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The strongest alternative to Evernote is Microsoft OneNote, and for that reason, I have a lot to say about it. OneNote is not a perfect fit for everyone, especially if you have to migrate thousands of notes from one app to the other.

Pros

On its own, OneNote is a fine service. It has apps for all major platforms, plus a web app and web clipper. The free version has very few feature restrictions. And the features are plentiful: text notes, audio notes, image uploads, tags, reminders, collaboration, free-form handwriting and sketching, OCR on handwriting, support for handwritten math equations (that feature requires a paid account), and more. Storage is handled through OneDrive, and it's generous. You get 5GB for free, 1TB with a Microsoft 365 Personal account ($69.99 per year), or you can pay a very reasonable $1.99 per month for 100GB.

Cons

If you're switching from Evernote to OneNote, you're in for a lot of adjustments, many of them conceptual. Evernote has notebook stacks > notebooks > notes, whereas OneNote has notebooks > sections > pages > subpages. OneNote's pages are more like pasteboards than word processing documents. Page elements, like text boxes and images, can go anywhere on the page, which is messy and frustrating if you're used to working with Evernote's left-aligned default. 

Tags are also conceptually different. In Evernote, you make your own tags and apply them at the note level. In OneNote, you can use a hashtag before any word to act as a tag, and you get several premade tags, which are more like flags to put next to specific content on your page, like "reminder" and "to-do." If your tag system in Evernote is crucial to your work, you should know that tags are highly likely to get messed up when migrating notes from Evernote to OneNote.

Migration

Migrating notes and notebooks from Evernote into OneNote is a pain. An official OneNote importer tool for Evernote(Opens in a new window) is still available but Microsoft hasn't supported it in a few years. It theoretically works if you're running Windows 7 or macOS El Capitan 10.11 or later. When I tried to migrate notes, however, the tool didn't recognize macOS 12 Big Sur, and on Windows 10, I got an error message each time I tried to import a file. In the past when this tool did work for me, the migration was slow, and the first tag of every note ended up creating a new section. So even when it did work, it didn't work well in my experience. There are some third-party tools that transfer data from Evernote to OneNote, but I haven't tested any of them recently.

Conclusion

In terms of features and experience, OneNote may be your best alternative. Figuring out how to migrate your notes from one app to the other is the biggest hurdle.

Joplin is a free, open-source note-taking app that uses a lot of the same structure as Evernote, in terms of how you can group and organize notes and notebooks. It's reasonably user-friendly, and you have the option of bringing your own storage and syncing or paying for Joplin Cloud, starting at 1.99 euros per month for 1GB of storage.

Pros

Joplin was created as a free and open-source alternative to Evernote, so the two apps have a lot in common. There are apps for all major platforms, plus Linux and a terminal application. There's no web app, but there is a web clipper. You can organize notes into notebooks and subnotebooks, which is essentially the same as notebooks and stacks. Joplin uses a three-pane interface similar to Evernote's as well, although it goes one step further and splits the editor so that you can see the HTML or Markdown version of your note side by side with the rich text version. You can toggle to see only one editor in either rich text, HTML, or Markdown if you prefer. Joplin also has the ability to capture geolocation data when you make a note, just as Evernote does. If you want to bring your own storage, it's easy to set up Joplin with Dropbox, Nextcloud, OneDrive, or WebDAV.

Cons

When Joplin first launched, it didn't offer any cloud storage or syncing, so bringing your own used to be a consideration. Now that it has Joplin Cloud, that's less of an issue. The Pro plan (5.99 euros per month or 57.48 per year for 10GB storage) is a bit high in price considering what you get and don't get. Joplin doesn't have OCR, collaboration, sketching and handwriting support, email forwarding, scanning in the mobile apps, PDF annotation. It also doesn't have any of Evernote's other advanced features, namely anything to do with collaboration.

Migration

Joplin has an import option that supports Evernote files. To use it, you have to export your Evernote notebooks one by one and then import them into Joplin. It could be a time-consuming experience, depending on how many notebooks you have, though I was able to work through my entire catalog in a few short sessions. When you import the files, you choose to bring them in as HTML or Markdown files. Either way, once they're inside Joplin, you can view them as rich text notes, so you don't have to bother with HTML or Markdown if you don't want to. 

After importing a few dozen notebooks comprising several thousand notes, it mostly worked like a charm. Audio recordings, images, tags, and formatting all came through just fine. PDF attachments came through as links instead of files, which was a letdown, though I could still open them from Joplin or right-click and select "reveal file in folder."

Because Joplin only imports one notebook at a time, you have to recreate your notebook stacks in Joplin, but it's not difficult. That said, if you accidentally move a notebook into a folder, which happens a little too easily for my taste, getting it out is a real hassle. Moving a notebook from one folder to another is fine, but taking it out of all folders is harder than it should be.

Conclusion

Joplin offers wonderful tools and features for organizing your notes and notebooks exactly the way you had them in Evernote. Getting them into the app is easy if time-consuming. You're probably better off bringing your own storage than paying for Joplin Cloud, and you will lose a few important features when leaving Evernote, including collaboration.

Zoho is a company based in south India that focuses on selling cloud-based business apps for rather low subscription prices. Similar to Microsoft or Google, Zoho also offers free apps to individuals, perhaps as an entry point to learning about its brand of software. Zoho Notebook is one such free app. It doesn't look anything like Evernote, but it offers some of the same functionality and might be a good alternative, depending on how you plan to use it.

Pros

Zoho Notebook has apps for all major platforms: Android, iOS, iPad, macOS, Windows, Linux, and the web. It comes with a tool for migrating from Evernote, although as of this writing, it doesn't work very well (more on that below). Zoho Notebooks is free. There are no in-app purchases, tiers of service to agonize over, or even storage limits for note cards you create. Storage is handled by Zoho Docs, which has a 5GB limit for free users, and that applies to files you upload to your notes. In terms of features, Zoho Notebook supports text, images, audio recordings, tags, attachments, reminders, handwriting, sketching, scanning, checklists, and more. You get a web clipper, access to your notes' version history, and a voice command assistant in the mobile apps called Zia. 

Unlike Evernote, Zoho Notebook interprets "notebook" in a way that mimics the physical object. When you view your notebooks, you see a little display of books, each with its own cover. Your notes can use different color "paper," too.

Cons

Zoho Notebook is missing a few key features, such as email forwarding, OCR on images, and the ability to view all your notebooks in list format. The maximum file upload size is 5MB. If you have thousands of notes and dozens or hundreds of notebooks, Zoho Notebook may feel a tad stifling, as it's impossible to create a view of your notes and notebooks that shows you very much at once.

Migration

Zoho Notebook has a migration assistant tool for Evernote, but it only worked for me when I used the mobile app, not the desktop app. When I tried it with the desktop app, the instructions said to upload a batch of exported Evernote notes, but it didn't work. With the mobile app, however, I connected Zoho Notebook directly to Evernote and authorized the connection and length of time it should stay open. I did not have the opportunity to select which notebooks I wanted to migrate, the way I did with Notion. It's an all-or-nothing scenario. I let the migration run overnight and, in the morning, refreshed all my apps to find more than 5,000 notes and 70-plus notebooks in my Zoho Notebook app. Because Zoho Notebook doesn't have notebook stacks or the ability to view notebooks in a list, the whole thing is a messy disaster. To bring some order to it, I'd have to rename my notebooks so that they fall into a logical order. Without the grouping provided by stacks, my previous organization system simply doesn't work in the new environment.

Conclusion

Authorize the migration of your notes from the mobile app, and Zoho Notebook will take care of it for you. It will migrate all your notes and notebooks, however, and won't preserve stacks of notebooks. Rearranging your notes after the migration is a huge hurdle. You also miss out on email forwarding, OCR, and the ability to view all your notebooks in list format. The 5MB limit on uploaded files may be a consideration, too.

Bear is a low-cost alternative to Evernote that's only been on the market a few short years. It's for macOS, iOS, and iPad only. If the lack of a Windows or Android app is a dealbreaker, move on. At one point the company said a web app was in the works for Pro users, but it never came to fruition. To sync your notes, Bear uses iCloud, so again, if you're not an Apple user, this app probably won't meet your needs.

Pros

Bear offers a free account, which is quite limited. Its paid account costs very little, however, at $1.49 per month or $14.99 per year. Those rates are significantly lower than Evernote's, but there is a stark difference in terms of what you get. Bear has a lovely and familiar interface with a three-pane design so you can see your sidebar, note list, and editor window all at once. It supports Markdown Language if you're into that. Markdown is a simplified way of styling text, like putting asterisks around a word to make it bold, which people sometimes use to curb the distraction of font menus and other editing tools. Aside from that, Bear's features list is sparse. You get visual themes, like dark mode, as well as a focus mode for eliminating distractions. Bear can encrypt individual notes, cross-link notes, upload attachments, and display images inline. You get a web clipper, a special space for your to-do list, and hashtag-style tags.

Cons

With Bear, organizing your notes is next to impossible. There's only one way to do it: with tags. You don't get notebooks or any kind of folder and subfolder system, except for your To-Do list space and a vaguely named space called Today. Not having notebooks is a major departure from Evernote. Just as important, Bear doesn't have any advanced features whatsoever. There's no email forwarding, audio recording, scanning, OCR, collaboration, or PDF annotation. Another point worth mentioning is Bear uses iCloud for storage. You don't actually get any new storage when you pay for a Bear Pro account, which you need if you want to sync your notes across devices. If you have a lot of notes, you'll probably end up having to pay an additional fee for extra iCloud storage.

Migration

Bear supports importing notes that you have exported from Evernote. When I exported a few notebooks from Evernote to .enex files and then imported them into Bear, it worked smoothly. This process is a little more time-consuming than the direct connection method that Notion and Zoho Notebook use because you have to export notebooks one by one. When you import notebooks to Bear, however, you lose the notebook grouping. So, all your notes are jumbled together, only differentiated by tags. If your Evernote account is steadfastly organized by notebook and notebook stacks, moving to Bear will wipe it all out.

Conclusion

Bear is a low-cost alternative to Evernote with good support for migrating your data, but it's a poor choice if you rely on notebooks or notebook stacks for organization. It's limited to Apple devices and uses iCloud for storage, which may mean you have to pay extra to house all your data.

Notion is another alternative to Evernote that has been gaining attention. When I first reviewed Notion in August 2019, the app was prone to errors and looked highly disorganized. It has improved noticeably since then, but I still don't enjoy using it because I find it needlessly complicated. You'll have to decide for yourself whether it will be a sufficient replacement to Evernote for you.

Pros

A compelling reason to consider Notion as an Evernote replacement is because importing notes, notebooks, images, tags, and other data from one to the other is a breeze—more details on that in the Migration section. In terms of features, Notion has text, images, attached files, collaboration, a web clipper, tags, kanban view, table view, timeline view, and more. It pushes templates hard, so if having them is important to you, then you should consider this app. Icons, backdrop images, and other visuals abound. There are Notion apps for all major platforms, including a web app. As to pricing, there are four tiers of service: Free, Personal Pro ($5 per month or $48 per year), Team (per person: $10 per month or $96 per year), and Enterprise (per person: $25 per month or $240 per year).

Cons

Notion is missing a few key features, including OCR on images, email forwarding, the ability to write by hand or sketch, audio recording, among others. There are some workarounds for the missing features, such as recording audio or making handwritten notes in another app and uploading them, but it's still a bummer when an app doesn't do all the things you want it to do natively. 

Notion also has some work to do in terms of making its interface tidier and more professional. While Evernote didn't invent the multitiered sidebar, it sure did master it. Notion hasn't embraced it yet, so your sidebar can become a confusing series of names of views mixed in with your notebooks, or as Notion calls them "databases." There is a fine line between offering a wealth of features and options and simply cluttering an app, and Notion firmly struggles with clutter. Adding icons next to the names of your databases likewise adds to the feeling of disarray. Plus, you can't not have an icon. If you choose none, you get a picture of a sheet of paper by default. 

Getting into the page itself, Notion uses text blocks, meaning every heading, every paragraph, every bullet point is in its own little self-contained unit. If you're experienced with traditional text editors and you're suddenly thrown into a world of text blocks, they are maddening little beasts. 

Migration

Migration is a strength for Notion because it has a built-in tool for importing notebooks from Evernote directly that works well. You grant Notion access to your Evernote account, decide how long you want the access to remain open, choose which notebooks you want to import, and soon after you see all your notes and notebooks imported. I tested the import tool with a few notebooks comprising a couple of hundred notes with images and tags, and I didn't have any problems.

Conclusion

Migrating notes and notebooks from Evernote to Notion is a breeze. The hurdles are getting used to Notion's cluttered interface and text-blocks style editor, as well as dealing with missing features: OCR, email forwarding, audio recording, among others.

Similar to Joplin, Laverna (laverna.cc(Opens in a new window)) is a free and open-source alternative to Evernote. And just as with most any other free open-source software, you have to put in a little effort to make it work.

Pros

Laverna bills itself as a Markdown note-taking app focused on privacy. It's entirely free to use and is available on macOS, Windows, Linux, and the web. An Android app has been in the works for more than two years, so don't hold your breath. Perhaps unsurprisingly to people who use open-source software, Laverna supports writing in Markdown and code snippets. Because you are responsible for where and how Laverna stores and syncs notes, you are guaranteed privacy (as long as you don't screw it up, that is).

Cons

Laverna has two big hurdles to using it. The biggest one is that you have to bring your own storage and syncing—surmountable for some, certainly, but a huge hindrance for others. Laverna supports Dropbox and remote storage, and both require troubleshooting from time to time. Plus, using your own storage makes working in the web app a clunky experience. If you'd rather find an app that provides those services for you, look elsewhere. 

Second and perhaps more important, Laverna doesn't have any mobile apps. That's likely a deal breaker for many people. Beyond that, Laverna has very few features compared with Evernote. It's missing collaboration, OCR, reminders, handwriting and sketching, and many others.

Migration

Laverna's open-source community has tools that can help you transfer notebooks from Evernote to Laverna (here's one example(Opens in a new window)), but there isn't one baked into the app. The overriding theme of Laverna is it's a note-taking app that requires you to do a lot of work and maintenance to use it. I did not run a test on importing my Evernote files to Laverna because frankly, it seemed like too much work for an app I had already decided wasn't for me.

Conclusion

If you're prepared to put in some effort, Laverna could be your next note-taking app. It's missing a lot of features, however, including mobile apps. Among free open-source options, Joplin seems more user-friendly.

I really don't see Google Keep as a viable alternative to Evernote, but some people do, which is why I'm including it. Google Keep is Google's note-taking app, and it looks a whole lot like Stickies. It does a nice job of keeping recent notes in front of your eyeballs, but in all other ways, it's just not comparable.

Pros

Google Keep is free to use as long as you have a Google account. Notes appear as rectangles that resemble sticky notes on your screen. You can share notes and invite people to collaborate on them with you. There is some functionality that lets you easily copy a note into a Google Doc, which could be very useful to some people. On mobile devices, Google Keep has handy widgets for making new notes quickly. Reminders are included. Some of its best features are the ability to transcribe dictated notes and pull text from images to make it editable. The search function in Google Keep is strong. If you search for a label, Keep pulls up all the notes with that label, and then you can do a second search among that subset.

Cons

Google Keep only gives you one way to organize notes: with labels, which are essentially the same as tags. There are no notebooks or stacks of notebooks. There is a web clipper, but all it does is save the URL to a note. You can't actually clip content from web pages; it doesn't even fill in the headline or title of the page as the title of the note. You can't upload files to notes, except for images. There's no rich text formatting.

Migration

Google Keep doesn't have any importing tools, so there's no way to move your notes from Evernote to Google Keep unless you copy and paste the contents note by note. In doing so, you'll lose rich text formatting, attachments, and other details.

Conclusion

In short, Google Keep is not even in the same class as Evernote. They are two different apps designed to do different things. If you never used many features in Evernote and you prefer to search for notes rather than organize them, then Keep may be a reasonable alternative for you.

Similar to Google Keep, Simplenote by Automattic (the same organization that makes WordPress) really isn't a competitor to Evernote, but some people consider it as such and therefore I'm including it. It's only a viable replacement if you don't use many features in Evernote, including those for sorting and organizing your notes.

Pros

Simplenote is a free, fast, lightweight application for making and saving notes. There's a web app as well as apps for all major platforms and Linux. There is no limit on storage, as long as you don't abuse it, according to the company's terms. It supports tags and Markdown language. You can invite collaborators to edit or co-author notes with you. Simplenote also lets you publish notes publicly. One big way that Simplenote differentiates from Google Keep is it shows your notes in list format in a left sidebar, which helps in terms of being able to see more of your notes at once and jump among them easily.

Cons

Simplenote doesn't support uploads, multimedia, or even formatting—just text—so you'd have a hard time abusing the limitless storage that you get with the app. You can place images in a note if they're published online and you code them into the note using Markdown. It doesn't have notebooks or stacks of notebooks. Tags are your only tool for organization. There's no web clipper, no OCR, no scanning from mobile apps. In short, Simplenote is light on features.

Migration

There are no options for importing notes to Simplenote, and because the app doesn't support many of the features found in Evernote, you'd likely lose a lot of your data (such as rich text formatting, file attachments, and so forth) if you tried to copy and paste notes from one app to the other.

Conclusion

Simplenote isn't a competitor to Evernote. It could be an alternative if you're looking for an app where you can make text notes and you don't need many tools for organizing them.