Google Keep is fine for a grocery list and almost nothing else. There is no end-to-end encryption, no real folders (only color labels), no markdown, no proper export beyond a Google Takeout JSON dump, and the whole thing is welded to a Google account. On desktop it is just a tab that locks up when the network drops. We wanted Google Keep alternatives that actually work as desktop apps: open offline, sync without leaking content to a server, organize notes into nested folders, render markdown, and let us walk away with our data. We tested seven that meet that bar across Windows, macOS, and Linux, and we cover who each one fits.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notesnook | E2E-encrypted Keep replacement | Yes, with limits | $4.49/mo | Zero-knowledge sync on all desktops |
| Joplin | Open-source with your own sync | Yes, fully free | Free (sync optional) | WebDAV, Nextcloud, S3 sync |
| Standard Notes | E2E-encrypted plain text | Yes, plain text only | $11.49/mo | Long-term archive focus |
| Obsidian | Power users and knowledge graphs | Free for personal use | $5/mo for Sync | Local markdown vault |
| Logseq | Outliner and daily journals | Yes, fully free | Free | Block-level outlining |
| Trilium Notes | Self-hosted hierarchical notes | Yes, fully free | Free (self-host) | Note tree with relations |
| Bear | macOS-only writing | Limited free | $2.99/mo | Polished native editor |
Why people leave Google Keep
The complaints repeat across forums, and most of them are the same handful of gaps. Notes sit unencrypted on Google servers, which rules Keep out for anyone writing down passwords, medical details, client briefs, or anything an employer expects you to keep private. There is no folder hierarchy, only flat labels and colors, so power users with more than fifty notes lose track of where things live.
The editor has no markdown, no code blocks, and no tables, which makes it useless for developers and technical writers. Export is a Google Takeout JSON archive that no other note app cleanly imports without a converter script. And the desktop story is the weakest link: there is no native Windows, macOS, or Linux app, just a web tab and a Chrome extension that misbehaves offline.
Users on Reddit and Hacker News point to the same trigger more often than any other. They want to leave a Google account behind, and Keep is the one piece they cannot port without losing structure.
The 7 best Google Keep alternatives for desktop
Notesnook: best overall E2E-encrypted Keep replacement
Notesnook is the closest thing to “Google Keep but private” we found. The Windows, macOS, and Linux apps are native, open the notes offline, and sync through a zero-knowledge server so the company cannot read your content. It supports real notebooks, nested topics, tags, markdown, and a rich text editor that does not feel like an afterthought.
Where it falls short: The free tier caps note size, attachments, and how many notebooks you can pin, so heavy users hit the paywall faster than on Joplin. The mobile editor still lags the desktop one for power features.
Pricing: Free with limits. Pro is $4.49 per month billed annually, or roughly $59.99 per year. There is a lifetime plan at around $199.
vs Google Keep: Notesnook adds end-to-end encryption, real folder structure, and a proper desktop app. Keep wins only on Google Workspace integration.
Migrating from Google Keep: Notesnook’s importer accepts the Google Takeout HTML and JSON export directly. Labels become tags, color groupings can be rebuilt as notebooks. A 500-note Keep account moves over in around ten minutes.
Download: notesnook.com/downloads
Bottom line: Pick Notesnook if you want the Google Keep workflow without the privacy compromise.
Joplin: best open-source with WebDAV or Nextcloud sync
Joplin is fully open-source and runs as a native desktop app on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It uses markdown by default, supports notebooks and sub-notebooks, and lets you bring your own sync target: Nextcloud, WebDAV, Dropbox, OneDrive, or S3. End-to-end encryption is optional and can be turned on per profile.
Where it falls short: The default editor is markdown-only and feels rough next to Notesnook or Bear. Web clipping works but the formatting cleanup is hit-or-miss. Setting up Nextcloud sync is not beginner-friendly.
Pricing: Free forever for the app and self-managed sync. Joplin Cloud, the optional first-party sync service, starts at around $3 per month.
vs Google Keep: Joplin gives you the data, the encryption, and the choice of where notes live. Keep gives you none of those.
Migrating from Google Keep: Use the open-source google-keep-to-joplin converter to turn a Google Takeout export into Joplin’s import format, then import the folder. Tags and attachments survive the trip.
Download: joplinapp.org/help/install
Bottom line: Pick Joplin if you want zero vendor lock-in and you do not mind doing a bit of setup.
Standard Notes: best for E2E-encrypted plain text and long-term archives
Standard Notes is built around a single idea: notes should still be readable in twenty years. The free tier is plain text with end-to-end encryption, and paid extensions add markdown, rich text, code editors, and themed views. Desktop apps cover Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Where it falls short: The free plan is genuinely austere. You cannot use markdown, attachments, or tag colors without the paid plan, which is one of the priciest options on this list. Search is fast but the organizer is flatter than Joplin’s.
Pricing: Free tier is plain text only. Productivity is around $11.49 per month billed annually, or about $90 per year. A Professional plan with more storage is higher.
vs Google Keep: Standard Notes encrypts everything end-to-end and treats long-term readability as a design goal. Keep does neither.
Migrating from Google Keep: Standard Notes accepts plain text imports. Convert the Takeout JSON to per-note .txt files with a community script, then drag the folder into the app. Color labels do not transfer cleanly.
Download: standardnotes.com/download
Bottom line: Pick Standard Notes if encryption and longevity matter more than a pretty editor.
Obsidian: best for power users who want a knowledge graph
Obsidian stores every note as a markdown file inside a local folder on your machine, then layers a wiki-style linking system and a graph view on top. The desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux are fast, work fully offline, and never touch a remote server unless you opt in to Sync.
Where it falls short: The learning curve is steeper than Google Keep’s. New users get a blank vault and a plugin store, not an onboarded experience. Mobile sync is paid, and the official Sync plan is not end-to-end encrypted by default in every region.
Pricing: Free for personal use. Obsidian Sync is $5 per month billed annually. Commercial use is $50 per user per year.
vs Google Keep: Obsidian gives you local files, backlinks, and a graph. Keep gives you colored cards.
Migrating from Google Keep: Run a Google Keep to markdown converter on the Takeout archive, drop the resulting .md files into a fresh vault, and Obsidian indexes them in seconds. Labels become YAML tags.
Download: obsidian.md/download
Bottom line: Pick Obsidian if you take a lot of notes and want them connected, not just listed.
Logseq: best for outliner and journaling workflows
Logseq is an open-source outliner that treats every bullet as a first-class block you can link, embed, and query. It is journal-first: the home screen is today’s page, and notes flow into it before you sort them later. Native desktop apps cover Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Where it falls short: If you do not think in bullet outlines, the interface fights you. The mobile app is functional but visibly behind the desktop one, and some plugins lag the Obsidian ecosystem.
Pricing: Free and open-source. Logseq Sync is in beta and currently free for early users.
vs Google Keep: Logseq adds outlining, daily journaling, and bidirectional links. Keep has none of that.
Migrating from Google Keep: Use a Takeout-to-markdown converter, drop the files into Logseq’s pages/ folder, and the app picks them up on next launch. Date-stamped notes can be routed into journal pages with a small rename script.
Download: logseq.com/downloads
Bottom line: Pick Logseq if you live in daily notes and want every line to be linkable.
Trilium Notes: best self-hosted hierarchical notes
Trilium Notes is what you reach for when you want a hierarchical note tree and you want to host it yourself. It runs as a desktop app on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and the optional server component lets you sync across machines through your own VPS. The note tree handles tens of thousands of nodes without slowing down.
Where it falls short: The interface is dense and not friendly to first-timers. The mobile story is read-only through a web view. Setup of the sync server is a one-evening project, not a click.
Pricing: Free and open-source. Self-hosting cost is whatever your VPS runs at, often $5 per month or less.
vs Google Keep: Trilium gives you a real outline tree, attributes, relations, and full ownership. Keep gives you flat cards on Google’s servers.
Migrating from Google Keep: Trilium imports markdown, HTML, and OPML. Convert the Takeout archive to markdown first, then import as a sub-tree under a new “Imported from Keep” branch.
Download: github.com/TriliumNext/Notes/releases
Bottom line: Pick Trilium if you want a self-hosted brain and you are comfortable on the command line.
Bear: best for macOS-only households with a clean editor
Bear is the editor people switch to when they care how typing feels. The macOS app is fast, the markdown rendering is sharp, and the tag system uses nested hashtags so #work/clients/acme builds a folder tree without a sidebar dance. iCloud sync covers macOS and iOS.
Where it falls short: Bear is Apple-only. There is no Windows or Linux client and no plan for one. End-to-end encryption is per-note rather than account-wide.
Pricing: Free with limits. Bear Pro is $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, which unlocks sync, themes, and export options.
vs Google Keep: Bear gives you a polished macOS editor and proper markdown. Keep gives you a web tab.
Migrating from Google Keep: Convert Takeout to markdown, then drag the folder into Bear. Tags carry over if you prefix them with # during conversion. Attachments need a manual re-link in some cases.
Download: bear.app/download
Bottom line: Pick Bear if every device you own says Apple on the back.
How to choose
Start with the privacy question, because it eliminates most of the field. If you want every note encrypted before it leaves your machine and you also want a real desktop app, Notesnook is the shortest path. It looks and behaves the most like Google Keep would if Google cared about privacy. If you want the same encryption guarantee but you are willing to host things yourself, Joplin with a Nextcloud or WebDAV backend is the answer, and it stays free.
Pick Standard Notes if you are building a long-term personal archive and you accept a plainer editor in exchange for stronger longevity promises. Pick Obsidian if your notes are interconnected and you want a graph, backlinks, and a plugin ecosystem. It is overkill for a grocery list and exactly right for a research vault. Pick Logseq if you write daily journal entries and want every bullet to be a queryable block.
Pick Trilium Notes if you want a true hierarchical tree, you have a VPS, and you want to walk away from cloud sync entirely. Pick Bear if every device you own runs macOS or iOS and writing experience trumps cross-platform reach.
Stay on Google Keep if you only use it for short, throwaway lists, you already live inside a Google Workspace account, and none of the content is sensitive. For anything past that, one of the seven above will fit better.
FAQ
Is there a desktop app for Google Keep?
No. Google has never shipped a native Windows, macOS, or Linux client for Keep. The supported options are the web app at keep.google.com and a Chrome extension that wraps the web app. Every alternative on this list ships a real desktop binary.
What is the best free Google Keep alternative for desktop?
Joplin is the strongest free option. It is open-source, has native Windows, macOS, and Linux apps, supports nested notebooks and markdown, and lets you bring your own sync target including Nextcloud, WebDAV, Dropbox, OneDrive, and S3. Logseq and Trilium are also fully free if you prefer outlining or self-hosting.
Can I export my notes out of Google Keep?
Yes, through Google Takeout. The export is a folder of JSON files plus any attachments. Most note apps cannot read that format directly, so you run a community converter that turns the JSON into markdown or HTML, then import the result. Plan on about ten minutes for a few hundred notes.
Which Google Keep alternative is end-to-end encrypted?
Notesnook and Standard Notes encrypt everything end-to-end by default across desktop, mobile, and sync. Joplin and Obsidian both offer end-to-end encryption as an option, but you have to turn it on. Google Keep does not offer end-to-end encryption at all.
Do these Google Keep alternatives work offline on desktop?
Yes. Notesnook, Joplin, Obsidian, Logseq, Trilium, Standard Notes, and Bear all open and edit notes with no network connection. Sync happens in the background once you are back online. Google Keep’s web app is the outlier here, since it gets unreliable when offline.
Which Google Keep alternative is best for Linux?
Joplin, Notesnook, Obsidian, Logseq, and Trilium all ship a Linux desktop app, usually as AppImage, deb, and rpm packages. Standard Notes also has a Linux build. Bear is macOS-only and is the only option on this list that does not work on Linux.
