Note Designer Review (2026): A Canadian Take on a Canadian-Rooted Tool

Note Designer is a point-and-click template system, not an AI scribe. For $15 USD a month you assemble unlimited notes from a library of 500+ pre-written clinical statements. Nothing is recorded, and notes stay on your own device. If writing time is your bottleneck, Klarify is the better fit: it drafts the note from audio, dictation, handwritten notes, or an uploaded transcript, and the draft is ready when the session ends. Note Designer suits therapists who will not record sessions. This review is for therapists in the US and Canada: HIPAA posture for US readers, PHIPA and PIPEDA for Canadian readers.

Note Designer at a Glance

Best for: clinicians who will not record sessions, whether by conviction, because of their setting, or because clients prefer not to, and who want structured, standardized documentation at a flat price.

What Is Note Designer?

Note Designer is a browser-based documentation tool built around a library of more than 500 pre-set clinical statements. You point, click, and assemble progress notes, treatment plans, and intake reports; an optional AI can rewrite or summarize the result. Founded in 2013, it markets itself as “The Leading Alternative to AI Scribes,” a deliberate position against AI scribes like Klarify.

The origin story is clinician-led. Patricia and Mark Baldwin are a husband-and-wife team of psychologists: Patricia is a clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) with more than 25 years in private practice, and Mark is Professor Emeritus of psychology at McGill University in Montreal. The company traces the product to Patricia’s own documentation frustrations (“blank pages, endless drafts, and second-guessing every line,” per its About page) and launched its online version in 2020.

One wrinkle in the Canadian-vs-Canadian framing: Note Designer’s site never states a headquarters city or calls itself a Canadian company. The Canadian identity rests on the founders’ Montreal academic roots, and the pricing page is labeled “In USD.” The pitch itself, though, is explicit: “No recordings. No transcripts. No session surveillance.” The product is built for clinicians who do not want anything captured in session.

How Does Note Designer Actually Work?

You build each note by selecting from Note Designer’s 500+ pre-set statements, then tailoring the assembled draft. The optional AI, which the company describes as a private instance of Microsoft Phi-4 running on “HIPAA-compliant AWS,” can rewrite or summarize what you assembled. A no-AI “Classic” version exists for anyone who wants zero AI anywhere. Finished notes export to PDF, Word, or an EHR.

Think prefab, not dictation: the sentences arrive pre-built, but the assembly is yours. That single design choice separates it from every AI scribe on the market:

Two things follow. First, Note Designer’s per-session privacy exposure is close to nil. There is no audio to protect because none exists. Second, the note still does not write itself: the AI rewrites your selections and cannot know what happened in the room. If your struggle is recall after a full day of sessions, template assembly speeds the typing, not the remembering.

What Note Formats Does Note Designer Support?

Note Designer covers the standard progress-note formats (SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP, SIRP, and PIE) plus treatment plans and intake reports. The company says its statement library spans more than 20 therapy approaches, including ACT, CBT, DBT, EMDR, trauma-focused, and play therapy, across individual, couples, child, family, and group work.

The coverage is broad for a template tool, and the DBT and play-therapy coverage will matter to the clinicians those approaches serve. For calibration: Klarify ships 21 built-in note formats (SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP, PIE, EMDR, ACT, EFT, Gottman, IFS, and others) plus custom templates on every plan. On the standard progress-note formats, though, the two lists largely overlap. Where they diverge is who fills them in.

How Much Does Note Designer Cost?

Note Designer costs $15 USD per month or $150 USD per year for an individual license with unlimited notes and clients. Groups of three or more clinicians pay $12 USD per clinician per month, a Workspace add-on runs $5 USD more per month, and there is no free plan, just a free demo note and a 30-day refund window.

Pricing verified August 18, 2026, on notedesigner.com/pricing. All prices are listed in USD.

The model is flat and unlimited: no per-session meter and no note caps, at $150 USD a year. US buyers can take the sticker price at face value. For Canadian buyers the currency is the wrinkle: a tool with Montreal roots bills in US dollars, so your card pays the exchange rate on top. Klarify prices in Canadian dollars as well as US dollars, switchable with an in-page currency toggle, and its free plan covers 10 sessions a month; Owl Practice also prices in CAD.

Note also what the “30-day trial period” actually is: a refund window (“full refund on request if you are not satisfied”), not usage before payment.

Is Note Designer Private and HIPAA Compliant?

Note Designer claims to be “fully HIPAA and PIPEDA-compliant,” never records sessions, and stores your notes locally on your device rather than in its cloud. SOC 2 is not mentioned anywhere on its public pages, and neither is PHIPA. The optional AI runs, per the company, on a private instance of Microsoft Phi-4 on AWS, with “no identifying client information” ever sent and “nothing stored or reused.”

The local-first architecture keeps exposure low: no session audio because none is captured, and no note database in Note Designer’s cloud because the notes stay on your device. For clinicians whose clients decline recording, or who work where recording is off the table, the design matches that constraint, and AI can be switched off entirely.

Two checks apply wherever you practice:

• Local storage shifts custody questions onto you: device security, backups, what happens if a laptop is stolen. In the US, retention and record-keeping requirements vary by state and licensing board, so map the local-storage model to yours before committing.

• Note Designer says the AI runs on AWS but not in which region. If cross-border processing matters to your consent language, ask before you subscribe. For comparison, Klarify stores all data in Canada.

For Canadian practice, two more:

• PHIPA. Note Designer’s pages name only HIPAA and PIPEDA (as of August 18, 2026). Absence of a claim is not evidence of non-compliance, but Ontario clinicians should ask directly before adopting it.

• Retention and safeguard expectations differ by college (CRPO, OPQ, and OCSWSSW each publish their own standard), so check the local-storage model against your college’s record-keeping standard as well.

Does Note Designer Work in French?

Note Designer has a French page at notedesigner.com/french/, but read it closely. Per that page (as of August 18, 2026), what francophones get is an older release of its French edition, “Nos dossiers,” offered as a downloadable desktop program for standard Windows systems and listing a choice of 300 statements. That is not the current 500+-statement browser product, and whether the current online version works in French is not stated. If you document in French, confirm with the company exactly what you would be buying before subscribing.

That caveat matters. Klarify’s interface ships in English and French, with Français (Canada) as a session and note language (plan-gated). Among the other options, Owl Practice offers English and French note templates and Note Designer has the legacy desktop edition described above. Upheal, Mentalyc, and Blueprint mention French nowhere on the pricing and main pages we reviewed. For a francophone or bilingual practice, this axis alone eliminates half the market.

Note Designer vs AI Scribes: Which Workflow Fits You?

The real decision is template assembly versus ambient drafting, not Note Designer versus any one competitor. With Note Designer, nothing is recorded and you build every note yourself. With an AI scribe such as Klarify (our Canadian-built AI assistant for therapists in the US and Canada), Upheal, or Mentalyc, the session is captured with the client’s consent and the tool writes the first draft for you to review.

Competitor compliance marks are those vendors’ own public claims as read on August 18, 2026. Pricing was verified the same day.

Every row of the HIPAA line is checked, so for US buyers the deciding rows are workflow and price. For Canadian buyers, the residency row does the sorting, and Klarify answers it outright: all data is stored in Canada, and the product is HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, Quebec Loi 25, and GDPR compliant. If ambient drafting is what you want and Canadian data posture matters, that combination is hard to match. Mentalyc states plainly that its residency is US-based. Upheal says nothing about residency on the pages we reviewed (see our full Upheal review for Canadian therapists). Note Designer keeps notes on your device, which leaves custody with you. Our roundup of the best therapy note-taking tools walks the whole market.

The Verdict: Who Should Choose Note Designer?

Choose Klarify when the writing itself is the problem you are paying to solve. It is HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, Quebec Loi 25, and GDPR compliant, and it stores all data in Canada with session audio purged after 14 days. Recording is only one of six ways to get a session into it: in-person audio, virtual meeting audio, dictation, handwritten notes, uploaded transcripts, and uploaded audio all feed the same note pipeline, so a therapist who never records can still hand off the drafting. Klarify also goes beyond the note with session context, client insights, visual mindmaps of client themes, and reflection prompts for the clinician. Custom templates come on every plan and the interface works in English and French. Every therapist also gets a free Psychology Today-style public profile on klarify.ca with built-in marketing features for attracting clients. Choose Note Designer when recording is off the table and you want notes assembled from pre-set statements and stored on your own device. Canadian clinicians weighing Note Designer should also revisit the PHIPA question above.

Note Designer has been run by clinicians since 2013. Its pricing is flat and unlimited, and its design never captures audio. A no-AI Classic version exists for anyone who wants AI out of their documentation entirely.

Choose Klarify if…

• Your bottleneck is the writing itself and you want a reviewable first draft ready when the session ends

• You would rather stay present in session than reconstruct it from memory afterward

• You want to work however the day demands: in-person audio, virtual meeting audio, dictation, handwritten notes, uploaded transcripts, and uploaded audio all feed the same note pipeline

• You want more than the note: Klarify also produces session context, client insights, visual mindmaps of client themes, and reflection prompts for the clinician

• You want compliance settled rather than asterisked: Klarify is HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, Quebec Loi 25, and GDPR compliant, stores all data in Canada, and purges session audio after 14 days

• You practice in French or run bilingual sessions (Français (Canada) is a supported session and note language, plan-gated)

• You want custom note templates included on every plan, alongside 21 built-in formats

• You want pricing in CAD or USD (there is an in-page currency toggle) and a free plan of 10 sessions a month

• A free Psychology Today-style public profile on klarify.ca, with built-in marketing features for attracting clients, would help fill your caseload

Choose Note Designer if…

• You will not record sessions, whether by conviction, because of your setting, or because your clients decline consent

• You want client notes on your own device rather than in any vendor’s cloud

• You want flat, predictable pricing with unlimited notes and clients ($15 USD/month)

• You want the option of zero AI in your documentation, or AI limited to rewriting text you wrote

• Structured, standardized language across your notes appeals to you more than narrative drafting

Klarify drafts your progress notes while you stay with the client. Start free with 10 sessions a month.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Note Designer an AI notetaker?

No. Note Designer is a point-and-click template system: you assemble each note from a library of more than 500 pre-set clinical statements. An optional AI (a private instance of Microsoft Phi-4, per the company) can rewrite or summarize what you assembled, but nothing is ever recorded or transcribed, and a no-AI “Classic” version exists.

How much does Note Designer cost?

An individual license is $15 USD per month or $150 USD per year, with unlimited notes and clients. Groups of three or more clinicians pay $12 USD per clinician per month, and a Workspace add-on costs $5 USD more per month. All prices are listed in USD (verified August 18, 2026).

Does Note Designer have a free trial?

Not a classic one. Note Designer offers a free demo note and a 30-day refund window (a full refund on request if you are not satisfied), and you can cancel anytime. There is no perpetual free plan.

Is Note Designer HIPAA compliant?

Note Designer claims HIPAA and PIPEDA compliance and stores notes locally on your device rather than in its cloud. US record-keeping requirements vary by state and licensing board, so confirm the local-storage model fits yours. For Canadian therapists, PHIPA is not mentioned anywhere on its public pages as of August 18, 2026, so Ontario clinicians should confirm its PHIPA posture directly and check their college’s record-keeping standard before adopting it.

Is Note Designer a Canadian company?

Its roots are Canadian: it was founded in 2013 by psychologists Patricia and Mark Baldwin, and Mark is Professor Emeritus at McGill University in Montreal. The company’s website does not state a headquarters city, and its pricing is in US dollars through a US-based payment processor.

What is the main difference between Note Designer and Klarify?

Klarify drafts the note for you from whatever you bring it: in-person audio recorded with the client’s consent, virtual meeting audio, dictation, handwritten notes, an uploaded transcript, or uploaded audio, with session audio purged after 14 days. It is HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, Quebec Loi 25, and GDPR compliant, stores all data in Canada, offers a free plan, and goes beyond the note with client insights, session context, visual mindmaps of client themes, and reflection prompts for the clinician. Note Designer never records anything: you assemble each note yourself from pre-set statements. It claims HIPAA and PIPEDA and has no free plan.

Sources: notedesigner.com (homepage, /pricing/, /about/, /french/), upheal.io (/pricing, /en-ca/pricing), mentalyc.com (homepage, /pricing), klarify.ca, all read August 18, 2026. Competitor compliance statements above are each company’s own published claims.