I Tested Evernote for 90 Days — My Honest 2026 Verdict

Is Evernote Worth It?

★★★★★ 4/5

Quick Verdict: Evernote is still one of the best note taking apps in 2026. The new v11 update adds powerful AI features. It’s pricey compared to other note taking apps. But the robust search functionality and cross-platform sync make it worth it for serious users.

✅ Best For:

Students, professionals, and teams who need a powerful note taking app with AI search and task management capabilities.

❌ Skip If:

You want a completely free version with unlimited notes. Or you need advanced features for project management like Notion or ClickUp.

📊 Users	225M+ registered	🎯 Best For	Note taking & organization
💰 Price	$10.83/month	✅ Top Feature	AI-powered search & web clipper
🎁 Free Trial	Free plan (50 notes)	⚠️ Limitation	High pricing for premium plans

How I Tested Evernote

Tired of losing track of your notes?

You write things down. Then you forget where you saved them.

Your digital life feels like a mess.

Enter Evernote.

This popular note taking app promises to organize everything. But does it deliver?

I used Evernote for 90 days straight. Here’s exactly what happened.

Evernote

Stop losing your notes, ideas, and to do lists. Evernote captures everything in one place and syncs across all your devices. The new v11 AI features make finding your notes faster than ever. Try the free plan today.

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What is Evernote?

Evernote is a note taking app that helps you capture and store ideas, notes, tasks, and documents.

Think of it like a digital filing cabinet for your brain.

You can take text based notes. Save web pages with the Evernote web clipper. Record audio notes. Even scan handwritten notes.

Everything syncs across multiple devices. Your phone, laptop, and tablet all stay in sync.

Unlike other tools like Google Keep, Evernote offers deep organization. You can organize notes using notebooks, tags, and the new Spaces feature.

The app also connects to other apps you already use. Think Google Drive, Google Calendar, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.

Who Created Evernote?

Stepan Pachikov started Evernote in 2000.

He wanted to build a tool that would help people remember everything. His idea came from Apple’s Newton handheld computer.

Phil Libin later became CEO in 2007. He shifted the focus to mobile and web.

In January 2023, Bending Spoons (an Italian tech company) bought Evernote. They’ve since released over 250 improvements.

Today, Evernote has over 225 million registered users worldwide.

The company now operates from Milan, Italy.

Top Benefits of Evernote

Here’s what you actually get when you use Evernote:

• Find Anything in Seconds: Evernote’s robust search functionality finds text inside images, PDF files, and even sloppy cursive handwriting. You’ll never lose a note again.
• Access Your Notes Anywhere: Sync unlimited devices with paid plans. Your notes stay easily accessible on desktop apps, mobile, and web. No internet connection needed with offline mode.
• Save Time on Research: The Evernote web clipper browser extension saves web pages, articles, and screenshots in one click. No more copy-pasting.
• Stay on Top of Tasks: Create to do lists right inside your notes. Assign tasks, add due dates, and set reminders. Your task management capabilities live where your notes do.
• Never Miss a Meeting Detail: The new AI meeting notes feature captures what matters. Connect your Google Calendar and link calendar events to your notes.
• Work with Your Team: Share notes and notebooks with others. Great for team projects. The Microsoft Teams integrations make collaboration easy.
• Keep Everything in One Place: Text, images, audio notes, PDF files, web clips — all in one app. Your whole digital life, organized.

Best Evernote Features

Let’s look at exactly what Evernote offers in 2026.

1. Notes

Taking notes is what Evernote does best.

You can create a new note in seconds. Add text, images, audio, and files.

The formatting options are solid. Bold, italic, bullet points, tables — it’s all there.

Evernote makes it easy to organize individual notes with tags and notebooks.

You can even create notebook stacks to group related notebooks together.

2. Tasks

Evernote introduced built-in task management. And it’s a valuable feature.

You can create to do lists right inside any note. Add due dates and reminders.

Assign tasks to team members if you’re on the Teams plan.

Tasks show up in a dedicated view. You can see everything that needs your attention.

It’s not as powerful as dedicated project tools. But for basic task management, it has great features that work well.

3. Calendar

Connect Evernote to your Google Calendar. It’s a great news for busy professionals.

You’ll see your calendar events right inside Evernote.

Link notes to specific meetings. Find meeting notes quickly by date.

This feature helps you prepare for meetings. And review what happened after.

It saves time switching between apps.

4. Templates

Evernote offers templates to help you take notes quickly.

Meeting notes, project plans, weekly reviews — there’s a template for most things.

You can also create custom templates. Save your favorite note layout. Reuse it anytime.

This is one of those essential features that saves hours over time.

The redesigned template experience in 2025 made this even easier to use.

5. Space Creator

Spaces are Evernote’s newest way to organize notes.

Think of them as super-folders. Group notebooks and notes by project or topic.

You can share Spaces with other people. Perfect for team projects.

This feature used to be only for the teams plan. Now everyone gets it.

It adds a new layer of organization on top of notebook stacks.

6. Self Organizer

Evernote provides customizable widgets on your home dashboard.

Pin your most-used notes. See recent notes at a glance. Track your tasks.

The home screen shows exactly what you need. No digging around.

You can set it up to match how you work. Every user’s dashboard looks different.

It’s a smart way to keep your most important notes front and center.

7. AI Text to Speech

This is one of the advanced features Evernote introduced recently.

Turn any note into audio. Listen to your notes on the go.

Perfect for reviewing meeting notes during your commute.

The AI does a good job with natural-sounding speech.

You need Evernote Premium or a premium version to access this feature.

8. AI Transcribe

Record audio notes and Evernote turns them into text.

Upload a voice memo. Get a written version in minutes.

It works with video and image files too. The AI reads text from images.

This connects to Evernote’s famous handwritten notes recognition. Even sloppy cursive handwriting becomes searchable.

It’s a huge time saver for people who prefer talking over typing.

9. PDF Editor

Edit PDF files right inside Evernote. No need for another app.

Add annotations to documents. Highlight important sections.

Sign documents without leaving the app.

Search for text inside your PDF files too. The search works across all your content.

This feature alone can replace a separate PDF tool.

Evernote Pricing

Let’s talk about what Evernote costs. The pricing plans have changed a lot recently.

Free trial: Yes — free plan available with 50 notes and 1 notebook.

Money-back guarantee: You can cancel anytime. Refund available on request.

📌 Note: Annual billing saves you money. The free version is very limited with only 50 notes. Most new users will need a paid plan.

Is Evernote Worth the Price?

Here’s my honest take after 90 days.

The personal plan at $10.83/month gives you 150,000 notes. That’s plenty for most people. You also get to sync unlimited devices.

The professional plan adds AI features and 20GB monthly uploads. If you use Evernote daily, it’s worth it.

You’ll save money if: You use Evernote as your main note taking and task management hub every day.

You might overpay if: You only take a few notes per week. The free version or a cheaper app would work better.

Evernote Pros and Cons

✅ What I Liked

❌ What Could Be Better

Is Evernote Right for You?

✅ Evernote is PERFECT for you if:

• You need to organize notes across multiple devices
• You save a lot of web pages and articles for research
• You want AI-powered search that finds text in images and handwritten notes
• You need to create to do lists and manage tasks in the same place as your notes

❌ Skip Evernote if:

• You want a free note taking app with unlimited notes
• You need advanced project management features
• You prefer other tools like Notion for databases and wikis

My recommendation:

If you take lots of notes and need to find them fast, Evernote is hard to beat. The search alone makes Evernote worth it. Just know the pricing plans are steep compared to other apps.

Evernote vs Alternatives

How does Evernote stack up? Here’s the competitive landscape:

Quick picks:

• Best overall: Notion — more features at a similar price
• Best budget option: Microsoft OneNote — completely free
• Best for beginners: Craft — clean design, easy to learn
• Best for search: Evernote — still the king of finding notes

🎯 Evernote Alternatives

Looking for Evernote alternatives? Here are the top options:

• 🧠 Sembly: AI-powered meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and generates meeting notes automatically.
• 🌟 Notion: All-in-one workspace with databases, wikis, and project management. More versatile than Evernote.
• ⚡ Fireflies AI: Best for automated meeting transcriptions and AI-powered note summaries.
• 🔧 ClickUp: Full project management with docs, tasks, and goals. Great for teams who need more than notes.
• 🎨 Capacities: Object-based note taking for knowledge management. Beautiful and flexible.
• 🚀 Taskade: AI-powered task management with real-time collaboration and workflow automation.
• 👶 Notejoy: Simple team notes with real-time collaboration. Easy to learn and use.
• ⚡ Notta: AI transcription tool that turns speech into searchable text notes fast.
• 🎨 Craft: Beautiful document creation with a clean design. Perfect for visual thinkers.
• 🧠 MeetGeek: AI meeting recorder with automatic summaries and action items.
• 🧠 Mem AI: AI-first note taking that automatically organizes your notes for you.
• 💰 Microsoft OneNote: Free, powerful, and integrates perfectly with Microsoft Teams and Office apps.

⚔️ Evernote Compared

Here’s how Evernote stacks up against each competitor:

• Evernote vs Sembly: Evernote is better for general notes. Sembly wins for automated meeting transcription.
• Evernote vs Notion: Notion offers more features overall. Evernote has better search and web clipping.
• Evernote vs Fireflies AI: Evernote covers all note taking. Fireflies focuses only on meeting notes.
• Evernote vs ClickUp: ClickUp is better for project management. Evernote wins for pure note taking.
• Evernote vs Capacities: Capacities has a unique object-based system. Evernote is more traditional and proven.
• Evernote vs Taskade: Taskade offers better AI automation. Evernote has stronger search and organization.
• Evernote vs Notejoy: Notejoy is simpler. Evernote offers more features and deeper organization.
• Evernote vs Notta: Notta wins for transcription. Evernote is better for overall note management.
• Evernote vs Craft: Craft has better design. Evernote has better search and more integrations.
• Evernote vs MeetGeek: MeetGeek focuses on meetings. Evernote covers your entire digital life.
• Evernote vs Mem AI: Mem AI auto-organizes notes with AI. Evernote gives you more control over organization.
• Evernote vs Microsoft OneNote: OneNote is free and deeply integrated with Microsoft. Evernote has better search and web clipper.

My Experience with Evernote

Here’s what actually happened when I used Evernote:

The project: I used Evernote to manage 5 client projects. Research, meeting notes, and task tracking — all in one place.

Timeline: 90 consecutive days of daily use.

Results:

What surprised me: The search is incredible. I typed vague descriptions and Evernote found exactly what I needed. It even searched inside images and PDF files.

What frustrated me: Not gonna lie, the pricing plans annoyed me at first. And the free plan felt more like a demo. I had to upgrade after just two days.

Would I use it again? Yes. Evernote saves me real time every day. The search alone is worth the personal plan cost.

Final Thoughts

Get Evernote if: You need a powerful note taking app with the best search on the market. And you don’t mind paying for premium plans.

Skip Evernote if: You want a free app with unlimited notes. Or you need heavy project management features.

My verdict: After 90 days, Evernote earned its spot on my daily toolkit. The v11 update with AI features shows Evernote is still evolving. Yes, the high pricing is real. But for people who take note taking seriously, it delivers.

Evernote isn’t for everyone. But for the right user, it’s hard to beat.

Rating: 4/5

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Evernote worth buying?

Yes, if you need a powerful note taking app with great search. The Evernote web clipper and cross-device sync make it worth the price for daily users. If you only take a few notes per week, the free version or a cheaper app might work better.

How much does Evernote cost?

Evernote offers a free plan with 50 notes. The Personal plan costs $10.83/month. The Professional plan is $14.16/month. Enterprise pricing is custom. Annual billing gives you the best rates.

Is Evernote better than OneNote?

It depends on your needs. Evernote has better search and a better web clipper. Microsoft OneNote is completely free and works great with Microsoft Teams. If you’re already in the Microsoft world, OneNote saves you money. If you need the best search, choose Evernote.

Is Evernote completely free?

Evernote has a free plan. But it’s very limited. You get only 50 notes and 1 notebook. For real use, you’ll need a paid plan. The free version works as a trial to test the app before you connect Evernote to your daily workflow.

Has Evernote been discontinued?

No. Evernote has not been discontinued. Bending Spoons bought Evernote in 2023. They released v11 in January 2026 with new AI features. The app is very much alive and getting regular updates.