17 Top Evernote Alternatives for Note-Taking for 2025
It was a cold and joyless day when I saw Evernote’s new pricing policy.
A part of me died. The days of conveniently syncing across my Mac, phone and iPad? Gone.
Whether it’s the price increase, new tiered feature limitations, or something else entirely, all that’s left to do now is shop around to see what else is out there or cough up the dough. And to cry. Or to nod with understanding, deep down knowing that these business things do cost money.
But also cry.
Free and Freemium Evernote Alternatives That Compete or Win
If even its free version is a solid contender to Evernote, it’s listed here. Some of them have unique features that make them a bit different, but just as functional. And who knows? You might even find something a little different you end up loving even more than Evernote.
1. Apple Notes
Even an Apple gal like myself can admit that Apple’s note-taking app Notes has never been a worthy contender in the note-taking space. Until the updates Apple released for Notes last year, that is.
As someone who lives on almost all other Apple apps and loves that they sync across my 4 devices, it was heartbreaking the day I realized Apple Notes wouldn’t be enough.
But as Notes continues to get stronger and Evernote continues to get weaker—ahem, no more syncing across more than 2 devices—Apple fans can rejoice as they migrate back over to Notes, and hopefully for good.
2. Box Notes
If you’re all about collaborative workflow but weren’t entirely satisfied with Evernote’s collaborative features, Box Notes is for you.
It’s powerful and user-friendly for everyone, but especially on an enterprise level and especially if your team relies heavily on salesforce.com, one if its many available integrations.
3. Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Paper is tightly integrated with Dropbox and built for real-time collaboration with comments and task lists. Paper docs now live inside your Dropbox account as .paper files, and many teams have migrated legacy Paper content into regular Dropbox folders for easier management. If your team already relies on Dropbox storage and sharing, Paper can be a simple, collaborative alternative to Evernote for lightweight notes and team docs.
Here are the basics.
- Text formatting: a bit more flexible on Dropbox Paper, through a menu bar that only pops up once you’ve highlighted text (to keep things clean!)
- Image editing: impressively robust (for a note-taking app) in Evernote, nonexistent in Dropbox Paper
- Collaborating: Work chat on Evernote is solid, but Dropbox Paper is almost made for collaboration with real-time comments and editing
Obviously this one will make a lot of sense for you if you’re already a big Dropbox user.
4. Notejoy
If you need lightweight and beautiful team collaboration, then Notejoy is for you. It’s available on web, PC, Mac, and iPhone and has built an impressive set of collaboration features that take it to the next level beyond Evernote. You can edit notes together in real time, have threaded comment discussions, @mentions, and even react with emojis.
It’s free to use for teams across unlimited devices, and offers an upgrade option for teams over 10 or advanced features.
5. Google Keep
If you need fast, simple, and plenty of functionality on the surface, Google Keep will be plenty effective for you.
If you need something complicated enough to organize an extensive library of media-rich notes that’s more kin to an archive or database, Evernote is probably still your one true note-taking love.
Of course, Google Keep integrates seamlessly with other Google apps, so it might be a no-brainer for you if that’s where you and your team are already spending a lot of your work hours.
6. INKredible
INKredible is for the romantics who love the effect of pen on paper but don’t necessarily dig the hardware and messiness that comes with it.
It’s mostly for people who get the most use from their note-taking app on a tablet and like to write with a stylus or finger, so if you ever found yourself disenchanted with Evernote’s text-centered interface and want something a little bit more handmade, INKredible’s for you.
7. Laverna
Laverna is an open-source, Markdown-first note app that you can self-host for privacy. Be aware the original project has seen limited maintenance in recent years and some downloads have been marked as discontinued by third-party directories. If you’re comfortable with open source and self-hosting, it can still work, but expect fewer updates and community support.
8. Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is free across platforms and continues to get regular updates. It’s a strong Evernote alternative if you want deep notebook-section-page organization, stylus support, and tight integration with Microsoft 365. For many teams, OneNote delivers the core features they need without the limitations of a free tier device cap.
9. Nimbus Note
Nimbus Note (now part of the FuseBase suite) offers rich text notes, databases, and a capable web clipper, plus desktop and mobile apps. It’s designed for individuals and teams who want a flexible workspace with sharing and collaboration. Nimbus emphasizes broad device sync and an ecosystem that includes capture and screenshot tools.
10. Quip
Quip is robust and pretty. Like Box Notes, it’s great for those who need powerful workflow collaboration, but it works great on a personal level, too. In Quip, notes can be documents, spreadsheets, or team chats, all of which can be organized into folders.
If your team relies on documents and spreadsheets and you want built-in chat with Salesforce integration, Quip is a strong fit.
11. Simplenote
Available across all platforms (including web), Simplenote works best for people who like—well, simple.
Here’s the lowdown: Simplenote is free across all devices; Evernote isn’t. Evernote has an adequate amount of formatting and rich text options; Simplenote doesn’t. Evernote offers web clipping, Simplenote doesn’t.
What does it do? Its job, simply. If you’ve found yourself not needing a lot of the extra features Evernote offers and value accessibility over bells and whistles, Simplenote really could be enough for you.
12. Tomboy
Tomboy was a classic GNOME note app, but the original project has been discontinued. If you liked Tomboy’s simple, linked-note model, look at Gnote or tomboy-ng, which continue the same concept with active maintenance in modern Linux environments.
13. Workflowy
WorkFlowy is hardcore simple and that’s what most people love about it. If you’re a list lover, or if you’re one of those evolved people that truly believe everything’s better in an outline—first of all, let me say: you’re right. And secondly: WorkFlowy was made for you.
What separates Workflowy apart from some of these other apps is the incredible community that has built up around it. People use it not only for its note-taking capabilities, but for its simple (yet intense) outline features. There are hidden 3rd-party apps, integrations and browser extensions galore. There’s even a whole book on what you can do with it.
14. Write
Tags, passcode lock, text formatting. The Write app has everything Evernote has, plus syntax highlighting, distraction-free mode, and live word counts.
And it’s interface? Simple and lovely. Are you tired of hearing me say how much I love good UX design yet?
Paid—But Totally Worth It
Why switch to a paid option when Evernote’s recent price change is what’s having people looking to switch in the first place?
Two reasons. One, Evernote’s price change wasn’t the only disconcerting news; fact is, even after some restructuring and the price model change, they’re not quite out of the woods yet. It’s natural that you’d be wary of putting all your eggs (or notes) in a basket that could disappear sometime in the next 10 years.
And reason two? It could be that one of these apps was the note-taking soulmate you never knew you had. For a long time Evernote was just the biggest kid on the block—the big kid that could’ve kept you from noticing the little nerd in the corner that would’ve been a better match for you all along.
15. DEVONthink
I have a lot of experience with DEVONthink Pro. Here’s the gist of it:
- It’s incredibly robust and customizable (which is why I migrated; too heavyweight for me)
- It’s incredibly scaleable, perhaps one of the most powerful and scaleable database options on the market (at the consumer level, at least)
- When it comes to organizing notes and documents, it can do just about anything.
It’s only available for Mac and it’s really only for EXTREME note-taking and document-hoarding nerds. If that’s you, trust me—you’ll love it. Rock on, nerd.
Pricing: Get DevonThink Personal for $49.95. There’s also DevonThink To Go, Pro, and Pro Office.
16. Falcon
Falcon focuses on Markdown notes with live preview and a clean writing experience. It also offers a companion Exporter utility for quickly moving Apple Notes content to Markdown or HTML, which is handy if you are migrating away from Apple Notes.
Pricing: $4.99 for the Mac app, $4.99 for the iOS app
17. Scrivener
Hear me out.
Most people have heard of Scrivener and know it’s the most powerful writing program on the block. Yes, writing–not necessarily note-taking.
But I’m including it here for the poor souls who—like me, back in life before Scrivener—used to organize my longform book notes and outlines on Evernote.
If your notes have anything to do with any type of writing: outlines, notes on drafts, brain dumps on story ideas, blog posts, scripts, essays, anything like that—you should migrate all of it to Scrivener.
It’s incredibly powerful and there’s really no better way to organize all notes writing related, even if you end up using it in tandem with another notes app like I do.
Pricing: $45
Should You Stay Or Should You Go?
Maybe you don’t need to switch, but you should know what’s out there.
As for me? I’ve made the big move to Apple Notes and I couldn’t be happier. Turns out, simpler is better for me and I like using my note-taking app more on a personal level instead of collaboratively anyway.
I’m finally happy about my note taking situation and I didn’t realize it until a few months ago that I’ve been unhappy with Evernote for a looong time. How about you?
Switching over a thousand notes can be cumbersome and frustrating. But it can also be a huge relief when you know you’ve finally found the right place for them.
Will you make the big move? Where will you take your notes next?
Does your team need a powerful project management tool that the whole team can use? Workzone may be just the ticket…
Last updated on October 29, 2025
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