaws we’ll highlight in this Simplenote review. On the other hand, Simplenote does support markdown editing and web publication, so those trying to manage a web presence may find a modicum of value.

If you find yourself as underwhelmed as we did, our best note-taking guide lists several better options for recording class and meeting notes, or compiling research. On a side note, if you like Simplenote’s more capable cousin, WordPress, as much as we do, we a have full best web hosting for WordPress article that you might want to peruse.

Alternatives for Simplenote

Strengths & Weaknesses

Features

Simplenote lets you create notes and save them to the cloud, automatically syncing them to other devices so that you always have them on hand and never lose a thought. To facilitate note syncing, the Automattic’s development team has built desktop apps for Windows, Linux and Mac, as well as smartphone apps for Android and iOS.

There’s also a web version of the notes tool that you can access from any supported browser, handy for when you’re not on your own computer.

Simplenote lives up to its name in both good and bad ways, as we suggested at the outset. While we love the minimalist design, which we’ll detail later when we talk user experience, there aren’t many ways to really enhance your notes.

For example, there’s are no text formatting options in the toolbar, even for bolding, underlining or italicizing text. There are also no draw tools and no option to attach images or files to notes.

If you really feel like putting in the work, Simplenote does support markdown language that you can use to alter text and embed images. However, having to type markdown code doesn’t exactly mesh well with the brainstorming process.

Two other features that you won’t get with Simplenote include the ability to create checklists and set reminders. These features would be useful for creating quick to-do lists, as they are with Google Keep (read our Google Keep review).

Another big feature oversight by Automattic is the exclusion of notebooks to organize your notes in like you get with Evernote (read our Evernote review). You can, at least, label notes for sorting later with custom tags (e.g., “recipe,” “blog idea”).

Simplenote does support note sharing. You can email access to a collaborator to make edits or publish your note online for anyone to access, which is where the markdown language comes in useful. There’s also a versioning feature that lets you roll back unwanted edits.

In a nutshell, Simplenote is a bit too simple for those looking for a tool to compile detailed notes. Later on, we’ll talk some about how that hampers the user experience, then discuss another area we find Simplenote lacking: security. First though, let’s shine the light on one of Simplenotes few strengths: cost.

Pricing

Simplenote may provide very basic note-taking features but it’s also free and open source. True, most other cloud notebooks also provide free versions, but only a handful are always free. With Simplenote, you can create as many notes as you want without ever having to worry about storage or monthly bandwidth restrictions.

Despite being free, you’re not bombarded by ads within the app. It’s difficult to say how Automattic makes money from the tool unless the endgame is simply to build name recognition for its cloud infrastructure service, Simperion, WordPress or its various WordPress add-ons.

Just like with Zoho Notebook, another completely free note-taking app you can read about in our Zoho Notebook review, we do have to wonder if the absence of revenue could hamper Simplenote from ever really improving in any meaningful way. If we had to guess, we’d say yes.

User Experience

Up next, we’ll be looking at the Windows 10 version of the desktop client, available in the Windows app store. There’s also a Windows 8 version available for download from the Simplenote website, in addition to the clients for Linux and MacOS.

The client itself looks clean, which is ideal for brainstorming. Notes are typed in the large window pane on the right side.

Down the left margin, you’ll see a list of all the notes you’ve created. You can create a new note by clicking the “+” icon above that list.

Interestingly, in a bad way, there’s no way to give notes names. Instead, the names are generated based on the body text. That can make it hard to find notes if you’ve got several of them, even with a search bar and the option to add custom tags.

Tags let you sort through similar notes quickly and can be added to notes by typing the tag name that you want to use near the bottom of the client where it says, “add tag.” You can also pin important notes to the top by clicking on the information icon and enabling “pin to top.”

To collaborate with others on your notes, click the share button at the top of the client. Then, under “collaborate” in the window that pops up, type the email address of the person to whom you want to grant access.

While useful, we don’t much care for the fact that Simplenote doesn’t let you restrict collaboration permissions to read only. Other notebook tools, including Evernote and OneNote, have much better content control options for collaborations.

You can, at least, revert back to previous note versions in case accidental changes are made. Do this by clicking the “history” button and using the slider to take your note back in time.

You can also “publish” your notes for all to see by generating a web link. Anyone with this link can access your note but can’t edit it.

The only other thing worth mentioning (barely) about Simplenote when it comes to ease of use is that you can switch the client to a “dark” theme, which some people might find easier on the eyes.

While the design looks nice, overall Simplenote just isn’t a very flexible note-taking app. It’s good for jotting down basic notes but students and creative types will likely find it all very frustrating due to the many features missing.

Security & Privacy

Simplenote doesn’t provide much in the way of security. While files are encrypted in transit, they’re left in plaintext while stored in the cloud. That can be a dangerous practice since anybody who gains access to the Simplenote servers will be able to read your notes without an encryption key.

Automattic claims notes are kept in plain text server-side so that others can search for your notes online. While that might be useful for notes that you want published, for other notes there’s no good reason not to offer at-rest encryption. Here it is in the company’s own words:

“In terms of security, Simplenote works a lot like other popular online services such as Gmail and Facebook. Your personal information is protected by a strict Privacy Policy. But due to the need for searching your notes from the web, the contents must remain unencrypted while in storage so the software can find your search terms. For this reason we recommend not using Simplenote to store anything particularly sensitive.”

The company does at least warn you away from storing sensitive information, which we second.

For those that want a more secure note-taking experience, Evernote and OneNote both integrate with a third-party tool called SafeRoom that enables private, end-to-end notes encryption.

Simplenote also doesn’t provide an option for two-factor authentication (2FA), a feature that helps protect against the unauthorized cloud access in the event of a stolen password.

Final Verdict

For the average person looking for a capable notes tool, Simplenote isn’t the answer. While we approve of the open-source approach, the absence of critical features and good security are too much to overcome to earn Simplenote even a cursory recommendation.

While some may find the markdown and publish features useful for marketing and other purposes, there are better markdown editors out there for that kind of thing.

If you require a more capable notes tool and don’t want to pay a cent, like ever, Zoho Notebook is a much better choice, despite not having a desktop client. Other options in our best note-taking apps guide may also suit your needs, so don’t forget to give it a read.

Think we’re missing the picture with Simplenote? Feel free to yell at us in the comments below. We take questions, too. Thanks for reading!