Evernote alternatives for people who want to leave (2026)

The short answer

• To move a whole account and keep its shape, choose LuniNote. Notebooks, stacks, nested tags and saved searches arrive, and a report checks every note.
• For open source with apps on every phone and computer, choose Joplin. It also has end-to-end encryption.
• For plain files on your own computer, choose Obsidian. Notes are Markdown files, and community plugins extend it.
• For a low price, choose UpNote. Premium is $1.99 a month, or $39.99 once.
• If you only use Apple devices, look at Apple Notes. It is free and searches scans and handwriting.
• For notes and team projects in one place, choose Notion.
• For free end-to-end encryption, choose Notesnook.

Last checked: 23 October 2026. We make LuniNote, so read this as coming from the maker. Every fact about another app comes from that app’s own help or price pages, listed under Sources.

What decides whether a move works

Most lists rank note apps on looks and features. When you leave Evernote, five other questions decide whether the move works:

1. Does everything arrive? That means notes, attachments, dates, and the text Evernote read from your scans. And can you check that nothing is missing?
2. Does your organization survive? Notebooks, stacks and nested tags. An .enex file keeps tag names, but no stacks and no tag nesting (what moves and what doesn’t).
3. Can you still find things? Search inside PDFs and scanned pages, and search words like tag: and notebook:.
4. What does it cost?
5. Can you leave again? Look for an export of the whole account in a format other apps read.

Seven alternatives side by side

Moving and finding

Price, devices and openness

LuniNote: built for leaving Evernote

LuniNote is a notes app for people leaving Evernote. It runs in your browser, and it is open source.

Moving. The LuniNote browser extension moves a whole Evernote account. Notebooks, stacks, nested tags and saved searches arrive. So do attachments, the text Evernote read from your scans, dates, author, source address, location and reminders. Links between notes are re-linked across the whole move. The extension only reads from Evernote and never changes anything there.

The report. After the move, the report lists every notebook with three counts: what Evernote listed, what is in LuniNote, and what didn’t come over. Every attachment is checked against Evernote’s own fingerprint of the file.

Without the extension, you can import .enex files. Each file becomes a notebook, and a file named Stack@@@Notebook.enex rebuilds its stack. Tags arrive without their nesting, because the file doesn’t hold it.

It works the way you know. Notebooks, stacks, nested tags, shortcuts and saved searches are all there, in three panes with List, Snippet and Card views. Search understands Evernote’s search syntax: tag:, notebook:, intitle:, created:, “exact phrase” and more. It also reads PDFs, scanned pages, Office files and images on our own server.

Nothing is lost later. Every change to a note is kept in its history, and the Trash is never emptied for you. Settings exports the whole account at any time, as ENEX, web pages, Markdown or a complete archive.

Price. Hosted LuniNote is free during the open beta, with no card. The app is AGPL-3.0, and you can run it on your own server with one Docker Compose file.

In development: phone and desktop apps, and Firefox support. Today it’s stable in Chrome-based browsers such as Chrome, Edge and Brave. Not yet: end-to-end encryption.

See Import from Evernote for the move step by step, or try the demo.

Joplin: open source on every device

Joplin has been developed in the open since 2017. It has apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android, and optional end-to-end encryption. You can sync through Joplin Cloud, your own Joplin Server, or a service such as Dropbox, OneDrive or Nextcloud. Its desktop app reads text in images and PDFs, and Joplin’s docs say this is on by default.

From Evernote, Joplin imports .enex files with notebooks, tags, attachments and dates. Its docs say Evernote’s scan text is not kept; Joplin reads the images again if its own text reading is on. Colors, font sizes and fonts are not imported. Links between notes are matched by note title. Tags have no nesting: a request for it is still open on GitHub.

Price. The apps are free. Joplin Cloud starts at €2.99 a month, or €2.40 a month paid yearly, with 2 GB.

The full comparison: LuniNote vs Joplin.

Obsidian: plain files on your computer

Obsidian keeps notes as Markdown files in a folder you own, so any text editor can open them. It is free for any use, including work. A large set of community plugins extends it, and its official web clipper works in most browsers. Obsidian Sync is end-to-end encrypted by default.

From Evernote, Obsidian’s free Importer plugin reads .enex files. Its help page says Evernote’s export doesn’t keep the tag hierarchy. To keep it, you rename each child tag to Parent/Child in Evernote before exporting. To keep stacks, you name each file Stack@@@Notebook.

Obsidian has no built-in way to search text in scans. Its help says it “only searches the contents of notes and canvases”. Community plugins add it; the best known one is marked as unmaintained by its author. Obsidian is not open source, as its own release repository states.

Price. The app is free. Sync is $4 a month paid yearly, or $5 paid monthly.

The full comparison: LuniNote vs Obsidian.

UpNote: a low price

UpNote has a clean editor, notebooks with sub-notebooks, and saved searches. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android, and works offline.

From Evernote, importing is a Premium feature. Each file becomes a notebook, and tags become hashtags or notebooks. UpNote’s help says links between notes keep opening Evernote, and text colors are removed by default. Notes with attachments over 20 MB, or over 300,000 characters, may not import. Its help pages don’t say whether search reads scans or PDFs.

Price. Free up to 50 notes. Premium is $1.99 a month or $39.99 for a lifetime licence.

Notion: notes and projects together

Notion mixes notes, databases and shared team pages in one workspace, on the web and in apps.

From Evernote, Notion connects to your Evernote account. Notebooks become pages and notes become database items. Notion’s help says the import is “reliable up to ~5,000 notes” and that dates may look wrong afterwards. Notion has no notebooks, stacks or tags in Evernote’s sense.

Price. There is a free plan. Plus is $10 per seat a month on Notion’s price page.

Apple Notes: free on Apple devices

Apple Notes comes with every Mac, iPhone and iPad. Apple says its search finds text in scanned documents, things inside images, handwriting and PDFs. It has nested folders and Smart Folders.

From Evernote, a Mac imports .enex files through File, then Import to Notes. Apple says attachments or features Notes doesn’t support are not imported. Tags come along on macOS 13 or later. Outside Apple devices, you only have iCloud.com.

Notesnook: free encryption

Notesnook encrypts every note end to end by default. Its free plan has unlimited notes and devices, and its apps and sync server are open source.

From Evernote, Notesnook’s importer runs on your own device. It brings notebooks, tags, attachments, web clips and reminders. Links between notes work when the link text matches the note’s title. Notesnook’s own comparison says it doesn’t search inside images and PDFs. The free plan allows 50 MB of new attachments a month.

Price. Free, or Essential at $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year.

Other apps people name

• Microsoft OneNote is part of Microsoft 365, and it searches handwriting and text in pictures. We could not confirm a working Evernote importer on Microsoft’s pages.
• Standard Notes is open source and end-to-end encrypted. Its importer can’t process notes larger than 3 MB.
• Bear runs only on Mac, iPhone and iPad, and has nested tags. Its help says .enex files don’t carry your notebooks.
• Zoho Notebook can connect to your Evernote account. Its two help pages disagree about whether tags arrive.

For apps you can run on your own server, see open-source and self-hosted alternatives.

Before you move, whichever app you choose

1. Export each notebook from Evernote’s desktop app as a backup. The export guide has every step.
2. Write down how many notes each notebook holds, and your tag tree.
3. Move or import, then compare the counts and open your most complicated notes.
4. Keep your Evernote account until you’re sure. Cancel last.

Questions

What is the best alternative to Evernote?

It depends on what you need most. To move a whole account with its notebooks, stacks and nested tags, and check that every note arrived, LuniNote is built for that; we make it. Joplin is the best-known open-source choice, Obsidian suits people who want plain files, and UpNote is the low-cost one.

Is there a free alternative to Evernote?

Yes. LuniNote is free during its open beta, and you can run it on your own server for free. Joplin’s apps are free if you sync through your own service. Obsidian is free without its paid sync, Notesnook has a free plan with unlimited notes, and Apple Notes comes with Apple devices.

Which Evernote alternative keeps my notebooks, stacks and tags?

LuniNote’s extension moves all three, with the tag nesting. Other apps import .enex files, which hold tag names but no stacks and no nesting. Obsidian can rebuild both if you rename tags and files before exporting. Joplin keeps notebooks and tags, but tags have no nesting there.

Which Evernote alternatives import .enex files?

LuniNote, Joplin, Obsidian, UpNote, Apple Notes, Notesnook, Standard Notes and Bear all import .enex files. In UpNote it is a Premium feature, and Apple Notes does it on a Mac. Notion connects to your Evernote account instead.

Which Evernote alternative can search inside scans and PDFs?

LuniNote reads PDFs, scanned pages, Office files and images, and keeps the text Evernote had already read. Joplin reads images and PDFs in its desktop app. Apple Notes searches scans, images, handwriting and PDFs. Obsidian and Notesnook don’t have it built in.

Can I keep Evernote while I try another app?

Yes. Exporting or moving does not delete anything in Evernote, and LuniNote’s extension only reads from it. Keep your Evernote account until you have checked your notes in the new app, and cancel last.

Sources

All read on 23 October 2026. Prices change, so check the date at the top.

Joplin

• Import and export (Evernote import, scan text, formatting, links)
• Text recognition (OCR) and search
• Plans and prices, sync, end-to-end encryption
• Nested tags request, issue 375; licence and server licence

Obsidian

• Import from Evernote (tag hierarchy and stacks)
• Search, tags, Text Extractor plugin
• Pricing, Sync, obsidian-releases repository (“not open source”)

UpNote

• Import from Evernote, Premium FAQs, export, UpNote home and price

Notion

• Import data into Notion, pricing, export

Apple Notes

• Import notes into Notes on Mac, import tags on macOS 13 or later, search your notes

Notesnook

• Import from Evernote, Notesnook compared with Evernote, pricing, sync server

Other apps

• OneNote search, Standard Notes Evernote import, Bear: migrate from Evernote, Zoho Notebook migration help and Zoho’s Evernote page

LuniNote facts come from the app itself: see Features, Import from Evernote and the source code.