Top Free Alternatives to Evernote

Stop paying expensive subscriptions for Workspace & Notes tools. Discover the best free and open-source replacements for Evernote.

Why switch from Evernote?

Evernote's free tier has restricted users to a maximum of 50 notes, forcing them to upgrade to expensive subscription plans. Open-source markdown notebooks let you sync infinite notes via WebDAV, Dropbox, or self-hosted systems.

Joplin

Free / Open Source
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An open-source note-taking and to-do application with synchronization capabilities.

Key Features

  • Markdown format
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Firefox/Chrome web clipper
  • To-do management

Pros

  • + Synchronizes with Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, or WebDAV
  • + Very mature desktop and mobile applications
  • + Supports tags, search, and plugins

Cons

  • - UI is functional but not as modern as Notion
  • - Collaborative editing is not native out-of-the-box

Notesnook

Free / Open Source
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A fully open source & end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote.

Key Features

  • 100% data control
  • Self-hostable
  • No vendor lock-in
  • Community-driven

Pros

  • + Ownership of your data
  • + Flexible and customisable
  • + Cost-effective

Cons

  • - Requires server setup
  • - Smaller commercial support

Trilium.cc

Free / Open Source
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Personal knowledge base

Key Features

  • 100% data control
  • Self-hostable
  • No vendor lock-in
  • Community-driven

Pros

  • + Ownership of your data
  • + Flexible and customisable
  • + Cost-effective

Cons

  • - Requires server setup
  • - Smaller commercial support