Following its launch in 2008, Evernote became a go-to resource for students, writers, researchers, and pretty much anyone who sought a sleek and efficient note-taking experience.

But now it’s 2022, and there are more apps and tools for taking notes than ever before. So you may wonder, is Evernote still relevant and worth trying?

In this post, we’ll explore Evernote’s current features and pricing so you can decide whether this tool is right for you.

Evernote Review

Let’s take a look at Evernote’s top features, functions, and pricing.

Taking Notes with Evernote

Evernote’s primary strength is in its note-taking features and organization. As a default, Evernote organizes your notes into Notes (individual files), which can be organized into thematic Notebooks, which can then be combined to create Notebook Stacks.

You can use Evernote as a web, desktop, or mobile application, making it easy to access from multiple devices.

Depending on their plan, users can enjoy to varying extents the following features:

• Synch notes across multiple devices
• Offline access to documents
• Web Clipper browser extension (more on that below)
• Screenshot annotations
• Multiple templates (To-Do lists, grocery lists, daily reflections, etc.)
• Scan in handwritten notes
• Audio note recording capability
• Scan important documents
• Cross-platform integration

Web Clipping

Evernote’s Web Clipper is an extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. It allows you to quickly save (or “clip”) text, images, and entire webpages.

You can specify whether you want to save the full page as it is, or a simplified version that removes images, special formatting, and ads from the page.

This tool offers a far more efficient alternative to bookmarking countless pages when you’re researching for an article or other project.

Once you’ve clipped an item, you can categorize it (just as you can for your regular notes), then even annotate it with your own comments, highlight text, or share it with a colleague.

While you can organize your clippings as you see fit, Evernote does a pretty good job guessing where they should go, and will suggest Notebooks where you can store the clips, which could save you some time.

Search Function

One of the most convenient features of Evernote has always been the ability to search all types of notes, whether they’re typed, handwritten, web clippings, or other scanned documents.

So if you left your laptop at home and wrote yesterday’s lecture notes by hand, no worries—there’s no need to type them up. You can simply add them to the right notebook with all your other notes! You can even upload and search pictures of whiteboards or sticky notes.

You can also search for notes by the date they were created, or the location where you created it.

Collaboration

One way that Evernote has tried to support collaboration between teams is through its Work Chat feature.

You’ll find an instant messaging window right in your Evernote workspace, which allows you to chat and collaborate with anyone who has an Evernote account (even free Basic members).

However, since more people started working remotely during the pandemic, team communication apps like Slack have risen in popularity.

Evernote’s apparent answer to Slack and other similar apps is Spaces, which looks, works, and feels a lot like Slack.

While users can easily share everything within their work “spaces,” there are some areas where the feature falls flat.

For example, there’s no way for users to comment on Notes, and two people cannot edit a Note at the same time. These are some basic features you’d expect from a workplace collaboration tool today.

Evernote Pricing Plans

Below is a summary of Evernote’s different pricing plans and the features you can enjoy with each:

Evernote Free

• Sync up to 2 devices
• 60 MB monthly uploads
• 25 MB max. note size
• Get organized with Home dashboard and 3 widgets
• Create in-note tasks
• Search notes and tags
• Clip web pages
• Attach PDFs, receipts, files, photos, images, and documents

Evernote Personal ($7.99/month)

Everything from the free plan, plus:

• Sync unlimited devices
• 10 GB monthly uploads
• 200 MB max. note size
• Customize Home dashboard and access extra widgets
• Connect primary Google Calendar account
• Add due dates, reminders, and notifications to your tasks
• Offline access on mobile and desktop
• Search text inside images, docs, and PDFs
• Create custom templates
• Mark up images and PDFs

Evernote Professional ($9.99/month)

Everything from the personal plan, plus:

• 20 GB monthly uploads
• Access to all widgets and customization for Home
• Connect personal and workplace Google Calendar accounts
• Create and assign tasks to others, and track their progress
• Use Boolean terms to refine search results
• Find content by location with geographic search
• Export notebooks as PDF files
• Integrate with Slack, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, and others

Is Evernote Worth It?

Evernote’s Free plan is admittedly pretty limited, so it’s best if you’re looking for a bare-bones note-taking app and don’t require a lot of storage.

The Personal Plan will probably suffice for most users, and offers more in the way of features (like the ability to search text in images, PDFs, and other documents, such as business cards).

Still, the Personal Plan is $7.99/month, which comes out to just under $100/year, so you should think carefully about how much you’ll actually use and need Evernote if you’re considering paying for this plan.

If you do take a lot of notes, do heavy research, and want an easy system for organizing your notes in one place and collecting information efficiently, then Evernote’s Personal plan can definitely be worth the investment.

What Is Better Than Evernote?

Evernote was one of the first major note-taking apps to hit the market back in 2008, and a lot has changed since then, with many more competitors entering the arena.

They’ve since updated their pricing and features several times to stay in the game, and the platform remains a popular resource for over 250 million users.

Still, there are alternatives that some users may find more helpful and valuable for the price. For example, Microsoft’s OneNote offers a free plan with 5 GB of space (whereas Evernote only offers 60 MB for free). OneNote’s free version also does some of the things that Evernote charges for, like extracting text from images.

Still, if you’re looking primarily for a tool that will help you capture, save, and organize content from around the web, Evernote is one of the best resources out there, making it especially appealing to researchers.

More Note-Taking Help

Evernote can definitely help make research and note-taking easier and more efficient, but it’s not the only tool out there.

Check out our list of the best novel-writing software (which also includes Evernote), plus writing extensions for Chrome that will also make your life easier.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

 

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• List of 100+ Author Tools: The Best Tools for Writing, Publishing, and Marketing Your Book
• How to Take Notes: The Ultimate Guide to Efficiency