ThinkTea vs Standard Notes
Two products that both refuse to put AI anywhere near your writing, aimed at quite different jobs. Standard Notes is a private notes app. ThinkTea is a workspace for coursework that includes video, 3D and artwork.
If what you need is somewhere very private to write, Standard Notes does that with end-to-end encryption and does it well. ThinkTea is a different shape of tool: pages, boards, kanbans, projects and a planner, plus 3D model embeds and critique pinned to a video timecode, with no AI on any plan. Pick by the work, not by the slogan — both of us mean the no-AI part.
| ThinkTea | Standard Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| AI | None, on any plan. Nothing used for training. | None. |
| Free plan | 1 workspace, 5 each of pages, boards, kanbans, projects, models and videos, up to 250 MB of storage, full sharing and live collaboration. | Unlimited notes, sync across unlimited devices. |
| Paid plan | Personal: $5/month — $60/year. | Productivity $90/year; Professional $120/year, which adds cloud file storage and priority support. |
| Storage | Up to 50 GB held at once on Personal, 250 MB free; optional +50 GB for $2/month. A ceiling on what you hold, not a monthly allowance. | Cloud file storage on the Professional plan. |
| Privacy model | No AI, no ads, no telemetry profiling, and a workspace admin can never read a member’s private pages. | End-to-end encrypted notes — the strongest guarantee of the two. |
| 3D models in a page | Yes — orbit, zoom and HDRI lighting. | No. |
| Video critique | Comments pinned to an exact timecode. | No. |
| Image and PDF annotation | Pins on the artwork itself. | No. |
| Boards, kanban, planners | Built in. | Not the product’s purpose. |
| Real-time collaboration | Free on every plan. | Note sharing rather than live co-editing. |
| Offline | No. | Yes. |
They are aimed at different jobs
Standard Notes is a notes app in the strict sense: somewhere to write, kept private, kept simple, kept for a long time. It is deliberately not trying to be a project workspace, and it is very good at what it is.
ThinkTea is trying to be the place a whole term lives — the weekly planner, a project per class, a kanban for the group project, and the artwork and footage those are actually about. If your coursework is essays, that breadth may be more than you need. If it is a short film or a game level, it is roughly the minimum.
On privacy
Standard Notes encrypts your notes end to end, which is the strongest privacy guarantee available and the reason to choose it if privacy is the requirement rather than a preference.
Our promise is a different one and we would rather state it precisely than blur the two: no AI features on any plan, nothing of yours used to train a model, no ads, no telemetry profiling, and no workspace admin can read a member’s private pages. If cryptographic guarantees are what you are shopping for, Standard Notes is the one to buy.
What you get here instead
Everything media. A 3D model that orbits in the page under real lighting. A note attached to 0:47 of a render so the feedback says where. Annotation pins on an image or a PDF. Then the ordinary scaffolding around it — boards, kanbans, projects per class, a weekly planner — and live collaboration when a project is shared.
Who each one is for
Choose ThinkTea if…
- Your coursework includes video, 3D or artwork that needs critique
- You want boards, projects and a planner alongside your notes
- You want to work in the same document as a classmate, live
Choose Standard Notes if…
- You want end-to-end encrypted notes
- You mainly write text and want it kept simple
- You need offline access
- You want unlimited notes on a free plan
- You want the cheaper subscription — Productivity is $90/year against our $60
Questions
Do either of these use AI?
No. Neither Standard Notes nor ThinkTea puts AI features into your notes, and ThinkTea does not use anything you write to train a model. If avoiding AI is your requirement, both qualify.
Which is more private?
Standard Notes. It encrypts notes end to end, which is a stronger guarantee than ThinkTea offers. ThinkTea’s promise is no AI, no ads, no telemetry profiling, and no admin access to a member’s private pages.
What does Standard Notes cost?
The free plan covers unlimited notes and sync across unlimited devices. Productivity is $90/year, and Professional is $120/year and adds cloud file storage and priority support.
Can Standard Notes handle video or 3D coursework?
It is not built for it. ThinkTea embeds 3D models with orbit and HDRI lighting, pins comments to a video timecode, and puts annotation pins on images and PDFs.
Can I use both?
Plenty of people would be well served doing exactly that — Standard Notes for private writing, ThinkTea for coursework and project work. Neither locks your content in; ThinkTea exports to Markdown, images and PDF on every plan.
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Last updated 2026-08-12. Standard Notes pricing and features were checked on that date; if something here has gone stale, tell us and we will fix it.