Google Keep is free. Why pay for Dash?

Because free means your notes sit inside a Google account, readable by Google and tied to the profile it keeps on you. The Mac app costs $14.99 once, and the iPhone and web apps are free, so the price of leaving is small and the notes become yours alone.

Can I move my notes from Google Keep?

Yes. Use Google Takeout to export Keep as a zip of HTML and JSON files. Bring the notes you use into Dash and keep the export as an archive; an encrypted .dashpack file is a good place for it.

Does Dash sync like Google Keep?

It can. Dash Sync is optional, at $4.99 a month or $47.99 a year with a seven-day trial, and keeps Mac, iPhone, iPad and the web in step. Everything is encrypted on your device before upload, so the relay only stores ciphertext. Leave it off and Dash never contacts a server.

Is Dash really more private than Google Keep?

Yes, structurally. Keep requires a Google account and stores notes on Google’s servers with Google’s keys. Dash needs no account, keeps notes on your device by default, and encrypts any note you lock with AES-256 so nobody else can read it, us included.

What do I lose by leaving Google Keep?

Instant capture from anywhere in the Google ecosystem, reminders tied to Google Assistant, colour-coded cards and collaborative lists. Dash gives you folders, tags, wiki-style [[links]], attachments, search, locked notes, an app lock and self-destructing notes instead.

Dash Notes

Free on iPhone

Dash vs Google Keep

A Google Keep Alternative With No Google Account

Keep is fast, free and tied to the account Google builds around you. Dash keeps the speed and drops the account.

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Updated September 2026 · Dash team

Google Keep is very good at one thing: catching a thought in two seconds. It is also a Google product, which means a Google account, notes on Google’s servers with Google’s keys, and a place in the profile the company maintains about you. For a shopping list that is fine. For anything you would not want read, it is not.

Dash keeps notes on your Mac or iPhone with no account at all, and locks the ones that matter. We make Dash, so judge the comparison on the facts.

Dash vs Google Keep

Feature	Dash	Google Keep
Works fully offline		Partial
Works without an account
Provider cannot read your notes
Lock individual notes
Lock the whole app
Self-destructing notes
Folders, tags and [[links]]		Labels
Shared and collaborative notes
Open source
Price	$14.99 once	Free

Quick capture without a Google account. Dash is $14.99 once on Mac, free on iPhone.

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What “free” costs

Keep has no subscription because it is part of an account that carries your mail, your calendar, your location history and your search. Notes are stored on Google’s servers, encrypted with Google’s keys, and are available to the company and to legal requests. Google does not need to read your notes for the arrangement to be a poor fit for a journal or a password hint.

Dash has no account, so there is no profile to join. Notes stay on the device. Lock one and it is encrypted with AES-256-GCM, so even someone holding your unlocked Mac cannot open it.

What Keep does better

Instant capture from anywhere in the Google ecosystem, voice notes through Assistant, location and time reminders, shared lists that update live, and a free Android app that is already on the phone. If your notes are lists you share with someone else, Keep is hard to beat.

What Dash does better

No account, no profile. Nothing to sign into and nothing to leak.
Real encryption. AES-256-GCM on any note you lock, opened with Touch ID or Face ID.
A lock on the app itself, with auto-lock timers and a duress password that opens decoy notes.
Structure that scales. Folders, tags, wiki-style [[links]] and search, rather than coloured cards and labels.
Notes that delete themselves when a timer runs out.

Moving from Google Keep to Dash

Export with Google Takeout. Select Keep and download the zip; you get HTML and JSON per note.
Bring across what you use. Most Keep libraries are mostly finished lists.
Lock anything sensitive, and turn on Dash Sync if you want the same notes on the phone.

One purchase. Two platforms. Sync only if you want it.

You never need a subscription to take notes.

Get Dashthe same app, on both platforms

Mac

iPhone

Freeon the App Store

No purchase, no trial, no account

Same encryption, Face IDWorks fully offlineNo account to makeFree on the web too

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OptionalAdd Dash Sync

Keeps Mac, iPhone, iPad and web in step, encrypted on your device first. Dash works completely without it — notes, encryption and everything else.

$4.99 / mo

or $47.99 / year · 7-day trial

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Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

Private notes appNotes that stay on your device, with no account.Notes app with password protectionLock a note, lock the app, and what a lock screen does not do.Offline notes appWhy notes that work with the Wi‑Fi off are the private ones.

Notes that are not part of an advertising profile.

$14.99 once on Mac. Free on iPhone.

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