Free Alternative to Evernote

I imported a 2.4GB ENEX file into Joplin on my Mac. It chewed through the whole archive in about four minutes and did not drop a single PDF attachment. That alone earns it a top spot on this list. Joplin is an open-source, markdown-driven notebook that stores data locally and syncs via Dropbox, OneDrive, or Nextcloud. The interface won't win any Apple Design Awards. It looks like a utility app from 2014. The sync process can sometimes stall if you have hundreds of large PDFs, requiring an app restart to kick it back into gear. But it works consistently. You write in markdown on the left, and it previews on the right. There is a web clipper for Safari and Chrome that actually works better than Evernote's current iteration. The end-to-end encryption is a nice touch. Setting it up the first time requires generating a master password and waiting for everything to re-sync. It feels like the old Evernote, before the feature bloat set in.

I tested Obsidian with a vault of 10,000 markdown files. It opened instantly. The app stores everything as plain text folders on your hard drive. You are never locked into a proprietary database. The learning curve is undeniably steep. You have to learn basic markdown syntax to format text. Out of the box, it lacks a web clipper. You have to install third-party plugins to get Evernote-like functionality. But the plugin ecosystem is massive. I found an official plugin called Importer that pulled in my Evernote ENEX files perfectly. It even kept the original creation dates intact. Obsidian excels at linking notes together. You wrap a word in double brackets and it creates a bidirectional link. It completely changes how you organize research. The mobile app is entirely free, but syncing between Mac and iPhone requires using iCloud Drive unless you pay for their official sync service. iCloud sync works, but it can be finicky if you leave the app open on two devices.

Apple overhauled this app a few years ago. It handles images, document scans, and Apple Pencil sketches better than almost anything else. The search function reads text inside images instantly. I dropped a photo of a restaurant menu into a note, and I could search for specific dishes seconds later. It feels incredibly fast because it is a native Mac app. The Quick Note feature lets you hit a keyboard shortcut anywhere in macOS to jot something down. The big problem is export. Apple wants you to stay in their ecosystem. Getting thousands of notes out of Apple Notes requires running third-party AppleScript tools. Importing from Evernote is also messy. Apple Notes will import ENEX files, but it frequently messes up the formatting of complex tables. It works beautifully if you only use Apple hardware and do not care about markdown.

Notion is incredibly popular, but it is not a direct Evernote replacement. I tried using it for quick meeting notes and found it frustrating. It takes too many clicks to just start typing. Everything is a block. If you try to select text across multiple paragraphs, the editor often grabs the whole block instead. However, if you need to build a kanban board or a tracking database, nothing beats it. The free tier is generous for solo users. You get unlimited blocks and pages. Just know it runs entirely in the cloud. If your Wi-Fi drops, you lose access to your notes. The Evernote import tool is built directly into the app, but it converts everything into Notion blocks. Complex web clippings from Evernote usually turn into a garbled mess of text blocks. It is a fantastic tool for project management, but a mediocre one for quick text capture.

Automattic makes this app. It does exactly one thing. It syncs plain text. You cannot add photos. You cannot add PDFs. You cannot use bold text unless you type in markdown, and even then, it only renders in a separate preview mode. I actually love this limitation. It forces you to just write. The sync is the fastest I tested. I typed a word on my Mac and it appeared on my iPhone screen before my finger left the keyboard. The interface is clean and entirely free without any upsells. Migrating from Evernote is difficult because Simplenote does not support ENEX files natively. You have to export your Evernote notes as plain text or HTML first. It is the perfect app for draft writing and grocery lists, but it cannot replace a full Evernote filing cabinet.

Logseq approaches notes differently. It uses an outliner format where every bullet point is a block. You write in a daily journal. You tag words with brackets, and the app builds a Wikipedia-style web of your thoughts. I found it brilliant for logging daily tasks and meeting notes. I struggled to use it for writing long-form articles. It stores data locally in markdown files. The sync process requires setting up iCloud Drive or paying for their beta sync service. I noticed it eats up battery life on older Intel Macs because it relies on Electron. There is no direct Evernote importer. You have to use a third-party script called YARLE to convert your ENEX files into markdown files that Logseq can read. It is a completely different way of thinking about notes.

The main selling point here is privacy. Everything is encrypted before it leaves your device. The developers cannot read your data even if they want to. The free tier is extremely restrictive. You only get plain text. No images, no attachments, no markdown formatting. I found the desktop app feels a bit heavy for something that just handles plain text. You have to pay a subscription to unlock the rich text editors and file attachments. It works well if security is your absolute highest priority. I use it for storing software license keys and banking recovery codes. You can import from Evernote, but the free tier strips out all formatting and attachments, leaving you with raw, unformatted text.

This is a native Mac app written in Swift. It feels incredibly snappy. It mimics the old nvALT workflow. You hit a keyboard shortcut, type a title, and if the note exists, it opens. If it does not, it creates a new one. It uses standard markdown files stored in an iCloud Drive folder. I threw 5,000 text files at it and the search bar filtered them in real-time as I typed. It handles code snippets beautifully. The iOS app costs a few dollars, but the Mac app is completely free and open source. It does not have an ENEX importer. I had to use a script to convert my Evernote data to markdown before FSNotes could read it. If you want speed above all else, this is the app.