The lightning-fast, local-first reading/research companion. Highlight text, add thoughts, and save directly to your browser—no cloud bloat required.
Built for speed and focus, giving you back control of your research.
Highlight text and hit Cmd+Shift+S. No menus needed. Capture ideas at the speed of
thought.
Your highlights stay on the webpage. Reload the page weeks later, and your thoughts will still be glowing right where you left them.
No mandatory accounts or cloud subscriptions. Your notes live directly in your browser's encrypted local storage.
Organize effortlessly with a custom datalist tagging system. Filter thousands of notes in milliseconds.
Write freely in Markdown. Need it elsewhere? One-click export to Google Docs & MS Word formatting.
A beautifully minimal side panel replaces heavy clunky UI. Beautiful dark mode and glassmorphism by default.
See how SmartNotes compares against existing heavyweights.
| Feature | SmartNotes | Evernote / Notion | Readwise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed to Save | Instant (Shortcut) | Slow (Requires UI) | Medium |
| Persistent DOM Highlights | ✅ Seamless | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Local-First Privacy | ✅ 100% Local | ❌ Cloud Only | ❌ Cloud Only |
| Data Ownership | JSON / Doc Export | Platform Locked | Locked |
| Price | Free | $10-$15/mo | $8.99/mo |
Everything you need to know about the extension.
Yes. 100% of your notes, highlights, and tags are stored securely in your browser's local `chrome.storage.local` environment. We have no servers, and your data never leaves your device.
Absolutely. You can export a full JSON backup of your database with one click, or export individual notes directly as MS Word/Google Docs compatible `.doc` files.
When you click "Add to Note" after selecting text on a webpage, SmartNotes stores the exact snippet string and the URL. Whenever you visit that URL again, our lightweight content script dynamically re-highlights the text exactly where you left it!
We are actively developing Cloud Sync as an optional add-on feature. Free users will always be able to use the local-first architecture without any restrictions.