Evernote
Note Taking Verified May 2026
The original cross-platform note-taking app for capturing ideas, web clips, documents, and tasks in one searchable workspace.
- Best web clipper in the category
- Search inside images and PDFs
- Reliable cross-platform sync
- Strong document capture
How Evernote scored 47/100
6 weighted criteria, each scored out of 10 and published with its reasoning. Featured placements never move a score.
Deal Strength
3.0 /10This is affiliate access rather than a discount: no coupon, no credits, no verified price cut on Evernote's public plans. You pay list price whichever link you use.
Value for Money
3.0 /10The Personal tier costs $130 a year, the top end of consumer note-taking, and Notion, Obsidian and Apple Notes all undercut it. You are paying for capture and search rather than a price advantage.
Capability
8.0 /10Evernote's web clipper, OCR search inside images, rich text, attachments, tasks, calendar integration and cross-platform sync remain strong, and AI features have been layered on. For capturing things and finding them later, gaps are few.
Time to Value
5.0 /10Setup is straightforward — install, sign in, start clipping — and the free tier lets you test before paying. Existing users with large libraries should expect days of importing and tidying before search feels dependable.
Trust & Reliability
5.0 /10Sync itself is described as reliable, but Evernote has changed ownership and cut back its free tier, which unsettled long-time users. No uptime SLA or independent review counts are published, so keep your own exports as insurance.
Flexibility & Exit
5.0 /10Evernote sells both annual and monthly plans, so you can avoid a long commitment if you want. Cancellation and export specifics are not spelled out, though standard terms and basic export should apply.
About Evernote
Quick answer
Evernote is a long-running note-taking and capture app for individuals and small teams who want everything — notes, web clips, PDFs, photos, and tasks — in one searchable place. Now owned by Bending Spoons, it has a permanently limited Free tier and paid plans that start around $8–9/mo (Starter) and climb to roughly $21–25/mo (Advanced/Teams); confirm current pricing at signup.
What is Evernote?
Evernote is one of the original note-taking apps, launched in 2008 and now owned by Italian software company Bending Spoons. It lets you capture notes, clip web pages, scan documents, snap photos of whiteboards or receipts, and store files — then find any of it again through powerful full-text search that even reads text inside images and PDFs. Notes live in notebooks, can be tagged, and sync across web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Where Evernote shines is fast, frictionless capture. The Web Clipper browser extension is widely considered the best in the category, saving full articles, simplified pages, or screenshots straight into your account. Its search and OCR mean a photographed receipt or a scanned contract becomes findable by the words printed on it. For people who treat their notes as an external memory rather than a structured wiki, that retrieval power is the core appeal.
Key features
Web Clipper
Save full articles, simplified text, bookmarks, or screenshots from any browser directly into a chosen notebook with tags.
Search inside images & PDFs
OCR makes printed and handwritten text inside photos, scans, and PDF attachments searchable across your whole account.
Document scanning
The mobile app turns your camera into a scanner for receipts, business cards, and multi-page documents.
Tasks & reminders
Create checklists and tasks inside notes, set due dates and reminders, and surface them in a Tasks view.
Calendar integration
Connect Google Calendar to attach notes to events and prep agendas before meetings.
Cross-device sync
Notes sync across web and native apps, with offline access on paid tiers for editing without a connection.
Evernote pricing
Evernote keeps a permanent Free plan, but it is deliberately tight — a small cap on total notes and a single notebook, plus a two-device limit. Paid tiers (recently restructured under Bending Spoons) start with an entry-level plan around $8–9/mo and an Advanced plan roughly in the $21–25/mo range when billed annually, with a Teams option for shared workspaces and admin controls. Renewal prices rose sharply for some long-time users, so always confirm the exact figure and what counts toward note and upload limits at signup.
Evernote vs Notion vs OneNote
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evernote | Fast capture & retrieval | Free; paid ~$8–25/mo | Web clipper + OCR search |
| Notion | Structured wikis & databases | Free; paid from ~$10/user/mo | Flexible databases & team docs |
| OneNote | Microsoft 365 users | Free with a Microsoft account | Freeform canvas, bundled with Office |
✓ Use it if you
- Clip a lot of web pages and want the best clipper available.
- Need to search text inside scanned documents and photos.
- Want a simple capture inbox rather than a structured wiki.
✗ Skip it if you
- Already pay for Microsoft 365 and can use OneNote free.
- Want relational databases and team docs (choose Notion).
- Are sensitive to price hikes on annual renewals.
Is Evernote worth it?
Evernote remains genuinely excellent at capturing and finding information, and for heavy clippers its tools still beat the alternatives. The catch is value: the Free tier is now too limited to be a real workspace, and Advanced pricing sits close to richer tools like Notion. If you specifically need the clipper and OCR search, it earns its keep — but most users should trial it and compare the all-in annual cost before committing, which is why we rate it a Wait rather than an automatic Buy.
What's included
- Web Clipper browser extension for full articles, simplified pages, and screenshots
- OCR full-text search inside images, scans, and PDFs
- Mobile document and business-card scanning
- Tasks, checklists, due dates, and reminders inside notes
- Google Calendar integration to attach notes to events
- Cross-platform sync across web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
- Notebooks and tags for organizing captures
- Offline note access on paid tiers
Evernote pricing
Verified May 2026. Vendor's published rates at the time we checked — always confirm at checkout.
| Plan | Price | Term | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | forever | 50 notes, 1 notebook, 60 MB/mo upload, basic web clipper |
| Personal | $10.83/mo | annual | $129.99/yr; 100,000 notes, 10 GB upload/mo, offline access, home dashboard |
| Professional | $14.17/mo | annual | $169.99/yr; 20 GB upload/mo, AI features, calendar integrations, advanced search |
| Teams | $20.83/user/mo | annual | Shared notebooks, team spaces, admin console, SSO |
Getting started
4 steps. The last one is the part most people skip.
- 1
Open Evernote through the link on this page
It carries our referral tag. The price you pay is identical either way, and it never changes the score on this page.
- 2
Compare the tiers against what you actually use
The pricing table on this page lists what each plan includes. Match it to real usage rather than the tier the vendor highlights.
- 3
Start on the smallest plan that fits
Most vendors let you move up mid-cycle and bill the difference, so starting low costs you nothing but starting high does.
- 4
Check the renewal terms before you commit
Note the renewal date and the rate it reverts to, so the second invoice is not a surprise. Annual plans are usually cheaper per month but harder to exit.
Where Evernote wins and loses
What works
- Best web clipper in the category
- Search inside images and PDFs
- Reliable cross-platform sync
- Strong document capture
What doesn't
- Restrictive Free tier
- Steep renewal pricing
- Less structured than rivals
The bottom line
A capable, established note-taking app with strong capture and search, but its high price and lack of a meaningful discount limit its value for new users.
Yes, but it is heavily limited — a small cap on total notes, a single notebook, and sync across only two devices. It works as a trial more than a primary workspace.
Evernote is owned by Bending Spoons, an Italian software company that acquired it in 2023 and has since restructured the plans and pricing.
Yes. Evernote's OCR indexes printed and handwritten text inside images, scanned documents, and PDF attachments so you can find them by their content.
Evernote is faster for capturing and retrieving information and has a stronger web clipper, while Notion is better for structured wikis, relational databases, and collaborative team docs.
Paid plans start around $8–9/mo for the entry tier and run to roughly $21–25/mo for Advanced or Teams when billed annually. Confirm exact pricing at signup, as it has changed recently.
