For over a decade, Evernote was not just a note-taking app; it was the digital brain. With its iconic elephant logo, it pioneered the idea of capturing everything—ideas, articles, photos, receipts—and making it accessible everywhere.1 It was the undisputed king, a titan that defined a category.
But the digital landscape changed. A new generation of flexible, dynamic tools like Notion and Obsidian emerged, capturing the hearts of users with promises of all-in-one workspaces and networked thought. Evernote, once the innovator, began to feel slow and dated.
Following its acquisition by Bending Spoons, however, Evernote has undergone a massive overhaul, promising faster performance and a host of modern features.2 This prompted us to ask a critical question: Can the original king reclaim its throne?
We decided to dive back in. After months of using the new Evernote for everything from meeting notes to web clipping, this is our definitive Evernote review. We’re here to answer one question: In the modern age, can Evernote still compete?
Table of Contents
Quick Verdict
| Factor | Layer Signal’s Assessment |
| Best For | A rock-solid digital filing cabinet, heavy web research, and straightforward note organization. |
| Core Strength | Unmatched web clipper, powerful search (including in PDFs), and flawless cross-device sync. |
| Where it Lags | Lacks the all-in-one workspace flexibility of Notion and the networked-thought capabilities of Obsidian. |
| Pricing | The free plan is now very limited; a paid plan is essential for any serious user. |
| The Signal Score | 7 / 10 (A reliable and powerful tool that has successfully modernized, but is no longer the market innovator.) |
The Deep Dive: Evernote in the Modern Era
To fairly assess Evernote today, we need to analyze its classic strengths, its new features, and where it fits in the current competitive landscape.
Layer 1: The Core Pillars – What Evernote Still Does Best
In our testing, we found that Evernote’s original strengths have been refined and remain best-in-class.
- The Web Clipper: Let’s be clear: Evernote’s browser extension is still the best web clipper on the market, period. It captures articles, simplified ad-free versions, full pages, or just bookmarks with unmatched reliability and formatting.3 For anyone who does heavy online research, this feature alone is a powerful reason to stick with Evernote.
- Rock-Solid Sync & Reliability: While newer apps can sometimes feel buggy, Evernote is a fortress. Its sync across desktop, web, and mobile is fast, flawless, and utterly dependable. When you capture a note on your phone, you have absolute confidence it will be on your laptop when you open it. This reliability is a core, if unglamorous, strength.
- Powerful Search: Evernote’s search capabilities are formidable. It can find text inside PDFs, Office documents, and even images containing handwritten notes (a premium feature).4 For users with thousands of notes, this deep-search functionality is a superpower that many prettier, more minimalist apps simply cannot match.
Layer 2: The New Features – A Push for Modernization
The new Evernote is not just a faster version of the old one. It’s packed with new features designed to compete directly with modern apps.
- Integrated Tasks: You can now create tasks with due dates and reminders directly within your notes.5 We found this excellent for turning meeting minutes into actionable to-do lists. While it won’t replace a dedicated task manager like Todoist, it’s a powerful addition for contextual, note-based tasks.
- Calendar Integration: You can link your Google Calendar to create and link notes directly to calendar events.6 This is perfect for organizing meeting agendas and notes, ensuring they are always connected to the event they belong to.
- Backlinks: In a direct response to tools like Obsidian, Evernote now supports backlinks.7 You can easily create bi-directional links between notes by typing
[[and the note title. While it lacks the visual “graph view” of its competitors, it’s a solid implementation for creating a personal wiki.
Layer 3: Where Evernote Falls Short
Despite its modernization, Evernote is not trying to be an all-in-one workspace, and this is where it differs from its main competitors.
- vs. Notion: Evernote is not a workspace builder. It lacks Notion’s flexible databases, which can be used to create custom project managers, CRMs, and dashboards.8 Evernote is a structured digital filing cabinet; Notion is a box of digital LEGOs.
- vs. Obsidian: Evernote is a cloud-based service.9 It doesn’t offer the local-first, plain-text file ownership that privacy-focused users of Obsidian cherish. While Evernote has backlinks, its implementation isn’t as central to the experience as Obsidian’s “networked thought” philosophy.
Evernote Pricing
Evernote’s pricing model has shifted significantly. The free plan is now more of a trial, with tight restrictions on uploads and a limit of two devices.
- Personal ($14.99/month): This is the true starting point for any serious user. It unlocks unlimited devices, offline access, calendar and task integration, and larger note sizes.
- Professional ($17.99/month): This plan is for power users, adding the powerful PDF and document search, business card scanning, and higher upload limits.10
The Final Signal: Our Expert Verdict
So, can Evernote still compete? Yes, but its role has changed.
Evernote has successfully modernized itself from a dated application into a highly reliable, fast, and feature-rich digital filing cabinet. It is no longer the innovative, category-defining product it once was, but it has wisely chosen to double down on its core strengths rather than trying to become a bloated “everything” app.
You should choose Evernote if:
- Your primary need is a rock-solid, dependable digital archive for your research, documents, and ideas.
- You are a heavy web user who relies on a best-in-class web clipper.
- You value powerful search and flawless sync across all your devices above ultimate flexibility.
You should choose a modern alternative if:
- You want to build an all-in-one, custom workspace with databases (choose Notion).
- You want to explore networked thought and maintain local, private, plain-text files (choose Obsidian).
Evernote is no longer the only king, but it has successfully defended its castle. For those who value its specific strengths, it remains a worthy and powerful choice.