Evernote vs Obsidian

In this Evernote vs Obsidian comparison, I will show you the key differences between these two productivity tools. I will compare Evernote to Obsidian based on features, pricing, user interfaces, and pros and cons. I spent numerous hours with both note-taking apps in the past two years, and I am here to share the benefits and limitations of each tool to ensure you make the right choice.

These are the key points that I explored during the Evernote vs Obsidian clash:

  • Evernote and Obsidian follow a different note-taking system.
  • While Evernote is an easy-to-use app, Obsidian has a longer learning curve.
  • Obsidian offers more extensive note-taking tools than Evernote.
  • Obsidian’s free plan gives you significantly more value than Evernote’s free plan.
  • Evernote is a more expensive note-taking app than Obsidian.

Now, let’s dive into the side-by-side comparison of Evernote vs Obsidian!

Key differences between Evernote and Obsidian

Here is a short overview of the key differences I found in the Evernote vs Obsidian showdown:

Evernote

Obsidian

Best For

Individuals

Individuals

Features

Notes, Audio notes, Limited task and project management tools, Templates, AI assistant, Calendar, Web Clipper

Note-taking, Graph view and internal links, Plugins, Canvas view

User interface

Clean user interface

Old-fashioned, and complex, and has a long learning curve

Integrations

Extensive integrations (+7,000)

Limited integrations

Pricing

Free plan: Available
Personal plan: $10.83 month/user
Professional plan: $14.16 month/user
Teams plan: $20.83 month/user
Enterprise plan: Custom pricing

Free plan: Available
Commercial use license: $50 per year
Obsidian Sync add-on: $4 per month
Obsidian Publish add-on: $8 per month
Catalyst: $25+ one-time payment

Mobile app

Available

Available

Offline version

No

Yes

G2 and ProductHunt ratings

4.4

4.8

Comparison: Evernote vs Obsidian

First, I will show you both note-taking apps’ features one by one. Second, I will guide you through their user interfaces, integration options, and pricing. Lastly, I will show you the pros and cons of Obsidian and Evernote and their alternatives and reveal my pick.

Key features

Let’s see the key features of both productivity tools!

Evernote’s features

Let’s start with Evernote’s features!

Note-taking app
Evernote note-taking features

Evernote has powerful note-taking features. When writing notes, you can choose different font formats. I especially loved here that you can use handwritten notes.

It also offers some color and alignment alternatives, and you can highlight text or use bold, italic, or underlined options. However, there are more formatting options, and you can create lists with one click.

Evernote adopted a drag-and-drop function, so you can move your text around relatively freely. If you hit the slash button, you can choose from numerous formats like headings, tables, or calendar events.

Evernote formatting options for note-taking

Another valuable feature is the tags. Utilizing tags, you can categorize your notes way more easily.

To further structure your notes, you can create notebook stacks to organize notes in a way that fits you. When using the pinned note, the note will stay on top of the notes list in every notebook, which is also useful.

Evernote spaces feature

Furthermore, Evernote recently implemented the spaces feature. Essentially, it provides an additional layer to organize and structure your notes in addition to notebooks or tags.

Finally, Evernote has robust search functionality. It provides a search dropdown menu with quick access to search suggestions, saved searches, filters, individual notes, notebooks, and even spaces.

Audio notes
Evernote audio note feature

Another exciting Evernote feature is the audio notes. You can record discussions or just capture ideas, and Evernote will transform them into text-based notes.

For me, it took a couple of minutes to transcribe such an audio recording. But an interesting thing happened. Evernote transcribed it for the Chinese language, and I had to translate it using its AI tool. Maybe it’s just me, and this only comes up occasionally.

Share functions
Evernote note sharing tools

If you click on the “Share” tab in the top right corner, you can send an invite to others to access your notes. It is great that you can restrict access so you can only allow others to view your notes.

Project and task management tools
Evernote project management tools

In terms of project management, Evernote has very limited options. It has way fewer use cases compared to Notion or Coda.

Nevertheless, you can create or import a project tracker where you can overview your projects. It is nothing special, but it can do the work.

Evernote task management features

Furthermore, you can create to-do lists using Evernote. You can assign tasks and add due dates, comments, and more.

Overall, it is a straightforward productivity tool for project and task management. However, its current project and task management capabilities might be sufficient for individuals or smaller teams.

Templates
Evernote templates

Evernote offers some templates for school, like, and work. You can simply insert these templates into your workspace with a few clicks. What I discovered during my Evernote review is that it offers way fewer templates than Notion or other apps.

On the other hand, Evernote allows you to create a custom template that you can use anytime in the future. It is a valuable feature that helps to save time with your future notes on the same topic.

AI assistant
Evernote AI features

Similarly to other note-taking apps, Evernote implemented AI features as well. You can summarize, write, and translate text. Also, it can help you fix typos or change your writing tones.

Although it is a useful feature, it is more limited compared to Coda, Taskade, or Notion. I miss some additional tools, like asking the AI to create a table or flowchart or just having the option to brainstorm ideas.

Built-in calendar
Evernote calendar tool

Evernote offers an in-built calendar, so you can see your notes, to-do lists, and calendars in one place. The fact that you can integrate it with your Google Calendar or Outlook makes it a valuable feature when using Evernote.

Web Clippings

The web clippings are useful to save articles, web pages, and screenshots in your workspace. When taking a print screen, you can add annotations, highlight parts, or write text.

It is an easy-to-use tool that comes in handy when you want to centralize your notes and information in one place.

Mobile app

Evernote’s mobile app is quite slow, and some bugs have been encountered. However, there is one more annoying thing. Every time you open the mobile app, there are pop-ups that tell you to subscribe to their paid plans.

Also, you have to know that if you have the free plan, you can use only one device at a time. Ultimately, Evernote’s mobile app is slow and has some bugs as well.

Obsidian’s features

Let’s see Obsidian’s features!

Obsidian Vault
Obsidian Vaults review

The Obsidian Vault is a folder that contains your notes, attachments, and data. When creating a vault, you can choose end-to-end encryption that offers the strongest security. However, if you choose end-to-end encryption for your vault, safely store your encryption password, as you cannot enter your vault without it.

You can create more vaults and customize them with different themes. If you go to appearances, there are over 160 themes created by the community that you can install and use right away.

It is great that Obsidian offers these customization options so you can personalize your vaults.

Note-taking app

As mentioned before, Obsidian uses markdown language when writing your daily notes. To create paragraphs, just insert a blank line to separate your paragraphs. If you press Enter, it will create a new line in your note, and it will be treated as a continuation of the same paragraph in the rendered output.

Also, you can change the size of your fonts under the Appearance option in settings even if you use Obsidian on mobile devices.

You can create tags, which help you organize and find your notes more easily. Just enter a hash symbol (#), and you can choose from your tags.

Obsidian note taking review

When taking notes, Obsidian allows you to use attachments, such as images, audio files, or PDFs. You can access these files using your files system. Moreover, you can embed web pages as well. To embed a web page, you have to use the iframe.

Ultimately, you can create notes easily with Obsidian, and the way they work makes them ideal for creating your personal knowledge management center or second brain.

Bidirectional links
Obsidian links review

The internal links are one of the best features I discovered during my Obsidian review. Using this feature, you can link notes to each other and connect ideas through your vault.

To link notes, just type “[[” in Obsidian and then choose the file to which you want to create a link. Another way to add a link is to select the Command palette and then choose the option of “add an internal link.”

So, it is quite simple to connect your notes. And the real power of the internal links comes with the graph view.

Graph view
Obsidian graph view

The graph view is perfect for visualizing the relations between your data. Using the graph view makes it easy to create your personal knowledge base, as you can see how your ideas are connected to each other.

You can easily zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on your mouse. What is especially valuable are the filter options. Obsidian’s graph view allows you to filter your notes based on search terms.

Overall, it shows your knowledge graph structure, and you can see how your notes are connected.

Canvas view
Obsidian canvas view

One of the features I recommend you to try is the canvas view. It offers an excellent tool for visual note-taking.

This function lets you choose from visual aspects, such as size and position, to make sense of your notes. With the canvas, you can connect notes with lines and group multiple notes together to better understand their relationship.

Plugins
Obsidian community plugins

With the plugins, you can customize your vault and access many advanced features. There are two types of plugins.

The Obsidian core plugins switch on and off features you do and do not like. For instance, you can switch off the graph view if you do not use it.

When it comes to community plugins, you can choose from more than 2,000 third-party plugins. The community plugins allow you to access more features like creating Excel-like tables or even a language translator.

To access the community plugins, open settings, select the turn on community plugins, and install the ones you like.

Mobile app

Obsidian has a great mobile app for Android and iOS. I experienced sometimes some small bugs and long loading times, but it is an effective mobile app overall.

User interface

Now, let’s take a look at both note-taking apps’ user interfaces!

Evernote’s user interface

my experience with Evernote

Evernote’s user interface has changed a lot in a good way. It has a much cleaner user interface than it was, and you can easily navigate through its features.

On the left sidebar, you can find every relevant feature like notebooks, search function, or adding a new note. On the right sidebar, you can find some widgets that you can customize if you bought paid plans.

Obsidian’s user interface

Obsidian user interface

Let’s say that Obsidian’s user interface is not pretty. It is similar to Apple Notes’ user interface, but somehow, I feel like Obsidian’s UI is a little bit clunky. If you do not like its user interface, try the dark theme, as it seems better.

You can also choose different themes from the community plugins. Many users recommended the Minimal theme, so you can give it a try.

Integrations

It is time to check the integration options in the Obsidian vs Evernote battle!

Evernote’s integrations

Evernote integrations

Evernote is strong when it comes to integrations. Besides Outlook and Google Calendar, which I mentioned previously, it offers Google Drive, Salesforce, Zapier, Slack, and Microsoft Teams integrations.

The Zapier integration is especially great news, as you can connect Evernote with more than 7,000 third-party apps through this integration.

Obsidian’s integrations

Obsidian integrations

Using the plugins, you can integrate Obsidian with other third-party apps like Todoist, Trello, or Toggl Track. The number of integrations is quite limited, but at least some popular tools are among them.

You can see the full list of integrations here.

Pricing

Here, I will show you both note-taking apps’ pricing models to see which one is better in comparison to Obsidian and Evernote.

Evernote’s pricing

Evernote has a free version and four paid plans. Let’s start with the free plan!

Evernote's free plan

Evernote’s free plan includes 50 notes, 1 notebook, 250 MB monthly uploads, 200 MB maximum note size, and you can connect Evernote with one device. Furthermore, you can use the web clipper, calendar, and task management tools to access some more advanced features.

Since Evernote is a note-taking app, let’s focus on these features when considering its free plan.

Honestly, I think the 50 notes are just a few, even for individuals. You will probably reach the 50 notes in a year, and after that, you will be forced to upgrade to a personal plan. To put it simply, you will need to upgrade your plan; the only question is when.

Evernote pricing plans

The Personal plan includes 150,000 notes, 2,000 notebooks, and 10 GB monthly uploads, and you can use Evernote on unlimited devices. You can get this plan for $129.99. It is ideal for individuals who want to utilize Evernote to the fullest.

The Professional plan is $169.99 yearly, and you will access the AI features, 20GB monthly uploads, and 20% from Adobe Acrobat Standard. The thing is that Adobe is the most expensive PDF editor on the market, and this 20% off will not change anything about this.

For teams, Evernote offers two pricing plans.

Its Teams plan allows you to create 500,000 notes, 10,000 notebooks, 20 GB monthly uploads + 2 GB per user, centralized account administration, company ownership of all data, and, most importantly, shared team spaces. If choosing the Teams plan, it will cost $249.99 annually per user.

For bigger teams and businesses, Evernote offers an Enterprise plan in which you can get custom pricing.

To summarize, Evernote’s pricing plans are very expensive. The premium plans would be expensive even if Evernote had great project management features.

Considering the pricing of other similar note-taking apps and their feature set, I discovered that during my Evernote review, this note-taking app is very pricey. Just to put it into context, it almost cost two times more than Notion.

Obsidian’s pricing

Obsidian pricing

One of the best things I found during my Obsidian review is the pricing. If you use Obsidian for personal use, it is 100% free.

The free version for personal use includes all the features, themes, plugins, APIs, and community support. The free version is quite generous, as there are no limitations on which features you can use.

However, if you want Obsidian for commercial use, you need to buy the commercial use license, which is $50 per year. Commercial purposes mean using Obsidian for revenue-generating or work-related activities within a for‑profit organization with two or more employees. However, before deciding to purchase Obsidian, you have 14 days of free trial.

To upgrade your Obsidian experience and security, you can buy add-ons. You need to purchase the add-on services separately for commercial and free users.

Obsidian pricing for sync and publish features

The Obsidian Sync add-on allows you to synchronize your notes across multiple devices and offers end-to-end encryption, version history options, and priority email support. It is $4 per user per month.

The Obsidian Publish add-on is $8 per month per site. With this add-on, you can publish notes to the web, and it offers graph view and priority email support.

Obsidian one off price for beta versions

Finally, you can access the beta versions of Obsidian and VIP badges for a one-time payment of over $25. With this, you can support Obsidian and get early access to the beta versions.

Evernote’s pros and cons

Considering all the factors, let’s summarize Evernote’s pros and cons!

Pros and cons of Evernote

Evernote’s pros

I noticed during my Evernote review that it is a powerful productivity app where you can centralize all your notes, tasks, and calendars in one app.

I also enjoyed the customizable widgets. They offer the flexibility to personalize your dashboard on the homepage.

Another Evernote pro is available on desktop, web, and mobile devices.

Lastly, Evernote’s web clipper feature is great. You can save articles, images, and web pages easily.

Evernote’s cons

The major concern with Evernote is the high pricing. It is very expensive compared to other note-taking apps on the market.

Secondly, Evernote has limited AI features, and even these tools come with premium versions.

Furthermore, it would be great if Evernote would offer more templates. I think this note-taking app offers the fewest templates on the market.

Obsidian’s pros and cons

Now, let’s take a look at Obsidian’s pros and cons!

Pros and Cons of Obsidian

Obsidian’s pros

First, Obsidian is a safe note-taking app that allows you to store sensitive data thanks to its high-security standards. This is particularly true if you purchase the Obsidian sync add-on, so you can protect your data with end-to-end encryption.

Furthermore, Obsidian’s free version is excellent. It includes all the features you need to manage and organize your notes effectively.

In addition, there are regular updates, so I expect more features and plugins in the future.

Moreover, I enjoyed using the graph view and bidirectional links to visualize the relations between my notes.

Finally, utilizing markdown files is practical if you want to switch to other note-taking apps eventually.

Obsidian’s cons

When it comes to the cons of Obsidian, it is easy to see that it is quite a complex app with a huge learning curve. So, it will take time to learn how to use Obsidian.

Another problem for me is the lack of team collaboration features. Basically, you can use this note-taking app only for personal knowledge management. Therefore, I do not see it as a best fit note-taking app for teams.

Lastly, while it is safer to store your data locally, some people just want to use a web version. However, you can not make such a decision in the case of Obsidian, as you are forced to download it to your devices.

Alternatives to Evernote and Obsidian

Here are some alternatives to Evernote and Obsidian:

  • Notion: An all-in-one app for data, task, project management, and note-taking.
  • Xtiles: An easy-to-use note-taking app with visual boards.
  • Anytype: An excellent but more complex note-taking tool.
  • Coda: An all-in-one collaborative workspace with project, task management, and note-taking tools.
  • NotebookLM: A note-taking and research app with a fantastic podcast feature.
  • Taskade: A simple but effective note-taking app with a focus on project management.
  • Google Keep: A free and easy-to-use note-taking app.
  • Bear: A simple markdown note-taking app to organize your notes.

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Wrap-up: Evernote vs Obsidian

After my Obsidian vs Evernote review, I discovered that Obsidian is a more powerful app than Evernote for note-taking. While it is a complex app with a time-consuming learning curve, it offers many ways to organize your notes and brainstorm ideas. And most importantly, you can do it safely.

Furthermore, Obsidian has a more extensive free plan and offers way cheaper paid plans than the Evernote subscription.

Overall, my take is Obsidian, even though it has a longer learning curve compared to the Evernote app.

Frequently asked questions

Is Evernote or Obsidian better?

Obsidian is a better note-taking app than Evernote. While it follows a different note-taking system, it offers more possibilities to structure your notes.

Who competes with Evernote?

There are many Evernote alternatives on the market. These are my favorite note-taking tools to replace Evernote:

  • Notion: An all-in-one app for data, task, project management, and note-taking.
  • Xtiles: An easy-to-use note-taking app with visual boards.
  • Obsidian: A powerful note-taking app with massive backlink functions.
  • Anytype: An excellent but more complex Evernote alternative.
  • Coda: An all-in-one collaborative workspace with project, task management, and note-taking tools.
  • Taskade: A simple but effective note-taking app with a focus on project management.
  • Google Keep: A free and easy-to-use note-taking app.
  • Bear: A simple markdown note-taking app to organize your notes.

What are the disadvantages of Evernote?

The major disadvantage of Evernote is the high pricing. It is very expensive compared to other note-taking apps on the market. Also, they have a very aggressive marketing strategy to convert people into paid Evernote users.

Moreover, Evernote has limited AI features, and even these tools come with premium versions. In addition, it would be great if Evernote would offer more templates. I think this note-taking app offers the fewest templates on the market.

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