Evernote — The veteran capture-and-find notebook, rebuilt around AI features and a much steeper price ladder.
What it is
Evernote is a cross-platform note-taking service built around capture, search and organization: web clipping, document scanning, tasks, a calendar layer and, since the relaunch, an AI assistant that can search and rewrite your notes.
Editor's review
Long-form introduction by the BetterPicker editors · checked against the official site · Oct 26, 2026
Evernote is the oldest famous name in note-taking, and 2025 made it a case study in second acts. The review landscape is now genuinely split: Carl Pullein's video on almost quitting and then staying (42,000 views) sits next to Productive Tech's account of switching away after years (33,000 views), while Tool Finder's full walkthrough (75,000 views) treats it as the reference app it still is. The pitch has not changed: capture everything, find it fast. What changed is the packaging. The current plans page leads with AI - an assistant chat over your notes, semantic search, transcription for meetings - and a notable MCP integration that lets Claude or ChatGPT read your notebooks as context. Pricing is the other headline: a nearly symbolic free tier, Starter at $8.25 a month billed yearly ($99) and Advanced at $20.83 billed yearly ($249.99), with team seats from $10 and a 40% student discount on the top individual plan.
What it does well
Capture and search remain the product: the web clipper, document scanning and Boolean search are still the combination lifers stay for. Add tasks with reminders, the calendar layer and offline notes, and the comparison table reads like the reason veterans never left.
Sync that stays out of the way: native apps for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and web keep every device current, Advanced removes the device cap entirely, and integrations for Gmail, Outlook and Slack pull context in from where work already happens.
The AI layer is more than a sticker: semantic search and the assistant operate over your own archive rather than the open internet, and the MCP hook means outside AI tools can pull from your notebooks as context - a combination almost no rival offers.
Who it's for
People with years of notes already in it, professionals whose vault is reference material rather than a workspace, and teams that want shared spaces with an admin console. Students get 40% off a year of Advanced, which softens the sticker. If your notes are mostly prose, clippings and PDFs you need to retrieve years later, the search-first design still earns its keep every single week.
Where it falls short
The free tier is a demo: 50 notes, one notebook, one device. None The Wiser's free-apps roundup (118,000 views) treats free alternatives as the default path now, and the video title says the quiet part out loud.
The price ladder is steep: $99 a year for 1,000 notes and three devices reads harsh next to rivals whose free tiers are real workspaces, and the steady stream of switch videos shows exactly where that friction lands for long-time users.
Leaving is a chore: switchers describe the same migration problem - getting years of proprietary-format notes out intact - which is precisely the lock-in the new pricing leans on.
Specs at a glance
Facts from the official site · not editorial opinion
| Latest version | Rolling web-first releases; apps for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and web |
|---|---|
| Price | Free (50 notes, 1 notebook, 1 device); Starter $8.25/mo billed yearly ($99/yr); Advanced $20.83/mo billed yearly ($249.99/yr); teams from $10/seat/mo |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, web, Windows, Mac |
| Open source | No - closed source, proprietary note storage |
| Core capability | Capture, clipping, scanning, Boolean search, tasks and calendar with AI assistant over your archive |
| Integrations | Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Google Drive, MCP for external AI tools |
| Best for | Long-time users and reference-heavy professionals who value search over workspace building |
Frequently asked questions
▸Is Evernote still free?
There is a free plan, but it is capped at 50 notes, one notebook and one device with 1GB of monthly uploads. Real use starts at Starter ($8.25/mo billed yearly).
▸How much is Evernote per year?
Starter is $99 per year ($8.25/mo equivalent) and Advanced is $249.99 per year ($20.83/mo equivalent). Monthly billing exists but costs more; students get 40% off a year of Advanced.
▸Is Evernote worth it in 2026?
If your archive already lives there and you rely on its search, yes. If you are starting fresh, reviewers increasingly point to free-first alternatives - the split in recent review videos reflects exactly that choice.
▸Can AI tools read my Evernote notes?
Yes. Evernote supports the MCP standard, so MCP-compatible tools such as Claude or ChatGPT can access your notes as context, and the built-in assistant can search and rewrite them.
Video reviews
4 review videos aggregated · praise and criticism included alike · click through to the original video
![[2025] Top 5 FREE Note Taking Apps (Ditch Evernote!) review video thumbnail](/thumbs/D-CU1yKr6WM.jpg)
Channels that covered it
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