Is he still a top contender for note-taking?
There are quite a few note-taking apps out there, but few have achieved the level of status and publicity that Evernote has. However, the app has seen its own fair share of changes over the years and is quite different from what it started with. Is Evernote still one of the best note-taking apps or has it lost its appeal?
Evernote: Then and Now
Evernote was created in 2004 as a digital note-taking application for Windows desktop and mobile devices. It was billed as a new product that could store notes on an “infinite, virtual, time-stamped roll of paper.” It was later introduced on other platforms such as web, Android, iOS and macOS.
Evernote was a competitively priced product with only two pricing tiers: free and premium. It came with several innovative features: web cutter, handwriting recognition, advanced image search and automatic synchronization between all clients.
The app has changed over the years in response to changing user demands and to stay relevant in the face of strong competition. These changes ranged from slight interface tweaks to a complete overhaul of the app framework with Evernote v10.
In January 2023, Bending Spoons acquired Evernote and raised prices for all levels. They introduced new limits for free accounts: 50 notes, one laptop and only one device.
These changes were made in quick succession, with no transition period, prompting some long-time users to look for alternative note-taking tools. Customers willing to pay the new prices got access to shiny new features and product options like better syncing, improved task management, collaborative editing, advanced AI features, and an in-app calendar.
What I love about Evernote
Evernote has been in the digital note-taking business for a long time and has created an app that gets more than a few things right:
1. Compatibility across platforms
Although the app has changed over the years, Evernote has maintained cross-platform compatibility. It still works on all major operating systems (except Linux) and through a web browser.
Evernote’s cross-platform consistency is a major strength and has allowed it to retain a loyal portion of its user base. Changes are instantly synced and updated across clients, meaning users can create a note on one device and finish it on another. Syncing has also improved since Evernote’s last update, and while it’s not completely reliable, it’s much better than it used to be.
2. Web Clipper just works
Web Clipper is a core feature of Evernote and has been a staple of the note-taking app since its inception. With a single click, it lets you save web content like images, articles, PDFs, and even full-page snapshots directly to your Evernote account.
While other note-taking apps like Notion have clips for taking screenshots of web pages, Evernote was one of the first to offer web clipping as a basic and usable feature.
3. Supports offline access
Unlike Notion and other alternatives, Evernote supports offline access across all local clients. Notes and notebooks can be viewed on supported desktop and mobile devices without an internet connection.
Offline access works especially well with desktop clients, Windows or Mac. On mobile, offline notes and notebooks need to be set up and selected before they can be viewed and edited offline.
4. Joint editing
This Evernote feature, also known as real-time editing, allows you to edit a single note in multiple places at the same time. This is a Google Docs-style feature that displays changes made to a document in real-time.
Although not a feature for everyone, co-editing can come in handy when you need to work on a project with other users and team members.
What I don’t like about Evernote
While it has its pros, there are a few cons that make Evernote less appealing to me in general:
1. Expensive for what it offers
By far the biggest downside is that Evernote is one of the most expensive note-taking apps out there. The personal price plan costs about $130 per year, which is much more than the price of the entire Microsoft 365 Family software suite. Notion includes more advanced features than Evernote and is still cheaper at $120 per year.
A 200% price increase, from $7 to $14 per month, hardly seems justified and fair to customers when there are no significant feature improvements to back it up. Users pay more for the same basic functionality when there are multiple alternatives offering the same functionality for less or even for free.
2. Limited free tier
Evernote’s free tier used to be enough for most users. Free users could create up to 250,000 notes and 250 notebooks, and could view and edit those notes on an unlimited number of (later 2) devices.
Currently, the free plan is more like a trial version and only allows access to 50 notes and one notebook through a single connected device. Joplin is a free, cross-platform Evernote alternative that also offers to-do lists and web clippings.
3. Creep function
Like other apps in its software category, Evernote has fallen into the feature creep trap with new features that complicate the user experience rather than enhance it.
Evernote is no longer just a simple note-taking and organization app, but has expanded into the task management and calendar space. These largely unnecessary features could be deprecated to make the product cheaper and more efficient.
Is Evernote still worth it in 2024?
The price alone makes it clear that Evernote isn’t the product it used to be, and that there are cheaper alternative note-taking apps out there.
However, for less budget-conscious users, Evernote seems built to last compared to the alternatives, and may be better for applications that require longevity. It also offers an intuitive user interface with tagging, optical character recognition (OCR) search, and image transcription capabilities.
While Evernote’s parent company could have handled its pricing better, it’s still a great product with incredible features that could easily be your primary note-taking app. It can be used for research and as a specialized study tool.