Features, Pricing, Pros and Cons
| Rating | 4.1/5 |
| Starting price (per user per month) | $14.99 |
| Starting price (per user per month, billed annually) | $10.83 |
| Key features | • Note creation and organizations • Customizable dashboard with widgets • Document scanners • Optical character recognition search |
|
|
Evernote is one of the most popular note-taking apps on the market, but it’s not the right fit for everyone. In this in-depth review, we explore Evernote’s pros and cons to help you determine if this note-taking app is the right choice for your needs and budget.
1
Wrike
Employees per Company Size
Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+)
Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees)
Medium, Large, Enterprise
Features
Agile Development, Analytics / Reports, API, and more
2
monday.com
Employees per Company Size
Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+)
Any Company Size
Any Company Size
Features
Agile Development, Analytics / Reports, API, and more
3
Cerri Project
Employees per Company Size
Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+)
Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees)
Small, Medium, Large, Enterprise
Features
Agile Development, Analytics / Reports, API, and more
What is Evernote?
Evernote is a popular note-taking and organizing app that allows users to capture, store and organize various types of information, such as notes, photos, PDFs and receipts. It also offers features like searchable notes, file attachments, reminders and syncing capabilities across multiple devices.
It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as to-do lists, project planning, research and organizing information.
Hands-on Evernote review results
I examined Evernote based on three criteria, including pricing, core features and user experience, to help you determine if it is the right note-taking app for you.
Evernote pricing: 2.4/5
Evernote offers three pricing plans geared towards individual use and one plan designed for teams. A 7-day free trial is available for both the Personal and Professional plans.
| Pricing Plan | ||
|---|---|---|
| Free | ||
| Personal | ||
| Professional | ||
| Teams |
Free
The Free plan includes syncing up to two devices, 60 MB of monthly uploads and a 25 MB maximum note size. You can have up to three widgets on this plan. You can also clip web pages and attach PDFs, receipts, files, photos, images and documents.
Personal
The Personal plan costs $10.83 per user per month billed annually, or $14.99 per user per month billed monthly. This plan includes syncing unlimited devices, 10 GB of monthly uploads and a 200 MB maximum note size. Extra widgets are available on this plan, and you can add due dates, reminders and notifications to your tasks. You can also create custom templates and mark up images and PDFs.
Professional
The Professional plan costs $14.17 per user per month billed annually, or $17.99 per user per month billed monthly. This plan supports double the content with 20 GB monthly uploads and provides access to all widgets. You can use Boolean terms to refine search results and find content by location with geographic search. This plan also provides integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams and other apps.
Teams
The Teams plan costs $20.83 per user per month billed monthly, or $24.99 per user per month billed monthly. It includes 20 GB monthly uploads plus 2 GB per user and provides the ability to work together in shared spaces. A dedicated Success Manager is also assigned to teams with 25+ seats.
Core Evernote features: 3.8/5
Note taking
Evernote’s note taking tool is simple to use in both its web app and mobile app forms. Hit the green “New” button on the left-hand menu and select Note. You can either start typing directly on the note, or choose from a template such as a to-do list or daily reflection. You can also add many other types of content and formatting, such as links, tables, dividers, attachments, images, checkboxes, audio recording and code blocks. You can even add basic sketches, which is why we included Evernote in our roundup of the best flowchart software.
To organize your notes, first create tags in the Tag section of the left-hand menu. Once the tags have been created, you can add and remove them from individual notes to keep them organized. Click on the tag to view all the notes tagged with that term, making it easy to browse by category. If there are notes that you access frequently, add them to Shortcuts, so they’ll always appear at the top of the sidebar menu.
Keep in mind that the free plan only allows you to sync two devices. This will work fine if you only have a computer and a smartphone, but if you have additional devices (such as tablets), you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to sync them all.
Search
Evernote offers Optical Character Recognition, a technology that allows you to search text inside images, such as a photo of handwritten notes. Evernote also offers advanced Boolean search but limits it to the Professional and Teams plans.
The standard search will probably suffice at the beginning or for casual users who aren’t creating that many notes. But if you use Evernote as a second brain or otherwise anticipate building up an extensive library of notes over time, then you might have trouble finding the exact notes you need with the standard search.
Home dashboard
The free plan comes with several standard widgets on the home dashboard: recent and suggested notes, the scratch pad for quick note taking and recently captured documents. Additional widgets are available on the paid plans: tags, calendar, tasks, filtered notes, pinned note, notebooks and shortcuts. Paid subscribers can rearrange the widgets and also change their size to customize the appearance of their home dashboard.
Document scanner
Evernote’s app features a document scanner that allows you to take photos of content, such as handwritten lists and boarding passes. Then Evernote saves and digitizes them, so you never have to worry about losing them. Evernote will also digitize business cards and create a database of contacts, so you never lose another phone number. The paid plans let you search for text in PDFs, Office docs, images, presentations and scanned documents.
Calendar
With the paid plans, you can connect your personal Google calendar, which will show up in a widget on the Evernote dashboard. With a Professional or Teams account, you can connect both your personal and work Gmail accounts. Click on an event to create a note for it, and Evernote will automatically import the event details. It will also remind you to take notes either before or after your meetings.
Task management
Evernote does offer some simple task management features for the paid plans. You can create a checklist, assign due dates to each item, make certain items recurring and add reminders to jog your memory. If you have a Professional or Teams account, you can also assign the task to another person. Some people may find these features helpful, but Evernote is no replacement for a more robust project management software for consultants.
Evernote user experience: 5/5
In my evaluation of Evernote’s usability, I found the tool’s user experience to be excellent, scoring a 5 out of 5. The app is well designed and user-friendly, making creating, organizing and accessing notes easy.
The interface is clean and intuitive, with a variety of tools and features that enhance the note-taking experience. The ability to sync notes across devices seamlessly is a major plus. Evernote has a low learning curve and provides robust search functionality that allows users to find their notes quickly.
Evernote pros and cons
Pros
- Simple and easy-to-use.
- Free forever plan available for individual use.
- Small learning curve for new users.
- Search is powerful and makes it easy to find notes.
- Document scanner available for all plans.
- Home dashboard features customizable widgets for paid users.
- Calendar integration and task management available for paid plans.
Cons
- Many features are confined to higher tier paid plans.
- Paid plans are expensive compared to competitors.
- Can only sync two devices on the free plan.
- Syncing can lag or glitch for some users.
Best uses for Evernote
Evernote is a versatile tool that can be used for various purposes across personal and professional settings.
Personal organization
Evernote is great for personal organization, allowing users to create to-do lists, set reminders, store important documents and keep track of ideas and inspiration. Whether it’s planning a vacation, managing household tasks or tracking personal goals, Evernote can help users stay on top of their tasks.
Professional project management
In a professional setting, Evernote can be used for project management, collaboration and organizing work-related tasks and information. Teams can create shared notebooks to collaborate on projects, store meeting notes, track action items and keep important documents easily accessible. Evernote’s cross-platform compatibility makes it a valuable tool for remote teams working on projects together.
Research and note-taking
For students, researchers or anyone who needs to keep track of information and sources, Evernote is a valuable tool for research and note-taking. Users can create dedicated notebooks for different topics, clip web articles for future reference, add annotations to PDFs and organize research materials in a structured and easily accessible manner. The ability to search within notes and add tags makes it easy to find specific information when needed.
Evernote integrations
Evernote offers a handful of integrations that are focused on Google and Microsoft products:
- Save emails to Evernote with the Gmail and Outlook integrations.
- Add file links to Evernote with the Google Drive integration.
- Collaborate with coworkers with the Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations.
- Add notes to important meetings or events with the Google Calendar integration.
Who is Evernote best for?
Due to Evernote’s pricing structure, the tool will appeal to two distinct groups.
The first is casual users looking for a simple note-taking tool who don’t need many features, and thus will be satisfied with the free tier.
The second group is power users who create many notes and therefore can justify paying $10-$15 a month for the premium plans.
A user who falls in the middle — someone looking for more features than the free plan but doesn’t want to pay as much as Evernote requires — will probably be frustrated by the available pricing plans.
Evernote is intended solely as a note-taking app, which means it isn’t suitable for making wikis, creating knowledge bases or managing projects. If you’re looking for an all-in-one software that will do multiple things, then you should seek out a more robust alternative to Evernote, such as Notion.
Check out our Evernote vs. Notion comparison to see what we mean. And if you need full-fledged project management software, we’ve got recommendations for that as well.
Evernote alternatives and competitors
| Storage | ||||
| Starting price (annual commitment) | ||||
| Starting price (monthly commitment) | ||||
| Organization | ||||
| Platform | ||||
| Free forever plan |
Microsoft OneNote
If you already have a Microsoft 365 subscription, then you already have access to OneNote, making it a great choice for Microsoft users who don’t want to pay for an additional application. OneNote has a flexible interface with different text boxes that can be moved around at will. It offers many of the same features as Evernote, although its web clipper and image search aren’t as advanced.
Zoho Notebook
If you’re looking for a free note-taking app, then consider Zoho Notebook, which offers a free forever plan that lets you sync unlimited devices with up to 2 GB of cloud storage. It also offers a single paid plan with more storage and file limits that only costs $19.99 per year. Zoho Notebook offers some cool features, such as the ability to password protect individual notes, though users do say the web clipper can be buggy sometimes.
Google Keep
If Evernote sounds too complicated for your needs, then check out Google Keep, which is essentially a digital sticky note application. Google integrates seamlessly with other products, making it a good choice for a devoted Google user. It’s also totally free — all you need is an account to sign up. However, Google Keep won’t be complex enough for people who take many notes or need lots of formatting options.
Evernote review methodology
To review Evernote, I signed up for a free account, consulted product documentation and read user reviews. I consider factors such as pricing, user interface design and the learning curve. We also considered features such as note taking, advanced search, integrations, task management and document scanning.
