When I wrote about leaving Evernote earlier this month, I explained what caused me to reconsider an application I’ve used for over 15 years.
But I didn’t explain what app I was moving to, even though I was thrilled to find an option to export my dozens of Evernote notebooks.
Because I hadn’t figured out which app would work best for me.
Instead, I’ve focused on reviewing and deleting notes/notebooks in Evernote, before I move to a new app.
Like moving to a new home, it didn’t make sense for me to move things I no longer used or needed.
Plus I needed to research and identify what I needed in a note-taking app.
My Note-Taking App Requirements
Not a lot of requirements, but I wanted a note-taking app that:
- Allows me to save notes on any digital device—laptop, smartphone, tablet—or in the browser
- Isn’t limited to one operating system (only Mac, Windows, or Linux)
- Synchronizes my notes, or better yet, automatically updates my notes
- Supports tags
- Exports my content
- Can easily import my Evernote notes
Three Alternative Note-Taking Apps
First up, an app I’ve used infrequently over the past several years: Simplenote.
Originally launched in 2008, Simplenote is now owned by Automattic, the same company that owns WordPress.com
Features I like in Simplenote:
- Free
- Browser and cross-platform support
- Tags
- Automatic sync (I don’t need to press any button to synchronize my notes)
- Sharing options
- Revision history
What Simplenote lacks:
- No image OCR (optical character recognition)
- Notes aren’t encrypted
- Long privacy policy that’s tedious to read
I’m not storing lots of important info, but some notes are sensitive.
One of the reasons I’m leaving Evernote is lack of encryption for my notes.
Simplenote says in their help page:
Notes are not encrypted at rest due to server side constraints. For this reason we recommend not using Simplenote to store anything particularly sensitive.
Unless Simplenote changes their encryption policy, I don’t think it’s a viable option for me.
The second app I’ve considered is Notion, something I’ve looked at several times.
Features I like in Notion:
- Free personal plan
- Browser and cross-platform support
- Clean Interface
- Toggle list
What Notion lacks:
- Not necessarily what it’s lacking, but I don’t have a need for all the features, like projects and wikis
- Version history limited to 30 days
- Your Notion content isn’t encrypted
I think that if I wasn’t retired and needed a collaboration app, Notion would be the app I would turn to.
Last note-taking app I’ve considered and one that caught my attention: Joplin.
A free open-source note-taking app, Joplin offers a similar interface to Evernote, which is a big plus for me.
In addition, Joplin offers end-to-end encryption. Their May 2023 version 2.11 notes highlight improved end-to-end encryption.
What I like about Joplin:
- Open source
- Apps for multiple operating systems
- Free (You need to provide an option for synchronization, like Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive. Or pay $2 US dollars monthly for Joplin Cloud for synchronization and 1GB storage)
- Evernote-like interface I’m familiar with
- Import notebooks from Evernote
What Joplin lacks:
- Web app; there’s no option to use Joplin in the browser. You must download an app, whether for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, or Linux.
- No optical character recognition (OCR) for images
- Limit of 10MB per note (an issue if you’re saving audio or video)
Wrapping Up
Unfortunately, none of the three note-taking apps I reviewed meet all my requirements.
Joplin came the closest, but is only available via an app.
Having the ability to add and manage notes via the browser has been a top note-taking requirement for me.
And I’m not sure I’m ready to give that up.
The search for a note-taking app continues. Comment if you have any app suggestions that fit my requirements.
Have you considered Onenote?
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your message. I stopped using Microsoft productivity/writing tools several years ago. Would prefer not to return to the Ribbon interface.
I have been on the same search ever since Evernote V6 was abandoned. For me, the ability to have PDFs OCR’ed and searchable, as well as the ability to combine local notebooks that are not exposed to another Evernote hack, are paramount. I have tens of thousands of notes, some very, very large, so your options today weren’t a fit, but I’m very interested to follow along as you search for a replacement.
Hi Allen,
As I’ve heard from other folks, it’s definitely a challenge to find an Evernote alternative. If you’re only looking for note-taking apps on Macs, someone on Mastodon told me they moved from Evernote to a combination of Obsidion (for main note-taking) and DEVONthink (which is end-to-end encrypted) for the scanned and searchable PDFs.
Thank you for the suggestions, I’ll be sure to look into them. An interesting option I’ve found since reading your post is paperless-ngx, which seems to be a roll-your-own engine for indexing and searching large collections of PDFs and other-formatted notes. Not for the tech-averse, but Evernote’s convenience came at a cost I’m no longer willing to pay, so I might have to hike the waders and ford in.