Non-EU vendorNotes & TasksHeadquarters: HK

Goodnotes: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

Goodnotes is a note-taking app built around handwriting on tablets and other devices. It runs on iOS/iPadOS, Mac, Windows, Android and in the browser. Users write with a stylus, annotate PDFs, work on an infinite whiteboard or create typed documents. Further features include real-time collaboration, audio recording with transcription, meeting notes and AI assistance, such as searching across typed text and handwriting. The app is installed on the device itself.

Goodnotes Limited develops the app and has offices in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. According to its privacy policy, notes and documents are stored on the user's device and Goodnotes does not store them on its own servers. Optional Goodnotes Cloud backups run on Amazon Web Services, with no region named, and syncing through iCloud is also possible. The policy states that third parties supporting the cloud service may be located outside the UK and the EEA. For sensitive notes, keeping them on the device is the most controllable option.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with Goodnotes pre-selected

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Sovereignty score

32 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign

Jurisdiction SOV-250
Headquartered outside the EU (HK)
Data residency SOV-30
No hosting in Europe (OTHER)
Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-340
Key management with a non-European vendor
Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
Closed source: switching requires data migration
Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-630
Closed source, runtime with the vendor

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked October 2, 2026

Headquarters	HK (OTHER)Verified by hand
EU adequacy decision	No — no adequacy decisionVerified by hand
Sovereignty model	Vendor-hosted (non-EU)Verified by hand
Data hosting	OTHERVerified by hand
Open-source	NoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant	YesVendor-stated
Hosting signal	AMAZON-02 - Amazon.com, Inc., US (US)Technically measured
Category	Notes & Tasks
Type	Product
Website	goodnotes.com ↗

The hosting signal shows the network that serves the vendor's website, often a CDN, and not necessarily where the service or your data is hosted. How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to Goodnotes

The European alternatives to Goodnotes come from our knowledge base of over 6,800 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

25 European Notes & Tasks vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with Goodnotes

Goodnotes is headquartered in HK, outside the EU. Contracts and data therefore also fall under non-European law. The GDPR applies through contractual terms, but in a conflict with local legislation you have less certainty than with a European vendor.

Goodnotes hosts data outside the EU (OTHER). Personal data therefore leaves the EU, which requires a transfer mechanism under the GDPR and pulls the data residency score down.

Goodnotes is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs Goodnotes together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to Goodnotes?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to Goodnotes include Bear, Joplin and Anytype. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to Goodnotes?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to Goodnotes include Joplin, Nextcloud Notes, CryptPad, Zettlr and Carnet. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is Goodnotes GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

Goodnotes is headquartered in HK (OTHER) and hosts data in OTHER. The vendor states it is GDPR-compliant, but the data falls under non-EU jurisdiction. For full EU data residency the EU alternatives on this page usually offer more certainty.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on October 2, 2026.

Sources

Public sources used in the latest check of this record.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

No public compliance evidence has been recorded for this vendor yet. Do you know its DPA or subprocessor list? Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Digital sovereignty in Notes & Tasks

Notes & Tasks: Note-taking apps and task management — write, organise, sync. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

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