Their Pro
tier. Our
free one.
DropText is a good tool, and the two of us agree on a lot: share text and code fast, no login, no ads. Where we part company is the paywall. The two features people actually reach for — a password on the note, and a note that burns after reading — sit behind DropText's paid Pro tier. On ShareNotes they are simply free, because ShareNotes has no paid tier to sell you.
How does ShareNotes compare to DropText?
Both tools share text and code with no login, both keep the note live over WebSockets after you share it, and neither runs ads. The difference is where the paywall sits: DropText's own FAQ states that Pro adds password protection and burn-after-read, and Elite adds end-to-end encryption. On ShareNotes, password protection and view-once notes are free on every note, and there is no paid tier at all. ShareNotes also gives you memorable word-based URLs like blue-fox-42 and a public REST API that needs no key. DropText does two things ShareNotes does not: file uploads, and retention beyond 7 days.
Four things you would be upgrading for.
Put a PIN on any note. Gate editing only, so the link is readable but not changeable, or gate viewing too. DropText lists this under Pro.
Tick delete-after-first-read and the note dies the moment it is opened. It also survives Slack and iMessage link previews, which silently consume notes on most burn-after-read tools.
ShareNotes has no paid plan, which means no feature can be moved behind one later. Nothing here is a free trial of something else.
Pipe a file or a CI log straight to a shareable URL with curl. No key, no signup, 20 requests a day per IP.
Feature by feature, and tier by tier.
Tier details are taken from DropText's own published FAQ and feature pages, checked August 2026. Pricing pages change — if you are reading this much later, verify before deciding. ShareNotes has no paid tier at all, so the left-hand column has nothing to go stale.
Where DropText is the better pick.
Three honest reasons to choose them instead.
- You need to send files, not just text. ShareNotes is text and code only, by design. DropText's paid tiers carry attachments up to 5MB on Pro and 20MB on Elite. If a file has to travel with the note, we are the wrong tool.
- You need the content to outlive a week. ShareNotes tops out at 7 days from the editor, or 30 days through the API, and a note is cleaned up 7 days after it was last opened. DropText's free tier keeps content up to three months and Pro up to a year. Short lifetimes are a deliberate choice here, but it is a real limitation, not a feature we can spin.
- You need end-to-end encryption today. DropText offers it on Elite. ShareNotes does not encrypt notes end-to-end — links are unguessable and you can add a PIN, but our server can read note contents. For genuinely high-value secrets, that distinction matters, and you should pick the tool that has it.
We would rather you land on the right tool than on ours. If none of the three above apply to you, the free-versus-Pro comparison above is the whole story.
Answers, briefly.
How is ShareNotes different from DropText?
The main difference is where the paywall sits. DropText's own FAQ states that Pro adds password protection and burn-after-read, and that Elite adds end-to-end encryption. On ShareNotes, password protection and view-once notes are free on every note, with no account and no paid tier at all. Both tools keep the note live after sharing, so real-time sync is not the difference here; ShareNotes additionally offers memorable word-based URLs and a public REST API that needs no key.
Is password protection really free on ShareNotes?
Yes. Set a PIN in the Save dialog on any note. You can gate editing only, so anyone with the link can read but not change the note, or gate viewing as well. There is no paid tier on ShareNotes, so there is nothing to upgrade to.
What does DropText do better than ShareNotes?
Three things, and they are worth knowing before you choose. DropText supports file uploads on its paid tiers, up to 5MB on Pro and 20MB on Elite, while ShareNotes is text and code only. DropText's free tier keeps content for up to three months and Pro up to a year, whereas ShareNotes tops out at 7 days, or 30 days through the API. DropText also offers end-to-end encryption on its Elite tier; ShareNotes does not encrypt notes end-to-end yet.
Can I keep editing a ShareNotes note after sharing the link?
Yes. A ShareNotes link stays live, and anyone viewing it sees edits as they happen, which makes it useful as a shared scratchpad rather than a one-way paste. If you want it read-only, put a PIN on editing.
How long do ShareNotes notes last?
You choose 1 hour, 24 hours or 7 days in the Save dialog, or up to 30 days via the API with expiresIn. Left alone, a note is removed 7 days after it was last opened. View-once notes ignore the clock and are destroyed on first read.
Are ShareNotes links private?
Links are unguessable in practice but not secret on their own — anyone with the URL can open the note. For anything sensitive, add a PIN, set a short timer, or use view-once mode. Notes are not end-to-end encrypted, so treat high-value secrets accordingly.