scrutch Review: The secure and minimalistic Markdown editor, note…

scrutch

The secure and minimalistic Markdown editor, note pad and writer

Writing & Documents Privacy & Data Protection Note-Taking scrut.ch

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Founded

N/A

Starting Price

About scrutch

scrutch is a non-bloated, end-to-end encrypted online editor that pairs the joy of writing with uncompromising focus and privacy. There's no sign-up, login, tracking, or ads — you just open a tab and write, in private or together with others, from any browser or as a PWA. Every text is encrypted with AES-256 on your device before it leaves it, so the server never sees your clear-text content.

Pros & Cons

Pros

True end-to-end encryption with keys that never leave your device
No account, login, or cookie banners — start writing instantly
Extremely focused, distraction-free writing experience
Works offline and installs as a PWA on mobile
Honest, voluntary pay-what-you-want pricing with no forced paywall

Cons

Key Features

End-to-end encryption

Content is encrypted client-side with AES-256 (keys derived via PBKDF2) before it ever leaves your device. The encryption key is stored only on the client and never sent to servers.

No sign-up or login

Open a browser tab and start writing instantly. No account, no email, no cookie banners — each new text generates a unique slug and encryption key automatically.

Markdown writing

A distraction-free Markdown editor with support for elements like task lists, deliberately leaving out rich-text clutter to keep the focus on writing.

Secure sharing

Share a text by sending the public URL and encryption key, optionally combined into a private URL. The key is appended via URL hash so it never travels in the HTTP request.

Offline and PWA support

Works offline and installs as a Progressive Web App on mobile, keeping local copies on your device and syncing back when you're online again.

Privacy by design

No tracking, no cookies, no ads, and no AI or third-party processing of your content. Even payment information through Paddle cannot be linked to your encrypted texts.

Pricing

Free

Full editor access, no paywall
No sign-up or login required
End-to-end AES-256 encryption
Markdown editing with task lists
Secure sharing via private URLs

Best For

Private journaling and notes

Capture personal thoughts, journals, or sensitive notes knowing the content is encrypted on your device and unreadable to the server.

Securely sharing sensitive text

Send confidential snippets, credentials, or drafts to someone by sharing a private URL, keeping the content end-to-end encrypted in transit and at rest.