Standard Notes
Tenable
| Feature | Standard Notes | Tenable |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7.5/mo | Free / from $3990/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | privacy-focused-users, journalists, professionals, researchers | security-teams, compliance-officers, it-operations, vulnerability-managers |
| Founded | 2016 | 2002 |
| Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Themes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Editors | ✓ | ✗ |
| Tags | ✓ | ✗ |
| File Attachments | ✓ | ✗ |
| Two Factor Auth | ✓ | ✗ |
| Vulnerability Scanning | ✗ | ✓ |
| Asset Discovery | ✗ | ✓ |
| Risk Prioritization | ✗ | ✓ |
| Compliance Reporting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Web App Scanning | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cloud Security | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Standard Notes Pros
- End-to-end encrypted
- 100-year company promise
- Cross-platform
- Open-source
✗ Standard Notes Cons
- Basic free version
- Fewer features than Notion
- Limited formatting
✓ Tenable Pros
- Comprehensive vulnerability coverage
- Excellent asset discovery
- Good risk prioritization
- Strong compliance reporting
✗ Tenable Cons
- Expensive for large environments
- Complex initial setup
- Scanning can impact performance
The Verdict
Standard Notes is built for privacy focused users and journalists, with a focus on encryption and themes. Tenable targets security teams and compliance officers and leads with vulnerability-scanning and asset-discovery.
On pricing, Standard Notes is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $7.5/mo compared to $3990/mo for Tenable. That $3982.5/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.