Evernote has probably been around since the time mammoths walked the earth.
(Oh hey, their famous logo is an elephant too!) 🐘
The point is, this note-taking tool has been popular forever and comes with several features, such as a web clipper, Evernote helper for quick notes, templates, and integrations with your favorite tools.
But is Evernote the ever-choice for you or your team?
We’re here to help you answer that question.
In this article, we’ll highlight 13 incredible Evernote alternatives that will put your notes into action!
What is Evernote?
Evernote is one of the world’s most popular note-taking software. With over 200 million users, it’s established itself as the go-to app for note taking for over a decade.
This cloud-based app lets you:
- Create detailed notes
- Organize all your notes and ideas
- Save web clippings in one easily accessible space
- And more…
With powerful desktop and mobile apps for Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS, Evernote lets you jot down notes wherever you like.
3 Reasons to Look for an Evernote Alternatives
Sure, Evernote is one of the best notes apps in the market. But it isn’t perfect.
Here are a few drawbacks you’ll face while using Evernote:
1. Limited free version and costly Evernote pricing plans
The Evernote client has a free version that lets you create standard notes. And all you need is an Evernote account.
However, it’s very limited:
- You can only sync data across two devices
- You can only save notes offline on your desktop
- Your note has to be smaller than 25MB, which means you‘ll find it hard to embed images, audio, or video files. A plain text note is your only option!
- You only get 60MB of new storage for standard notes every month, which can be a problem if you work with images or record audio and video files
This makes Evernote’s Basic plan (free) lag behind in terms of functionality. Now that wouldn’t be a problem if the Evernote pricing plans weren’t considerably costlier than their rivals.
The Evernote pricing plan is split into two versions:
- Evernote Premium: $7.99/month (supports a premium feature like 10GB monthly uploads)
- Evernote Business: $14.99/user per month (for 20GB of new storage monthly uploads)
Forcing users to pay for a premium plan with their core features is a reason why so many people are shifting to other note-taking apps today. You can get far more functionality for far less cost in 2021.
2. No real-time collaboration
Unfortunately, the Evernote client doesn’t support real-time collaboration on notes with other users.
You can share and organize notes via multiple channels such as email and social media, but that’s it.
There’s no capability for two people to work alongside each other on the same note. This makes real-time collaboration painstaking as you’ll have to deal with back-and-forth replies over a document.
And you’d be surprised at how helpful note collaboration can be.
Note collaboration isn’t just a useful feature to project teams working on project plan documents. Anyone could benefit from it.
Think about it.
Imagine if your family could easily add items to the same grocery list on your app at any time… It may just save you a trip or two to the supermarket for the items that you forgot to note yourself! 🛒
3. Lacks productivity features
Unlike other productivity apps with built-in features that you can use for task management, Evernote can only create notes. You can create basic checklists, but that’s all!
Unless you upgrade to the Business plan, you can’t use it to assign or track tasks.
However, as an existing Evernote user, if you plan to spend $14.99/user per month, don’t expect to manage tasks effectively. You won’t get task statuses, no way to track progress, no workload management.
Clearly, you’ll still have to transfer them to your task management tool. And if there’s one thing every productivity expert agrees on: why use two tools when you can use just one?
What people think about taking notes in Evernote:
“The overall experience is positive, but it takes a while to change old habits and transition from multiple single-use tools (that are quite good at what they do, mind you), to this all-in-one solution.” – Capterra Verified Review
“I’m still not sure if it’s the best tool for our business needs, but it’s getting the job done while we keep searching and trying other products to see what else is out there.” – Capterra Verified Review
13 Evernote Alternatives for 2023
1. ClickUp
ClickUp comes with all the note-taking and documentation features you’ll ever need in an Evernote alternative. It is also one of the world’s highest-rated project management and productivity apps preferred by startups, giants, and small businesses worldwide.
Here’s a detailed look at why ClickUp is the best note-taking tool on the market today:
ClickUp Notepad
ClickUp’s Notepad is the perfect place to create notes and ideas quickly on your desktop or on the go.
Access rich text editing options to create beautifully detailed notes that accurately reflect your ideas and plans.
You can add:
- Multiple fonts
- Italics
- Bold text
- Strikethroughs
- Underlining
- Links
- Checklists
- Code snippets
If you have a thought, chances are ClickUp’s Notepad can handle it! 💡
Moreover, with no upload limit, you can add as many ideas as you want.
However, that isn’t all.
You can use ClickUp to automatically create project tasks out of your notes. This way, your team can take action on your ideas in seconds.
ClickUp Docs
Docs is the perfect place to build detailed documents.
Instead of settling for Evernote’s limited note-taking interface, why not take advantage of a ClickUp feature that rivals Google Docs?
You’ll get all the functionality of a dedicated document app with the convenience of a notepad:
- Use rich text formatting options to create detailed documents
- Nest pages within documents to create a comprehensive file with different sections
- Create relationships in your doc to link tasks, projects, and other docs together to streamline project updates and keep all your work in one place
- Export notes by downloading docs in PDF or HTML format
With ClickUp, you’ll have no trouble crafting detailed notes about everything, ranging from holiday plans to party ideas!
Using Docs at work
But what if you want to use Docs for your team?
No problem!
Use it as a detailed knowledge base to store important company and project-related documents. With these documents stored alongside their relevant projects, your team will have no difficulty accessing them.
Your team can then add comments and edit these docs together to hash out detailed project outlines and plans in no time.
Here is every unique ClickUp Docs feature you’ll love:
- Edit the access rights to each of your files to protect the privacy of sensitive documents
- Make your files publicly available to create a self-help desk for your customers
- Let Google index your documents to show up in search results
- Protect your Docs from unwanted edits by turning on the Protect this page option and add context for your audience
Here are some of the features you get with ClickUp:
- Easily keep track of all your past, present, and future reminders in your inbox
- Take stock of any unscheduled reminders and add due dates to them in seconds
- Instantly create a task out of any reminder
- Delegate reminders to other friends or team members
- Add attachments as reminders
- Customize when and where you receive reminder notifications
- Set Recurring Reminders
You could even download the ClickUp mobile app to your phone to take your notes with you wherever you go. 🗒️🏃🏽♀️
ClickUp pros
- Notepad accessible with the Chrome Extension
- Comprehensive task management capabilities, including Custom Statuses, Priorities, Multiple Assignees, etc.
- Intuitive user interface
- Real-time collaboration and detection on tasks
- Customizable to-do lists
- Custom Permissions for both Guests and Members
- Powerful integrations for added productivity with tools like Outlook, Slack, etc.
- Desktop app for Windows, Linux, and macOS
- Robust mobile app for Android and iOS
- Send and receive emails right from ClickUp with Email in ClickUp
- Mind Maps for idea management and visual note-taking
- Access Google Docs, Google Sheets, and other app files directly from ClickUp with Embed view
- 24/7 customer support
ClickUp limitations
- No Table view on the mobile app (yet)
But don’t worry. You can check out ClickUp’s roadmap to see how we listen to your suggestions, work on new version updates, and bring new feature additions.
ClickUp pricing
ClickUp has a feature-rich Free Forever Plan with unlimited projects and users. The paid plans start as low as $5/user per month.
What people think about taking notes in ClickUp:
“I could not run my freelance business without ClickUp. It helps me efficiently keep track of on-going projects with multiple clients. I have been relying on ClickUp for about a year for note-taking, project and task management, and time tracking. In the past, I have tried more than a half dozen other productivity apps, and I would recommend ClickUp over any of them. With ClickUp, I feel more organized and spend more time doing the actual work than managing the details. I like it so much that I recently created a Personal space to start brain dumping all the non-business-related stuff I’d like to remember and organize.” – G2Crowd
“It’s my to-do, note-taking, project managing, and calendar app, all in one. It’s very calming to know everything is there, nothing is slipping through the cracks. With the crazy world ranging around us it’s nice to feel in control of this small part.” – G2Crowd
ClickUp customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (2900+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (2200+ reviews)
2. Google Keep
Google Keep is one of the many Google apps.
It’s also one of the best Evernote alternatives in the market today. With a simple, easy-to-use interface, it’s no surprise that it was one of the most downloaded note-taking apps in 2019.
Google Keep key features
- User-friendly interface
- Sync seamlessly across every Google device
- Organize notes via labels
- The app can handle handwritten notes, voice memos, and audio notes
Google Keep pros
- Supports rich text formatting
- Set reminders and add to-do lists to your notes
- The mobile apps are completely free
- Intuitive drag and drop interface is similar to post-it notes
Google Keep limitations
- No alternate themes on this app
- Lacks task management abilities
- No desktop app for Windows, Linux, or macOS platforms
Google Keep pricing
The Google Keep app is completely free.
What people think about taking notes in Google Keep:
“My overall experience with Google Keep has been really positive and would recommend it to others for quick note taking and management. There are few areas that can be improved but overall Google Keep is a really strong product.” – Capterra Verified Review
“It is a good option for organizing notes but it does not offer the greatest security, I would not write down issues that require a certain level of privacy.” – Capterra Verified Review
Google Keep customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (1200+ reviews)
- Capterra: N/A
Read our in-depth comparisons between Google Keep and Evernote or Google Docs and Evernote.
3. Microsoft OneNote
The Microsoft OneNote app is another powerful note taker. Like Box Notes, Quip, and Zoho Notebook, it comes with basic collaboration feature options to work on notes together.
Are you a OneNote user looking for more options?
Check out these OneNote alternatives.
Microsoft OneNote features
- Customizable themes on the desktop application
- Supports text notes, voice memos, audio notes, and to-do lists
- This note taker can encrypt notes before you share them
- Can organize notes via folders
- Offers sticky notes
Microsoft OneNote pros
- Supports handwritten notes
- You can easily share your notes and folders via email or URLs
- Tons of simple, handy shortcuts
- Access to sticky note feature
Microsoft OneNote limitations
- The mobile app interface isn’t as intuitive as the web app
- The app can’t alphabetically sort note pages
- This notes app can’t be used as a task management tool substitute
Microsoft OneNote pricing
Initially, Microsoft OneNote was only available to Microsoft Office 365 users. However, the notes app is now free for anyone to use.
What people think about taking notes in Microsoft OneNote:
“Overall, using OneNote for our team document/process library has been helpful because it’s a central place for a wide variety of information and documents that were formerly in many different places. It can sometimes be tricky to decide how to organize the notebooks because there are so many section and page options, and sometimes content is relevant to more than one section – however, the search function is usually quite reliable.” – Capterra Verified Review
“If you are looking for note-taking software, OneNote is the one for you! Easy to use and makes it very easy to stay organized!” – Capterra Verified Review
Microsoft OneNote customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (1600+ reviews)
- Capterra: N/A
Wondering how OneNote holds up against Evernote?
Read our in–depth comparison between Evernote and OneNote.
4. Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Paper is a note-taking tool that promises simple note making coupled with an intuitive, user-friendly desktop interface.
Dropbox Paper features
- Simple user interface on the desktop app
- Organize your notes into folders
- Search for text and images with ease
- Get email reminders about your notes
Dropbox Paper pros
- The notes app can embed code directly into notes
- The web app can handle simple task management
- Desktop and mobile apps are completely free
- Multiple device cross-platform sync
Dropbox Paper limitations
- Lacks support for various font options
- Can’t italicize or underscore text
- Doesn’t have multiple shortcuts for ease of use
- Doesn’t support voice memo, audio note, or handwritten note
Dropbox Paper pricing
This Evernote alternative app is completely free.
What people think about taking notes in Dropbox Paper:
“I work on a marketing team and I have started building my marketing plans directly in Paper for the to-do list functionality. I wish it had a regular calendar option though! Overall, it is a useful tool that is helpful for project management when collaborating.” – Capterra Verified Review
“Overall, Paper is great as a group work software. It’s generally okay and has a easy to use interface. It would be great if tiny facts like presentation handling were further improved. Training an employee or student to use it does not require a lot of effort, so that benefit makes it stand out from the rest of the type.” – Capterra Verified Review
Dropbox Paper customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (4400+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (100+ reviews)
5. nTask
Next up, we have nTask.
This Evernote alternative has capabilities for note taking, task management, project management based on notes and brainstorming sessions, meeting integrations module, etc.
nTask features
- Note-taking with support for text notes, to-do lists, Kanban boards, etc.
- Notes can be converted to activities with dedicated assignees
- Interactive Gantt Charts
- Meeting module
nTask pros
- Affordable pricing plans
- Easily export data in multiple file formats
- Intuitive user interface with a minimal learning curve
- Interactive Gantt charts, checklists, risk management module, and much more
nTask limitations
- Cannot alphabetically sort tasks and notes
nTask pricing
- Basic’s a free plan for low-scale users with a select number of features
- nTask premium starts at $3 per user per month
- For business users, the nTask Business plan starts at $8 per user per month
- Enterprise solutions and large-scale pricing plans are available on request
What people think about taking notes in nTask:
“What to tell about nTask, it perfectly fits medium-sized and enterprise companies fond of teamwork. This communicating tool stands out with its agile methodologies. It helps manage the data and organize the tasks to be done at a specific time. You can attach files and documents with the projects and share them among your colleagues and teammates through emails or messages. Also, it does not require any maintenance. Above all, nTask offers easy mobile access.” – G2Crowd
nTask customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (15+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (90+ reviews)
6. Bear
Bear is a popular writing app on the App Store. With powerful editing features, you’ll have no trouble creating detailed notes in Bear.
Bear features
- Beautiful user interface
- Powerful note tagging feature for simple categorization
- Can annotate PDFs, DOCX, HTML and TXT notes
- Automatic data sync across multiple platforms
Bear pros
- The app has rich text editing options
- Supports hashtags for saved searches
- Tons of themes for added customizability
- Multiple shortcuts for ease of use
Bear limitations
- No Android app or Windows app
- Certain formatting options are only available as paid extensions
- Limited integrations
Bear pricing
This note-taking application has a free version for simple note creation. However, to access the advanced features you’ll have to buy a subscription that’s billed as either:
- $1.49/monthly
- $14.99/yearly
What people think about taking notes in Bear:
“I like the fact that the Bear app is minimal on purpose. So there are very less distractions if you’re using the app to take down notes, ideas or creating content for your blog. It is super easy to use, offers many optimizations and also comes with a whole lot of keyboard shortcuts.” – G2Crowd
“Bear is a beautiful app. I love the ability to easily create different types of lists, break up my notes with titles, and include code and photos. The ability to change skins and app icons is also a nice touch.” – G2Crowd
Bear customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (30+ reviews)
- Capterra: N/A
Want to compare Bear with Evernote? Check out our Bear vs. Evernote post!
7. ProofHub
As a great Evernote alternative, ProofHub offers advanced project management and team collaboration features besides its intuitive and useful note taking app.
With an easy-to-interface, this feature-rich software helps teams stay in ultimate control of their tasks, projects, and communications.
ProofHub key features
- Intuitive note-taking app
- Create tasks with deadlines
- Custom workflows and kanban boards
- Online proofing tool
- Built-in chat app
ProofHub pros
- All-in-one tool
- Flexible task management
- Easy file sharing
- Powerful collaboration features
- Simple, no per-user pricing
ProofHub limitations
- Limited number of app integrations
- No free plan
- No Linux support
ProofHub pricing
The Essential plan with basic features starts at $45/month, and its Ultimate Control plan with unlimited users and all the advanced features starts at $89/month.
What people think about taking notes in ProofHub:
“Overall, Proof Hub is amazing to keep teams on the same page on the work been done one any giving project and is very inexpensive for small and growing company’s. There is some features that would be helpful for Proof Hub to add like invoicing, budget, and resource management tools. The speed of the page loading is slow and could be worked on.” – Capterra Verified Review
“Overall, a solid and capable product. Can be overused to break tasks into a million pieces, but that’s more user error than product errors. It’s strength is the acquisition of data for storage, and for verification about what was done, and when.” – Capterra Verified Review
ProofHub customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (25+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (40+ reviews)
8. Notion
With Notion, you can take notes, assign tasks, organize work, and post in a team wiki.
This Evernote alternative lets you create as many pages as you want for task management, company policy creation, project charter creation, etc.
Each page can contain any number of nested pages so go as deep as you want!
Want to compare Notion with Evernote?
Check out our Notion vs. Evernote review.
Notion key features
- Support multiple content types, including bookmarks, images, codes, etc.
- Has multiple view options including timeline, list, and gallery
- Tons of customizable temple options
- Offers a web clipper
Notion pros
- Highly customizable
- Supports collaborative editing
- Easy import from Evernote
- Compatible with any iOS and Android device
Notion limitations
- No PDF annotations feature
- Lacks task management features like priorities, recurring tasks, or task statuses
- No Gantt chart
Notion pricing
Notion offers a free plan. The paid plans start at $4/month for personal use and $8/user per month for teams.
What people think about taking notes in Notion:
“Notion is one of the few tools that I open up daily to get a sense of where I am. Though it lacks some power and reputation of tools like Evernote, it makes up in an innovative approach to capturing ideas. I don’t find myself trying to remember tags or keywords because the information is exactly where I need it to be within a few clicks.” – Capterra Verified Review
“Helps me organize, customize, share different types of relevant data via a single app itself.” – Capterra Verified Review
Notion customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (190+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (300+ reviews)
Are you a Notion user looking for other tools?
Try these great Notion alternatives.
9. Zoho Notebook
Zoho Notebook is very similar to Evernote. It lets you save notes across every device you use.
It’s easy to share notes securely with your team with this app. And it makes work more streamlined if you already use other Zoho apps like Zoho Projects, Flow, Connect, etc.
Zoho Notebook key features
- Web clipper to save text, images, and articles
- Protect notes with touch ID
- Customize different notebooks with unique covers
- Assign card colors to organize
Zoho Notebook pros
- Cloud sync across all devices
- Shareable notes
- Free for all
- Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux users
Zoho Notebook limitations
- Few direct integrations
- Limited view options
- No task management features like task creation, assigning, etc.
Zoho Notebook pricing
This Evernote alternative is free for all.
What people think about taking notes in Zoho Notebook:
“If you’re looking for something simple, no-frills, and very stripped down, this may be a good option for you, but don’t look for particularly sophisticated or advanced features like you might expect from Evernote or OneNote.” – Capterra Verified Review
“Zoho Notebook is a good software. It comes with many advantages, specially their cloud-feature is pretty awesome. However, there are some rooms for improvement and the authority should consider that.” – Capterra Verified Review
Zoho Notebook customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (30+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (40+ reviews)
10. Notejoy
Notejoy is a real joy when it comes to collaborative notes for your entire team.
You can easily give and receive feedback with note views, threaded discussions, and reactions.👍
And its fast search function makes it easy to find what you need.
Notejoy key features
- Focus view for distraction-free working
- Syntax highlighting for code blocks
- Offers nested notebooks and tags
- Checklists for to-do items
Notejoy pros
- Forward emails to the app to convert into notes
- End-to-end encryption
- Offers themes and dark mode
- Search texts within images, PDFs, etc.
Notejoy limitations
- No automations
- No task or workflow management
- Doesn’t offer other view options
- Can be expensive for just a note taking app
Notejoy pricing
This app offers a free plan. The paid plans start at $4/user for solo users and $8/user per month for teams.
What people think about taking notes in Notejoy:
“Fast and easy to use. Little to no learning curve so it benefits a huge team when implemented in a company or division.” – Capterra Verified Review
“The organization of notebooks and ability to share and access documents with my team is very useful. It makes it easy to create and share templates for emails and other documents.” – Capterra Verified Review
Notejoy customer ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (20+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (180+ reviews)
11. Todoist
Todoist is an Evernote alternative that’s available on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Use it to organize, prioritize, and manage projects while noting down important information you need to remember. The app also comes with templates to help you get started in minutes.
Looking for Todoist alternatives?
Check out these Todoist alternatives!
Todoist key features
- Recurring due dates to remember deadlines
- Priorities for managing urgent tasks
- Templates for education, design, management, etc.
- Visualize daily or weekly productivity
Todoist pros
- Lets you assign tasks
- Customize your workflow with labels, themes, etc.
- Add voice notes for more context in comments
- Allows you to favorite key tasks, labels, etc.
Todoist limitations
- No task statuses
- Doesn’t offer custom fields
- Lacks native document creator
- No place for real-time chats
Todoist pricing
This Evernote alternative offers a free plan and a paid plan that costs $3/user per month.
What people think about taking notes in Todoist:
“On the whole I have found Todoist to be an excellent help. It allows me to check in and see what’s on my schedule when I’m away from all of my other devices and it’s helped me to keep track of all of my tasks and events.” – Capterra Verified Review
“My overall experience with Todoist is very satisfactory and will recommend Todoist to most of the people. The UI is fantastic, feature set is almost complete, integrations and API are nicely done and pricing is very effective. If they can add some additional features like custom day start and end time and also durations for tasks, it will be a 5 star rated task management solution.” – Capterra Verified Review
Todoist customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1300+ reviews)
12. Hive
Hive is a project management tool with a dedicated feature for meeting notes. 🗒
It’s a great alternative to Evernote that you can use to take down every meeting note, assign tasks, and collaborate with your team.
Hive key features
- Shareable notes for external participants
- Supports real-time collaboration
- Link notes to projects in Hive workspace
- Keyboard shortcuts for quick formatting
Hive pros
- Offers templates for product roadmaps, onboarding, etc.
- Lets you create recurring meeting notes
- Convert meeting notes into action items
- Offers an Android and iOS app
Hive limitations
- You need add-ons for timesheets, analytics, and resourcing feature
- No idea management feature like mind maps or a whiteboard
- No embed view to access apps from Hive
Hive pricing
This alternative to Evernote has no free plan. You’ll have to pay $12/user per month for Hive notes.
What people think about taking notes in Hive:
“Overall it has been good. We have watched the program evolve and have definitely noticed improvements in ease of use and functionality. Several questions/ functional issues that I have had and expressed through surveys and chats have been modified/corrected, so it’s good to see that the company is actually paying attention to how people are using it.” – Capterra Verified Review
“Overall it has been pretty good. I like that the software generally is very fast and responsive. The only area which is sluggish is the notes section which is a shame honestly because generally I’d want to see notes open up quickly if Im not prepared to start jotting things down on an impromptu call.” – Capterra Verified Review
Hive ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
13. Apple Notes
If you use an iOS device like an iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer, you’ve probably noticed the Apple Notes app.
This Evernote alternative is available to only Apple device users.
It excels in making quick to-dos and organizes your work.
The best part is every Apple note will sync with your cloud storage (iCloud), so you can quickly recover notes (deleted in the last 30 days) too.
Apple Notes key features
- Protect notes with password, face ID, or touch ID
- Rich formatting options like headings, fonts, images, etc.
- Powerful search feature
- Add other app items like websites and locations to your notes
Apple Notes pros
- Drag-and-drop folder organization
- View notes in gallery view
- Pin your favorite notes
- Add checklists
Apple Notes limitations
- Only an Apple user can use it
- Lacks task management features
- Doesn’t support markdown
Apple Notes pricing
This Apple device app is free for all iOS and macOS users.
Apple Notes customer ratings
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: N/A
Bottom Line: You Need an Evernote Alternative
While Evernote is a great note taking tool, it has its drawbacks.
The fact that it’s popular, or has witnessed mammoths, doesn’t make it the right tool for you.
The tools mentioned here are the best Evernote alternatives in the market today.
While there are other paid, free, or open source based alternatives, none are as comprehensive as the 13 Evernote alternatives we listed here.
That said, a tool like ClickUp is clearly your best option for note-taking and productivity needs.
With powerful notes and a host of other helpful features, you’ll find everything you need in one place. Whether on your desktop or mobile device, ClickUp can handle anything you throw its way. 💪
Why not try ClickUp for free today and experience a mammoth amount of productivity boost?
Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.