Compared
The Sealed Journal vs Obsidian for journaling.
Obsidian is for building a second brain. The Sealed Journal is for emptying the first one for a moment.
Obsidian is local-first and excellent. You can absolutely keep a journal in it. Many people do.
What you give up is focus. Obsidian's strength — links, graphs, plugins, panes — is exactly the wrong company for a quiet diary entry.
The Sealed Journal is the opposite design: one cursor, one page, one passphrase, no plugins.
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 Sealed JournalQuestions
How does it compare to Obsidian?
Obsidian is a powerful local knowledge base with plugins, links, and graphs. This is a single file with one cursor and no features to configure.
Can I link entries together?
No. There is no linking, tagging, or graph view, because the journal is for thinking once rather than building a system.
Should I replace Obsidian with it?
Rarely. Keep Obsidian for notes you maintain, and use this for the writing you do not want to maintain.
More in Comparisons
See all →The Sealed Journal vs journaling in Notion.
Notion is a brilliant tool for organising work. It is a strange place to put your inner life.
The Sealed Journal vs Day One.
Both are journals. They're built on opposite assumptions about where your writing should live.
The Sealed Journal vs Apple Notes.
Apple Notes is the path of least resistance. The Sealed Journal is the path that takes the journaling seriously.
The Sealed Journal vs a paper notebook.
Paper is excellent. It also can't be locked, searched, or carried in the pocket of a thousand future devices.
The Sealed Journal vs Apple Journal.
One comes free with the phone. The other comes free of the phone.
The Sealed Journal vs 750 Words.
One counts your words. The other lets them go uncounted.
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A minimalist journal — by removing, not by adding.
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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.
Answers
Are journaling apps actually private?
A bedroom with the door ajar.
Core
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.
The cursor will be there when you return.
Centered. Blinking. Patient.
Start Writing