Evernote is a cross-platform note taking and productivity app designed to capture, organize, and retrieve information effortlessly. It combines notes, tasks, calendars, documents, and AI-powered tools into one workspace. With advanced search, web clipping, document scanning, and collaboration features, Evernote serves as a digital second brain for individuals and teams.
- Overview
- Features
- Pricing
- Pros
- Cons
- Reviews
Evernote Note Taking App Overview
- Updated March 1, 2026
Key Features
- Advanced Note Taking: Create rich notes with text, images, audio, files, and sketches across all devices.
- AI Assistant: Search, summarize, rewrite, and organize notes using built-in AI tools.
- Powerful Search: Find information quickly with semantic, filtered, and Boolean search.
- Tasks & Calendar: Manage to-dos and link notes directly to calendar events.
- Web Clipper: Save web pages, articles, and snippets directly into your notebooks.
- Document Scanning: Scan, digitize, and organize paper documents with OCR.
Price
| Plan | Price | Featured |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (Free) | Basic note taking, 1 device sync, limited storage |
| Starter | $8.25/mo (Billed Annually) | 3 device sync, increased storage, tasks and calendar integration |
| Advanced | $20.83/mo (Billed Annually) | Unlimited devices, advanced AI features, offline access |
| Enterprise | Custom Pricing (Contact Sales) | Centralized admin controls, SSO, enterprise-grade security |
Price details: https://evernote.com/compare-plans
Pros
Competitor |
Pros |
|---|---|
| Notion | Compared to Notion, Evernote is faster to set up and easier for traditional note taking. It offers a clearer structure with notebooks and tags, better quick capture tools, and superior web clipping, making it more efficient for users who want minimal configuration and immediate productivity. |
| Microsoft OneNote | Evernote provides more consistent cross-platform behavior and stronger search capabilities than OneNote. Its tagging system, AI features, and document scanning are more advanced, making it easier to retrieve information quickly without relying on the Microsoft ecosystem. |
| Apple Notes | Unlike Apple Notes, Evernote works equally well across Windows, Android, and web. It offers deeper organization, professional-grade search, and advanced AI tools, making it more suitable for power users who work across multiple platforms. |
| Obsidian | Evernote is simpler to use than Obsidian and does not require markdown knowledge or manual graph management. Its cloud sync, mobile experience, and built-in features appeal to users who want a polished solution without heavy customization. |
| Google Keep | Evernote significantly outperforms Google Keep in depth and scalability. It supports long-form notes, attachments, tasks, and advanced organization, making it better suited for serious personal knowledge management and professional workflows. |
Cons
Competitor |
Cons |
|---|---|
| Notion | Compared to Notion, Evernote is less flexible for building custom databases and complex workflows. Users who rely heavily on relational data, dashboards, and collaborative knowledge bases may find Evernote more rigid and less adaptable. |
| Microsoft OneNote | Evernote is more expensive than OneNote, which is often bundled free with Microsoft 365. For users already invested in Microsoft tools, Evernote can feel redundant and harder to justify from a cost perspective. |
| Apple Notes | Apple Notes is completely free and deeply integrated into iOS and macOS. Evernote’s paid plans may feel excessive for users who only need simple note taking and are already locked into the Apple ecosystem. |
| Obsidian | Obsidian offers full local data ownership and extensive customization through plugins. Evernote’s cloud-first approach and closed ecosystem may frustrate advanced users who want complete control over their data. |
| Google Keep | Google Keep is lighter, faster, and completely free for basic notes and reminders. Evernote can feel bloated and slower for users who only need quick capture and simple lists without advanced features. |
Verified Customer Reviews
- Reddit r/Evernote: Evernote earns praise for its “insane web clipper,” OCR, PDF support, and fast, responsive search that few competitors replicate in one package. Commenters call it straightforward and efficient, yet many criticize the steep price hikes and the now “totally unusable” free plan limited by recent changes, with some disliking the Electron framework and preferring a native app.
- thebusinessdive.com Review: The reviewer values the ability to structure notes, to-do lists, and files in one centralized app and highlights strong third-party integrations. High pricing, limited AI features locked behind premium tiers, and what they consider the fewest templates on the market lead to a mixed overall experience, with doubts about switching from Notion.
- Trustpilot Review (Rating: 1.2/5): Evernote limits free users to one notebook and 50 notes, blocks editing unless users subscribe, and makes data export difficult, which leaves long-term customers scrambling to manually migrate hundreds of notes. Multiple reviews report constant crashes, extreme slowness, buggy syncing between phone and web, and a “ruined” UI compared to version 8, along with outrage over dramatic price increases and reduced functionality.
- apple.com Review: Evernote crashes repeatedly during PDF imports, and PDF annotation fails on Windows and the web version, forcing Mac users to download the app for basic functionality. One detailed account describes the highlighting tool stopping mid-sentence and requiring manual line-by-line adjustments, paired with frustration over paid features lacking cross-platform compatibility and unhelpful customer support.