Obsidian is the better app overall, scoring 9.3 to 7.7. Obsidian wins on 5 of the 5 scores, Evernote on 0.
Writers, students and researchers building a long-term personal knowledge base
Long-time users with large archives of clipped articles and scanned documents
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Obsidian | Evernote |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity & Notes | Productivity & Notes |
| Category rank | #2 of 13 | #13 of 13 |
| Developer | Dynalist Inc. | Bending Spoons |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linux | ✓ | — |
| Web | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Obsidian better than Evernote?
Obsidian is the better app overall, scoring 9.3 to 7.7. Obsidian wins on 5 of the 5 scores, Evernote on 0.
Which is cheaper, Obsidian or Evernote?
Obsidian: Free app; Sync from $4/month and Publish from $8/month, billed yearly. Evernote: Limited free plan; Starter $99/year or $14.99/month. On value for money, Obsidian scores higher.
Do Obsidian and Evernote work on the same devices?
Only Obsidian runs on Linux. Only Evernote runs on Web.
Which is more private, Obsidian or Evernote?
Obsidian scores higher on privacy (9.7/10). The App Store label says no data is collected, and there are no ads or tracking. Notes are local files on your device, and the optional Sync service is end-to-end encrypted by default.
Strengths and weaknesses
Obsidian
- Notes are local files that stay yours forever
- Fast and fully usable offline, with no account needed
- Free for personal and commercial use
- Steep learning curve with many setup choices
- Official sync and publishing are paid add-ons
Obsidian keeps your notes as plain Markdown files on your own device, so you own them outright and they work offline. Backlinks, graph view, Canvas and Bases, which now includes table, list and kanban views, turn a folder of notes into a connected knowledge base, and community plugins cover almost anything else. The app is free for any use. The catch is the learning curve, and official sync costs extra.
Full Obsidian review
Evernote
- Excellent web clipper for saving articles
- Finds text inside images, PDFs and scans
- Mature apps on phone, desktop and web
- Free plan stops at 50 notes and one notebook
- Paid plans cost more than most rivals
- Google Play lists the Android app as containing ads
Evernote is still a capable place to capture everything. The web clipper is excellent, search finds text inside images and PDFs, and notes, tasks and calendar live together. Version 11 added an AI Assistant, semantic search and meeting transcripts, and updates keep coming. The problem is value: the free plan stops at 50 notes, and paid plans cost more than most rivals. Hard to recommend unless you already rely on it.
Full Evernote review
