7 Best Evernote Alternatives in 2026 (After the Price Hike)
For most of a decade Evernote was the default note vault, and its free plan was generous enough to live in permanently. That ended under Bending Spoons. A November 2025 overhaul retired the Personal and Professional plans, added storage caps for the first time, and cut the free tier to 50 notes, one notebook, and a two-device limit — enough to turn a free account into a trial. The paid tiers climbed too: Starter is now $99/year and Advanced is $249.99/year. If the new limits pushed you out, here are the Evernote alternatives people are actually moving to in 2026, sorted by what you were really using Evernote for.
1. Microsoft OneNote
The strongest fully free option, with no cap on how many notes you can create.
What makes it different from Evernote: OneNote’s free-form canvas lets you type or write anywhere on the page, and unlike Evernote’s new 50-note ceiling, there’s no limit on the number of notes — you’re bounded only by your 5GB of free OneDrive storage, shared across Microsoft apps. It’s included with any Microsoft account and works across Windows, Mac, web, iOS, and Android. If you want to weigh it against a modern workspace, OneNote vs Notion breaks down the differences, and Evernote vs OneNote covers the direct migration.
Best for: Anyone who wants a free, uncapped notebook and is already in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Pricing: Free with a Microsoft account; more storage via Microsoft 365 from $6.99/month
2. Obsidian
The answer for anyone leaving over privacy and data ownership — notes are plain Markdown files stored on your own machine.
What makes it different from Evernote: Obsidian doesn’t hold your notes on a company’s servers; they’re local Markdown files you fully own, which means no note cap, no sync lock-in, and nothing to lose if the vendor changes its pricing. It’s built around linking notes into a connected knowledge graph, extended by a large community plugin ecosystem. As of 2026 Obsidian is free even for commercial use; optional paid add-ons cover end-to-end encrypted Sync and Publish. The catch is a learning curve and no hand-holding — you assemble your setup.
Best for: Privacy-minded users and knowledge workers who want to own their files outright.
Pricing: Free (including commercial use); optional Sync add-on ~$5/month
3. Notion
A flexible workspace for Evernote refugees who want more than notes — a place where pages, databases, and wikis all live together.
What makes it different from Evernote: Notion isn’t a note app that grew features; it’s a document-and-database builder where a note can become a task board, a table, or a linked wiki. It has an Evernote importer, so your old notebooks come across, and its free plan is a real home rather than a trap: unlimited pages and blocks for a solo user, with the main ceiling being a 5MB per-file upload limit and 7-day page history. The tradeoff is complexity — it does far more than jot-and-search, and some people find that heavier than they want. See how the two stack up in detail in Notion vs Evernote.
Best for: People who want their notes to connect to tasks, projects, and docs in one place.
Pricing: Free for individuals; paid plans from ~$12/user/month
4. UpNote
A clean, fast, Evernote-style note app whose one-time price is the whole pitch.
What makes it different from Evernote: UpNote looks and feels like classic Evernote — notebooks, tags, rich text, quick search — but the paid unlock is a $39.99 lifetime purchase rather than a recurring subscription, which lands well with people burned by Evernote’s price hikes. Note that its free tier caps at 50 notes just like Evernote’s, so it’s really a paid app with a demo; the difference is you pay once and own it. Sync works across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and web.
Best for: People who want the familiar Evernote workflow without an annual bill.
Pricing: Free (50-note cap); Premium ~$1.99/month or $39.99 lifetime
5. Apple Notes
The free default that quietly became a serious Evernote replacement for Apple users.
What makes it different from Evernote: Apple Notes is already on every iPhone, iPad, and Mac, syncs instantly over iCloud, and handles quick notes, checklists, document scanning, tags, and shared folders with zero setup or cost. It has no note cap — storage counts against your iCloud quota (5GB free). The limitation is the walled garden: there’s no real Windows or Android app, so it only works if you’re all-in on Apple. If you’re comparing it to a cross-platform workspace, Apple Notes vs Notion lays out the tradeoffs.
Best for: Apple-only users who want a capable notes app for free with nothing to install.
Pricing: Free with Apple devices (iCloud storage from 5GB free)
6. Bear
A polished Markdown notes app for the Apple ecosystem, favored by writers who want Evernote’s simplicity with better typography.
What makes it different from Evernote: Bear pairs a distraction-free Markdown editor with a flexible tag system instead of rigid notebooks, and its full editing experience is free with no note cap on a single device. Pro adds cross-device sync, per-note encryption with Face ID, OCR search inside images and PDFs, and export to PDF and DOCX. Like Apple Notes it’s Apple-only, so it’s a fit for Mac and iOS users rather than mixed setups.
Best for: Writers and Apple users who want a beautiful, focused note editor.
Pricing: Free on one device; Pro $2.99/month or $29.99/year
7. Joplin
The open-source pick for people who want Evernote’s structure plus encryption and full control over where notes are stored.
What makes it different from Evernote: Joplin is free and open source, imports Evernote’s ENEX files directly (notebooks, tags, and attachments intact), and offers end-to-end encryption. You choose the sync backend — Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, or the paid Joplin Cloud — so your notes never have to sit on a single vendor’s servers. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. It’s less polished than the commercial apps, but nothing about it can be paywalled away later.
Best for: Privacy-focused users who want an Evernote-shaped app they can self-host.
Pricing: Free and open source; optional Joplin Cloud from ~€2.99/month
If you dig deeper and realize Evernote was mostly catching to-dos, reminders, and “don’t forget this” scraps rather than long-form reference notes, a note vault may be more than you need — an AI personal assistant that captures tasks over text and resurfaces them can be a lighter fit than any of the apps above. But if you kept a genuine knowledge base, pick from the seven here. Either way, Carly can hook right into the app you land on — natively for Notion, via API key for the rest.
Evernote Alternatives Compared
| Tool | Best for | Platforms | Free tier | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OneNote | Free & uncapped | Win, Mac, web, iOS, Android | No note cap, 5GB | Free |
| Obsidian | Privacy & ownership | Win, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android | Full app, local files | Free |
| Notion | All-in-one workspace | Web, Mac, Win, iOS, Android | Unlimited pages (solo) | ~$12/user/mo |
| UpNote | Pay-once value | Mac, Win, iOS, Android, web | 50-note cap | $39.99 lifetime |
| Apple Notes | Apple users | Apple only | No note cap | Free |
| Bear | Markdown writers | Mac, iOS only | 1 device, full editor | $2.99/mo |
| Joplin | Self-hosting | Win, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android | Full app, open source | Free |
| Evernote | — | Cross-platform | 50 notes, 1 notebook | $99/yr |
FAQ
Why are people leaving Evernote in 2026? The November 2025 overhaul under Bending Spoons cut the free plan to 50 notes, one notebook, and two devices, added storage caps, and raised paid pricing to $99/year (Starter) and $249.99/year (Advanced). The full breakdown is here.
What is the best free Evernote alternative? Microsoft OneNote is the strongest fully free option because it puts no cap on the number of notes — you’re limited only by 5GB of OneDrive storage. Obsidian and Joplin are free too and store notes as files you own outright.
Can I import my Evernote notes into these apps? Yes. Joplin imports Evernote’s ENEX export files with notebooks, tags, and attachments intact, and Notion has a built-in Evernote importer. Most other apps accept Evernote exports with some formatting cleanup.
What’s the closest replacement if I want to pay once instead of a subscription? UpNote — its Evernote-style workflow unlocks for a $39.99 lifetime purchase rather than a recurring bill, which is why it draws people frustrated with Evernote’s price increases.
More: Did Evernote change its plans? · Notion vs Evernote · Evernote vs OneNote · Notion alternatives
Ready to automate your busywork?
Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.
See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
