Evernote pulled a fast one on its loyal user base earlier today with announcing a change in its pricing. And this has irked a lot of people! If you are like me, i.e. a regular user of Evernote but would like to move away to other alternatives like OneNote, this post can help you!
Before you start, what is Evernote?
Well, if you are new to note taking apps. Let me tell you that Evernote is the best Notes Taking app available today. It allows you sync your notes across devices and allows to add photos, clips, audio, video and lots more. It even lets you search for text in images. Its a powerful app and you should definitely try it today.
Easily download the app and get started for free. The pricing changes should not bother you a lot.
Wait a minute, what’s changing in Evernote Pricing?
Well, simply put, ‘Everything’! I know that may seem exaggerated but its not if you are familiar with what makes the majority of the user base for Evernote. Evernote has been the most popular notes taking application mainly because of its cross-platform functionality and ability to use the app across unlimited devices even in the Free Basic Plan. Evernote’s new pricing change restricts Basic users to use the app across only 2 devices! And that may not seem like a big deal first but based on the user reactions, you know its a major deal breaker. Even an average user I would say uses the app across 3 devices easily. I have synced my mac app, iphone and ipad together.
Apart from this, the space is being restricted to JUST 60mb of new uploads. I don’t even remember when was the last time I used a SaaS app with that kind of size constraint. With Web Clipper being a popular tool and user adding images to notes often, this limit can be hit quite easily. The only good change for the Basic plan is that you get the Passcode feature included in the plan which was paid earlier. However, this is not enough to save the frustration of users.
The Paid plans are not spared as well. They will see a STEEP hike in their cost. The Premium plan users will end up shelling as much as 40% more for almost no reason. Chris O’Neill, the CEO, says in his blog post that this will help them as new updates need “significant investment of energy, time, and money”. This still does not explain why the company would want to penalize their existing users who have been loyal for so long!
So what does this mean for you?
Well, it really depends. If I honestly take a minute and think about whether I can live with these changes, I feel I can. I would have liked if the changes would have been applied to new users only but all said & done, the company needs to make money. It still does not justify the 40% hike in Premium. You cannot charge more from people who already pay more. I upgraded to Premium just last week as I felt that Evernote deserves my money. I have been using the application heavily as a free user for years and now it was time I showed my love. But did not expect it to bite back so soon!
If you are in India, its still a good time to buy Evernote premium! The regional prices are great and way lower that our US counterparts. Small joys of being part of a developing economy. 😛
You don’t like the Evernote change. What are your Options?
Bye #Evernote. Two-device limit = useless. Moving to #OneNote. https://t.co/ylN1RR76FY
— Mike Smart (@MikeSmart) June 29, 2016
Well if you did not like the change like countless others who are expressing their disappointment across twitter, fear not. You can migrate immediately and easily. Microsoft will be the biggest gainer due to this change as they have made it dead simple for anyone migrate all their notes from Evernote to Onenote.
How to Migrate from Evernote to OneNote?
OneNote is the best cross platform Notes Taking application available today after Evernote. And its Free!!
Microsoft has created an easily to migrate tool that help you move all your existing notes to OneNote.
You can download the tool from here – Evernote to OneNote Import Tool. Below is a video that shows how its done!
Here is an example of how Evernote notes will look once you have completed the steps for importing the notes.
Hate Microsoft! Are their other alternatives for Migration?
Absolutely. There are a couple of other alternatives if you do not to move to OneNote.
Migrate your Evernote Notebooks to Apple Notes
Yup, Apple Notes is simple yet quite powerful. And if you are an iOS/Mac user like me it will work just fine for you. I have been experimenting with Apple notes and like its simplicity yet functional UI. You can easily migrate all your notes to Apple Notes by following the instructions here.
Do keep in mind that Apple Notes are not cross platform enabled.
Any other options for Migration?
Well there are a few other options but unfortunately they are not as efficient and easy to use today. Here are some links that should guide you to migrate your notes across Google Keep, Dropbox and others.
- Quora – Migrating Evernote to Google Keep
- Moving from Evernote to Dropbox
- Migrating Notes using scripts
I am new to Notes Taking. What are other Alternatives for me?
There are several Notes app today. I am even testing a recently introduced on Product Hunt – a beautiful notes taking app BEAR. But there are some note worthy options that you can opt for based on what you like:
- SimpleNotes – Simplest notes taking app
- Google Keep – Google’s simple yet effective app. Low of features.
- Notability – Cool Notes app. Great for audio transcription.
- Dropbox Paper – Still in BETA but good for Dropbox loyalists.
- Laverna – Host your own app
