The best Evernote alternatives, compared honestly
Evernote invented modern note-taking, and the product still works. But since the Bending Spoons acquisition it has been squeezed hard: two rounds of steep price increases, a free plan cut to 50 notes on one device, and note caps on the mid tier. Here are seven alternatives that actually hold up — and how to move your notes to each one.
The best Evernote alternative depends on what's actually hurting:
- Own your notes as plain files → Obsidian — free, local Markdown, official Evernote importer.
- Closest to Evernote, far cheaper → UpNote — $1.99/mo or $39.99 lifetime.
- Free & open source → Joplin — native ENEX import, sync anywhere.
- Free & mainstream → Microsoft OneNote.
- Notes + databases for teams → Notion — built-in Evernote importer.
- All-Apple household → Apple Notes, or Bear for nicer writing.
Why people look elsewhere
What pushes people off Evernote
None of this means Evernote stopped working — it didn't. But six patterns come up again and again in migration stories since the 2023 ownership change.
Two big price hikes in three years
In mid-2023 the Personal plan jumped from $69.99 to $129.99/year (~+86%). In November 2025 the lineup was restructured again, with some renewal offers up to ~80% higher. Unlimited notes now cost $249.99/year.
The free plan was gutted
December 2023: capped at 50 notes and 1 notebook. August 2024: cut from two devices to one. What used to be the best free notes app is now effectively a trial.
Paying more for lower caps
The new Starter plan ($99/year) caps you at 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks and 3 devices — limits the old Personal plan never had. Storage caps arrived for the first time in Evernote's history.
Forced plan migrations
Personal and Professional were discontinued in November 2025, and existing subscribers were moved onto the new lineup at renewal — several reported landing on pricier plans without a clear heads-up.
The new-owner playbook
Bending Spoons closed the acquisition in January 2023, laid off roughly 129 Evernote staff weeks later and moved operations to Europe — the same acquire-and-monetize pattern seen at WeTransfer, Meetup and Vimeo.
Your notes live in their cloud
Notes sit in a proprietary database with ENEX export as the way out, while the app pushes new AI features (v11, October 2025) and long-time users still report sync and editor glitches.
The shortlist
7 Evernote alternatives worth trying
Ranked for a typical long-time Evernote user: years of notes, web clips and PDFs, used across a laptop and a phone. Each pick lists one honest strength and one real weakness — there's no single winner, only the right fit.
Notes are plain Markdown files on your own disk, so no future owner can cap or reprice them. Free for personal use, huge plugin ecosystem, official Evernote (ENEX) importer. Weakness: more assembly required, and first-party sync is a $4/mo add-on.
The closest like-for-like: notebooks, a clean WYSIWYG editor, web clipper, all platforms — $1.99/mo or $39.99 lifetime. Built-in ENEX import. Weakness: no web version, and it's a small indie team; attachments over 20 MB are skipped on import.
Free, open-source apps on every platform with native ENEX import and end-to-end-encrypted sync — through Joplin Cloud (from €2.99/mo) or storage you already have (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV, self-hosted). Weakness: utilitarian UI; Markdown editing isn't for everyone.
Genuinely free with no note caps, a freeform canvas, solid OCR and 5 GB of OneDrive storage (1 TB with Microsoft 365 at $9.99/mo). Weakness: Microsoft's official Evernote importer is gone, so migration needs a third-party tool — and freeform pages get messy at scale.
More workspace than notebook: notes, databases, and team wikis in one place, with a built-in Evernote importer that connects straight to your account. Generous personal free plan. Weakness: weak offline support, and it's heavier than a notes app needs to be.
Free on every Apple device, fast, with scanning, tags and shared folders — and on a Mac it imports ENEX files natively (File > Import to Notes). Weakness: Apple-only (browser access via iCloud.com), and organization stays deliberately simple.
The prettiest Markdown notes app on Mac/iPhone/iPad, with tags, backlinks and ENEX import — Pro is $2.99/mo or $29.99/year. Weakness: Apple-only, and sync across devices requires the paid tier.
Privacy-first or PKM-focused? Standard Notes (end-to-end encrypted), Anytype and Logseq (local-first) are worth a look too.
Side by side
Evernote alternatives compared
Prices as of July 2026. "Unlimited notes" is what it costs to store notes without a count cap — the number that matters most after Evernote's November 2025 restructure. Evernote's own row is included so you can see the trade-off directly.
| App | Free plan | Unlimited notes cost | Evernote (ENEX) import | Your data | Platforms | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evernote | 50 notes · 1 notebook · 1 device | $249.99/yr (Advanced) | — (baseline) | Proprietary cloud, ENEX export | Win/Mac/iOS/Android/Web | Staying put |
| Obsidian | ✓ full app free (personal) | $0 · optional Sync $4/mo | ✓ official Importer plugin | Plain Markdown files on your disk | Win/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android | Ownership & power users |
| UpNote | 50 notes | $39.99 lifetime (or $1.99/mo) | ✓ built-in | UpNote cloud | Win/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android | Like-for-like switchers |
| Joplin | ✓ full app free (open source) | $0 self-sync · Cloud €2.99/mo | ✓ native (File > Import) | Markdown, E2E-encrypted, any storage | Win/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android | Open source & privacy |
| OneNote | ✓ free · 5 GB OneDrive | $0 (1 TB via M365 $9.99/mo) | ✗ official tool gone; 3rd-party | Microsoft cloud (OneDrive) | Win/Mac/iOS/Android/Web | Free forever, freeform pages |
| Notion | ✓ generous personal plan | $0 personal · Plus ~$10-12/mo | ✓ built-in (account link) | Notion cloud | Win/Mac/iOS/Android/Web | Teams, databases, wikis |
| Apple Notes | ✓ free · iCloud 5 GB | $0 (iCloud+ 50 GB $0.99/mo) | ✓ on Mac (Import to Notes) | iCloud | Mac/iOS/iPadOS + iCloud.com | Apple households |
| Bear | ✓ local, single device | Pro $29.99/yr (sync) | ✓ built-in | Local + iCloud | Mac/iOS/iPadOS | Writers on Apple |
Pricing and free tiers change often — check each vendor for current terms. Compiled July 2026 from each vendor's official pricing pages.
Official pages: Evernote · Obsidian · UpNote · Joplin · OneNote · Notion · Apple Notes · Bear
A fair call
When Evernote is still the right choice
Switching has a cost too — years of notebooks, saved searches and muscle memory don't move for free. Evernote remains a fit for a real set of users.
Evernote is still right if…
- You lean hard on its OCR search inside PDFs, scans and images — still among the best anywhere.
- The mature web clipper and email-to-Evernote are load-bearing parts of your workflow.
- You want notes, tasks and calendar in one hosted app and Advanced's $249.99/year is worth that to you.
- Your company runs Evernote Teams and the admin/collaboration features are actually used.
Look elsewhere if…
- You're on the free plan — 50 notes on one device isn't a notes app, it's a demo. Joplin or OneNote cost nothing.
- You'd land on Starter and its 1,000-note cap — a long-time Evernote archive blows past that. UpNote is unlimited for $39.99 once.
- You never want a pricing email to threaten your notes again — Obsidian keeps them as files you own.
- Two price restructures in three years broke your trust in the current owner's direction.
Common questions
Evernote alternatives — common questions
What is the best Evernote alternative in 2026?
It depends on what you want to fix. If you want to own your notes as plain files, Obsidian is the strongest choice — free for personal use with an official Evernote importer. If you want the closest like-for-like Evernote experience at a fraction of the price, UpNote is $1.99/month or $39.99 lifetime. For free and open source, Joplin; for free and mainstream, Microsoft OneNote; for notes plus databases and team wikis, Notion; and on Apple devices, Apple Notes or Bear.
Why are people leaving Evernote?
Mostly pricing and shrinking plans since Bending Spoons acquired Evernote in January 2023. The Personal plan jumped from $69.99 to $129.99/year in 2023 (about +86%). In December 2023 the free plan was capped at 50 notes and 1 notebook, and in August 2024 it was cut to a single device. In November 2025 Evernote discontinued Personal and Professional, replaced them with Starter and Advanced, introduced storage caps for the first time, and some renewal offers came in up to ~80% higher. Unlimited notes now require the $249.99/year Advanced plan.
How much does Evernote cost in 2026?
Evernote Free allows 50 notes, 1 notebook and 1 device. Starter is $8.25/month billed annually ($99/year) or $14.99 month-to-month, and caps you at 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks, 3 devices and 5 GB. Advanced — the only individual plan with unlimited notes, notebooks and devices — is $20.83/month billed annually ($249.99/year) or $24.99 month-to-month. Teams is $24.99/user/month.
Is there a truly free Evernote alternative?
Yes, several. Joplin is free and open source with apps on every platform and a native Evernote (ENEX) importer — you only pay if you want its optional hosted sync. Microsoft OneNote is free with 5 GB of OneDrive storage. Obsidian is free for personal use with notes stored as local Markdown files. Apple Notes is free on Apple devices.
How do I export my notes from Evernote?
In the Evernote desktop app, export each notebook as an ENEX (.enex) file. ENEX is widely supported: Joplin, UpNote, Bear and Apple Notes (on a Mac, via File > Import to Notes) import it directly, Obsidian imports it through the official Importer plugin, and Notion connects to your Evernote account and imports without a file. OneNote no longer has an official importer, so it needs a third-party tool like Evernote2Onenote.
Evernote vs Obsidian — which should I pick?
Pick Obsidian if you want your notes as plain Markdown files on your own disk, a free personal license, and deep customization through plugins — at the cost of assembling some features yourself. Stay on Evernote if you rely on OCR search inside PDFs and scans, the mature web clipper, and an all-in-one hosted experience. See the full Evernote vs Obsidian breakdown.
What happened to the Evernote Personal and Professional plans?
In November 2025 Evernote discontinued Personal and Professional and introduced Starter and Advanced. Starter ($99/year) allows up to 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks and 3 devices — a cap the old Personal plan didn't have. Advanced ($249.99/year) is now the only individual plan with unlimited notes. Existing subscribers were moved to the new lineup at renewal, and several reported landing on more expensive plans; storage limits were introduced for the first time in Evernote's history.