Taking notes anywhere is more important than ever nowadays. There are several apps that can help you take excellent notes for any project you undertake. This includes adding media content, recognizing text from images, and collaborating in real time with others. In this article, we will review Evernote vs. OneNote, two of the most popular note-taking apps you can use today. Say goodbye to sticky notes!
Table of contents
Evernote vs. OneNote: Overview
| Feature | Evernote | OneNote |
|---|---|---|
| Note organization | Notebooks, notes, tags, and stacks | Notebooks, sections, pages |
| Note taking | Rich text editing, checklists, audio notes, web clipping, handwriting, templates | Rich text editing, checklists, audio and video recording, drawing, handwriting, equation support, templates |
| Web clipping | Yes, with advanced features (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera) | Yes, browser add-on (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, IE) |
| Search capabilities | Search text, handwritten notes, tags, attachments; advanced search syntax | Search text, handwritten notes, words in images, audio search |
| OCR (Optical Character Recognition) | Text in images, PDFs, and Office docs searchable | Text in images searchable, can extract text from images |
| Collaboration | Share notebooks, note links, email notes, chat feature | Share notebooks, view/edit permissions |
| Integrations | Gmail, Outlook Mail, Google Drive, Slack, Microsoft Teams | Evernote, Powerbot for Gmail, WordPress, Trello, Twitter, Basecamp, Microsoft Teams |
| User experience | User-friendly design, templates, email/live chat support (paid) | Familiar Office UI, supports multiple content types (text, images, tables, etc.) |
| Security | GCM-AES-128 in-transit, AES-256 at-rest, no zero-knowledge encryption | TLS with AES-256 in-transit, BitLocker 256-bit at-rest, password protection for notebooks |
| AI | AI Edit, AI-powered search (only in Professional plan) | Copilot AI for an additional $30/month |
| Additional features | Presentation mode, context feature, tagging system | Math assistant, immersive reader, page versions, password protection, linked notes |
| Platform availability | Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android | Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android |
| Pricing | Free: 60MB/month upload Personal: $14.99/month, 10GB upload Professional: $17.99/month, 20GB + 2GB/user Teams: $24.99/user/month, 20GB + 2GB/user | Free: 5GB OneDrive storage Office 365 Personal: $6.99/month, 1TB OneDrive |
Reasons to choose Evernote
- Sleek, minimalist interface reduces distractions.
- More versatile templates for notes.
- Powerful search capabilities for quick access to notes.
- Advanced web clipping tool.
- “Context” feature surfaces relevant notes while you work.
- Better privacy and data protection policies
- Ideal for users who value a streamlined, cross-platform experience.
Reasons to choose OneNote
- Completely free with 5GB OneDrive storage.
- Flexible, freeform canvas for unlimited creativity.
- Extensive built-in multimedia features for rich notes.
- Superior OCR capabilities with text extraction from images.
- Better integration with Microsoft products like Word, Excel, and Outlook.
- Massive storage capacity with a Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Perfect for students, educators, and heavy Microsoft users.
Evernote vs. OneNote: What are the differences?
Let’s review all the differences between Evernote and OneNote in detail so you can make an informed decision.
Ease of use and interface
Evernote’s sleek, intuitive interface makes it user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Still, it can look more outdated than some similar apps today.
It includes a range of features that are easy to navigate, even for new users. The app offers an excellent animated tutorial to help users get started quickly, and it supports efficient note-taking with various templates that can be customized for different tasks.
Its structure helps users stay organized by allowing detailed categorization through notebooks, tags, and stacks. Some users might find all options overwhelming at first, but this is mitigated by its user-friendly design and guided tutorials.
On the other hand, OneNote’s interface will feel familiar to anyone who has used other Microsoft Office applications, making it easier for existing Office users to adopt.
Its freeform note-taking style allows users to place text boxes, images, and other elements anywhere on the page, offering great flexibility in how notes are organized and displayed. This can be particularly useful for users who prefer a more open-ended approach to organizing their notes.
It’s worth noting that the sheer flexibility can also make it feel a bit harder to navigate for those who prefer a more structured format. OneNote also includes features like audio and video recording, enhancing its multimedia note-taking usability.
Note organization and structure
Evernote organizes notes into notebooks, and these notebooks can be further grouped into stacks. This hierarchical structure allows for detailed categorization, making it easy to find and manage related notes.
Additionally, Evernote uses tags extensively, enabling users to add multiple tags to a single note for more flexible searching and filtering. The tagging system is particularly useful for users who need to categorize notes across different projects or topics.
Evernote also supports powerful search functionalities, including the ability to search within attachments like PDFs and images using superior OCR technology. This combination of notebooks, stacks, and tags provides a robust framework for efficiently organizing large volumes of notes.
OneNote adopts a different approach, organizing content into notebooks, sections, and pages. Within a notebook, users can create sections and subsections, and within each section, multiple pages can be added.
This structure mimics a traditional binder, which might be more intuitive for users who prefer a familiar organizational method. OneNote also allows for the creation of subpages, which can help group related content into a single section.
The freeform canvas of OneNote pages lets users place text boxes, images, and other media anywhere on the page, offering a high degree of flexibility. OneNote’s organization is complemented by its robust integration with other Microsoft Office tools and the ability to embed various types of media.
Web Clipper
Evernote’s Web Clipper is widely regarded as one of the best in the market. It allows users to clip content from web pages, including articles, simplified articles, full pages, bookmarks, and screenshots.
The clipper supports major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera, making it versatile and accessible across different platforms. Users can save web clippings directly into specific notebooks, add tags, highlight important sections, and even annotate the clipped content.
This feature is especially useful for researchers, students, and professionals who need to efficiently gather and organize information from the web. Evernote’s ability to clip in various formats and organize clippings with tags and notebooks makes it a powerful tool for web content management.
OneNote also offers a Web Clipper that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. Similar to Evernote, you can capture web pages in their entirety or just the articles.
However, OneNote’s web clipper lacks some of the advanced annotation features that Evernote provides. Despite this, OneNote excels in integrating the clipped content into its notebook structure, allowing users to place clippings into specific sections and pages within their notebooks.
All in all, the web clipper is easy to use and sufficient for most basic clipping needs, making it a reliable choice for everyday use.
Collaboration and note-sharing
Evernote offers a variety of features for collaboration and note-sharing, making it a robust tool for team projects and shared tasks. You are able to share individual notes or entire notebooks with others via email or by generating a shareable link.
Evernote allows for different levels of access permissions, such as view-only or edit access. For more advanced collaboration, Evernote Teams plan includes shared spaces where team members can work together, add comments, and manage permissions. This is particularly useful for businesses and teams that need to collaborate on projects and share resources in a centralized manner.
Lastly, Evernote includes a chat feature within the app, allowing users to discuss notes and collaborate in real time without needing to switch to another communication tool.
OneNote also supports extensive collaboration features, leveraging its integration with other Microsoft Office tools to enhance teamwork. You can share entire notebooks or specific sections and pages with colleagues, who can then view or edit the content in real time.
This real-time collaboration is facilitated through Microsoft OneDrive, which ensures that all changes are synchronized across all devices. OneNote allows for detailed control over sharing permissions, which can be customized to allow viewing, editing, or full access.
Integration with Microsoft Teams further enhances collaboration by enabling team members to access, share, and edit notes directly within Teams channels.
Pricing and storage
Evernote offers several pricing plans designed to cater to different levels of usage, from casual note-takers to professional teams:
- Free: This plan provides 60MB of uploads per month and allows synchronization between two devices. However, it is pretty limited and may not suffice for users who need to upload large files or sync across multiple devices.
- Personal: It costs $14.99 per month and includes 10GB of monthly uploads. It supports unlimited devices and provides additional features like PDF annotation, document scanning, and offline access.
- Professional: Priced at $17.99 per month, it offers 20GB of uploads per month plus an extra 2GB per user. This plan includes advanced search capabilities and integrations with other tools, making it suitable for individual professionals.
- Teams: At $24.99 per user per month, this plan offers 20GB per user plus 2GB per user and is aimed at businesses. It includes features for team collaboration and administration, along with integrations with CRM tools like Salesforce.
OneNote’s pricing is structured around its integration with Microsoft’s OneDrive and Office 365:
- Free Plan: It includes 5GB of OneDrive storage, which is shared across all Microsoft Office applications. This plan is sufficient for basic note-taking and offers a range of features without additional costs.
- Office 365 Personal: It costs $6.99 per month and provides 1TB of OneDrive storage. This plan also includes access to other Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, making it a comprehensive option for users needing extensive storage and regularly using other Office tools.
Conclusion
To sum up:
👉 Choose Evernote if you need advanced features for note management, web clipping, and collaboration, mainly if you handle large volumes of information and require robust organizational tools.
👉 Choose OneNote if you prefer a cost-effective solution with deep integration into the Microsoft ecosystem, offering extensive storage and seamless use with other Microsoft Office applications.
For those looking to boost productivity, tools like Notion and Todoist offer real-time syncing with Google Calendar and other tools using 2sync. Notion’s flexibility makes it our favorite tool for note-taking and project management, particularly when using 2sync to centralize all your work in one place.
