Evernote alternatives: where to take your notes, and how

Why leave Evernote

Evernote is still complete: web clipping, search inside images and PDFs, tasks, calendar. But the free plan is limited to 50 notes, one notebook and one synced device, and paid plans cost $99 (Starter) or $249.99 (Advanced) a year. Notes live in Evernote’s cloud, without end-to-end encryption.

The five alternatives at a glance

• Joplin: free and open source, end-to-end encrypted sync, built-in ENEX import.
• Obsidian: free, Markdown files on your disk, Evernote import through the official Importer plugin.
• Notesnook: open source, end-to-end encrypted, imports from Evernote; from €1.76/mo for more storage.
• Standard Notes: end-to-end encrypted, owned by Proton; ENEX import, but without attachments.
• nTilia: offline field notes, on-device transcription, published journal; Markdown import.

Joplin: the closest to Evernote

Joplin feels like Evernote: notebooks, tags, web clipping, apps on every system. Its ENEX import brings over notes, tags, attachments and metadata (author, location); text is converted to Markdown, and complex formatting can be imported as HTML.

• Pros: free, open source, end-to-end encrypted sync (Joplin Cloud from €2.99/mo, or Dropbox, OneDrive…).
• Cons: plainer interface; Evernote colors and fonts are lost when importing as Markdown.

Obsidian: your notes as files

Obsidian keeps each note as a Markdown file on your disk. The official Importer plugin converts .enex files, puts attachments next to the notes and recreates notebook stacks as folders.

• Pros: free, even for work; links between notes, graph view, thousands of plugins.
• Cons: sync is paid (Obsidian Sync from $4/mo billed yearly) or up to you; files are unencrypted on disk.

Notesnook: private and affordable

Notesnook end-to-end encrypts everything, publishes its code (apps and server) and imports straight from Evernote. A second-password vault, app lock and web clipper are included.

• Pros: encryption, open source, low prices (Essential from €1.76/mo billed yearly).
• Cons: free plan limited to 50 MB of uploads a month; no audio transcription.

Standard Notes: security first

Standard Notes, owned by Proton, end-to-end encrypts notes from the free plan and has been audited. Its import tool reads ENEX files.

• Pros: security reputation, apps on every system.
• Cons: the import leaves attachments behind and skips notes over 3 MB; plain text on Free, Markdown from $90/yr.

nTilia: if your notes come from the field

nTilia is not another Evernote: it is a notes app for reporting and field research. Missions per trip, photo, audio and place inside the note, on-device Whisper transcription, Travel Mode before a checkpoint, a journal published in French and English.

• Pros: everything works offline; interviews transcribed without sending the audio; a bilingual citable journal and a Zenodo deposit with a DOI (Pro), which no other alternative on this list offers.
• Cons: no direct ENEX import — convert your .enex files to Markdown with Joplin or Obsidian’s Importer first, then import the .md files; no web clipper; sync not end-to-end encrypted, so the published journal stays readable (the vault encrypts what stays on the device).

How to choose

1. You want to keep everything as is

   Joplin, whose ENEX import keeps attachments and metadata.

2. Your notes are confidential

   Notesnook or Standard Notes, end-to-end encrypted; nTilia if the threat is a search of your phone.

3. You want files you own

   Obsidian, or nTilia, which exports each Mission as a ZIP of Markdown files.

4. You work in the field

   nTilia, to record, transcribe and publish in one place.