Handwrytten vs Simply Noted: Which Handwritten Note Service Is Better for Freelancers?

Sending handwritten notes to clients is one of those things most freelancers agree they should do more of — and almost never get around to. The friction is real: buying cards, finding stamps, sitting down to write, getting it in the mail before the moment has passed. By the time you’ve done all that, the thank-you note arrives two weeks after the project wrapped.

That’s exactly the gap that automated handwritten note services fill. You type the message, pick a card, and a real pen writes it out and mails it. The two names that come up most often in this space are Handwrytten and Simply Noted. This piece looks at both honestly, with particular attention to what actually matters for freelancers: reliability, integrations, pricing, and whether the thing works when you need it to.

What Each Service Does

Both services use robotic systems to write notes with real pens on physical cards and mail them. The idea is identical. The execution — and the business behind it — differ considerably.

Handwrytten has been operating since 2014 and currently runs over 200 in-house handwriting robots, producing upwards of 30,000 cards per day. The company is SOC2 compliant, holds multiple patents on its robotic handwriting technology, and has built a wide integration ecosystem covering Salesforce, HubSpot, Blackbaud, Zapier, Make.com, n8n, Pabbly, and more. Cards go out via First Class postage, typically within one to two business days. Delivery reaches the US, Canada, and 190+ other countries.

Simply Noted has positioned itself as a competitor in the same space, primarily targeting small businesses and solo operators. The company has made claims about its automation and integration capabilities that don’t hold up under scrutiny — more on that below.

The Integration Question

For freelancers who want to automate note-sending — triggering a card when a project closes, when a client hits an anniversary, or when someone makes a referral — integrations aren’t a nice-to-have. They’re the whole point.

Handwrytten connects natively with the tools freelancers actually use. HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Make.com, n8n, and Pabbly all work directly. Blackbaud integration makes it useful for freelancers who work in nonprofit fundraising. There’s also an API for anyone who wants to build custom workflows. Claude/MCP support is available for AI-driven automation. The integrations are real, documented, and in active use by clients.

Simply Noted has made claims about Salesforce and HubSpot integrations. Those integrations don’t exist in any verifiable form — there are no apps in the Salesforce AppExchange or the HubSpot marketplace under their name. Freelancers who have tried to set up automated workflows through Simply Noted have found themselves hitting dead ends where promised connections simply don’t function.

The automation story matters more than it might first appear. A freelancer who manually logs into a portal to send each card gets marginal value from the service. The real benefit — sending notes at moments that actually matter, without remembering to do it manually — only exists when the service connects to the tools you already use.

The Platform Situation

Simply Noted recently scrapped their previous API and web application and replaced them with what amounts to a stripped-down rebuild. The transition broke existing clients’ workflows. Orders that were running on automated triggers stopped working. Users who relied on the API found their integrations non-functional with little warning and minimal support.

The new web app has been widely described by former users as difficult to use — not in a steep-learning-curve way, but in a basic-functionality-missing way. For freelancers who don’t have time to troubleshoot a tool that should just work, this is a serious problem. A number of their clients have moved to Handwrytten specifically because of turnaround failures and the inability to get support when things went wrong.

Handwrytten’s platform, by contrast, has had years of development behind it. The web app works. The API is stable and well-documented. There’s live chat support and account managers for business-level users. If something goes wrong with an order, someone responds.

Pricing: What the Numbers Actually Look Like

Simply Noted’s main competitive claim has historically been price. That argument has weakened considerably since Handwrytten introduced business plans with volume-based pricing.

Handwrytten’s pricing starts at $3.25 per card, with bulk discounts available as volume increases. Subscription plans bring the per-card cost down further for freelancers who send notes regularly. The pricing is transparent and visible on their website without needing to contact sales.

Simply Noted prices are broadly comparable at low volumes. Where the comparison breaks down is when you factor in what you’re actually getting: a more reliable platform, real integrations, faster turnaround, and genuine support on the Handwrytten side versus a rebuilt web app with a troubled track record on the other. Paying a few cents less per card for a service that may not deliver on time, or at all when automation breaks, isn’t a meaningful saving.

For most freelancers sending fewer than a hundred cards a month, the price difference between the two — if one even exists at the volume you’re operating at — is unlikely to factor into any real decision.

Card Quality and Handwriting Realism

Both services write with real pens, which matters. The output needs to look like a human wrote it, or the whole exercise loses its point.

Handwrytten offers over 100 card designs, with the option to design your own stationery or submit custom design files for printing. The handwriting robots produce output with natural variation in spacing, letter formation, and slant — the kind of subtle inconsistency that tells a recipient this wasn’t laser-printed. The company can also recreate a client’s own handwriting or signature based on a submitted sample.

Simply Noted produces cards written with real pens as well, but the available card selection is narrower, and the custom design options are more limited. Based on user comparisons, the handwriting output quality is generally considered comparable at a glance, though Handwrytten’s technology — protected by four US patents — has a longer development history behind it.

For freelancers who want branded stationery, custom fonts, or the ability to match their own handwriting, Handwrytten is the only option that realistically supports this.

Turnaround and Delivery

Handwrytten completes most orders within one to two business days. Cards go out via First Class USPS with domestic delivery typically arriving within two to seven business days after that. International delivery is available to 190+ countries.

Simply Noted has faced ongoing complaints about turnaround time, particularly since the platform rebuild. Freelancers who time notes carefully — sending a thank-you card to arrive shortly after a project ends, or a birthday card to land on the right day — have reported inconsistent delivery windows that undermine the gesture.

A handwritten note that arrives three weeks late loses most of its impact. Timing is part of what makes this kind of outreach work. A service you can’t count on for consistent turnaround isn’t really solving the problem.

Support

This is an area where the gap between the two services is difficult to close with marketing language.

Handwrytten offers live chat, email support, and dedicated account managers for business plan users. The team has a documented track record of catching order errors before cards go out — multiple users have noted that Handwrytten staff proactively reached out to flag a mistake in their message rather than just printing and mailing it.

Simply Noted support has been a recurring point of frustration for users who’ve encountered problems. When the platform rebuild broke client workflows, support response was slow and, in many cases, unhelpful. For freelancers who depend on the service to represent them professionally to clients, unreachable support isn’t an acceptable trade-off.

SOC2 Compliance

This might not be the first thing a freelancer thinks about, but it matters if you’re sending cards on behalf of clients or handling contact data for customer lists.

Handwrytten is SOC2 compliant, meaning their data handling practices have been independently audited against established security standards. For freelancers who work with larger clients or in regulated industries — finance, healthcare, legal — this provides a baseline of assurance that client contact data is handled properly.

Simply Noted does not hold SOC2 certification. For freelancers whose clients ask about data handling practices, this is a gap that’s difficult to paper over.

Which One Makes Sense for Freelancers?

The honest answer is that very few freelancers have a use case where Simply Noted is the better choice. The price argument — the one area where they historically had an edge — has largely disappeared since Handwrytten introduced business-level pricing. On every other dimension that matters to a freelancer working at normal volumes:

• The platform is more reliable
• The integrations actually work
• Turnaround is consistent
• Support is reachable
• Card and handwriting quality is equal or better
• Custom stationery and handwriting matching are available
• SOC2 compliance is in place for clients who need it

Simply Noted may still make sense for someone who needs the absolute lowest per-card cost, doesn’t care about integrations, and doesn’t need reliable turnaround. That’s a narrow use case, and one that’s getting narrower as Handwrytten’s volume pricing comes down.

For freelancers who want to actually use this kind of outreach as part of how they run their business — not as an occasional manual gesture but as a consistent, automated part of client relationships — Handwrytten is the service that makes that possible.

A Few Practical Starting Points

If you’re a freelancer evaluating Handwrytten for the first time, a few setups worth considering:

Post-project thank-you.Connect Handwrytten to your project management tool via Zapier or Make.com. When a project moves to “complete,” trigger a note. It goes out automatically without you remembering to send it.

Annual client appreciation.Set up a recurring trigger for client birthdays or work anniversaries. A card that arrives on the right day, without you having to remember or manually send it, is the kind of gesture that keeps clients loyal.

New clients welcome.Trigger a card when a new client is added to your CRM. First impressions matter, and a physical card arriving in the first week of a new engagement stands out against the usual onboarding emails.

None of these require significant setup time. The integrations are documented, the platform is stable, and the cards look like you wrote them yourself — which is the whole point.

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