I’ve been a loyal Evernote user for years. But the recent restrictions on the free plan have started to feel like a dealbreaker.
On top of that, I need a notes app that I can use for both personal and professional note-taking, and that can sync across multiple devices, integrate seamlessly with other tools, offer task creation and progress tracking, and speed up my work with AI.
Evernote does tick quite a few boxes, but most of my desired features are either paywalled or unavailable. While I’ve considered upgrading to access the advanced features, the pricing feels steep, as I still have to invest in a separate task management tool.
So, I started exploring Evernote alternatives. In this article, I’ll share my top 15 picks that offer great value while still being cost-efficient.
👀Did You Know? Taking notes can make you a whopping 6 times more likely to remember something! That’s a 34% chance of recall with notes versus a measly 5% without.
15 Best Evernote Alternatives and Competitors in 2025
- Evernote Limitations
- Evernote Alternatives at a Glance
- The 15 Best Evernote Alternatives
- 1. ClickUp (Best for AI-powered note-taking and doc management)
- 2. Microsoft OneNote (Best for audio notes)
- 3. Apple Notes (Best for personal note-taking)
- 4. Notion (Best for multimedia note-taking)
- 5. Obsidian (Best for visual note-taking)
- 6. Google Keep (Best for clutter-free interface)
- 7. Joplin (Best for offline note-taking)
- 8. Bear (Best for beautiful themes)
- 9. UpNote (Best for focused note-taking)
- 10. Simplenote (Best for a minimalist interface)
- 11. Zoho Notebook (Best for intuitive note organization)
- 12. Dropbox Paper (Best for professionally formatted notes)
- 13. Reflect Notes (Best for interlinking notes)
- 14. Quip (Best for collaborating on documents and spreadsheets)
- 15. Nimbus Note (Best for collating research materials)
- Take Your Note-taking Experience a Notch Ahead with ClickUp
Summarize this article for me please⏰60-Second Summary
Here’s my list of 15 recommended Evernote alternatives:
- ClickUp (Best for AI-powered note-taking and doc management)
- Microsoft OneNote (Best for audio notes)
- Apple Notes (Best for personal note-taking)
- Notion (Best for multimedia note-taking)
- Obsidian (Best for visual note-taking)
- Google Keep (Best for clutter-free interface)
- Joplin (Best for offline note-taking)
- Bear (Best for beautiful themes)
- UpNote (Best for focused note-taking)
- Simplenote (Best for a minimalist interface)
- Zoho Notebook (Best for intuitive note organization)
- Dropbox Paper (Best for professionally formatted notes)
- Reflect Notes (Best for interlinking notes)
- Quip (Best for collaborating on documents and spreadsheets)
- Nimbus Note (Best for collating research materials)
Summarize this article for me pleaseEvernote Limitations
The free version of Evernote has become severely restrictive. It allows you to create only up to 50 notes and a single notebook, which isn’t enough for large projects.
It further limits users to just one device and caps monthly uploads to 250 MB. So, it’s no longer a viable option if you need to store larger files or access notes across multiple platforms.
If powerful collaboration features and task management are a priority for you, you’ll likely be disappointed. Evernote offers only basic collaborative features, like sharing notes and adding comments, along with the ability to include to-dos within notes.
While these are useful for working on documents with a team, they fall short for projects that require more robust tools for tracking tasks, monitoring progress, and evaluating outcomes.
Summarize this article for me pleaseEvernote Alternatives at a Glance
Here’s a table that quickly summarizes the best features and pricing options for our top Evernote alternatives:
| Best for | Standout feature(s) | Pricing | |
| ClickUp | AI-powered note-taking and doc management | ClickUp Docs, ClickUp Notepad, ClickUp Brain | Free Forever Unlimited: $7/month per user Business: $12/month per user Enterprise: Contact for pricing ClickUp Brain is available on all paid plans for $7 per member per Workspace per month |
| Microsoft OneNote | Audio notes | Voice transcription | Free |
| Apple Notes | Personal notes | Scan text, document scanning | Free for iOS users |
| Notion | Multimedia note-taking | Notion Docs, Synced Block | FreePlus: $12/month per user Business: $18/month per user Enterprise: Custom pricing Notion AI is available for $10/month per user |
| Obsidian | Visual note-taking | Canvas, Graph view | Personal use: Free Commercial use: $50/year per user (billed annually) |
| Google Keep | Clutter-free interface | Reminder, night mode | Free |
| Joplin | Offline note-taking | Markdown | Free Basic: 2.99€ (~$3.1)/monthPro: 5.99€ (~$6.2)/month Teams: 7.99€ (~$8.3)/month |
| Bear | Beautiful themes | Search within photos/PDFs, draw with finger or Apple Pencil | FreeBear Pro: $2.99/month |
| UpNote | Focused note-taking | Focus mode, spaces | Free UpNote Premium: $1.99/month or $39.99 for lifetime |
| Simplenote | Minimalism | Automatic backups | Free |
| Zoho Notebook | Intuitive note organization | Smart Card | Free Notebook for Business: $4.99/month per user |
| Dropbox Paper | Professionally formatted notes | Multimedia embedding | Available for free with any Dropbox account |
| Reflect Notes | Interlinking notes | Voice note transcription with Reflect AI | $10/month (billed annually) |
| Quip | Collaborating on documents and spreadsheets | Built-in chat for documents and spreadsheets | Quip Starter: $12/month per user Quip Plus: $25/month per user (billed annually) Quip Advanced: $100/month per user (billed annually) |
| Nimbus Note (Now FuseBase) | Collating research materials and organizing notes | OCR for screenshots | For a team of 3, the pricing tiers are: Essentials: $48/month Plus: $123/month Ultimate: $248/month |
🧠Fun Fact: Socrates, the famous philosopher, was the ultimate anti-note-taker. He thought writing things down would make people lazy thinkers. Luckily, his student Plato didn’t vibe with the idea, and wrote everything down!
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 15 Best Evernote Alternatives
Here are the notetakers I found better than Evernote:
1. ClickUp (Best for AI-powered note-taking and doc management)
ClickUp’s functionalities go beyond those of a simple note-taking app. It allows me to collaborate with my remote team (sync or async), co-edit and share notes/documents, and turn ideas into trackable tasks.
I no longer have to use multiple apps for note-taking and task management—as the everything app for work, ClickUp brings tasks, docs, chat, and even powerful AI features together to save me time and money.
Overall, it makes me so much more efficient at my work.
Here’s how my team and I use ClickUp:
a. Collaborating with teammates on documents
For taking meeting notes, ideating project plans, writing blogs, drafting contracts and SOPs, or creating knowledge bases, we use ClickUp Docs, a cloud-based knowledge management tool.
ClickUp Docs help us to work on documents in real time with teams, tag teammates using comments, assign them action items, convert text into ClickUp Tasks, and track progress. We also use Markdown with /slash commands and format text quickly (e.g., adding bullets, bold, italics, and strikethroughs).
It’s easy to embed images, screenshots, PDFs, web links, or other files directly within the Doc. For security, it lets me set customizable permissions for team members, guests, or public sharing.
ClickUp’s vast library of note-taking templates helps us maintain uniformity in our documentation. The most used ones in my workspace are the ClickUp Knowledge Base Template and the ClickUp Meeting Notes Template. From marketing, operations, IT, accounting, sales, to creative and design teams, ClickUp has a template for every department.
b. Quick note-taking on the go
ClickUp Notepad lets me quickly note down ideas and action items on the fly, especially when something comes to mind while I’m working on other tasks. It allows me to capture my thoughts in the moment without interrupting my workflow.
I organize notes and action items with Task Checklists in ClickUp and tick them off the list as I complete them. It also lets me rearrange items effortlessly using drag-and-drop, and nest tasks to create a clear, visual hierarchy. It makes customization easy, with rich editing options, such as adding headers, bullet points, and colors.
Notepad is available on ClickUp’s mobile app and Chrome extension, so we can take notes from anywhere.
c. Fast-tracking note-taking with AI
Besides manual note-taking, ClickUp also empowers us to get quick insights from notes and enriches the note-taking experience with ClickUp Brain, the tool’s powerful AI assistant.
With ClickUp Brain, I can condense lengthy meeting notes into key takeaways so I can quickly review important information without sifting through every little detail. It also generates contextual content based on my files and reduces the time needed to create notes.
💡Pro Tip: Want to automate your meeting note-taking? Use ClickUp AI Notetaker to transcribe and summarize your meetings. After every meeting, you’ll receive searchable transcripts and automatic action items.
Watch this video on using AI for meeting notes.
📮ClickUp Insight: 37% of workers send follow-up notes or meeting minutes to track action items, but 36% still rely on other, fragmented methods. Without a unified system for capturing decisions, key insights you need may get buried in chats, emails, or spreadsheets.
With ClickUp, you can instantly turn conversations into actionable tasks across all your tasks, chats, and docs—ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
ClickUp best features
- Chat live with teammates while working on notes using ClickUp Chat
- Customize font size, line height, font type, page width, and more
- Concentrate on one line at a time with Focus Mode on ClickUp Docs
- Highlight important text in detailed notes with color-coded banners
- Create tables to visualize large data sets
ClickUp limitations
- Has a learning curve
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Add to any paid workspace for $7 per member per month
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about ClickUp?
2. Microsoft OneNote (Best for audio notes)
As a student, I used to rely on Microsoft OneNote to keep track of lectures, class notes, and study materials in one place. But even now, as a professional, I can use it for meeting notes or brainstorming sessions.
One of my favorite features is voice transcription. I can simply record meetings or speak my thoughts, and OneNote converts them into text almost instantly. This allows me to focus better on the conversation during meetings without worrying about writing everything down.
Microsoft OneNote best features
- Prompt Copilot (Microsoft’s AI) to draft plans, generate ideas, or create lists based on what you’re working on
- Use the tool as your digital drawing board
- Share your notes and collaborate on them with teammates
Microsoft OneNote limitations
- Takes time to sync notes across multiple devices
Microsoft OneNote pricing
- Free
Microsoft OneNote ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (1,800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1,800+ reviews)
3. Apple Notes (Best for personal note-taking)
Apple Notes is perfect for on-the-go note-taking for iOS users. I found that my notes were seamlessly synced across all my Apple devices, ensuring I always had access to them no matter which device I was using.
One feature I found especially useful is the document scanning tool, which allowed me to quickly convert physical documents into PDFs without the need for any third-party apps.
I also love the Scan Text feature of this notes app. Whether it’s text from a newspaper, a digital screen, or any other surface, it effortlessly detects and copies the text into my notes.
Apple Notes best features
- Categorize similar notes into folders
- Search notes by tags
- Attach files, recorded audio, photos, and videos to notes
Apple Notes limitations
- Lacks basic features for team collaboration
Apple Notes pricing
- Free for iOS users
Apple Notes ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
👀Did You Know? With Apple Notes, you can go completely hands-free when taking notes by using Siri. Simply activate Siri and dictate your thoughts, reminders, or ideas aloud, and Siri will transcribe them for you directly into your Notes app.
4. Notion (Best for multimedia note-taking)
I tried Notion Docs for taking meeting notes and collaborating with my team on project requirements. I could include and organize different content types, such as code snippets, math equations, bookmarks, and reminders, all in one place.
I also liked the Synced Block feature on Notion Wiki. I could create a block of content in one place and reuse it across multiple pages. Any updates I made to the original block automatically synced everywhere it’s used—no need to make the same changes multiple times.
Notion best features
- Collaborate with team members in real time and asynchronously
- Create plans, write down goals, and track habits with Notion templates
- Centralize your knowledge base with Wikis and add a custom cover image
Notion limitations
- Has a learning curve
Notion pricing
- Free
- Plus: $12/month per user
- Business: $18/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
- Notion AI is available for $10/month per user
Notion ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (5,900+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (2,400+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Notion?
5. Obsidian (Best for visual note-taking)
With a focus on visual note-taking, Obsidian’s Canvas plugin (available for free for Obsidian users) drew me in. I could draw diagrams to lay out project plans, brainstorm new ideas, and add images and PDFs directly within my notes.
Another interesting feature stood out for me—the ability to visualize relationships between my notes through a graphical presentation. For example, I had written down multiple blog post ideas related to content marketing. With the interactive graph, I could quickly identify similar ideas and locate a pattern within my ideas.
Obsidian best features
- Create connections between multiple notes and create a knowledge repository
- Access notes offline (Obsidian Sync merges the changes when internet connection is available)
- Track version history of notes for up to one year
Obsidian limitations
- Ideal for personal use; not so much for collaborative work
Obsidian pricing
- Personal use: Free
- Commercial use: $50/year per user (billed annually)
Obsidian ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (20+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Obsidian?
6. Google Keep (Best for clutter-free interface)
Google Keep is a simple and clutter-free alternative to Evernote. One of my favorite features is the night mode which makes the app so much easier on my eyes when I use it at 2 a.m.
The reminder feature is another useful addition to make sure you don’t forget important tasks. I could set a specific time for the reminder, add a note, and invite teammates as collaborators.
Google Keep best features
- Categorize notes using Labels
- Organize notes with List View and Grid View
- Embed images within notes
Google Keep limitations
- Not available as a widget on Apple devices after the iOS 18 update
Google Keep pricing
- Free
Google Keep ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (200+ reviews)
7. Joplin (Best for offline note-taking)
While trying Joplin, I exported everything from Evernote in .enex format and then imported it into Joplin. And it worked seamlessly. All the formatted content was perfectly converted to Markdown. The best part is that it also pulled in all the attachments (images, PDFs, audio files) and even the metadata like geolocation and time.
But what really sold me on Joplin is its offline-first approach. It let me access and edit my notes anytime, even without an internet connection. This is a huge advantage for me, as I often like to jot down ideas while traveling, and not every location has a good internet connection.
Joplin best features
- Personalize the app with custom themes and Rich Text/Markdown editors
- Share notes with teammates using Joplin Cloud
- Keep your notes secure with end-to-end encryption
Joplin limitations
- Doesn’t offer AI-powered search suggestions
Joplin pricing
- Free
- Basic: 2.99€ (~$3.1)/month
- Pro: 5.99€ (~$6.2)/month
- Teams: 7.99€ (~$8.3)/month
Joplin ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
💡Pro Tip: If note-taking feels like a tedious process, explore different note-taking methods, such as the Cornell method, mind mapping method, and charting method, and settle with one that works best for you.
8. Bear (Best for beautiful themes)
Bear embraces minimalism. The design is clean and simple, and the intuitive use of Markdown makes formatting and organizing notes feel effortless. Beyond its design, Bear also offers beautiful themes that create a cozy, inviting workspace. It’s easy to customize the look and feel.
Another great feature is the ability to resize and crop images directly in the app. It’s a small touch, but it’s quite helpful when I’m working with visual content.
Bear best features
- Search for text within photos and PDFs—across individual notes or all your notes
- Draw with your Apple Pencil or finger, and edit your designs whenever you like
- Pick from over 250 icons to make your tags stand out
Bear limitations
- Available only on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Bear pricing
- Free
- Bear Pro: $2.99/month
Bear ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (40+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about Bear?
9. UpNote (Best for focused note-taking)
While trying UpNote, the Focus mode caught my eye. When I switched to Focus, all the menus, notebooks, and even my other notes were hidden, so I could solely concentrate on my writing. It helped me stay in the zone without any distractions.
Its ability to organize my notes into different spaces also impressed me. I created multiple spaces—one for work, another for personal projects, and a third for ideas I want to explore later. I’d use my ‘Work’ space for meeting notes, brainstorming sessions, and project outlines, while my ‘Personal’ space had things like travel plans, recipes, and daily notes.
UpNote best features
- Export your notes to Text, PDF, HTML, or Markdown
- Use hashtags to categorize notes
- Pin frequently opened notes or add them to the Quick Access tab
UpNote limitations
- Doesn’t offer AI-powered note-taking
UpNote pricing
- Free
- UpNote Premium: $1.99/month or $39.99 for a lifetime
UpNote ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
👀Did You Know? More than half (60%) of all students agree that listening and notetaking simultaneously is tough! Turns out, our brains aren’t always great at doing two things at once.
10. Simplenote (Best for a minimalist interface)
Simplenote truly lives up to its name. I loved the distraction-free interface the most—I could focus solely on writing, whether journaling, brainstorming, or taking quick notes.
Another helpful feature is that every change is backed up automatically. There’s no need to worry about losing anything! For example, when working on a content calendar or revising a draft, I could quickly check my previous notes to see what ideas I had already explored or what direction I was considering for a campaign.
Simplenote best features
- Write, preview, and publish your notes in Markdown format
- Sync your notes across all devices in real time
- Add tags to search notes quickly
Simplenote limitations
- Doesn’t offer premade templates
Simplenote pricing
- Free
Simplenote ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (30+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
11. Zoho Notebook (Best for intuitive note organization)
Every time I saved something, be it a YouTube video or an article, Zoho Notebook’s Smart Card organized it into a beautiful, formatted note card. For example, when I saved a YouTube link, Zoho Notebook automatically generated a preview of the video. When I opened the card later, the video started playing right there in a clean, distraction-free space.
Saving links to articles or web pages felt equally seamless. The Smart Card pulled the headline and main image directly from the page, and I could quickly recall what I wanted to read or save without digging through a bunch of saved URLs.
Zoho Notebook best features
- Keep your notes organized with dedicated Cards for checklists, images, audio, and more
- Take down handwritten notes or sketch your ideas
- Secure your notes and notebooks with passcodes and Touch ID
Zoho Notebook limitations
- Limited formatting options
Zoho Notebook pricing
- Free
- Notebook for Business: $4.99/month per user
(Source: G2)
Zoho Notebook ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (70+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (80+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Zoho Notebook?
12. Dropbox Paper (Best for professionally formatted notes)
Dropbox’s collaborative document Dropbox Paper allowed me to embed almost all types of media into my notes—YouTube videos, GIFs, Pinterest boards, SoundCloud clips, Google Maps, and even Figma prototypes. The tool makes it super convenient to have everything in one place without moving between apps or tabs.
Another advantage is the simple formatting. I could create clean, professional-looking documents in no time without spending hours on design. And when it was time to present them to a client, I could turn any document into a polished presentation with one click.
Dropbox Paper best features
- Co-edit your docs with teammates
- Speed up work with ready-to-use templates for meeting notes, creative briefs, and more
- Assign to-dos, add due dates, and mention people directly on the doc
Dropbox Paper limitations
- Limited offline functionality
Dropbox Paper pricing
- Available for free with any Dropbox account
Dropbox Paper ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.1/5 (4,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (200+ reviews)
13. Reflect Notes (Best for interlinking notes)
I love how Reflect Notes seamlessly mirrors the way human thoughts work—things are often interconnected. As I jotted down ideas, passing thoughts, or snippets of information, I could connect them with each other through backlinks, and it was easy to find them later.
The seamless sync across devices was also impressive. I could make a quick note on my phone when on the go, and it’d be synced instantly to my desktop when I was back home.
Reflect Notes best features
- Transcribe voice notes accurately with Reflect AI
- Integrate your calendar with Reflect Notes and keep a tab on meetings and agendas
- Use the app offline and online
Reflect Notes limitations
- More suited for journaling rather than collaborating with teams on ideas
Reflect Notes pricing
- $10/month (billed annually)
Reflect Notes ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Want to explore more AI tools to help you with note-taking? Here are some resources for you:
14. Quip (Best for collaborating on documents and spreadsheets)
Quip helped me collaborate with my team on spreadsheets and documents. The team chat is built right into every document and spreadsheet. So, while working on a document, I could instantly start chatting with my team without switching between apps.
The same goes for spreadsheets. Whether I was updating numbers or analyzing pivot tables with my team, the built-in chat function helped me clarify details or ask for input on the spot. Quip also offers dedicated team chat rooms for broader discussions or project-specific conversations and 1:1 messaging for quick check-ins or private discussions.
Quip best features
- Access documents in offline mode
- Check version history and track changes made by other collaborators
- Set granular permissions for who can collaborate on spreadsheets and documents
Quip limitations
- The search functionality needs improvement
Quip pricing
- Quip Starter: $12/month per user
- Quip Plus: $25/month per user (billed annually)
- Quip Advanced: $100/month per user (billed annually)
Quip ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (1,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (200+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Quip?
15. Nimbus Note (Best for collating research materials)
Nimbus Note (now part of FuseBase) quickly became one of my favorites for post-research note-taking. The OCR feature for screenshots is particularly useful. I could capture text from images or screenshots, and it was accurate enough to make copying and editing easy. It saved me a lot of time when I needed to pull out key information from visual sources.
The web clipper is also quite powerful. I love that I could clip an entire web page or just specific sections. It works for text, images, PDFs, emails, and even attached files, so it’s perfect for gathering all kinds of research material in one place.
Nimbus Note best features
- Create tasks and lists within notes
- Share notes publicly and edit them alongside team members
- Add tables, spreadsheets, and databases to your notes
Nimbus Note limitations
- Limited template options
Nimbus Note pricing
For a team of 3, the pricing tiers are:
- Essentials: $48/month
- Plus: $123/month
- Ultimate: $248/month
Nimbus Note ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (170+ reviews)
Summarize this article for me pleaseTake Your Note-taking Experience a Notch Ahead with ClickUp
Each of the note-taking apps included in this list stands out as a powerful Evernote alternative. Some make organizing notes easier, some help you format notes better, and some help you collect and organize research materials. They offer great value for money, and the features are impressive even for the base/free tiers.
But if you use your notes app for work, you might want to go with a tool that combines task management features with note-taking and helps you streamline repetitive work with AI.
This is where ClickUp stands out. The note-taking functionalities are native to ClickUp’s project management software, so you can manage your notes/documents and work from a single platform. It adds an extra layer of convenience to your workflow and prevents your tech stack from being bloated with too many tools.
Get started with ClickUp today, and experience it yourself!
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