Evernote vs OneNote
The obvious escape route when Evernote's pricing bites: a mainstream, genuinely free notes app from a vendor that isn't trying to monetize your notes. The catch is the move itself — Microsoft quietly retired its official Evernote importer.
Pick OneNote if you want unlimited notes, sync and OCR for $0 and you're comfortable with a freeform canvas instead of Evernote's tidy notebooks. Stay on Evernote if structured organization, the web clipper and searching inside PDFs are why you pay. Budget real time for migration either way — there's no official importer anymore, only third-party tools.
Side by side
Evernote vs OneNote at a glance
| Evernote | OneNote | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free = 50 notes · unlimited = $249.99/yr | free, no note caps |
| Storage | 1 GB free · 5 GB Starter · unlimited Advanced | 5 GB OneDrive free · 1 TB with M365 $9.99/mo |
| Model | notebooks + tags, list-like notes | notebooks → sections → freeform pages |
| OCR in images | ✓ incl. PDFs (paid) | ✓ images; PDFs as printouts |
| Web clipper | ✓ mature | basic |
| Ink / handwriting | limited | ✓ excellent (pen-first) |
| Evernote import | — | ✗ official tool discontinued; 3rd-party |
| Data lives in | Evernote cloud (ENEX export) | Microsoft OneDrive |
| Best for | Structured archive, clip-and-search | Free unlimited notes, meetings, ink |
Sources: Evernote plans · OneNote · Microsoft 365 Personal. Compiled July 2026.
Where OneNote wins
Free actually means free
OneNote has no note count, notebook or device limits on the free tier — the exact things Evernote now rations. The only resource that costs money is storage, and OneDrive's free 5 GB comfortably holds years of text notes. Compare that with Evernote, where escaping the 50-note free cap starts at $99/year and unlimited notes cost $249.99/year.
A canvas, not a list
OneNote pages are freeform: click anywhere and type, drag in images, write with a stylus, record audio next to your typed notes. For meeting notes, lectures and sketching, it's genuinely better than Evernote's linear note format — and its handwriting support and ink-to-text are best-in-class.
It isn't going anywhere
After two ownership-driven repricings at Evernote in three years, OneNote's appeal is partly institutional: it's a core Microsoft 365 app used across schools and enterprises, with no incentive to squeeze individual note-takers.
Where Evernote still wins
Organization and retrieval. Evernote's notebooks, tags and saved searches keep a large archive orderly, its web clipper produces cleaner captures, and paid plans search inside PDFs and Office attachments — OneNote's search covers typed text, ink and text in images, but PDF content only when inserted as printouts. OneNote's freeform pages, charming for meeting notes, become a liability when you're filing thousands of clipped articles.
Migrating Evernote → OneNote (the honest part)
Microsoft's official OneNote Importer was quietly discontinued — the download link 404s, and Microsoft's own Q&A forum confirmed in February 2026 that no official tool currently exists. Your options: export ENEX files and run a third-party converter like the open-source Evernote2Onenote, or copy-paste for small archives. Test one notebook first and check images and attachments before committing the whole archive. If a clean import is a hard requirement, Notion (built-in importer) or Joplin (native ENEX) migrate with far less friction.
Common questions
Evernote vs OneNote — FAQ
Is OneNote completely free?
Yes. The OneNote apps on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and the web are free with a Microsoft account, and there are no note, notebook or device caps. Notebooks are stored in OneDrive, which includes 5 GB free; if you outgrow that, Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99/month) raises it to 1 TB and adds the Office apps. For a typical notes archive, the free 5 GB goes a long way.
How do I move my Evernote notes to OneNote?
Microsoft's official OneNote Importer tool has been discontinued — its download page no longer works, and Microsoft's own support forums confirm there is currently no official way to import Evernote notes. Export your notebooks as ENEX files and use a third-party converter such as the open-source Evernote2Onenote; for small archives, copy-paste is honestly viable. Test a single notebook first and check how images and attachments survive.
Is OneNote better than Evernote?
It's better value: OneNote does most of what Evernote's paid tiers charge for — unlimited notes, multi-device sync, OCR search in images, ink and audio — for free. Evernote is still ahead on structured organization (notebooks, tags, saved searches), its web clipper, and PDF-content search on paid plans. OneNote's freeform canvas is great for meeting notes and sketches but harder to keep tidy as an archive of thousands of clipped pages.