Local-First, Always
Your journal lives on your machine. Not someone else's.
No syncing, no servers, no "your data is safe with us." Local storage, encrypted, yours.
Cloud journals trade your privacy for convenience you mostly don't use. The Eternal Journal makes a different bargain: your words stay on the device you wrote them on.
If you want a backup, you export an encrypted file and put it where you keep the things that matter. Drive, USB, paper printout — your call.
The cloud is wonderful for software updates and terrible for diaries.
The Typewriter Experience
The cursor stays. The text moves.
In Write mode, your cursor remains exactly at the centre of the screen. The page rises up to meet it. Past words fade into soft shadow at the edges, leaving the present sentence in clear focus. Switch to Read mode and the entry flattens into an evenly lit document — the fade is for writing; the flat light is for returning.
Radical Privacy & Encryption
AES-256-GCM, in your browser, with a key only you derive.
- ·PBKDF2 key derivation at 600,000 iterations — the OWASP 2024 recommendation. Existing journals upgrade transparently on first unlock.
- ·No accounts, no telemetry, no analytics, no cookies, no third-party scripts.
- ·IndexedDB storage with a localStorage fallback. Encrypted before it touches the disk.
- ·The file is not minified. You can read the source. We'd rather you trust it than us.
What It Does Not Do
- ✕No word counts chasing you across the screen.
- ✕No formatting toolbar wrestling your thoughts into neatness.
- ✕No cloud sync. No distant servers. Your words stay yours.
- ✕No social sharing. Your vulnerability is not content.
- ✕No AI assistant finishing your sentences.
- ✕No streak counters. No guilt. No gamification.
- ✕No subscriptions. No mood trackers. No noise.
Licensing & Gift Copy
One purchase covers up to three of your personal devices. It also includes a second untouched copy of the file — meant to be given to one person you trust. Lifetime updates. 30-day, no-questions refund. If you run a clinic, school, or workplace and want a copy for everyone, ask us about a site licence.
One Purchase. Yours Forever.
The price is $24 today. It will become $29.
One-time payment
Get The Eternal JournalQuestions
How do I get my journal onto a second device?
Copy the HTML file yourself, or export and move the entries. It is a deliberate manual step: nothing moves between machines unless you move it.
Is there any backup if my laptop dies?
Only the backup you make. Export regularly to a drive or an encrypted folder you control. There is no cloud copy standing by, by design.
Why avoid cloud sync at all?
Because sync means an account, a server, and a company that can be acquired, breached, or subpoenaed. Removing sync removes all three.
More in Core
See all →A private, offline journal that asks nothing of you.
One file. One password. Yours forever. No accounts, no cloud, no algorithms reading your three-in-the-morning thoughts.
An offline writing app that genuinely works offline.
Once the file is on your machine, the internet is optional. Forever.
An encrypted journal where the passphrase never leaves your device.
AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2 key derivation at 600,000 iterations — the OWASP 2024 recommendation. Done in your browser, not on a server.
A journal that doesn't track you. At all. Ever.
No analytics. No cookies. No third-party scripts. No "anonymous usage data." If you view the file source, you'll see for yourself.
No account. No email. No "create your profile."
The Eternal Journal asks for one thing on first run: a passphrase you choose. That's it. That's the entire onboarding.
Zero-knowledge, in the literal sense.
We have no servers, no database, no backups of your writing. There is no copy for us to lose, leak, or be subpoenaed for.
You might also read
For Writers
A private notebook for the sentence you haven't found yet.
First-draft thinking deserves a room with the door closed. The Eternal Journal is that room.
Comparisons
The Eternal Journal vs Day One.
Both are journals. They're built on opposite assumptions about where your writing should live.
By Location
GDPR-friendly by architecture, not by paperwork.
Most apps meet the GDPR with a stack of documents arranged around an unavoidable fact: they collect data. We arranged the software so there is nothing to document.
The cursor will be there when you return.
Centered. Blinking. Patient.
Start Writing