Online Notepad
A simple online notepad that auto-saves in your browser with no account — and a clear statement of where the notes actually live.
Your note is stored as UTF-16, which costs English double
Browser storage holds JavaScript strings, and a JavaScript string is a sequence of UTF-16 code units. Each unit is two bytes regardless of what it represents, which gives a cost table nothing like a text file's:
| Character | As a UTF-8 file | Stored here |
|---|---|---|
| a plain ASCII letter | 1 byte | 2 bytes |
| an accented letter | 2 bytes | 2 bytes |
| a CJK character | 3 bytes | 2 bytes |
| an emoji | 4 bytes | 4 bytes |
Plain English is the worst case. Saved as a file it is one byte a character; kept here it is two, and every one of those second bytes is a zero.
The direction reverses for other scripts, which is the part worth knowing. A CJK character costs three bytes in a file and two here, and emoji break even at four either way:
| A sentence in | As a file | Stored here | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| English prose | 45 bytes | 90 bytes | 2.00x |
| Japanese | 69 bytes | 46 bytes | 0.67x |
| emoji | 24 bytes | 24 bytes | 1.00x |
So "browser storage wastes space" is only true for Latin text — Japanese is genuinely smaller here than it would be as a file. It happens to be true by a factor of exactly two for the case almost everybody is in.
What actually fits
The usual per-site allowance is around 5 megabytes. Divided by two bytes a character:
| characters | 2,621,440 |
| words, at about six characters each | 429,744 |
| pages of 500 words | 859 |
| emoji, at two units each | 1,310,720 |
That is not a small note. It is a long novel, and then another one. Whatever this page runs out of first, it will not be room — a browser will get sluggish redrawing a document that size long before the storage complains.
The number that matters more is what the allowance is measured against: it is per site and shared with everything else that site keeps. A note is competing with nothing here, but the same figure on a heavier site is not all yours.
And it is not a backup
Worth being plain about, because it is the only thing here that can lose your work. The note lives in this browser's profile on this machine:
| Does the note survive? | |
|---|---|
| refresh the page | yes |
| close and reopen the browser | yes |
| reboot the machine | yes |
| clear site data | no |
| open a private window | no |
| use another device | no |
It survives the ordinary things and none of the deliberate ones. A refresh, a reboot and a closed browser are all fine; clearing site data, a private window and a second device are not. For anything you would be annoyed to lose, the copy button is the feature and the autosave is the convenience — not the other way round.
How to use
- Start typing — saving is automatic.
- Export anything you cannot afford to lose.
- Note that clearing browser data deletes your notes.
- Use a private window if you are on a shared computer.
Frequently asked questions
Where are my notes stored?
In your browser's local storage on this device, not on a server. Nothing is transmitted and no account exists. That is what makes it private and also what makes it fragile — the notes exist in exactly one place.
Will I lose my notes?
Yes, in several ordinary situations. Clearing browsing data removes them, as does using private browsing, and browsers may evict local storage when space runs short. Anything that matters should be exported. This is a scratchpad, not a document store.
Can I access the notes on another device?
No. Local storage is specific to the browser on the machine that wrote it, so notes written here will not appear on your phone or another computer. Syncing requires an account and a server, which is precisely what this tool does not have.
Is it safe for sensitive information?
Safer than a service that uploads, since nothing leaves the device, but local storage is not encrypted and anyone with access to your computer and browser can read it. For passwords or genuinely confidential material, use a password manager or an encrypted note application.
Does it work offline?
Yes, once the page has loaded. There is no server involved in saving or loading, so an unreliable connection makes no difference at all.
How much can I store?
Browsers typically allow several megabytes per site, which is a great deal of plain text — comfortably hundreds of pages. Very large amounts may hit the limit, at which point saving fails, which is one more reason to export anything important.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.