The End of a 15-Year Journey
Today, I said a final goodbye to Evernote by deleting over 3,000 notes. Breaking up with a digital companion I’ve relied on for nearly a decade brought a strange mix of nostalgia and relief.
Evernote launched in 2008 as a revolutionary note-taking app. With its bold promise to "Remember Everything" it positioned itself as a second brain for the digital age. I jumped on board in 2009, and I was so enamored with its innovative features that I even wrote a book about it.
From web clipping and powerful search to multimedia support and seamless cloud sync-—it truly transformed the way we captured and managed information.
When the Cracks Began to Show
But somewhere along the way, things started to change.
Evernote was once a nearly perfect product—simple, focused, and user-centered. But then, in what can only be described as a case of feature creep, the team began adding unnecessary bells and whistles that gradually undermined the app’s original strengths.
New features felt oddly disconnected from the core purpose of note-taking. Performance suffered. The app grew heavy, slow, and cluttered. And while long-time users begged for refinements, Evernote was busy launching side projects and even... socks. Yes, socks.
Meanwhile, a new generation of apps like Upnote, Obsidian, and Notion stepped in to do what Evernote no longer could. Obsidian, for example, introduced a markdown-based, cross-platform note system with a stunning graph view to visualize how notes connect—everything Evernote could have been, but wasn’t.
The Last Straw: A Drastic Free Plan Cut
Then came 2024—the final blow.
Evernote slashed its free plan to just one notebook and 50 notes. For newcomers, this limitation makes it nearly impossible to experience what made Evernote useful in the first place. Even worse, legacy users like myself were met with clunky restrictions unless we paid up.
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| complete with cleverly hidden “close” buttons |
Trying to browse my old notes felt like navigating a booby-trapped haunted house. That was the moment I knew—this relationship was over.
Thankfully, There Are Better Options
Fortunately, the age of Evernote dominance is long gone. Today, users have more freedom and better tools than ever.
Obsidian runs locally, which means it’s fast, portable, and future-proof. Your notes are just plain text files on your drive—no server? No problem. It nails the essentials, especially search, and its plugin ecosystem makes it endlessly customizable.
Notion offers a generous free plan and powerful features that make it a solid choice for organizing projects, wikis, and notes.
And Upnote? A beautifully minimalist note app that works across desktop, mobile, and browser. Its UI is clean, the performance snappy, and the pricing? Just $1.99/month or a one-time $39.99 for lifetime access. A refreshingly sane alternative in a world of bloated subscriptions.
Evernote’s Fall from Grace
Evernote's slow demise is more than a cautionary tale—it's a case study in how innovation can be smothered by corporate shortsightedness.
Despite the rise of powerful free competitors, Evernote chose to raise paywalls, alienate loyal users, and chase gimmicks instead of fixing core issues. It ignored what users actually needed and failed to adapt to a rapidly evolving landscape.
What was once a beloved unicorn of the tech world has become a symbol of missed opportunities and lost focus.
A New Chapter Begins
Deleting over 3,000 notes might sound tragic, but honestly? It felt freeing.
My new note-taking setup—built on Upnote and Obsidian—is more efficient, more enjoyable, and finally tailored to how I think and work. No more fighting with clunky UIs or navigating predatory upsells.
To Evernote: thank you for the good years. You changed the way I worked and thought. But your time is up.
It’s time to embrace tools that evolve with users, not away from them.
And for anyone clinging to a service that's lost its way, here’s a reminder: letting go might just be the most productive note you’ll ever write.
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