The short answer
- Choose LuniNote if you want your Evernote account to arrive as it was. Stacks, nested tags and saved searches come along, and a report checks every note. It keeps Evernote’s search syntax and the text Evernote read from your scans.
- Choose Joplin if you need phone apps today, or end-to-end encryption. Joplin runs on every phone and computer and stores notes on your devices.
Last checked: 23 October 2026. We make LuniNote, so read this as coming from the maker. Facts about Joplin come from Joplin’s own documentation and price page, listed under Sources.
Side by side
| LuniNote | Joplin | |
|---|---|---|
| Moving from Evernote | The extension moves the whole account, or you import .enex files | You import .enex files |
| Checking the result | A report, notebook by notebook. Every attachment is checked against Evernote’s own fingerprint. | Not described in Joplin’s docs |
| Notebooks and stacks | Both, as in Evernote | Notebooks inside notebooks. Stacks aren’t in .enex files. |
| Nested tags | Yes, and the extension brings the nesting | No: tags can’t be nested |
| Saved searches | Yes, and the extension brings them | Not described in Joplin’s docs |
| Text Evernote read from scans | Kept and searchable | Not kept. Joplin reads the images again if its own reading is on. |
| Reading scans and PDFs | PDFs including scanned pages, Office files, images | Images and PDFs, in the desktop app |
| Search | Evernote’s search syntax | Joplin’s own, with similar filters |
| Formatting | Rich text: colors, fonts, highlights, tables with merged cells | Markdown. Colors, font sizes and fonts aren’t imported. |
| Links between notes | Re-linked across the whole move | Matched by note title |
| Note history | Every change, with no time limit | A version every 10 minutes, kept 90 days by default |
| Runs on | Chrome-based browsers on a computer. Firefox, phone and desktop apps in development. | Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android |
| End-to-end encryption | No | Yes, optional |
| Web clipper | Chrome-based browsers. Firefox in development. | Chrome and Firefox, with the desktop app running |
| Price | Free during the open beta | Apps free. Joplin Cloud from €2.40 a month, paid yearly. |
| Open source | AGPL-3.0. Self-host with Docker Compose. | AGPL-3.0 apps. Joplin Server: personal use only. |
| Export | The whole account as ENEX, HTML, Markdown or JSON | JEX, Markdown, HTML, PDF |
Moving your notes
LuniNote has two ways in. The LuniNote browser extension moves a whole Evernote account without any files. Notebooks, stacks, nested tags and saved searches arrive, with attachments, dates, author, source address, location and reminders. It only reads from Evernote and changes nothing there. You can also import .enex files: each file becomes a notebook, and Stack@@@Notebook.enex rebuilds its stack.
Either way, you get a report. It lists every notebook with what Evernote listed, what is in LuniNote, and what didn’t come over. Attachments are checked against Evernote’s own fingerprint of each file.
Joplin imports .enex files from its File menu, one notebook per file. Its docs say notebooks, notes, tags, attachments and details such as author and location come along. They also list what doesn’t:
- the text Evernote read from scans, which Joplin reads again if its own reading is on;
- colors, font sizes and fonts, because Joplin stores notes as Markdown;
- links between notes, which Joplin matches by note title, “which mostly works, but not always”.
Joplin 3.7 (August 2026) improved links across notebooks. Tags arrive as names, without their nesting.
Finding things
LuniNote uses Evernote’s search syntax, so saved searches and habits carry over: tag:, notebook:, stack:, intitle:, created:, todo:, resource:, “exact phrase”, - to exclude, any: and more. It reads the text in PDFs (scanned pages too), Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, and images. The text Evernote had already read from your scans is kept, so old scans are searchable straight away.
Joplin has its own syntax with similar filters, such as tag:, notebook:, title:, created: and any:1. Its desktop app reads text in PNG and JPEG images and in PDFs, and the phone apps get the results through sync. It doesn’t read handwriting.
Working day to day
LuniNote keeps Evernote’s layout ideas: three panes, notebooks and stacks in the sidebar, List, Snippet and Card views, shortcuts, and about 45 keyboard shortcuts. Notes are rich text. Every change to a note is kept in its history, and the Trash is never emptied for you.
Joplin stores notes as Markdown. It has notebooks inside notebooks, flat tags, to-dos and plugins. Note history is kept for 90 days by default and shows on the desktop app.
Where Joplin fits better
- Phones. Joplin has apps for iPhone and Android. LuniNote’s phone apps are in development.
- End-to-end encryption. Joplin can encrypt notes so that the sync service can’t read them. LuniNote’s server reads your files, which is how it searches inside them.
- Your own storage. Joplin keeps notes on your devices and syncs through a service you choose, with no Joplin server needed.
Price and open source
LuniNote is free during the open beta, with no card. Paid plans come later; prices aren’t set. The app is open source (AGPL-3.0), and you can run it on your own server with one Docker Compose file. The hosted version adds the extension that moves a whole account.
Joplin’s apps are free. Joplin Cloud costs €2.99 a month, or €2.40 a month paid yearly, for 2 GB; Pro has 30 GB for €4.79 a month paid yearly. The apps are AGPL-3.0. Joplin Server’s own licence allows personal, non-commercial use.
Questions
Is Joplin a good alternative to Evernote?
For many people, yes. It is open source, has apps on every phone and computer, and imports .enex files with notebooks, tags and attachments. It doesn’t keep tag nesting, stacks, Evernote’s scan text, or text colors and fonts. If keeping your account as it was matters most, LuniNote is built for that.
Does Joplin keep my Evernote notebooks, tags and stacks?
Notebooks and tags, yes: each .enex file becomes a notebook, and tag names come along. Tags lose their nesting, because Joplin’s tags can’t be nested. Stacks aren’t in an .enex file, so they don’t arrive. LuniNote’s extension moves all three from your account.
Does Joplin read text in scans and PDFs?
Yes. Joplin’s desktop app reads text in PNG and JPEG images and in PDFs, and its docs say this is on by default. It doesn’t read handwriting. It doesn’t keep the text Evernote had already read; it reads the images again. LuniNote keeps Evernote’s text and also reads PDFs, Office files and images itself.
How much does Joplin cost?
The Joplin apps are free, and you can sync through your own Nextcloud, WebDAV, S3, Dropbox or OneDrive. Joplin Cloud costs €2.99 a month, or €2.40 a month paid yearly, for 2 GB. LuniNote is free during its open beta.
Joplin or Obsidian for Evernote users?
Joplin is closer to Evernote. It has notebooks, its .enex import keeps notebooks and tags, and it reads scans. Obsidian works on a folder of Markdown files, and keeping stacks and nested tags needs renaming before you export. Both are good apps; LuniNote is closer to Evernote than either.
Can I use LuniNote on my phone?
Phone and desktop apps are in development. Today LuniNote is stable in Chrome-based browsers on a computer, such as Chrome, Edge and Brave. Joplin has apps for iPhone and Android today.
Sources
All read on 23 October 2026.
Joplin
- Import and export (Evernote import, what isn’t kept)
- Joplin 3.7 release notes (links across notebooks)
- Text recognition and search syntax
- Note history, web clipper
- Sync targets and end-to-end encryption
- Plans and prices
- Nested tags request, issue 375
- Licence and Joplin Server licence
LuniNote: Features, Import from Evernote, Pricing and the source code.