Evernote Review 2026: Pricing, Pros, Cons and Alternatives

Evernote's free plan is small enough that the first limit you hit decides whether you pay. This review covers that free plan, both paid tiers, the trial and the student offer, and the trade-offs against four alternatives. It is written for individuals first, and the team tiers get a brief mention in the pricing section.

Toolradar data: our Evernote profile lists eight alternatives, from Microsoft OneNote and Notion to Apple Notes and Simplenote, and the note-taking category we track holds 192 tools, so Evernote competes in a crowded field.

Price the plan against your real note count before anything else.

Someone with fewer than 50 notes on one device can stay free. Someone who wants a web clipper and scanned receipts on a phone and a laptop will hit the cap quickly, and that is when the paid tiers matter. If you want the free caps of other apps first, start with our free note-taking guide.

Evernote is a note app for capturing, organizing and searching notes on phones, tablets, computers and the web. Its plans add a web clipper, advanced search, document scanning, tasks and a calendar, and a PDF editor and converter sit in the same account.

The plans page also lists an AI assistant, semantic search, AI transcription, AI editing, a meeting note taker and a connection to AI assistants through MCP.

The distinction that matters is between core note-taking and the add-ons.

If you only need to write and find notes, a free app may do the job. If you rely on clipping pages and scanning paper, Evernote's bundle is the reason to pay. For the AI side of the category, our AI note-taking ranking goes deeper.

Evernote also overlaps with neighbouring categories. If your real need is a shared knowledge base, read our knowledge base software guide.

If you mostly use notes to plan your day, the daily planner apps guide covers the tools that compete with Evernote's tasks and calendar. If the scanning is for forms, compare free PDF editors with paid PDF editors.

For meetings, our AI meeting assistant ranking covers the tools that compete with Evernote's AI Transcribe.

Evernote sets its limits per plan, and the plans page lists seven of them: notes, notebooks, spaces, tags, attachments, sync across devices and storage. The free plan allows 50 notes, one notebook, five spaces, 20 tags, one synced device and 200 attachments.

Starter raises those to 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks, 10 spaces, 100 tags, three devices and 1,000 attachments. Advanced shows unlimited for each row, with a footnote pointing to safeguard limits that keep performance steady and prevent abuse.

That footnote is the rough edge.

A plan that says unlimited with a footnote tells you a limit exists without saying where it sits. If you plan a heavy import or a large attachment library, ask Evernote about the thresholds before you pay for Advanced.

Evernote's plans page sets its prices in US dollars, and the figures here come from that page, verified on October 10, 2026. Starter costs $14.99 a month or $99 a year billed yearly. Advanced costs $24.99 a month or $249.99 a year billed yearly.

The Free plan is $0. Evernote shows no price for its Flexible and Unlimited team tiers, so this page does not quote one.

Yearly billing matters more on Starter than on Advanced. Billed yearly, Starter takes 45% off the twelve monthly payments, a saving of $80.88 a year.

On Advanced the saving is $49.89, about 17%. Moving from Starter to Advanced on a yearly plan adds $150.99 a year, and that step is what removes the caps.

Evernote's April 2023 pricing update set Personal at $14.99 a month and described it as the first price increase in almost seven years for most subscribers.

Methodology: Evernote prices and limits come from Evernote's plans page, read October 10, 2026, and the 2023 history from Evernote's pricing update.

Alternative prices come from each vendor's own pricing page, read the same day. Yearly totals and savings are our arithmetic on those vendor prices.

Evernote suits individuals who want a clipper, scanning and an AI assistant in the same app as their notes. A solo user who needs more than 50 notes and a second device will find Starter the right step at the yearly price.

Someone with a large library of notes or attachments across several devices should price Advanced against the alternatives below, because its limits carry safeguards.

Compare the free tier of Obsidian with Evernote's paid tiers if local files matter to you.

Skip Evernote if you want a free plan that grows without a paid step, or if you need an app that keeps files on your own disk.

Its free tier is the weakest part of the product, and free apps with no stated caps do more for a light user. Teams weighing Notion can read our Notion review first.

Eligible college students get 40% off a one-year subscription to Advanced, which is worth checking before you pay list price.