Your ideas deserve a
better home.
Penlify is the 100% free note-taking app built for writers, developers, teams & thinkers. Rich markdown editor, real-time collaboration, Kanban task boards, smart folders, secure note sharing, and a public Explore community — all in one place.
No credit card • Free account • Sign up in 30 seconds
10,000+ notes created this week
Up and running in minutes.
No tutorials needed. Penlify is so intuitive you’ll be writing your first note in under 60 seconds.
Create your free account
Sign up with Google or email in 30 seconds. No credit card, no setup wizard — just your ideas.
Write in the rich editor
Use markdown shortcuts or the visual toolbar. Organise notes into projects, pin the important ones, and tag everything.
Share with confidence
Generate a secure read-only link with optional password, expiry date, and a live view counter.
Pro features. Zero cost.
Not just a scratchpad — a complete digital workspace for your ideas.
Password Protected Notes
Lock any shared link with a secure password. Only people with the password can view your note.
Rich Editor
Full WYSIWYG + markdown shortcuts. Headings, tables, task lists, code blocks with syntax highlighting, and more.
Smart Project Folders
Organize your notes into unlimited project folders. Group by topic, client, or workflow.
Tags & Labels
Add custom tags to any note for fast cross-folder retrieval. Your personal knowledge graph.
Public Share Links + Short URLs
Share any note as a beautiful public page. Get a compact penlify.com/s/abc short URL, set a password, or control who can duplicate and export.
Full-Text Search
Server-side search scans every word across all your notes instantly — titles, body, and code. No matter how large your library.
Linked Notes
Type [[ to link any note inline. Wiki-style chips keep your knowledge connected and navigable in one click.
Dark Mode
Protect your eyes and write any time of day. Switch between light, dark, or system-matched themes instantly.
Focus Mode
Collapse the note list and enter a distraction-free full-screen writing state with a single click.
Publish to Explore
Turn any project into a public notebook. Notes are browsable across 16 categories — AI, Writing, Code, Research, and more.
Image Embeds
Paste an image URL or upload a file directly into any note. Full base64 inline storage — images travel with your content.
Export to Markdown, Text & PDF
Download any note as a clean Markdown file, plain text, or a print-ready PDF — no vendor lock-in, ever.
Real-Time Collaboration
Invite teammates to any project by email and write together in real time. Assign editor or viewer roles and see who’s online with live presence indicators.
Kanban Task Boards
Turn any project into a Kanban board. Organize tasks across To do, In progress & Done columns, set low/medium/high priorities, and track progress as a team.
However you think, Penlify fits.
From capturing fleeting thoughts to building a second brain — Penlify adapts to your workflow.
Writers & Bloggers
Draft, outline, and polish posts in the rich editor. Publish notes to your public Explore profile.
Developers
Store API docs, code snippets, and technical notes with fenced code blocks. Share securely with your team.
Students
Take lecture notes, organise by subject, and build a searchable knowledge base across all your classes.
Teams & Professionals
Invite your team to shared projects, plan work on Kanban boards, and track meeting notes & action items together in real time.
Share notes online,
on your terms.
Stop copy-pasting sensitive info into public paste sites. Penlify gives you a secure, shareable link with full privacy controls.
- Password protection — lock links with a secure hash
- Link expiration — auto-delete after 1 day, 7 days, or never
- View analytics — see total views & last opened timestamp
- Custom URL slugs — human-readable share links
- Allow / block duplicate — control whether readers can copy
The markdown editor
that just works.
Click a button or type markdown — Penlify renders everything beautifully in real-time. It feels as fast as thinking.
- Headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough
- Code blocks with syntax awareness
- Interactive checklists & to-do tracking
- Tables, images, YouTube embeds
- Text alignment, highlights, subscript & superscript
- Auto-save — never lose a word
Project Kickoff 🚀
Here is the main architecture using the penlify-editor stack.
title: 'My Note',
encrypted: true
})
Stop losing ideas
in a sea of files.
Ditch chaotic local text files. Penlify gives you unlimited project folders, smart tags, and instant full-text search so you always find what you need.
- Unlimited project folders — with emoji icons, colors & categories
- Tag any note with custom labels for instant retrieval
- ⌘K instant full-text search across all notes
- List or Grid view — switch layouts to match your workflow
- Sort by newest, oldest, A–Z, or Z–A
-
Export notes as
.md,.txt, orPDF— no vendor lock-in - Starred notes for quick access to top content
Your best notes
deserve an audience.
Publish any note or entire project to the Penlify Explore feed. Readers discover your work across 16 curated categories — no extra setup needed.
- 16 curated categories — AI, Writing, Code, Research, Design, Business, and more
- Publish a whole project at once — one toggle makes all folder notes public
- Category filter pills — readers can browse exactly what they want
- SEO-indexed public notes — Google can discover and rank your published content
- View counter on every note — see exactly how many people read your work
Real-time collaboration
for your whole team.
Penlify is more than a personal notebook — it’s a collaborative note-taking app for teams. Invite people to any project, work on shared notes together, and see exactly who’s online. Perfect for startups, remote teams, study groups, and client work.
- Invite collaborators by email — add teammates to any project folder in seconds
- Editor & viewer roles — control who can edit your notes and who gets read-only access
- Live presence indicators — see who is viewing a shared project right now
- One synced source of truth — everyone always sees the latest version of every note
- Team task tracking built in — pair shared notes with collaborative Kanban boards
Turn notes into
a Kanban task board.
Every project gets a built-in Kanban board for free. Plan work, track progress, and manage tasks with your team — drag cards across columns and never lose sight of what’s next. It’s lightweight task management and project planning, right alongside your notes.
- Customizable columns — start with To do, In progress & Done, then add your own
- Priority levels — flag every task as low, medium, or high priority
- Drag & drop workflow — move tasks across columns as work progresses
- Shared with collaborators — your whole team plans and tracks tasks together
- One workspace — notes, tasks, and project planning all live in the same place
What people are saying
"I've tried Notion, Roam, Bear — nothing sticks like Penlify. It loads instantly, has a great editor, and the secure sharing link feature is exactly what I needed for client docs."
"Password protected notes changed how I share drafts with clients. No more emailing Word docs. I just send a link and they can't copy or download without my permission."
"The organization system is genuinely great. Folders with emoji icons, tags, instant search — I find any note in under 2 seconds. I even published a whole project to Explore so my team can reference it without logging in. And it's 100% free."
Why Penlify?
Because bloated, expensive apps get in the way of thinking.
Common questions
Is Penlify really free?
Yes — 100% free. No hidden tiers, no credit card, no feature walls. You get the full rich markdown editor, unlimited notes & folders, secure sharing with password protection, and view analytics completely free.
How do I share notes securely?
Click the Share button inside any note. You can generate a read-only public link, add a password, set an expiration date (1 day / 7 days / never), and track how many people viewed it. Private links redirect to a beautiful public page — no login required for readers. Each shared note also gets a compact short URL (e.g. penlify.com/s/abc123) you can paste anywhere.
Does the editor support Markdown?
Absolutely. Type markdown syntax and it renders live. We also have a full visual toolbar so you never have to remember syntax. Headings, bold, italic, code blocks, tables, checklists, task lists, images & YouTube embeds are all supported.
Can I embed images in my notes?
Yes. Paste any image URL into the editor or upload a file directly. Images are stored inline (base64) so they travel with your note content — shared links and public Explore pages both display your images automatically.
What export formats are available?
You can export any note as a Markdown (.md) file, plain text (.txt), or a print-ready PDF — straight from the editor toolbar. No account upgrade needed, and there's no vendor lock-in.
What is Explore and how do categories work?
Explore is Penlify's public community feed where members publish notes for anyone to discover. Notes are organised into 16 curated categories — AI, Writing, Code, Research, Design, Business, Marketing, Productivity, and more. You can publish a single note or an entire project folder with one toggle, and your content becomes SEO-indexed so Google can find it too.
Can I collaborate with my team in Penlify?
Yes. Penlify is a real-time collaborative note-taking app. Open any project, invite people by email, and assign each collaborator an editor or viewer role — editors can change notes and tasks while viewers get read-only access. Live presence indicators show you who is currently viewing a shared project, so your whole team always works from one synced source of truth. It is perfect for startups, remote teams, study groups, and client work.
Does Penlify have task management or Kanban boards?
Every project includes a free built-in Kanban task board. Create tasks and organise them across To do, In progress, and Done columns — or add your own custom columns. Each task can be flagged low, medium, or high priority, and boards are shared with your collaborators so the whole team can plan work and track progress alongside the related notes.
Can I use Penlify without an account?
You can explore the editor immediately. To save notes across devices and use the sharing, collaboration & folder features, a free account takes under 30 seconds to create — sign up with Google or email.
Is my data private and secure?
Your notes are private by default — only you can see them when logged in. Shared links are only accessible to people you share the URL with, and password-protected links add an extra layer of security on top.
Read, learn, get inspired.
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