Evernote is designed to make it easy to keep your notes well organized, which aids in quickly finding/browsing old information. You can put notes into a single notebook and use search to access old notes, or if you're so inclined, organize notes extensively with hierarchical notebooks and tags.
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- Published on January 4, 2021
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If you are looking for a to-do list or notes app, you have definitely come across two of the most popular choices which are Google Keep and Evernote.
Android users could also get this helpful Microsoft app through Google Play at Google Keep This app is the notetaking solution provided by Google to help people capture their ideas and thoughts in any format and get things done quicker. What is the difference between Google Keep and OneNote? Find out which is better and their overall performance in the productivity app ranking.
With the two applications offering a load of amazing features to keep you organized it’s no wonder that they are top of the list and the popular choice for many users.
If you are currently in the dilemma of Google Keep vs Evernote the choice can be quite confusing.
That is why we have put together this Google Keep vs Evernote comparison to help you make the choice easier for you. So that you can choose the tool that is best for your needs.
So, let’s get to it.
Features
The first thing we are going to discuss may be the most important; what features each tool offers.
When choosing between Evernote and Google Keep you want to ensure that the tool that you choose offers the features that will allow you to accomplish what you want to from the software.
There are certain features that both Evernote and Google Keep have in common. These features include:
- Both Google Keep and Evernote’s notes can include not just text but also images, lists, and links.
- Apart from creating notes, the two software let you create reminders so that you do not miss out on any task-related notes.
- Google Keep and Evernote allow you to share notes to allow collaboration both with your work team and those at home.
- Both Evernote and Google Keep let you organize your notes. With Google Keep you have labels and with Evernote, you have tags that help you find notes you have created more easily.
- Moreover, besides keeping your notes organized, both software let you access your favorite notes easily and quickly. This is done through the pinning feature in Google Keep and the shortcuts feature in Evernote.
Besides these common features that both Evernote and Google Keep offer, both of these tools offer other amazing features that you can take advantage of.
Of this range of features, here are some standout features for both tools that you can use to help make the decision in which software is the best for you.
Google Keep Outstanding Features
Google Keep offers a variety of features making it stand out among notes and to-do list apps like it.
One such feature is that Google Keep offers color code the notes you create. Google Keep is great at keeping your notes organized, one such feature is the ability to create Labels. Another such way to keep your notes organized is to give your notes colors. You can thus color code your notes to be able to view them easily at a glance.
Google Keep also allows you to create reminders so that you never miss deadlines. With the basic date and time, you can also create handy location-based reminders. Such reminders can be created so that you get a notification when you arrive or leave a certain location. For example, you can have reminders for when you leave work, arrive home, and so on.
Google keep is a Google tool and thus can be integrated with other Google Suite tools. You can therefore copy a note to Google Docs. This allows you to create in detail or lengthy documents from a simple note when you need to elaborate on something.
Evernote Outstanding Features
With Evernote, you also have some amazing features that are unique to the tool making it stand out from its competitors.
With Evernote you can organize your notebooks, this can be done with the notebook stacks feature. This way you can keep notebooks that are of similar subjects together and thus search and view them easily.
While creating notes in Evernote, you have access to a robust text editor. The text editor in Evernote can be compared to the likes of Microsoft Word and Apple Page. The text editor provides a range of formatting, list, font, alignment, table, and super and subscript options to choose from.
Evernote also provides in-built chat options. This feature lets you chat with other Evernote users right from the mobile app or web interface.
Moreover, Evernote also offers a convenient web clipper extension tool. The web clipper extension in Evernote allows you to capture web pages or simply parts of web pages and include them into your Evernote account.
More note-taking apps like Evernote:
Pricing
The next consideration in our match between Google Keep vs Evernote is the available pricing plans.
The cost of a software often serves as a deciding feature for many individuals. If a tool is amazing but out of your budget then it is usually not feasible to invest in it. therefore, our next consideration is the pricing plans both tools offer.
Google Keep Pricing
To use Google Keep all you need is a Google account, which is not only entirely free to use, but it is also free!
You will be required to pay if you ran out of storage and are looking to buy more. However, keep in mind that this payment will not be only for Google Keep alone and in fact, will be for all your Google apps.
Evernote Pricing
Evernote on the other hand provides multiple pricing plans.
Evernote offers a Basic plan which you can use for free. This plan has some limitations, however.
With the Evernote basic plan, you have a 60MB/month storage limit as well as the limit of app downloads on a max of two devices.
Evernote Onenote Google Keeps
Moreover, the basic plan is missing some features that are offered in the paid plans. These features include scanning features, searchable PDFs, and the ability to email notes to Evernote.
In the paid plans, Evernote offers a Premium plan for $7.99/month. The premium plan offers more storage as well as additional features such as scanning abilities, unlimited devices, searchable PDFs, and handwritten notes.
The Evernote Premium plan is designed for individual use. If you are looking to use Evernote for your business, Evernote offers a Business plan for your team.
Evernote Business is for $14.99/month, per user. The Evernote Business plan is created for a minimum of two users.
The Evernote Business plan offers even more storage as well as additional features. These features include collaboration features and administrative tools.
Google Keep vs Evernote User Interface
Apart from features and pricing, another important consideration when choosing a software is the user interface.
As is true with any type of software, but especially note apps, the user interface is important. With such apps, you need to be able to organize your notes and find what you are looking for at a glance.
Both Google Keep and Evernote have different approaches to the way they have created their user interface.
Google Keep User Interface
Google Keep’s interface resembles that of a bulletin board with post-it notes.
With Google Keep’s notes organized in a fashion similar to post-it notes, as a user, you can easily view all your notes and a synopsis of what each note contains, both easily and at a glance.
Google Keep is simple in design making it a great choice if you aren’t interested in all the bells and whistles.
You can create four different types of notes including text, image, drawing, and lists.
Notes in Google Notes can be viewed in either a grid view or list view. You can also easily sort between notes and reminders. Or use custom tags and labels for the organization.
Evernote User Interface
On the other hand, Evernote is organized in a notebook style.
You can organize notes into different notebooks which can further be divided into different sections. This provides you with a more intricate way to organize your notes than other competitors may offer.
In fact, Evernote as a whole can be said to offer a range of more complex features if compared to Google Keep.
With Evernote, you can choose how exactly you want to organize your notes. You can choose to organize your notes by date; that is either the date the note was created or the date it was updated. Alternatively, you can also organize notes by title, or by tag.
Each note itself can also be customized with a range of templates to choose from as well as different formatting options.
Related:
Conclusion
So, who wins Google Keep vs Evernote? Well, it depends on what you are looking for.
We have highlighted the major differences between the two tools and indicated what you will be able to gain from each one individually.
We tried to include all those elements of tools and software that tip the scales when trying to choose a software and hope this comparison made the choice just that much easier for you.
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Note-taking is personal. It has as much to do with how your mind works as it does with what you’re taking notes about and why you’re taking them in the first place.
Still, search for the best note-taking app and you’ll invariably find Evernote at the top of most lists.
Some notes are for sharing. Some are a reminder. Some are taken and never looked at again.
Sometimes a note is a quick thought, jotted down on-the-go on a mobile device. Other times your notes are prepared at length at your computer over a large project, meeting, or study session.
Evernote is fine, generally-speaking — but you’re not just anyone, and your notes aren’t just any notes.
To find the best Evernote alternatives, we tested and used over 30 apps, reviewed top threads on Reddit, and consulted reviews on G2 to hear what the community had to say.
It’s not all just Evernote vs OneNote anymore. There are a slew of great note-taking apps, each with a key advantage over Evernote depending on what you are doing.
The best note-taking apps that aren’t Evernote:
- Hugo - Best meeting notes app
- CacoonWeaver - Best speech-to-text notes app
- Milanote - Best whiteboard-style notes app for creatives
- Bear - Speediest markdown notepad for iOS & Mac
- Typora - Best distraction-free notes app
- Workflowy - Infinite expandable bullet points
- OneNote - Best free option (not just for Microsoft lovers)
- Boost Note - Best note-taking app for developers
- Google Keep - Best note-taking app for Google fanatics
- Ulysses - Top-of-the line notes for serious writers
- Notability - Best notes app for iPad with Apple Pencil
- Nebo - Best note-taking app for Surface with Surface Pen
Why Evernote is no longer the gold-standard for notes
For many years, Evernote was on top of the note-taking game. With its sleek, comfortable interface, enjoyable mobile experience, and easy way of organizing with folders and stacks of folders, Evernote dominated the note-taking world after the iPhone’s original launch in 2007.
However, over the last 4+ years, Evernote has undergone a series of problematic changes, introducing bizarre new products in an attempt to expand its reach. They also changed the free plan in ways that have driven away users by crippling key features unless you pay.
Evernote remains a great product in many ways. It syncs across devices, offers a handy web clipper, and can even search handwriting.
But in trying to be all things to all people, the notes app market has opened up, offering a slew of note-taking apps that are going to appeal to more specific groups of people looking for more specific solutions.
What’s not on this list?
With note-taking apps, you need to be able to quickly take notes. Speed is of the essence. That means not having to waste time organizing and saving your files. You also need to be able to easily search your notes to find information.
Of course, you can take notes almost anywhere you can write.
Some people use the cells in a spreadsheet. Others use word processing apps like Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Authors may prefer to jot down notes inside the tools they are already working in, like Scrivener. You can also take notes in project management software like Asana, or collaborative docs like Dropbox Paper.
None of these, however, beat the speed and simplicity of a dedicated notes app.
So in this post, we’re only looking at tools that are primarily for notes. Full-on word processing tools aren’t in the running, nor are project management tools or CRMs that happen to have a notes function. (Ulysses might be a minor exception, as it can be both a notes tool and word processor depending on how you use it.)
With that, here are the best note-taking tools in 2020 that aren’t Evernote.
Hugo - Best meeting notes app
For iOS and in your web browser. (Android, iPadOS, and macOS are on the horizon)
Plenty of note-taking apps are good generally-speaking, but taking notes in meetings poses some unique challenges. Fortunately, Hugo is purpose-built for meeting notes at work.
First, staying organized. Hugo centralizes and organizes all of your meeting notes with the help of your calendar. Notes are associated with your actual meetings, so you basically don’t have to worry about categorizing anything. (You can always add tags if you want to.) This works with G Suite, Gmail, or Office 365 calendars.
Plus, Hugo also integrates with over 20 other apps used for work. It syncs notes to your CRM (e.g. Salesforce), pushes tasks to project management tools (e.g. Jira), and works seamlessly with video conferencing tools (e.g. Zoom).
The Chrome browser extension gives you access to your notes from any page in your browser, which means you don’t have to dedicate your screen to note-taking during a video call. Just open and close the Hugo drawer when you need to check your agenda or jot a note down.
Hugo isn’t designed to just help you (although it will). With accounts for teams, collaborative note-taking, and a library of 80+ meeting note templates, everyone in your organization can use Hugo to centralize your meeting notes together.
During the pandemic, Hugo is offering free accounts to teams of up to 40 users. If you sign up during this period, you’ll get to keep that pricing even after the pandemic is over.
Hugo Pricing:
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: $6/user/month for teams 11+
ALSO: Take a look at this guide to taking amazing meeting notes.
CacoonWeaver - Best speech-to-text notes app
Compatibility: iOS (iPhone/iPad)
CacoonWeaver is the best way to collect audio notes for iOS. Pop open the app and transcribe your ideas, thoughts, memories, and dreams. To organize your notes with voice commands, just say something like, “Cacoon Shopping” and the app will automatically put your notes in the Shopping category.
Unlike other note-taking apps where you need to enable dictation to record an audio note, and then carefully watch to make sure your text is going in correctly, CacoonWeaver records your audio and transcribes at the same time.
You can play back your notes, or read them back, which gives you the peace of mind to know that no matter what, your information won’t be lost, and there are no limitations on the max length of an audio recording.
CacoonWeaver also keeps track of where you had ideas, showing you blips on a map.
The UI is clean and minimalistic for distraction-free recording and offers custom push notifications and nudges to help you be your best self.
Because it is still in its debut phase, CacoonWeaver is currently free and keeps your data private and secure. The app claims to be in beta but it is fully functional and in better shape bugs-wise than a lot of other apps you’ll find on the AppStore.
CacconWeaver Pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid plan: N/A
Milanote - Best whiteboard-style notes app for creatives
Compatibility: Desktop apps for Mac and Windows, plus mobile apps for iOS and Android
The Next Web calls Milanote “the Evernote for Creatives” and it’s easy to see why creative directors, filmmakers, photographers, marketers, and designers of all kinds enjoy using it.
Unlike most note-taking apps, Milanote takes a highly-visual approach, allowing you to organize your ideas and projects in visual boards. Collect images, videos, text, and tasks all together on your screen.
If your creative process includes activities like mood boarding, brainstorming, storyboarding, or mind-mapping, the visual canvas offers a flexible and delightful experience.
Milanote works for teams and clients too, with build-tin commenting, sharing, and notifications. Plus, you can download a high-quality, printable PDF of any board.
You can try Milanote free with no time limit, although it is limited to 100 notes, images, or links (and only 10 file uploads). After that, it’s $9.99 for unlimited storage
Milanote Pricing:
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: $12.50/month when billed monthly, $9.99/month when billed annually.
Bear - Fastest markdown notepad for iOS & Mac
Compatibility: iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Mac
For Apple fans looking to upgrade beyond Apple Notes, Bear offers a good balance of features, design, convenience, and software speed. If you’re coming from Evernote, for example, it’s so fast, you’ll notice the difference immediately.
From your very first note, Bear’s design shines, treating you with elegant typography and theme options which include multiple dark modes.
Bear's speed isn't just for writing notes, either. Searching in the app also runs fast, with minimal delays when searching notes.
With many advanced markdown options (or is it markup?), Bear works great if you like to format as you type. Hybrid markdown support means you can see the formatted text as you’re typing, although if you’re not a regular user of markdown, you might not enjoy the experience at first. You can easily export these nicely-formatted notes to HTML, PDF, and TXT.
It also has quick shortcuts, such as for finding today’s date, and supports checkboxes to help with to-dos. Built-in tagging is powerful and allows you to create tags anywhere in a document that are automatically captured in the sidebar.
Bear uses iCloud to speedily sync notes between iOS and Mac with a Pro membership. Still, some users complain that this should be a free feature like it is with most other note-taking apps.
Bear is rated 4.5 out of 5 on G2 Crowd with positive reviews from many note-taking app power users, such as consultants, software developers, and UI/UX designers. The biggest complaint about Bear is a lack of helpful or effective support.
Bear pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid Plan: Bear Pro is $1.49/monthly, $14.99 annually with a free trial
Typora - Best distraction-free notes app
Compatibility: For desktop/laptop computers only (Mac, Windows, and Linux)
Typora is a slick alternative to Bear that is even more minimalist and distraction-free. The app is simple, with very little UI getting in the way. It’s also beautifully designed, with clear, aesthetically-pleasing text.
Typora has a night mode and also supports custom themes so that you can create the perfect writing experience.
It also has two cool modes. One is a unique Focus Mode that highlights the paragraph you’re currently working on, while graying out everything else. Typewriter Mode similarly highlights the center of your screen.
Many of the same advanced markdown features are in Typora, meaning that you can type up nicely-formatted notes without ever having to shift your hand to your mouse. Even so, if you want to get a little bit fancy, Typora supports tables, diagrams, mathematical formats, footnotes, code fences, and task lists.
Typora Pricing:
- Free app: Yes, during beta
- Paid Plan: Not yet announced
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Workflowy - Infinite expandable bullet points
Compatibility: Desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux, plus iOS, Android, and in your browser
Do you love taking notes with bullet points?
Do you wish everything in life could be bullets — Infinite, ever-expanding bullet points, as far as the sky can reach?
Does your whole world spin around lists and bullet points? If not, would you like it to?
If the answer the above is a resounding Yes!, you’ll be in heaven with Workflowy.
The concept is simple. Workflowy lets you create infinite piles of bullet points which are also each their own document. Expand, collapse, move documents, drill in and out — it’s intuitive and natural bullet points at a scale that you may have never dreamed of.
The product works well for outlining and project organization just naturally. It’s novel, intuitive, and requires very little learning to figure out.
The only downside to Workflowy is in organizing more matrixed information. This might be more challenging, because every bit of information may not have a clear place in your stack of bullet points for where it should belong. (Contrast this with Hugo, which organizes meeting notes based on your calendar, so notes don’t live in just one particular place — they’re associated with names, companies, dates, meeting titles, etc...)
Still, for your next novel or work project, especially for people whose minds work in a certain bullet-driven way, give Workflowy a try.
Workflowly Pricing:
- Free plan: Yes
- Paid plan: $5/month
OneNote - Best free option (not just for Microsoft lovers)
For iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and in the browser
Simple, practical, and ubiquitous for Windows and Office users, OneNote is a free note-taking app that seems to be everywhere.
It’s a great basic option, with a familiar UI to anyone who has ever used Microsoft products like Word, and while it does most of the things Evernote does, it stands out because of one big four-letter word that starts with an F.
Free.
You get more advanced functionality here without having to pay.
In OneNote, you can add multimedia elements to your notes, such as audio, video, images, and even websites using the Webclipper browser extension. Task lists are an option, although robust task management in OneNote can be challenging because you can’t put due dates on anything.
OneNote has a large folder organization system, letting you create notebooks and sections, and nest them inside each other. The way that sections get dragged around can be frustrating — trying to move one section below another and can have it end up inside on accident — but again, for a free option, for many, this may be a minor inconvenience. Cross-notebook search is available, although there is a learning curve to finding your information.
OneNote uses OneDrive to sync across all of your Microsoft apps. If you don’t have an Office 365 subscription, you can upgrade your OneDrive to a paid plan for an increase in storage space.
OneNote Pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid plan: Upgrade OneDrive for more storage space, starting at $1.99/month for 100 GB
Boost Note - Best note-taking app for developers
Compatibility: iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and in your browser
Stylish, markdown-enabled, and fully open-source, Boost Note is a developer’s dream. The interface resembles Sublime, the popular text editor, with a slight skew toward taking quick and easy notes.
Boost Note highlights syntax for you and recognizes over 100 programming languages. It also supports math blocks where you can write math equations using LaTeX syntax. Themes are fully customizable.
Notes are stored safely in the cloud, with more file system-based storage coming soon.
Boost Note Pricing:
- Free app: Yes (100 MB cloud storage)
- Paid plan: 2GB cloud storage at $3/month. Boost Note for Teams launches in June 2020.
Google Keep - Best note-taking app for Google fanatics
Compatibility: Android, iOS, and in your web browser
Google Keep is a straightforward notes app that comes as part of your G Suite or Gmail account. It offers a clean, nicely-organized UI that has most of the standard features you’re looking for in a note-taking app, without too many bells and whistles.
If the rest of your life already revolves around Google products, Google Keep may be the right pick for you.
As you create notes, they are organized on your screen visually in a corkboard style. You can change the background colors to give it a post-it notes effect. While if you take a ton of notes, this may feel haphazard, with moderate use it's colorful and fun.
You might be wondering, Why do I need Google Keep when I have Google Docs?
For some users, it may be redundant to have multiple types of Google Docs, but others may enjoy the simpler note-taking experience in Google Keep. And if your notes start to become something more than just a note, there’s always the Copy to Google Docs action to transfer it over.
Google Keep Pricing:
- Free app: Yes
- Paid plan: N/A
Ulysses - Top-of-the-line notes app for serious writers
Compatibility: Mac, iPad, iPhone
For writers and authors, Ulysses is a notes app that will replace your word processor 99% of the time. Fully-featured and elegant, it is a very power writing app.
Export in various file formats, including text, HTML, ePub, PDF, and DOCX, plus a number of export styles for professional-looking PDFs and manuscripts. You can also schedule or publish articles to Wordpress and Medium directly within the app.
Ulysses also excels at organizing, if you’re willing to set it up. With views, custom searches, filters, and tags, it’s the most organizable note-taking experience on this list (except for Hugo, which auto-organizes meeting notes based on your calendar.)
All of this functionality comes at a cost, however. Ulysses is free to try, but if you get hooked, there’s not paired down free version to stick with.
Ulysses
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- Free plan: Trial only
- Paid plan: $4.99/month or $39.99 ($3.33/month) when paid annually
Notability - Best note-taking app for iPad with Apple Pencil
Compatibility: iOS (iPhone and iPad)
Combine handwriting, photos, and typing into a single note with Notability. The elegant interface is nicely-designed, letting you choose from a variety of typing and drawing instruments with ease.
Notability has a nice range of sketching tools that make it easy to recolor, scale, and adjust your ideas and sketches. You can also pick from different paper backgrounds, for example, to sketch your notes on graph paper, or more textured art paper.
Notability syncs with iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, AirDrop, and Email for easy sharing with colleagues and study partners.
Evernote Onenote Alternatives
It’s also great for annotating PDFs.
Notability Pricing:
- Free trial: No
- Paid app: $8.99
Evernote Vs Onenote
(Note: Nebo, discussed below, is another great option that works across all tablet platforms.)
Nebo - Best note-taking app for Surface with Surface Pen
Compatibility: iOS, Android, and Windows
Microsoft’s Surface Pen offers a delightful drawing experience on the Surface Book, Pro, and Studio, and there’s no reason you can’t use OneNote for this purpose. The anniversary update of Windows 10 also brought the Windows Ink Workspace, which gives you three cool apps: Sticky Notes, Sketchpad, and Screen sketch.
Evernote Onenote Google Keeper
If you have an active pen like the Surface Pen, you might be asking, with all this greatness bundled for you in Windows, can note-taking get any better?
The answer is yes, and the other answer is Nebo.
Draw sketches and diagrams. Easily switch between your pen and keyboard.
There are tons of cool gestures that make the experience delightful, like how you can scratch out a letter to delete it, or swipe up to join two sentences together.
Getting notes out of Nebo is a breeze, with image, text, DOCX, and HTML formats available. You can also copy/paste diagrams to PowerPoint and they stay fully-editable.
Nebo pricing:
- Free app: N/A
- Paid app: $9.99