Best Evernote Alternatives in 2026: Free, Private and Open-Source Options, Plus Google Keep Replacements

Joplin is the best open-source Evernote alternative: a free, offline-first notes app that imports Evernote exports and syncs with end-to-end encryption. Notesnook and Standard Notes are the picks for encrypted notes, and Obsidian suits people who want Markdown files they control. If you are leaving Google Keep instead, Simplenote, Memos and Zoho Notebook keep its quick-capture style.

This guide serves two audiences. Picks 1 to 6 are for Evernote users who want full notebooks, web clipping and search, and picks 7 to 10 are for Google Keep users who want quick notes and lists. Each pick says whether it is open source, can be self-hosted and has a free plan, and a migration section covers what the official docs say about importing. For a wider overview, see the best note-taking apps.

Why people look for Evernote alternatives

Evernote and Google Keep are both hosted services, and the reasons for leaving differ a little.

• A limited free plan. Enlisted's pricing data shows Evernote's free plan restricted in notes, storage and devices, with paid Starter and Advanced plans above it and an Enterprise tier sold through sales.
• Closed source and hosted only. Evernote is proprietary and runs on the vendor's servers, with no self-hosted version, which matters if you want control over where your notes live.
• Evernote's focus. Its site pairs notes with tasks, scheduling and AI tools. If you only want a notebook with search and a web clipper, a simpler app may suit you better.
• Keep is a lightweight tool. Google Keep is built for short notes, checklists and reminders, and it is hosted through a Google account. If your notes are growing into long documents or a searchable archive, you will want something with notebooks and richer editing.
• Keeping data portable. Several alternatives store plain Markdown or text files, which makes a later move easier.

How we picked

To count as an Evernote or Keep replacement, a tool had to capture notes, organize them and bring them back through search, ideally on more than one device. For open-source entries we checked for recent GitHub activity, and for every pick we noted whether there is a free plan, a self-hosting route and an importer. Licences follow Enlisted's listings, and import and feature claims come from each product's own help pages. See how Enlisted ranks tools.

1. Joplin: best open-source Evernote alternative with built-in import

Joplin is the most direct answer for an Evernote user, because it reads Evernote's own export files. Its import documentation says ENEX files bring over complete notebooks, notes, tags, attached files and note metadata. After that it behaves like a notebook app: Markdown notes, tags and full-text search on every platform, a web clipper, plugins and themes.

Data is stored offline-first on your phone or computer, with apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and sync with end-to-end encryption through Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive or the paid Joplin Cloud. See the Joplin page.

• Best for: Evernote users who want to import everything in one pass and keep the notebook layout.
• Watch out for: it is a notes app, not a workspace, and its import page lists Evernote, Markdown and OneNote, so Google Keep users should look at Notesnook or Standard Notes for a guided import.

2. Notesnook: best for encrypted, Evernote-style notes

Notesnook markets itself as a private alternative to Evernote and ships an importer for it. Its guide says to export notebooks as ENEX files from the Evernote desktop app, because export from the web app is not supported, then open Settings, then Import and export, and pick the Notesnook Importer. The import keeps attachments, web clips, tasks, links, images, rich text, reminders, notebooks and tags, and it runs on your own device.

Beyond import, its site lists a web clipper, Markdown support, app lock and reminders, with clients for the web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. It is end-to-end encrypted and open source under GPL-3.0. See the Notesnook page.

• Best for: people who want an Evernote-like experience with encryption and a free plan.
• Watch out for: extra storage sits in paid plans, and a self-hosted sync server is still listed as in progress.

3. Standard Notes: best for simple, encrypted, self-hostable notes

Standard Notes is the most import-friendly of the encrypted apps. Its help center has guides for bringing in notes from Evernote, Google Keep, Simplenote, Apple Notes and plain text files. Once your notes are inside, they are end-to-end encrypted and sync across unlimited devices, through clients for web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.

The source is public under AGPL-3.0, and you can run your own sync server. Enlisted lists a free Standard plan with encryption and sync, with paid plans above it. See the Standard Notes page.

• Best for: people who want a calm, private notes app and may host the sync server themselves.
• Watch out for: it is a plain notes app, with web clipping and rich notebooks not listed among its features, and extra features sit in the paid plans.

4. Obsidian: best for Markdown notes you fully own

Obsidian suits an Evernote user who is ready to trade a hosted notebook for a folder of Markdown files. Its Importer plugin lists Evernote and Google Keep among supported sources, alongside Notion, OneNote, Apple Notes, Bear and others, and a Web Clipper covers saving pages. Notes link to each other, a graph view shows the connections, and plugins extend the app.

The core app is free without limits, with optional paid Sync and Publish. See the Obsidian page and its alternatives, or read the Obsidian alternatives guide if you want open source.

• Best for: people who want their Evernote archive as plain Markdown they can move anywhere.
• Watch out for: the app is proprietary, and Evernote's rich formatting becomes Markdown on import, so check how your most complex notes look afterward.

5. Microsoft OneNote: best free hosted notebook with sections and pages

Microsoft OneNote is a digital notebook for typed and handwritten notes, organized into sections and pages. The web version lets you take notes in the browser, clip content from web pages and share notes with other people from any device. It is advertised as free to use on the web.

It is a proprietary Microsoft service, so there is no self-hosted option. It is closer to a classic Evernote-style notebook than a minimalist list app.

• Best for: people who want a free hosted notebook with web clipping and handwriting.
• Watch out for: it is closed source and hosted by Microsoft, so it will not solve privacy or lock-in worries.

6. UpNote: best polished cross-platform notebook app

UpNote is a commercial notes app for people who want a clean place to write, with hashtags, nested notebooks and a rich-text and Markdown editor. Notes sync across Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android and can be read and written offline.

It adds web clipper extensions for Chrome, Safari and Firefox, a passcode lock, automatic backups with version history and a focus mode. Enlisted lists a free plan with a note limit and a Premium plan that removes it, with either a monthly or one-time lifetime option. See the UpNote page.

• Best for: people who want an Evernote-like notebook with a simple one-person price.
• Watch out for: it is closed source and hosted, and the free plan caps the number of notes.

7. Simplenote: best minimal Google Keep alternative with open-source clients

Simplenote is a note-taking service from Automattic, and Enlisted tracks its open-source desktop and web client, a React app packaged with Electron. The client runs on the web, Windows and Linux, and syncs notes through the Simperium library.

It is a minimal, plain notes app, which is closer to Google Keep than to Evernote.

• Best for: people who want fast, simple notes without the extras of a full notebook app.
• Watch out for: Enlisted lists no self-hosted version, since the open-source part is the client and notes sync through Simperium, and no web clipper is listed.

8. Memos: best self-hosted Keep-style capture stream

Think of Memos as a private micro-blog for your own notes. Everything you write lands in one chronological stream, in Markdown, with optional images and files, and you find it later through search, tags or a particular day. Visibility is set memo by memo, from private to a public link.

It is MIT-licensed, advertises zero telemetry and a full export of your data, and has no paid tiers, so the only cost is the server you run it on. See the Memos page.

• Best for: Keep users who want quick capture on their own server.
• Watch out for: you have to host it yourself, and Enlisted lists no vendor-run cloud version.

9. Zoho Notebook: best card-style hosted notes for Keep users

Zoho Notebook is a note-taking app from Zoho in which each note is a card that can hold text, checklists, audio, photos, files or scanned documents. It includes voice notes and document scanning, and notes are grouped into notebooks.

It is delivered as a cloud service within the Zoho family, and Enlisted lists a free Essential plan with paid tiers above it. See the Zoho Notebook page.

• Best for: people who like Keep's card layout and want voice notes and scanning.
• Watch out for: it is hosted and closed source, so it will not move you away from a vendor-run cloud.

10. Apple Notes: best built-in option on Apple devices

Apple Notes is the notes app built into Apple devices, with folders, checklists, drawings, document scanning and iCloud sync across devices. Notes can contain text, checklists, images and web links, and the Mac guide describes audio recording with searchable transcripts and attachments such as PDFs.

It is included on Apple devices at no charge.

• Best for: Apple users who want quick notes and lists without installing anything.
• Watch out for: it is proprietary and tied to Apple's ecosystem, so it is a poor fit if you also use Windows or Android.

How to move your notes from Evernote or Google Keep

Migration is easier when you check the importer before you commit.

• From Evernote: export notebooks as ENEX files. Joplin imports them with notes, tags, attachments and metadata. Notesnook asks you to export from the Evernote desktop app, and Obsidian's Importer plugin and Standard Notes also have Evernote guides. Notion imports Evernote notebooks as pages and notes as database items, if you move to a workspace app, and Notion alternatives covers that route.
• From Google Keep: export through Google's data download service, which includes text, lists, attachments, colors, labels and collaborators. Notesnook, Standard Notes and Obsidian's Importer plugin list Google Keep as a source.
• Test first: import a single notebook, check formatting and attachments, and keep your old account until you are sure.

Which Evernote alternative should you choose?

More Evernote and Google Keep alternatives worth a look

• Large personal archives: Trilium Notes builds big hierarchical note trees, and SiYuan offers block-level references with export to Markdown, PDF, Word and HTML.
• Plain files: QOwnNotes stores Markdown files and syncs through Nextcloud or ownCloud, and FSNotes keeps notes as Markdown or text files on Apple devices.
• Scanned paperwork: Paperless-ngx is a self-hosted archive that turns scanned documents into searchable text.
• Journaling: Day One is a journaling app with end-to-end encrypted sync.
• Self-hosted cards: Blinko is a self-hosted card notes app with natural-language search.
• Team notes: Nimbus Note adds shared workspaces and web clipping.

See Enlisted's full list of Evernote alternatives and Google Keep alternatives, or browse the note-taking category.