Why people switch
Fewer apps, fewer accounts, fewer worries
Six everyday problems Neurain takes off your plate.
A notes app, a to-do list and a mind-mapping tool — all in one window, all sharing the same content. A bubble on a map can be a real note or a real task.
No sign-up, no password to invent, no sync to configure, no plan to choose. You download it, open it, and use it.
On a plane, in a basement, in the mountains, during an outage. Neurain never needs the internet, so it doesn’t stop.
Everything stays local: your notes live in an encrypted file on your own disk, with a key only your computer holds. Nothing is ever sent anywhere.
No monthly fee, no account, no feature locked behind a badge. And the copy you download keeps working — nothing in the app watches a date.
About 11 MB — smaller than a couple of photos. It opens straight away, saves as you type, and keeps a backup every time it starts.
Think
Write the way you think
Headings, lists and checkboxes form as you type, so you never have to stop — and when you’d rather click, the formatting bar is right there. Add a tag and the note files itself. Search finds any word in any note, straight away. And if you already keep notes as files, just drop them on the window.
Plan
Know what today looks like
Type “call the framer today 5pm” and the task files itself, at the right time. See your day, your week, or a flexible board with your own columns — plus repeats, reminders, subtasks, and a timer for when you need a clear hour.
Connect
Lay it out and see how it fits
Type an idea and press Tab — a branch appears, already coloured. The map grows without your hands leaving the keyboard, then tidies itself into shape in one click. Any bubble can point to a real note or task.
In your language, and easy on the eyes
English, French, German and Spanish — the whole app, right down to the menu bar. It follows your computer’s language the first time it opens. Light or dark, or simply whatever your system is doing.
Privacy
“Private” here isn’t a promise. It’s how it’s built.
Plenty of apps say your data is safe. Here’s what actually happens on your machine — you can check every line of it yourself.
Not for updates, not for fonts, not for statistics. Unplug your Wi-Fi and Neurain behaves exactly the same.
There is no networking code in the app at all, and its settings forbid adding any. Watched from outside while running: not one request.
Everything lives in one encrypted file on your computer. The key is created on your machine the first time you open the app.
The key is not in the download — not in the installer, not in the code. It’s kept in your system’s own password store.
No account, no email, no usage statistics, no crash reports. There’s nothing to opt out of, because there’s nothing switched on.
The app loads nothing from anyone else either — fonts and images all ship inside it.
It’s a normal file in your own folder: copy it to a USB stick, put it in your own backup, or delete it. Notes and maps also export as PDF.
Neurain saves a fresh backup every time it starts, and keeps the last fifteen.
The technical detail, for those who want it
- Storage is a single SQLCipher database in
~/.neurain/. - The key is generated randomly per installation and stored in the OS keychain. If the keychain is unavailable it falls back to a file readable only by your user account.
- The binary contains no HTTP client, and the content security policy forbids adding one. Verified on the running app: zero outbound requests.
- No remote fonts, no CDN, no telemetry, no account system.
- Roughly 11 MB on macOS, 5 MB on Windows. The macOS build is universal (Intel and Apple Silicon).
What’s next
Where Neurain is heading
The app is under active development. Here’s what’s planned.
Sync between your own machines, planned as a subscription — entirely optional, and switched off unless you ask for it. The free local app stays exactly as it is.
Planned, so your notes and tasks can travel with you alongside the desktop app.
New views, new tools and steady polish land in every space, release after release.
Ideas go straight to the issue tracker, and they shape what comes next.
The price
Free.
Until 1 October 2026.
After that, Neurain becomes a one-time purchase — never a subscription. And whatever you download before then keeps working for good: no account, no licence key, and nothing in the app watching a date.
Download
Get Neurain
Always the newest version. Free, and nothing to sign up for.
Opening it the first time — one extra click
Neurain is distributed directly rather than through the Apple or Microsoft stores, so the first launch takes one extra click.
On a Mac — right-click the app and choose “Open”.
On Windows — click “More info”, then “Run anyway”.
Just once. After that it opens like any other app.