Head-to-head · Note-taking & Wikis
Notion vs CryptPad
Which one to pick in 2026 — comparing 🇺🇸 Notion with the European alternative 🇪🇺 CryptPad on the things that actually decide who can read your data.
🇺🇸 Notionvs🇪🇺 CryptPad
Verdict
Who has stronger privacy guarantees by law?
CryptPad — GDPR-native and outside the US CLOUD Act / FISA 702 reach.
Which one encrypts your data end-to-end by default?
CryptPad ships E2E encryption by default. Notion does not.
Which one tracks you for ads?
Neither monetises through ad tracking.
Which one is open source?
CryptPad is open source. Notion is proprietary.
Side-by-side
Notion vs CryptPad — full comparison
Criteria
🇪🇺 CryptPad
🇺🇸 Notion
Headquarters
Paris, France (XWiki SAS)
San Francisco, CA, USA
Jurisdiction
France (GDPR)
USA (CLOUD Act, FISA 702)
Data location
France (or self-hosted)
Global, US-controlled (AWS)
GDPR-native
Yes
No
CLOUD Act / FISA exposed
No
Yes
Ad tracking
No
No
End-to-end encryption
Yes
No
Open source
Yes
No
Ownership
XWiki SAS (private, non-profit-supported)
Notion Labs Inc. (private, US VC-backed)
Founded
2015
2016
Make the switch
Try CryptPad instead of Notion
French zero-knowledge collaboration suite — Notion-like but fully encrypted.
Other European alternatives to Notion