Best Free Evernote Alternatives in 2026
Evernote Pricing
Evernote is a popular note-taking and organization app. While it has a free tier, it is heavily limited (2 devices, 60MB upload/month, no offline access). Paid plans start at $10.83/month (Personal) and $14.99/month (Professional), which many users find expensive for a note-taking app.
5
Free Alternatives
2
Open Source
0
Self-Hostable
$?
Est. Yearly Cost
Why Consider Evernote Alternatives?
Get unlimited notes for free (no 50-note limit)
Pay $0/year instead of $180/year
Get native Linux support with open-source alternatives
Own your data — use local-first alternatives
Avoid vendor lock-in — export is easy with alternatives
Common Evernote Pain Points
These are the top reasons users look for alternatives
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All Evernote Alternatives (5)
Compare features, pricing, and migration difficulty
Obsidian
Why it's a good alternative: Free to use, Obsidian offers a cost-effective alternative to Evernote.
BEST FOR
Personal knowledge management, researchers, and people who want future-proof Markdown notes
KEY FEATURES
PROS
- Notes are plain Markdown files — you own them forever
- Free for personal use (no monthly upload limits like Evernote free)
- Bi-directional linking is powerful for building a knowledge base
- Plugin ecosystem is incredible (kanban, calendaring, etc.)
- Local-first means fast and works offline natively
CONS
- Sync between devices requires either manual setup (iCloud/Dropbox) or paid Obsidian Sync
- Learning curve for new users (Markdown, plugins, settings)
- Mobile apps are less polished than Evernote's
- No collaboration features (not a team wiki)
Joplin
Why it's a good alternative: 100% free and open-source Joplin is a compelling alternative to Evernote.
BEST FOR
Privacy-conscious users who want a free, open-source Evernote alternative
KEY FEATURES
PROS
- Completely free with no feature gating
- Open-source and privacy-friendly
- Syncs via your own cloud (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
- Good Evernote import (preserves notebooks and tags)
- End-to-End Encryption available
CONS
- UI is functional but not as polished as Evernote or Notion
- Sync setup requires connecting to cloud storage (slight technical step)
- No collaboration features (single-user focused)
- Web Clipper is less powerful than Evernote's
Why it's a good alternative: Free to use, Notion (free tier) offers a cost-effective alternative to Evernote.
BEST FOR
Teams, project managers, and people who want notes + databases + wikis in one tool
KEY FEATURES
PROS
- Free tier is very generous (unlimited pages and blocks for personal use)
- Combines notes with databases — much more powerful than Evernote
- Real-time collaboration built-in (great for shared knowledge bases)
- Thousands of free templates
- Active community and ecosystem
CONS
- Learning curve — the block-based system is different from traditional note apps
- Can get slow with very large workspaces
- Offline support is weaker than Obsidian or Joplin
- Free tier has file upload limits (5MB per file)
Why it's a good alternative: 100% free and open-source Simplenote is a compelling alternative to Evernote.
BEST FOR
People who want the simplest possible note-taking experience
KEY FEATURES
PROS
- Extremely simple — opens instantly, no bloat
- Completely free for basic use
- Cross-platform with seamless sync
- Version history (even in free tier, 30 days)
- Open-source backend
CONS
- Very basic — no images, no attachments, no rich text
- No folders or notebooks (only tags)
- No collaboration features
- Not suitable for complex note organization
Why it's a good alternative: Free to use, Microsoft OneNote offers a cost-effective alternative to Evernote.
BEST FOR
Microsoft ecosystem users, students, and tablet/pen users
KEY FEATURES
PROS
- Completely free — no paid tier at all (unlike Evernote)
- Free-form canvas is unique — great for visual notes and diagrams
- Excellent handwriting and drawing support (great for tablet users)
- Deep integration with Microsoft Office ecosystem
- Very generous — no device limit, no upload limit
CONS
- Search can be slow with large notebooks
- Formatting is less precise than in a traditional note app
- No Markdown support (uses rich text)
- Can feel cluttered with the ribbon interface
Evernote vs Free Alternatives — Detailed Comparison
| Tool | Price | Open Source | Self-Hosted | Rating | Migrate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evernote | Paid | — | — | ||
| Obsidian | Free | — | (4.7) | ||
| Joplin | Free | — | (4.4) | ||
| Notion (free tier) | Free | — | (4.5) | ||
| Simplenote | Free | — | (4.2) | ||
| Microsoft OneNote | Free | — | (4.3) |
How to Migrate from Evernote — Step by Step
- 1
In Evernote, select notebooks → Export → ENEX format (with tags and attachments)
- 2
For Joplin: File → Import → Evernote (.enex) — preserves notebooks and tags
- 3
For Obsidian: install 'Evernote Converter' plugin or import via Joplin as intermediate
- 4
For Notion: use the Evernote importer in Notion (Settings → Import)
- 5
Re-create your tag structure and notebook links in the new tool
- 6
Cancel Evernote subscription after confirming all notes are accessible
Pro Tips
- 💡Joplin's Evernote import is the most reliable — if other tools fail, import to Joplin first, then export to Markdown for Obsidian
- 💡If you relied on Evernote's Web Clipper, Notion's Web Clipper is the closest replacement
- 💡Obsidian's Markdown files are future-proof — even if Obsidian dies, your notes are readable in any text editor
- 💡OneNote is the best free alternative if you're already in the Microsoft ecosystem — it's completely free with no device limits