Your note will be encrypted with AES-256 using your password. The password is never stored — neither on your device nor on our servers. If you forget it, the note cannot be recovered.
A free online notepad that opens in your browser, works offline, and never asks for an email. Type instantly, save automatically, and pick up where you left off — across any number of notes. This is the free online notepad people choose when they're tired of ads, signups, and tools that send their text to a server. Use it for quick scratchpads, longer drafts, code snippets, meeting notes, or anything else you'd normally reach for Windows Notepad to do.
Below: the features people most often look for in a free online notepad — multiple tabs, password protection, word count, line numbers, dark mode, markdown, sharing — explained, plus how each one works here.
Each section below answers a specific thing people search for when they need an online notepad. Click into the dedicated page for a deeper walkthrough, or just use the feature directly above.
Keep multiple notes open at once in browser tabs that work like Windows Notepad's. Each tab autosaves independently to your browser. Drag to reorder, double-click to rename. The fastest way to keep your scratchpads, drafts, and todo lists side by side in one free online notepad. See the tabs guide →
Lock any note with AES-256 encryption derived from a password you choose. The password is never stored — not on your device, not on any server. A locked note shows a 🔒 in the tab and asks for the password every time the page loads. This is the only free online notepad with real, verifiable encryption (not just a UI gate). How password protection works →
Live word count and character count in the status bar at the bottom — updates as you type. Useful when you're hitting a 280-character tweet, a 500-word essay, or just want to know how much you've written. No setup, just look down. Every free online notepad should have this; not all do.
Toggle line numbers from the toolbar (Lines button) or View menu (Ctrl+Shift+L). They appear in a gutter to the left of your text, scroll in sync with the editor, and stay turned on between sessions. Helpful for code, configuration files, or any long structured document — and uncommon among free online notepads. More on line numbers →
A real dark mode (not a CSS filter) that follows your system preference automatically, or toggle it manually with Ctrl+D. The editor, tabs, menus, and all dialogs adapt. Easier on the eyes at night and during long writing sessions. Dark mode guide →
Write in plain text or markdown — your choice. Hit Ctrl+M (or click Markdown in the toolbar) to see the formatted preview side-by-side. Headings, lists, links, code blocks, bold, italic — all the standard markdown you'd expect, rendered live as you type. Markdown notepad guide →
Generate a shareable link that contains your note encoded inside the URL itself — not on a server somewhere. Send the link to anyone; they open it and see your note. No accounts, no server storage, no expiration. We literally can't see what you shared because the note content (after the # in the URL) never gets sent to us by their browser. How sharing works →
Every keystroke is saved to your browser's local storage instantly. Close the tab, restart your computer, come back tomorrow — your notes are still here, exactly as you left them. No "Don't forget to save" warnings, ever. Working as a free online notepad with proper autosave shouldn't be unusual in 2026 — but it is.
After your first visit, the entire notepad caches locally as a Progressive Web App. No internet? No problem. Install it to your home screen on mobile or as a desktop app — it opens instantly even when offline. Your notes never needed our server anyway.
If you're used to Windows Notepad, this will feel immediately familiar — the same File / Edit / Insert / View menus, the same Ctrl+S to save, F5 for date/time, Ctrl+F for find. Designed as a Windows Notepad alternative for any browser, with the things Notepad never added: tabs, dark mode, markdown, sharing. Windows Notepad online →
Zero advertising. No banners, no popups, no "subscribe to remove ads" gates. Funded by nothing — built as a free utility for people who want a notepad that does its job and gets out of the way. The only free online notepad on the market guaranteeing this in writing in our privacy policy.
Export all your notes to a JSON file (File → Backup all notes) and import them anywhere — different browser, different device, after clearing data. Plain JSON, no proprietary format, no cloud account required.
Most online notepads ask you to trust them with your text. We took the opposite approach: build the notepad so we can't see your notes even if we wanted to. Here's exactly how that works, in technical detail you can verify yourself.
Everything you type is saved to your browser's localStorage, which is sandboxed to your domain and your device. Open the browser's DevTools → Application → Local Storage to see your own notes exactly as we store them. There is no network request that uploads them. There is no server-side database of notes.
The site is served over HTTPS only. HTTP requests redirect automatically. Strict Transport Security (HSTS) tells your browser to never accept an unencrypted connection again. We support TLS 1.3 with modern cipher suites.
Our Content-Security-Policy header blocks any script, style, or image from a domain we don't control. That means even if an attacker compromised our hosting, they couldn't silently inject a tracker or keylogger — the browser would refuse to run it.
Zero requests to ad networks, analytics platforms, font CDNs, or social widgets. Open DevTools → Network and load the page. Every single request goes to our domain only. Nothing else is loaded.
When you generate a share link, the note is encoded into the URL after the # fragment. By web standard, browsers never transmit the fragment to the server. The recipient's browser decodes it locally. We literally cannot log what's in shared links.
We don't set tracking cookies. We don't fingerprint your browser. The only browser storage we use is localStorage — the same place every web app stores user preferences — and it holds only your notes, plus your theme and font-size choices.
After your first visit, the notepad works without an internet connection. The service worker caches the entire app locally. This means we can't snoop on traffic that isn't happening, and you don't lose access if our server goes down.
Because notes live in your browser, clearing your browser data deletes them. If you use a shared computer, anyone who can open your browser can see your notes. For critical information, use Ctrl+S to download a backup. We'd rather tell you the truth than oversell the privacy.
Want the full technical breakdown of how we keep your notes safe?
Read the security architecture →The online notepad space is crowded. We've tested every major option — OnlineNotepad.org, aNotepad, online-notepad.io, and JustNotepad — and built this one to fill the gaps each of them leaves. Here's the honest side-by-side.
| Feature | onlinenotepad.app | OnlineNotepad.org | aNotepad | online-notepad.io |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loads instantly, no signup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple notes | Tabs | Sidebar | Sidebar | Tabs |
| Find & replace | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Insert special characters & emoji | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Backup all notes (JSON export) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Fullscreen mode | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Dark mode | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Markdown preview | Yes | No | No | No |
| Shareable links (no server) | Yes | No | Server-stored | No |
| Works offline (PWA) | Yes | No | No | No |
| No ads | Yes | No | No | No |
| Drag to reorder tabs | Yes | No | No | No |
| Notes stay on your device | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Want the deep dive? Read our full comparison with OnlineNotepad.org for the side-by-side analysis. We update this table whenever a competitor ships a new feature — last reviewed May 2026.
Yes. Completely free, with no ads, no signup, and no usage limits. It's funded by nothing — it's a free utility.
Yes — this one. Click File → Lock with password (or press Ctrl+Shift+P) and your note is encrypted with AES-256-GCM using a key derived from your password. The password is never stored anywhere. Locked notes show 🔒 in the tab and require the password on every page load. If you forget the password, the note cannot be recovered.
Yes. Open as many tabs as you want — each tab is a separate note that autosaves independently to your browser. Drag tabs to reorder, double-click to rename. The tab interface is modeled on Windows 11 Notepad. Read the full guide to tabs for keyboard shortcuts and tips.
Yes. Word count and character count appear live in the status bar at the bottom, updating as you type. No setup needed — just look down.
Yes — toggle from the View menu, the toolbar (Lines button), or Ctrl+Shift+L. They appear in a gutter to the left, scroll in sync with your text, and remember the setting between sessions. Off by default to keep the familiar Windows Notepad feel.
Yes — that's deliberate. The File / Edit / Insert / View menus match Windows Notepad, the keyboard shortcuts match (Ctrl+S to save, F5 for date/time, Ctrl+F for find), and the visual style is modeled on Windows 11 Notepad. But it works in any browser, on any OS, with extras Windows Notepad doesn't have (tabs that drag-reorder, dark mode, markdown, sharing).
Yes. The site is served over HTTPS, your notes are saved locally in your own browser (not on our servers), we set no tracking cookies, and we load no third-party scripts. You can verify everything in your browser's DevTools — open the Network tab and reload the page; every request goes to our domain only.
In your browser's localStorage, under our domain only. You can see them yourself: open DevTools (F12) → Application → Local Storage → our domain. The data is sandboxed by the browser to our origin, meaning no other website can read it.
No. Your notes are never transmitted to our servers — they're saved entirely client-side. Even when you share a link, the note content lives in the URL fragment (the part after #), which by web standard is never sent to a server.
Yes. Every keystroke is saved to your browser's local storage instantly. Close the tab and come back — your notes are still there.
Yes. Click File → Share link (or Ctrl+L) and a URL is generated that contains your note encoded inside the link itself. Anyone with the link can read it. The content still never touches our servers. More on link sharing →
Yes. Write in plain text or markdown — toggle the live preview with Ctrl+M. Supports headings, lists, links, code blocks, bold, italic, and the standard inline formatting. Full markdown guide →
Your notes will be deleted along with everything else, because they live in your browser. For anything important, use Ctrl+S to download a copy, or File → Backup all notes to export everything as a JSON file you can restore later.
Yes. After your first visit, the notepad works fully offline. You can also install it as a Progressive Web App.
All the standard ones plus extras: Ctrl+T (new tab), Ctrl+W (close tab), Ctrl+S (save), Ctrl+O (open), Ctrl+F (find), Ctrl+H (replace), Ctrl+Z/Y (undo/redo), Ctrl+L (share), Ctrl+M (markdown), Ctrl+D (dark mode), Ctrl+Shift+L (line numbers), Ctrl+Shift+P (lock with password), Ctrl+Shift+C (special characters), Ctrl+Shift+E (emoji), F5 (date/time), F11 (fullscreen).