Evernote Alternatives 2026: Joplin, UpNote, Notion, Obsidian, OneNote, Zoho Notebook and Fabric (Compared)

For an existing archive, Joplin is the strongest starting point among these 7 Evernote alternatives: its documented importer brings across notes, tags and attachments, with clear warnings about what changes. Choose Notion for a shared team wiki, UpNote for straightforward personal notes, or Fabric when searching across saved files matters more than recreating your old notebooks.

Verified against the makers’ live pricing and migration pages on 8 November 2026. This is a documentation-based comparison, not a hands-on migration test. The deciding question is whether your replacement preserves the material you need to use tomorrow: a client PDF, a clipped article, a tag, or a link between meeting notes.

Evernote alternatives at a glance

An ENEX file is Evernote’s export package for notes and their associated content. A tool that connects to your Evernote account is offering a different migration route from a tool that opens that file. The table separates them.

Prices are USD except Joplin’s EUR price. Annual rates require an annual commitment; optional sync or storage charges are not fees to unlock the underlying free app. The source and migration caveats for each row follow below.

The choice flips when preserving your archive matters more than the destination’s interface. A familiar notebook app with no maintained import route can be a worse replacement than a less familiar app that carries your working material over.

Evernote free plan: what you are leaving

The current Evernote plan comparison lists Free at 50 notes, 1 notebook and 1 connected device. Starter is $8.25/month billed annually, or $99/year, with limits of 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks, 1,000 attachments and 3 devices. Check your own renewal separately if you have an older subscription.

For an agency owner collecting briefs and reference material, the free plan’s note count may decide the move before storage does. But do not assume you must leave to get offline access, web clipping or document search: Evernote lists those capabilities on its current Free offering. Decide from the limits that affect your account, not from an old comparison of discontinued plans.

Evernote price increase: compare the replacement workload too

A cheaper subscription only helps if you can still retrieve the work you already saved. Before changing apps, identify what you repeatedly look up: text notes, scanned receipts, PDFs, research clips or shared instructions. Then check the relevant importer and file limits below.

For a solo consultant, rebuilding a network of client-note links can be more disruptive than the subscription difference. For a small team, rebuilding the archive into a maintained wiki may be worthwhile because it changes how colleagues find answers. Those are different buying decisions.

The best replacements, matched to the work

1. Joplin: best starting point for an existing archive

Joplin is an open-source note-taking app whose documented ENEX support makes it the first destination to evaluate when your Evernote archive must come with you. It combines notebooks, tags, attachments and a web clipper with a choice of sync services. For a solo agency owner keeping client briefs beside clipped research, that is a practical continuation of the old filing system. Pick Joplin when preserving usable notes matters more than adopting a new workspace.

Best for: Professionals moving an established notebook archive.
Standout: Explicit documentation of ENEX content, metadata and conversion limitations.
Pricing: Free app; optional Joplin Cloud Basic starts at €2.40/month billed annually (€28.69/year).
Free trial: The app is free; Joplin Cloud offers a 14-day trial.

The Joplin import documentation says ENEX brings across notes, notebooks, tags, attached files and metadata. Importing a directory of exports creates a notebook for each file. That makes exporting notebook by notebook useful: you preserve meaningful groups instead of dropping every client into a single inbox.

There are three distinctions to understand. First, Evernote’s OCR data, the recognized text used to search scanned images, is not preserved. Joplin can recreate recognition data when its OCR is enabled. Second, the default conversion to Markdown, a plain-text format with simple formatting marks, can lose colors and font styling; an HTML import is available when preserving that formatting matters. Third, internal note links are reconstructed by matching titles. Duplicate titles or a link label that differs from the target can leave an Evernote link behind.

For example, an archive full of notes called “Client call” needs a link audit. Seeing all those titles in the sidebar does not establish that the links between calls and proposals still work. Open a linked note and follow it before treating the migration as complete.

The other wall is your chosen sync plan. Cloud Basic allows 10 MB per note or attachment and 2 GB of storage. A successful local import therefore does not prove that your PDFs will fit the cheapest hosted sync option. Measure the archive and inspect the largest attachments before choosing a service.

Move a representative notebook into Joplin first

1. 1

   Export from Evernote desktop

   On Mac or Windows, select a notebook, choose Export, and save it as ENEX with the attributes you need. Keep the export outside the destination app as your untouched backup.

2. 2

   Choose the conversion deliberately

   In Joplin desktop, use File > Import > ENEX. Choose the Markdown route for editable everyday notes, or the HTML option if complex formatting is important. Import into a separate notebook for inspection.

3. 3

   Check the content you depend on

   Open an attachment, inspect a clipped page, check tags and follow an internal link. If you relied on searching scans, enable OCR and verify retrieval separately. Compare content, not just the number of note titles.

4. 4

   Choose sync after the local check

   Compare your largest note and attachment against the intended service’s allowance. Set up sync, then open the same material on the device you use away from your desk.

2. UpNote: best for straightforward personal notebooks

UpNote is a personal note-taking app for people who want notebooks, useful formatting and device sync without designing a workspace. Its ENEX importer makes it a plausible destination for a consultant’s meeting notes and project references. The deciding limitation is specific: imported internal links continue to open Evernote. Choose UpNote for notes you read independently; hesitate if the links between them are the system.

Best for: Solo professionals keeping mostly self-contained notes.
Standout: ENEX import with choices for turning Evernote tags into hashtags or notebooks.
Pricing: Premium starts at $1.99/month on the official homepage’s pricing section.
Free trial: A free version supports 50 notes and sync; Premium adds attachments and unlimited notes.

The UpNote migration guide recommends exporting each Evernote notebook separately and enabling Use file name as notebook during import. That gives a client-services professional a clear way to bring across client groupings. Nested organization needs attention afterward; choosing a destination notebook does not automatically make it the parent of the imported notebooks.

Tags also require a decision. Converting tags into hashtags retains a label-based habit, but special characters become dashes. Converting them into notebooks changes the organizational model. Decide which you want before importing the full archive, especially if colleagues or a future replacement will need to understand your naming scheme.

The guide warns that notes with attachments larger than 20 MB, or more than 300,000 characters, may fail to import. It also describes bulk-import thresholds of 20,000 notes or 10 GB of attachments, after which imports are limited to 50 notes at a time. Those are reasons to inspect a large archive first, not reasons to assume a smaller notebook will fail.

Formatting is another acceptance check. Text and highlight colors are removed by default, with an option to retain original text colors. If a sales consultant used highlighting to distinguish approved language from draft wording, that is meaningful information to check rather than a cosmetic detail.

UpNote vs Evernote

UpNote is the better fit when the job is writing and finding personal notes, and the documented import constraints fit your material. Keep evaluating other options when PDFs exceed the importer’s attachment allowance or internal links carry essential context. Its lower entry price does not compensate for a migration that still sends you back to Evernote to follow your references.

3. Notion: best when the replacement should become a team wiki

Notion is a collaborative workspace built from pages and databases, making it the strongest choice here when the old notes need to become shared operating instructions. An agency can turn scattered onboarding notes into a navigable client-delivery wiki, with responsibilities and supporting documents together. The gain comes from restructuring knowledge for other people to use. Choose Notion when you want a maintained team system, not merely another place to put old files.

Best for: Small teams turning notes into shared processes.
Standout: Imported notebooks become pages, with notes organized as database items.
Pricing: Notion Plus starts at $10/seat/month on yearly billing.
Free trial: Free has unlimited individual pages and blocks, limited blocks for multiple members, and a 5 MB file-upload limit; AI is offered as a trial on Free and Plus.

The official Evernote import instructions describe connecting your Evernote account through Settings > Import > Third party imports > Evernote, authorizing access, and selecting notebooks. They do not describe uploading an ENEX file through that workflow. Keep an ENEX backup, but do not delete your source account expecting it to be the documented input for Notion’s importer.

Notion says the importer is reliable up to approximately 5,000 notes, warns that larger imports may fail, and excludes Evernote Teams. Images may need cleanup, dates may differ, and rate limits can cause long pauses. These caveats matter to a team trying to preserve the record of how a process changed, not just its latest text.

A useful migration would start with a private archive area. Have the owner of each process check the relevant notes before moving approved instructions into the shared wiki. If a PDF is evidence for a decision, open the attachment and check that the surrounding note still explains it. Importing a document and making it trustworthy for colleagues are separate jobs.

The free plan’s file limit is a practical hurdle for scanned briefs. Its generous individual page allowance should not be read as unlimited file storage or an unrestricted multi-member workspace. For the full plan decision, use the separate Notion pricing guide.

4. Obsidian: best for owning a local research library

Obsidian is a local note app that stores your writing as plain-text Markdown files and lets you connect notes through links. It suits a strategist whose research should remain readable outside a particular cloud service. The official Importer plugin provides an ENEX route, while its Web Clipper handles future capture. Choose Obsidian when control of the files is the reason for leaving.

Best for: Individual researchers and operators building durable linked notes.
Standout: Local files you can keep independently of a subscription.
Pricing: The app is free; optional Obsidian Sync starts at $4/user/month billed annually.
Free trial: The local app is free without a time-limited trial; paid Sync is optional.

The Evernote import guide directs you to install and enable the official Importer plugin, select Evernote (.enex) as the file format, choose the export and review the generated template before importing. A vault is simply the folder Obsidian uses for your notes. Start with a separate vault so an exploratory import does not mingle with active work.

The guide is unusually useful about organization. Evernote’s export does not retain tag hierarchy. Obsidian recommends renaming nested tags into slash-separated names before exporting when those relationships matter. Notebook stacks also require attention: the importer recognizes a naming pattern such as Stack1@@@NotebookA to recreate stack folders.

For a consultant grouping research by industry and client, this is a preparation task. Write down the intended folder and tag structure before export. Otherwise, a successful conversion may still leave you with a flat library that is tedious to navigate.

Future capture does not require returning to Evernote. The Obsidian Web Clipper saves pages and metadata into files available offline, with templates controlling how the captured material is organized. That is attractive if your routine is to turn a clipping into a linked research note. It is less attractive if you do not want to make decisions about files, templates or sync at all.

Local storage also means you need a backup plan. A folder on a laptop is under your control, but that alone does not protect it from deletion or device failure. Before moving your only working copy, decide where the backup lives and verify that attachments are included. For a fuller collaboration-versus-local-files decision, read Notion vs Obsidian.

5. Microsoft OneNote: best for starting fresh in a Microsoft workflow

Microsoft OneNote is a freeform digital notebook for typed notes, handwriting and web clips. It is a good destination for new project notes when your work already centers on Microsoft tools. It is a less straightforward recommendation for moving an established Evernote archive because Microsoft retired its official importer. Choose OneNote for the future workflow; do not assume that solves the historical migration.

Best for: Professionals who want a flexible page for writing and drawing.
Standout: Freeform note creation with web clipping and offline access.
Pricing: The app is free; optional Microsoft 365 Basic storage starts at $19.99/year for 100 GB.
Free trial: Free OneNote is available; a Microsoft account includes 5 GB of shared cloud storage.

Microsoft’s Evernote migration page explicitly says its legacy importer was retired in September 2022. That is the important answer to the ENEX question. This comparison does not treat a third-party converter as a current Microsoft-supported route.

If your current work is a small set of active projects, you may prefer to rebuild those notes manually and keep the old archive separately. That is an editorial recommendation for reducing scope, not an automated import feature. If the task is to carry over years of notebooks, tags, clips and PDFs together, start with a documented importer elsewhere on this list.

Evernote vs OneNote

OneNote’s free note creation and flexible canvas are compelling when you want to sketch a proposed workflow beside meeting notes. Migration is the counterweight. An operations lead can choose OneNote for next week’s meetings while retaining an export of last year’s records, but should not call that a completed archive transfer.

Storage needs its own check. Microsoft’s storage FAQ says the free 5 GB is shared across OneDrive files and photos, Outlook attachments and Microsoft 365 apps. It is not a dedicated allowance reserved for OneNote. Check the available space before filling notebooks with documents, and distinguish an optional storage upgrade from paying for the note app itself.

6. Zoho Notebook: best for visual capture with a clear import route

Zoho Notebook is a card-based note app with formats for text, checklists, audio and sketches. Its documented ENEX and account migration routes make it worth evaluating for a small business owner collecting mixed reference material. The tradeoff is that the free storage allowance is modest and Evernote tags do not transfer directly. Pick Zoho Notebook when visual capture matters and rebuilding tags is acceptable.

Best for: Individuals collecting varied material into visual notebooks.
Standout: ENEX import alongside cross-device capture and web clipping.
Pricing: Notebook Pro starts at $1.67/month billed annually ($19.99/year).
Free trial: Essential is free with 500 MB storage and device sync; a Pro trial is available on request.

Zoho’s Evernote migration page describes exporting ENEX and dragging the files into its migration workflow, or connecting the Evernote account. Its FAQ says notebooks, notes and attachments transfer, while tags are not directly migrated. A business owner using notebooks for clients may find that acceptable; someone using tags as the primary way to distinguish jobs, status and document types has more cleanup ahead.

Consider a service business with job photos, supplier documents and call notes. Notebook’s visual card approach can make that collection easier to browse. But if every record needs its old “awaiting approval” or “paid” tag to make sense, rebuild and check those labels before using the imported collection as an active work queue.

Essential allows 10 MB file uploads. Pro adds 100 GB storage, larger file uploads, advanced search including OCR, and PDF annotation. That distinction matters more than the appearance of the notebook covers: an existing PDF-heavy archive can outgrow the free allowance quickly. Decide whether you need to store original documents, annotate them, or merely link to a separate document system.

For the pilot, choose a notebook with an attachment and several meaningful tags. Confirm that the attachment opens and recreate the labels needed to find it later. If rebuilding that organization is too much work, evaluate Joplin before moving the rest of the archive.

7. Fabric: best for finding saved knowledge across formats

Fabric is an AI workspace for files, links and notes, with search based on meaning as well as the content of saved documents. It fits a growth lead who remembers the idea in a customer-research PDF but cannot remember its filename. Its browser extension also provides a capture path for future research. Choose Fabric when the missing capability is retrieval across your collection; verify the import separately before entrusting it with the only copy.

Best for: Marketers and researchers searching across saved references.
Standout: Semantic search, which retrieves by meaning rather than requiring the exact remembered keyword.
Pricing: Fabric Plus starts at $8/month billed annually ($96/year).
Free trial: The site advertises entry for $0; the pages checked do not specify a durable free plan’s allowances.

The Fabric Web Clipper captures text, images, pages and screenshots. For a campaign lead, the useful scenario is keeping customer-language excerpts, competitor references and briefing documents in the same searchable collection. Searching for the objection a customer raised can be more useful than guessing which folder holds the interview.

The migration evidence needs careful wording. Fabric’s official import guide lists Evernote as a supported source and points to the Imports screen. Its migration article describes connecting an Evernote account and bringing over notes, tags and attachments. That establishes a maker-stated migration option, but the guide does not specify an ENEX upload procedure, and the blog’s linked Evernote connection page returned a page-not-found response during this check.

If you only have ENEX files, confirm how to use them in the actual Imports screen before committing. If you still have account access, evaluate the connection with a representative notebook and verify attachments and retrieval. Neither an integration name nor an AI answer demonstrates that every historical note has transferred.

There is also a pricing-page inconsistency: the Plus card and comparison matrix list different file-upload allowances. No numeric Fabric upload limit is used here. Ask for the current limit that applies to your account if you store large PDFs. The published entry price is clear; the attachment allowance needs confirmation.

For a growth operator, the acceptance test should be practical: can you find a known customer statement, open the original source, and distinguish an approved brief from an older draft? The vendor describes the search capability; those checks establish whether it fits your material. If your primary need is recording meetings rather than migrating an archive, the separate AI note-taking apps comparison covers that decision.

Who should pick what?

For capture and clipping, start with what must survive. Choose Joplin for a notebook archive with tags and attachments; UpNote for simpler self-contained personal notes; Zoho Notebook when visual cards and mixed capture are worth rebuilding tags. A web clipper for tomorrow’s research does not tell you whether yesterday’s clipped pages converted correctly.

For a team wiki, choose Notion. The strongest reason to switch is to assign ownership to shared instructions and make them usable by colleagues. Import into a review area, then promote checked material. An unreviewed archive is not an operating manual.

For local ownership, choose Obsidian or Joplin. Obsidian’s local Markdown files suit linked research; Joplin is the first stop when familiar notebooks and documented ENEX preservation are the priority. Local copies still need backups, and encryption must be evaluated for the sync arrangement you actually use.

For AI search across saved material, evaluate Fabric. Its fit is strongest when retrieval has become the bottleneck. Keep the archive backup and verify the migration route independently of the search demonstration.

Evernote alternatives free: the allowance that matters

Joplin and Obsidian let you start with a free local app. OneNote offers free note creation but shares its cloud storage allowance with other Microsoft content. Notion’s individual free workspace is generous for writing, while its file limit matters for PDFs. Zoho Notebook’s free storage is modest; UpNote’s free note count is best treated as an evaluation space for an existing archive.

The practical rule is to compare the size and shape of your library with the allowance, not just look for a Free badge. A text-heavy research collection and a folder of scanned contracts create different costs.

Evernote open source alternatives: start with Joplin

Joplin is the open-source choice in this shortlist, with a documented ENEX path and a choice of sync services. For a solo operator, that makes it a strong way to separate the note app decision from the cloud provider decision. Choose the service after checking attachment size, backup needs and how you will access notes on the move.

Move the archive before retiring the workflow

Exporting, importing and being able to work are different milestones. The migration is complete when you can retrieve the material you need and use it in context, not when an importer says it has finished.

The Evernote export instructions require the Mac or Windows desktop app, not Evernote Web. Free users can export. You can export up to 100 selected notes or an entire notebook, so notebook-by-notebook export avoids treating the selected-note limit as an archive limit.

Keep ENEX copies for compatible importers and consider an HTML copy for inspection outside a note app. Select the attributes you need, such as tags, created dates and author. Name exports so you can identify their source notebooks later.

For the pilot, choose material that represents the awkward cases: a long clipped page, a scan, an attached PDF, a note with tags, and a note linking to another note. If those are central to your work, they belong in the check even when the rest of the archive is ordinary text.

Inspect three outcomes separately:

• Content: The body and original attachments open; important formatting remains understandable.
• Context: Tags, dates, notebook groupings and note links still support your workflow, or you have a documented replacement for them.
• Retrieval: You can find a known phrase or document on the devices you use. Recognizing a scan’s text is a separate capability from storing its image.

Only after that should you switch daily capture to the new app. Keep the original exports, record any exceptions, and make it clear which app is the active source of new notes. Otherwise, parallel editing creates a second migration problem.

How these were picked

The shortlist prioritizes the jobs Evernote often combines: capture, an archive of documents, shared knowledge and retrieval. Each product was compared against its maker’s current pricing and migration pages, with special attention to ENEX versus account-based import, free-plan constraints and attachment handling. No product was installed or exercised for this comparison.

Joplin leads because the reader already has an archive to move and its documentation is explicit about both preserved content and losses. The other placements describe distinct fits, not a claim that every user should follow the same ranking. Fabric earns a place for cross-format retrieval; OneNote earns one for future note-taking despite its migration gap.

The proposed pilot is deliberately small in scope but demanding in content. A clean text note is easy to compare. A linked note with an attached scan tells you far more about whether the replacement will support the work.

The ones to avoid

Avoid OneNote as an assumed automatic ENEX destination. Its free app can be a good choice; its retired official importer is a separate fact. Choose it with a plan for the old archive.

Avoid UpNote for a link-dependent archive unless you accept repairs. Its guide says internal links keep opening Evernote. That can prevent a clean exit even when the visible notes arrive.

Avoid Notion as an undocumented Evernote Teams migration. Its importer explicitly excludes that source. Also avoid rebuilding your whole workspace merely because databases are available: every new property and view should help someone find or maintain useful knowledge.

Avoid treating Fabric’s AI search as migration proof. Verify the source connection, the content that arrives and the applicable file allowance before making it your archive’s only home.

These are wrong-fit warnings, not blanket dismissals. The best replacement is the one whose limits you can accept before you move.

Frequently asked questions

What was the downfall of Evernote?

There is no single verified event that explains every user’s decision to leave. For this buying decision, focus on the current constraints: Free limits note creation and connected devices, while paid plans have their own allowances. Check which limit affects your work before choosing a replacement.

What is the best Evernote replacement in 2026?

Joplin is the starting recommendation for an existing archive because its ENEX documentation covers notes, tags and attachments and names the conversion risks. Notion is the stronger fit for a team wiki, Obsidian for local files, and Fabric for AI retrieval across saved material.

Is Evernote still relevant in 2026?

Yes, if its current capture, search and organization tools fit your work and account limits. A migration has costs in checking and repairing information. Stay if the alternative does not solve a concrete problem you have.

Is there a free version of Evernote anymore?

Yes. Evernote Free currently allows 50 notes, 1 notebook and 1 connected device. Free users can also export their content through the desktop app.

What is the best replacement for Evernote?

For moving an established personal archive, start with Joplin. For simple notes, compare UpNote; for shared instructions, Notion; for a local research library, Obsidian. The importer and your largest attachments can change the answer.

Will I lose my notes if I cancel Evernote?

Evernote’s cancellation policy says existing content remains accessible after the account reverts to Free. You can view, edit, export and delete existing notes, but an account above the free note limit cannot create new notes. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing cycle.

How much will Evernote cost in 2026?

The entry paid individual plan checked for this comparison is Starter at $8.25/month billed annually, or $99/year. That is the published annual offer, not a promise about an existing subscriber’s renewal or a monthly-billing rate.

What has happened to Evernote?

The current individual paid lineup lists Starter and Advanced. If you are comparing an older subscription, match your account’s renewal and allowances against today’s plan page before deciding whether to stay. Older plan names and third-party comparisons are not reliable substitutes for that check.

Is paying for Evernote worth it?

It can be worth keeping if your archive already works, the plan fits your needs and migrating would require extensive repair. Switch when a replacement solves a specific problem: local ownership, shared wiki maintenance, simpler personal notes or better retrieval across saved material.

Use the AI business workflow audit checklist to decide which information your business needs to capture, maintain and retrieve before committing to the new workspace.