Evernote, once a dominant note taking app, is severely limiting its free plan. Users can now only have 50 notes collected into a single notebook. This is coupled by plans to increase its paid plan pricing, already high in the space at $15/month.
Evernote gained popularity when it was first released in the late 2000s. It allowed users to embed photos, pdf’s, voice notes, and other mediums into text notes. Those would sync across devices, making a paper-free lifestyle within the realm of possibility. Endgadget reports:
Evernote has confirmed the service’s tightly leashed new free plan, which the company tested with some users earlier this week. Starting December 4, the note-taking app will restrict new and current accounts to 50 notes and one notebook. Existing free customers who exceed those limits can still view, edit, delete and export their notes, but they’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan (or delete enough old ones) to create new notes that exceed the new confines.
The company says most free accounts are already inside those lines. “When setting the new limits, we considered that the majority of our Free users fall below the threshold of fifty notes and one notebook,” the company wrote in an announcement blog post. “As a result, the everyday experience for most Free users will remain unchanged.” Engadget reached out to Evernote to clarify whether “the majority of Free users” staying within those bounds includes long-dormant accounts that may have tried the app for a few minutes a decade ago and never logged in again. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
Evernote presents a serious problem to many. The notes do not live on a user’s computer, but on the company’s servers. The file format is also proprietary, making file management more difficult. Exporting to another service is currently possible, but might not be in the future if they restrict API access the way Twitter/X did. The Verge offers other options for people wanting to switch away:
If you’re now considering a new note-taking app, check out our roundup of some of the best note-taking apps you can try, and if you want to know how to move your notes out of Evernote, we’ve got a guide for that.
The changes follow Evernote getting acquired by Bending Spoons in 2022 and layoffs at the company earlier this year.
The acquisition by Bending Spoons is a huge gamble, and could end up alienating a large portion of its base before the app becomes solvent again. This is a reminder to older established applications that innovation from the competition is always around the corner.
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