Plainpad
The facts below are what the maker publishes about Plainpad, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From Plainpad's own pricing page, checked 20 Sep 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Unlimited users |
| Plainpad (self-hosted) | Free | GPL-3.0 · unlimited users · all features |
| Managed Hosting | €20 a year | Isolated production instance · daily backups with 30-day retention · updates and migrations · TLS and baseline security hardening · priority email support · Billed annually |
| White Label — Regular | €50, paid once | One branded installation · commercial use under your brand · One-time |
| Technical Support | €60, paid once | One focused live session · installation, upgrade, configuration, or performance help · Per session |
| White Label — Extended | €500, paid once | SaaS and multi-tenant rights · resale to end users · priority licensing support · One-time |
| Data Migration | Priced on request | Migration of notes, notebooks, and attachments from another app · Custom quote scoped per project |
| Custom Development | Priced on request | Scoped feature work · integrations · custom workflows · Custom quote scoped per project |
The facts
Each one read from Plainpad's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Core features
- It includes multi-user accounts with admin and user roles, instant search, and automatic note saving.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Deployment requirements
- The maker says Plainpad requires PHP 8.2 or later and a MySQL database, and offers Docker images for containerized deployment.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Encryption
- Users can opt in to per-user database encryption so note titles and content are encrypted before storage and remain unreadable without the passphrase.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Hosting service target
- For Managed Hosting, the maker targets monthly uptime of 99.5% or better excluding scheduled maintenance.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- A built-in REST API supports automation and custom integrations; the maker also offers custom integration work.checked 12 Oct 2026
- License
- Plainpad is licensed under GPL-3.0 for personal or commercial use, with no user limits or fees for the software.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Markdown and offline
- Rich Markdown editing and full offline access with background sync are described as premium enhancements available through custom development.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Offline access
- Nochecked 20 Sep 2026
- Paid hosting service
- Managed Hosting includes daily backups with 30-day retention, updates and migrations, TLS hardening, and priority email support.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- For self-hosted installations, the maker says no data is sent to it and the installation owner is the data controller.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Product
- Plainpad is an open-source, self-hosted note-taking application that keeps notes on the user’s own infrastructure.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Support
- Help is available through documentation, the Discord community, GitHub issues, and paid technical-support sessions.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Website analytics
- The maker says Google Analytics loads only after consent, and it does not sell personal data or use it for third-party advertising.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Who it is for
- The maker describes Plainpad for solo users and organizations that want note-taking while keeping data on their own server.checked 12 Oct 2026
Money
- Free plan
- Yeschecked 20 Sep 2026
Where it runs
- Supported platforms
- web,self_hostedchecked 20 Sep 2026
Alternatives to Plainpad
- 1
Notion
Free planAndroidiOSWebmacOS9.1From $10 a month - 2
Goodnotes
Free planAndroidiOSWebmacOS9.0From $11.99 a year - 3
Turtl
Free planOpen sourceAndroidAPIExtensionLinux9.0From $3 a month - 4
Obsidian
Free planAndroidiOSExtensionLinux8.9From $50 a year - 5
Supernotes
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI8.9From £6 a month - 6
Notesnook
Free planAndroidiOSWebLinux8.8From $1.99 a month