I need a secure alternative to Evernote

July 27, 2009 9:05 AM

Any suggestions on a secure alternative to Evernote?

I really like Evernote. I really do. However, I need something that secures my content with encryption. Evernote does a great job of archiving all my notes, pictures, and ideas however the data is all located on their servers in an unencrypted format. Is there any other provider or software that accomplishes the same thing as Evernote yet provides encryption for users data?

Things I am looking for:
1. iPhone/PDA companion app to allow capture and viewing of content away from desktop PC
2. Web component to allow viewing or capture of data
3. Encryption

People familiar with Evernote may be thinking .. "Evernote has all this but encryption .. just wait". This is true but as I am unsure when Evernote is going to support the encryption of user content and I would like to find an alternative in the meantime.

I know there are a few Mac based tools out there (Yojimbo, Together, Journler, etc ..) but I am looking for something on the PC. I love MS OneNote but it does not have a PDA or web component. Any suggestions on what others use? Thank you.

posted by DerekTheGeek to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

For text notes I've been using Simplenote, as recommended by Daring Fireball. It really is very good - the web component is sweet, and in an email convo I had with one of the developers, they're working on local syncing to your desktop, maybe using Google Gears or something like it.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:18 AM on July 27, 2009 [3 favorites]

I also use simplenote as well, but it also lacks encryption.

You could DIY, and simply encrypt those notes that are important before saving them. PGP used to let you encrypt/decrypt selected text. (At least, this is something I vaguely remember.) This is probably actually the secure route to take. If you let the web service manage the key you use to encrypt/decrypt the data, i'm not sure what you would gain in terms of security.
posted by chunking express at 9:59 AM on July 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thats a good suggestion on using PGP to encrypt the content. I realize I am giving up a whole bunch of functionality by requiring the encryption but in the end it is worth it for me.
posted by DerekTheGeek at 10:18 AM on July 27, 2009

a great job of archiving all my notes, pictures, and ideas

Then forget simple note. I love simple note, but it's for text, not pictures, not pdfs, just... notes, and generally shote notes at that (do people actually read the question?).

I don't know of anything that does what you're asking, but I wouldn't be surprised if evernote does get this feature and add it to the premium version.
posted by justgary at 10:38 AM on July 27, 2009

Evernote Premium has it.
posted by m1dra3 at 11:03 AM on July 27, 2009

SSL secures the data between your computer (or phone) and their server. The OP wants the data to be stored on their servers secured as well. Right now it would be in the clear.
posted by chunking express at 11:06 AM on July 27, 2009

@chunking express: you are right, silly me...
posted by m1dra3 at 11:10 AM on July 27, 2009

This reminds me -- I want to do things like Evernote, dropbox, offsite backup, sync the browsers and fetch the email, and whatever else, over the Internet, ON MY OWN SERVER.

I could possibly setup a home network to do many of those things, but 1) I'd have to figure it all out and do it; and 2) when i'm away from home, all that stuff would be limited to the slow upload speed my isp offers.

I have a feeling there are lots of us who want what I do. Where is the enterprising ISP that offers it?
posted by notyou at 11:46 AM on July 27, 2009

Amazon S3 offers end to end encryption on data storage. In theory, this new (in beta) iphone s3 client would allow you to access your files, but I'm not sure if it does/will allow the same easy functionality as Evernote.
posted by sharkfu at 4:29 PM on July 27, 2009

Response by poster: @notyou - I understand what you are saying. If that sort of product was offered I would be all over it. As it is, most of my data is on another providers servers (email, google calendar). I would feel a whole lot more secure having everything on my server. I did find that PHP based Drupal worked very well as a content management system for my own use. There are lots of plug-ins to allow you to build your own content repository. But, as others have mentioned, Evernote just brings it all together, My hope was that there might be another competing service that was unknown to me.

@sharkfu (love your username :)) - Nice suggestion on S3 but your right about the ease of use.

Thanks for the comments everyone.
posted by DerekTheGeek at 7:02 AM on July 28, 2009

Response by poster: Just wanted to post some other "alternative" solutions I have been finding. In looking at some of the new features in OneNote 2010 I came across this wikipedia article which has a good sized list of note taking software and a matrix style comparison.

Wikipedia - Comparison of notetaking software

From the Wikipedia article I found ThreeTags – Online Notebook which used client side encryption to encrypt all data stored on the server.

I will post more info/links as I find them.
posted by DerekTheGeek at 9:03 AM on July 28, 2009