The price anchor
| Quillpad | Notion | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 — no subscription | $12/mo per seat |
| Annual | $0 after purchase | $144 |
| 5-year total | $29 | $720 |
| 10-year total | $29 | $1,440 |
Subscription figures from the vendor's published pricing ($12/mo per seat, ~$144/yr); the Quillpad column is the full price, paid once.
Break-even analysis
Two and a half months of one Notion seat pays for Quillpad — and your notes stop being hostages.
- After 1 year: Quillpad has cost you $29 total — Notion has cost $144.
- After 3 years: Quillpad is still $29 — the subscription is at $432.
- After 5 years: Quillpad is still $29 — the subscription is at $720.
What you get for $29 once
- Your vault is just a folder. Notes are real .md files, folders are folders. Edit them in any other app — Quillpad watches the disk and refreshes live.
- Live-styled markdown editor. CodeMirror 6 with inline preview styling — sized headings, rendered bold/italic, highlighted code. Ctrl+E toggles full preview.
- [[Wikilinks]] + backlinks. Type [[ for fuzzy autocomplete over every note; aliases supported; missing notes are created on click. Every note shows who links to it, with context.
- Tags. #hashtags anywhere appear in the sidebar — click to filter.
- Full-text search + quick switcher. Instant search with highlighted matches across the vault; Ctrl+P jumps to any note, recent first.
- No renewal, ever. The license does not expire and there is no per-seat meter — $29 is the whole price.
Pricing questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/quillpad-notes-mvp, always. $29 buys the signed installer with auto-updates.
How do I sync between machines?
Your vault is a plain folder, so any file sync works: Dropbox, Google Drive, Syncthing, git. There's no built-in sync service — that's a feature, not a gap: it's why there's no account and no monthly fee. If you want turnkey encrypted mobile sync, Obsidian Sync is good at that.
Can it replace Notion databases?
No — Quillpad is notes, links and tags, not tables, kanbans and formulas. If your workspace is really a database app, Notion earns its seat fee. If it's actually a pile of documents, files are better.
What happens if Quillpad disappears?
Nothing — your notes are already plain markdown files in your own folder. Open them in anything. That's the whole point.
Quillpad — $29, one time
Or get Quillpad plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.