Evernote vs Obsidian
The most meaningful Evernote comparison, because it's really a choice between two philosophies: a hosted, all-in-one service that owns your database, or plain Markdown files on your own disk that no vendor can cap or reprice.
Pick Obsidian if data ownership matters — notes are local Markdown files, the app is free for personal use, and the official Importer plugin converts your ENEX exports. Stay on Evernote if OCR search inside PDFs and scans, the mature web clipper and hosted everything are what you actually pay for — and $249.99/year for unlimited notes doesn't sting. The real difference is convenience vs. ownership.
Side by side
Evernote vs Obsidian at a glance
| Evernote | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 50 notes · 1 notebook · 1 device | full app, unlimited notes |
| Unlimited notes cost | $249.99/yr (Advanced) | $0 · Sync add-on $4/mo optional |
| Where notes live | proprietary cloud database | Markdown files on your disk |
| Sync | included in paid plans | Sync $4/mo (E2E) or DIY (iCloud, git…) |
| OCR in PDFs/scans | ✓ built-in, excellent | plugins only |
| Web clipper | ✓ mature | ✓ official Web Clipper (newer) |
| Linking & graph | basic note links | backlinks, graph view, canvas |
| Extensibility | closed | 2,500+ community plugins |
| Evernote import | — | ✓ official Importer plugin (ENEX) |
| Best for | Hosted all-in-one, scanned docs | Ownership, linking, power users |
Sources: Evernote plans · Obsidian pricing · Obsidian Evernote import. Compiled July 2026.
Where Obsidian wins
Nobody can reprice your notes
Obsidian's defining feature is what it doesn't do: it doesn't hold your notes. Every note is a plain Markdown file in a folder you choose. If Obsidian the company vanished tomorrow, your notes would still open in any text editor. After Evernote users watched the Personal plan jump ~86% in 2023 and unlimited notes move to a $249.99/year tier in November 2025, that guarantee is exactly what many of them went looking for.
Free where it counts
The full app is free for personal use with no note count, notebook or device caps. The only common paid add-on is Sync at $4/month — and even that is optional, since a vault syncs fine through iCloud, Dropbox, Syncthing or a git repo.
Linking, graph and plugins
Obsidian treats notes as a network: backlinks, a graph view, canvas boards, and thousands of community plugins for tasks, spaced repetition, calendars or publishing. Evernote is a filing cabinet; Obsidian is closer to a personal wiki.
Where Evernote still wins
Evernote remains better at being a hosted service. OCR search inside PDFs, scanned documents and photos works out of the box and is still best-in-class — Obsidian needs third-party plugins for that and they don't match it. The Evernote Web Clipper is more mature than Obsidian's (though Obsidian now ships an official Web Clipper extension), email-to-notes is built in, and sync requires zero thought. If your workflow is "scan everything, search later," Evernote genuinely earns its keep.
Migrating Evernote → Obsidian
Export each notebook from the Evernote desktop app as an ENEX file, then run Obsidian's official Importer plugin (choose "Evernote (.enex)"). Notes convert to Markdown with attachments stored alongside; tags and note links mostly survive. Budget cleanup time for complex tables and clipped web pages — they convert, but not always prettily.
Common questions
Evernote vs Obsidian — FAQ
Is Obsidian really free?
Yes — the full app is free for personal use, with no note caps and no account required. You pay only for optional add-ons: Obsidian Sync ($4/month billed annually) for first-party encrypted sync, and Publish ($8/month) to put notes on the web. Commercial use in a company officially requires a $50/user/year license. Many users skip Sync entirely and sync their vault through iCloud, Dropbox or git.
How do I import Evernote notes into Obsidian?
Export each notebook from the Evernote desktop app as an ENEX (.enex) file, then use Obsidian's official Importer plugin: install it from Community Plugins, choose Evernote (.enex) as the file format, select your files and import. Notes are converted to Markdown with attachments saved alongside. Internal note links and most formatting survive; some complex layouts need manual cleanup.
What does Evernote have that Obsidian doesn't?
Out of the box: OCR search inside PDFs, scans and images; a more mature web clipper; email-to-notes; built-in tasks with calendar integration; and hosted sync included in paid plans. Obsidian can approximate several of these with plugins and its own Web Clipper extension, but text inside images and PDFs is not searchable by default — if scanned-document search is your core workflow, Evernote still does it better.