Shocking increase in plan price

[RichardThomas 28]

On 09.03.2024 at 16:27, Ruud Wijnands said:

  I would have like and that they somehow thought their ***** tasks management and calendar integrations were going to be a game changer.

I agree with your opinion. I stayed on the (discounted) subscription and watched as useless features continued to be added. Now we enjoy the ability to insert with "/" and this writes to me under each line. I'm very annoyed. I use Evernot as a draft, and it gets in the way when some inscription looms before your eyes.

[asan 3]

On 2/15/2024 at 6:33 PM, mackid1993 said:

I'll give him this, besides the personal attacks which are uncalled for: Joplin is a great tool. It's nice that they are adding OCR. I can say you certainly aren't the product with Joplin, Google Keep, sure. Joplin, no. It's FOSS. Anyone can open a PR. The maintainer offers a paid sync service that is entirely optional.

The mobile app is not so great and the UX isn't as good as Evernote, but you get what you pay for and Joplin is free.

I've been trying the Joplin route as well, with OneDrive for online storage.  The good:

• Easy interface, very similar to Evernote
• Runs on literally everything, and (so far) everything has stayed in sync
• Easy local backups (I use a plug in for this)
• My import from enex files was perfect

The not-so-good:

• That first sync is *painful*, especially on mobile (with approx 3GB of data)
• I'm pretty sure on mobile it downloads the entire database. You can tell it to only download attachments when selected, but there seems to be no data management, ie. it never frees up the space.
• No web access, which would eliminate the need to use the less than stellar mobile app.

Joplin is great, but I trust EN more to keep my data safe for now. My employer of course sees things through the "365 costs less and we get more" lens so they have not been willing to support such a large price increase all at once unfortunately.

[Bemused 1]

Just informed by email of the ~90% year-to-year price increase.  I had no clue.  Shocking.  Bad form EN.  Tootles.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

You have been on a rebated plan if the raise is 90%. 

Be grateful while it lasted, you now see the regular price. If the value is OK, continue. If not, go watching. You find some threads discussing alternatives in this forum.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

On 3/10/2024 at 5:18 PM, gazumped said:

They somehow managed to hang on to tens or hundreds of thousands of subscribers,  so I think they'll struggle on for now.  Good luck with Obsidian.

Oh, I am sure they are fine with the current pricing. They need a lot fewer subscribers to make the same income. And I am sure there is an audience for some of these overly priced features too. The point is that I have always loved Evernote for its simplicity. It was a no-nonsense tool. It isn't anymore. I do not feel appreciated as a long-term customer when I get a mutilated UI that continuously wants to force me to buy a more expensive subscription and where the features I had in the past are taken away and pushed to the more expensive subscription. It's aggressive and disrespectful to its users this way.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

Can you name a single feature that was taken away from you and moved to a more expensive subscription ?

Just one ?

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Can you name a single feature that was taken away from you and moved to a more expensive subscription ?

Just one ?

Sure. Some features that were once available in the free version of Evernote but later became exclusive to paid subscriptions include:

1. In 2016 the number of devices to sync
2. As of December 2023, free accounts have a new limit: 1 notebook and 50 notes; the previous free limit was 250 and 100,000 notes.

3. Offline access: Initially, offline access to notes was available to all users, but Evernote later restricted this feature to Premium and Business subscribers.

4. Advanced search functionality: Premium subscribers gained access to advanced search features, such as searching within attached documents and PDFs, which were not available to free users.

5. Enhanced collaboration tools: Certain collaboration features, like the ability to share notebooks with editing permissions, were restricted to Premium and Business users.

6. Note history: Evernote introduced a feature allowing users to access previous versions of their notes, but this was only available to Premium and Business subscribers.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

A free account is no subscription.

Users of a Free plan don’t contribute, and no company has any obligation to keep offering any feature for these users. They could even stop offering a free plan at all.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

1 minute ago, Ruud Wijnands said:

Sure. Some features that were once available in the free version of Evernote but later became exclusive to paid subscriptions include:

1. In 2016 the number of devices to sync
2. As of December 2023, free accounts have a new limit: 1 notebook and 50 notes; the previous free limit was 250 and 100,000 notes.

3. Offline access: Initially, offline access to notes was available to all users, but Evernote later restricted this feature to Premium and Business subscribers.

4. Advanced search functionality: Premium subscribers gained access to advanced search features, such as searching within attached documents and PDFs, which were not available to free users.

5. Enhanced collaboration tools: Certain collaboration features, like the ability to share notebooks with editing permissions, were restricted to Premium and Business users.

6. Note history: Evernote introduced a feature allowing users to access previous versions of their notes, but this was only available to Premium and Business subscribers.

But the topic started for me with the current pricing. These were price changes in 2015 or 2016.

That in contrast to the new pricing where I need to pay a lot more for features I don't use or need. The app hasn't changed much for the rest. Calendar integration and a very poor task management system are not worth that price increase.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

You buy a package - no matter what you intend to use.

You said there were features taken away and moved to more expensive subscriptions. This implies you already have been a subscriber. Free doesn’t qualify, for reasons explained.

Now, which feature was ever taken away from one paid plan and moved to another ?

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

3 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

A free account is no subscription.

Users of a Free plan don’t contribute, and no company has any obligation to keep offering any feature for these users. They could even stop offering a free plan at all.

I am not sure why you are so defensive for Evernote. Evernote has different users and became big with the freemium model. I agree with you that they can do whatever they want, because it is their company. That doesn't mean their users have to be happy with what they do. I am one of those users that isn't happy and is indicating that the current pricing is not worth it for me anymore. I am sure there are plenty who are still very happy. If you are one of them, I am happy for you. Great! It's entirely up to you.

Having different opinions about the value  doesn't make one user versus the other more wrong or right. It's a purely personal matter. If you like their features and are willing to pay for them this much then that is excellent for Evernote.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

EN got (nearly) bankrupted by the Freemium model. For sure it got them sold.

But back to the question. I assume you can’t answer it because there is no such feature. New features were often reserved for new subscription plans, all existing features remained available.

If the new prices are adequate depends on your use cases. This you need to answer yourself.

If not, go watching.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

5 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

You buy a package - no matter what you intend to use.

You said there were features taken away and moved to more expensive subscriptions. This implies you already have been a subscriber. Free doesn’t qualify, for reasons explained.

Now, which feature was ever taken away from one paid plan and moved to another ?

Correct, as stated I have been user for 15 years. I think that counts for something. Anyway, I started with the free subscription. Evernote calls the subscription plans, even though you are of the opinion that that is not a subscription. I did not make this up. I had to move to a paid subscription a long time ago because of a reason I honestly don't remember. I only remember that I used a feature and had  to move to a 35 Euro subscription (or something number in that area) to keep using it. And at the time I had no problem with it. As I said, I always loved Evernote and I have been a very happy user for many years. 

And I was even willing to pay double the price later, because I felt this tool was necessary for my productivity. Things really started changing when they introduced tasks and Google calender integration and increased the pricing again. I remember that the user interface became very annoying. It was constantly reminding me that I had not upgraded for that unnecessary task integration. I felt violated. Ultimately, I gave in and paid extra just to get back to a usable user interface that stopped bugging me to upgrade.

Now the pricing is raised to a point where I simply do not consider it worth the money. There are many free note taking apps out there these days with much better features for the needs I have. Like note linking. Yes, Evernote has this too these days, but it was added not that long ago and the implementation is cumbersome compared to the free alternatives. It's simply not worth it anymore. 

It's fine if you feel different about it. That is great for Evernote.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

2 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

EN got (nearly) bankrupted by the Freemium model. For sure it got them sold.

But back to the question. I assume you can’t answer it because there is no such feature. New features were often reserved for new subscription plans, all existing features remained available.

If the new prices are adequate depends on your use cases. This you need to answer yourself.

If not, go watching.

Not sure what you mean. I mentioned several features that got changed between the models. ???

In the recent plans everything remained available. True. Again, I am a user since 15 years back. I am referring to the changes Evernote made over time that made me have to pay extra to keep using features I used. I am not necessarily referring to the current change. For the current change you seem to recognize we simply have to pay significantly more without getting any added value.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

19 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Now, which feature was ever taken away from one paid plan and moved to another ?

I answered the "ever" part of your question. Agree?

[agsteele 2,964]

The functions available have moved about all the time with subscription.  Most recently 14 functions that had previously been paid for were released to Free users https://evernote.com/blog/14-features-for-all

• Note history and restore (Formerly Personal)
• Offline notes and notebooks (Formerly Personal)
• PDF and image annotation (Formerly Personal)
• PDF export (Formerly Professional)
• Business card scanning (Formerly Professional)
• Spreadsheet preview (Formerly Professional)
• Boolean search (Formerly Professional)
• Geographic search (Formerly Professional)
• Document & image search (Formerly Professional)
• Email notes to Evernote (Formerly Personal)
• Share notes via email (Formerly Personal)
• Custom global keyboard shortcuts (Formerly Personal)
• Customize the “create” button on Mobile (Formerly Personal)
• Custom templates (Formerly Personal)

So, yes, features move between plans but many of those cited previously were only ever part of a paid plan and some are now part of Free already.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

Plus had all that was available at that time. Nothing was taken away. It just continued on that level.

There were additional features, and the management back then decided to bundle them, and launch Premium. Plus was grandfathered, existing users could stay.

Later they launched Tasks and Boolean Search, decided again they need to bundle them. A user focused version of Tasks went to Personal (plus all Premium features), the collaborative use of Tasks and Boolean Search went to the new Professional level. Again nothing was removed, Premium was as split: Full Premium plans were converted to Personal, rebated Premium users could upgrade, or stay on rebated Premium, without full Personal features.

The result were 4 individual plans

Plus (grandfathered since 2018)

Premium (grandfathered since 2021)

Personal (active)

Professional (active)

The only change in plans after BS took over was that the grandfathered plans can’t be renewed any more. The users can decide to move to Personal (with a price hike, buffered by a first year rebate) or drop to Free.

Conclusion: There were never features removed from existing plans.

As @agsteele has added, many features were now opened to the Free plan as well - which functions as a trial plan. Subscribers can choose between Personal or Professional.

 

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

3 minutes ago, agsteele said:

The functions available have moved about all the time with subscription.  Most recently 14 functions that had previously been paid for were released to Free users https://evernote.com/blog/14-features-for-all

• Note history and restore (Formerly Personal)
• Offline notes and notebooks (Formerly Personal)
• PDF and image annotation (Formerly Personal)
• PDF export (Formerly Professional)
• Business card scanning (Formerly Professional)
• Spreadsheet preview (Formerly Professional)
• Boolean search (Formerly Professional)
• Geographic search (Formerly Professional)
• Document & image search (Formerly Professional)
• Email notes to Evernote (Formerly Personal)
• Share notes via email (Formerly Personal)
• Custom global keyboard shortcuts (Formerly Personal)
• Customize the “create” button on Mobile (Formerly Personal)
• Custom templates (Formerly Personal)

So, yes, features move between plans but many of those cited previously were only ever part of a paid plan and some are now part of Free already.

Sure, that happens too. And that is great if you are a user of these features. It doesn't change my opinion that the current pricing is not worth it for me anymore.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

If you don’t get the value you need, go watching.

But don’t use bogus arguments for it.

[agsteele 2,964]

7 minutes ago, Ruud Wijnands said:

Sure, that happens too. And that is great if you are a user of these features. It doesn't change my opinion that the current pricing is not worth it for me anymore.

Then I guess you'll be making a switch soon if not already but you did previously imply that you had not been given Note History or Advanced Search. I thought you had missed that it was available to you on Free.

45 minutes ago, Ruud Wijnands said:

• Advanced search functionality: Premium subscribers gained access to advanced search features, such as searching within attached documents and PDFs, which were not available to free users.

• Note history: Evernote introduced a feature allowing users to access previous versions of their notes, but this was only available to Premium and Business subscribers.

I hope you'll find the service that meets your needs for the future.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

2 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Plus had all that was available at that time. Nothing was taken away. It just continued on that level.

There were additional features, and the management back then decided to bundle them, and launch Premium. Plus was grandfathered, existing users could stay.

Later they launched Tasks and Boolean Search, decided again they need to bundle them. A user focused version of Tasks went to Personal (plus all Premium features), the collaborative use of Tasks and Boolean Search went to the new Professional level. Again nothing was removed, Premium was as split: Full Premium plans were converted to Personal, rebated Premium users could upgrade, or stay on rebated Premium, without full Personal features.

The result were 4 individual plans

Plus (grandfathered since 2018)

Premium (grandfathered since 2021)

Personal (active)

Professional (active)

The only change in plans after BS took over was that the grandfathered plans can’t be renewed any more. The users can decide to move to Personal (with a price hike, buffered by a first year rebate) or drop to Free.

Conclusion: There were never features removed from existing plans.

As @agsteele has added, many features were now opened to the Free plan as well - which functions as a trial plan. Subscribers can choose between Personal or Professional.

 

I am sorry, but that is simply not true and you can easily google some of the examples I gave.

BUT... Let's agree to disagree. I do not need to be right about anything. I tried to answer your question and you don't recognize it or don't like my answer. Either way, I am ok with it. It's not important enough to me whether you agree or disagree.

You are a happy user, and I am happy for you. The fact that I am not due to the current pricing increase doesn't need to be of concern. It doesn't make more wrong or right—I wish you a fantastic life and prosperity. 

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

2 minutes ago, agsteele said:

Then I guess you'll be making a switch soon if not already but you did previously infer that you had not been given Note History or Advanced Search. I thought you had missed that it was available to you on Free.

I hope you'll find the service that meets your needs for the future.

Thanks, I have. I started using Obsidian 1.5 years ago. First, as an experiment, I learned that in parallel with Evernote use, I started using Evernote less and less. Obsidian offers many more useful features, and all of them are completely free of charge. Yet, I decided to fund the Obsidian authors and some of the plugin creators because I do not mind paying for great tools as long as it is balanced with the value I get.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

10 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

If you don’t get the value you need, go watching.

But don’t use bogus arguments for it.

So aggressive. Why? Bad day? Or a need to be right? You are right my friend. If that makes you feel better, have a happy life. Maybe find something fun or nice to do or join some boxing classes to get rid of your aggression.

[Ruud Wijnands 10]

There is no need to respond further to any of my remarks. I am checking out here. This was my first and last experience joining the Evernote forum. I respect that people have different opinions, experience things differently, and have different perspectives on the same matter. I have no need to "be right" about something, and someone may consider my arguments flawed. That's fine. On the scale of the Universe, none of this conversation is important anyway.

[janndk 556]

Pricing and product features/quality goes together. I think Evernote is overpriced at the moment because of a lot of bugs and clumsy UI - meaning that it's still on beta-stage and not a ready product. Bending Spoons has done many good things for Evernote, but also a lot of damage with random development combined with no testing. Making it difficult to see where all this is heading to - planned or not planned. Still hoping for the best though.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

6 hours ago, Ruud Wijnands said:

I am sure there is an audience for some of these overly priced features too. The point is that I have always loved Evernote for its simplicity. It was a no-nonsense tool. It isn't anymore.

Just on this specific group of points: If there is an audience for a feature, then it is not over-priced, I would say. It just has to find the audience that thinks it is worth the money.

Without reference to pricing: "Evernote used to be so simple" nostalgia is pretty common these days, but I wonder. People who only ever wanted to take plain-text notes (shopping lists, thoughts that occurred to them that they would need later on, etc.) always got too much with Evernote (well, at least since 2013, when I began with it). They got the ability to clip Web pages to notes, to add pictures, documents, and other attachments which would be OCRed and indexed, and to sync notes across multiple devices on multiple OS platforms. That was basic to Evernote, and IMHO it was anything but simple. In fact, people who only wanted text notes on their phones or computers might have called it nonsense. Evernote, at least in the 11 years I've used it, has always been feature rich, and fitting those features into a usable interface, I would imagine, has always been a challenge. Adjusting features and changing the interface, esp the major changes that came with v. 10 and its recent improvements, have caused a lot of issues for people who were used to something else. But I don't think that what many of them were used to was necessarily simple. Look around the forums for people complaining that they can't work as tag ninjas or permanently alter the date of a note anymore. Just my point of view, of course, and I know your situation may give you a different vantage point.

[Razmataz 220]

My view is that EN used to have several "personalities" (e.g. simple note-taking, filing system, simple web-publisher, document workflow system, etc.). I used it for several of those and felt that it was quite simple for any one of the personalities. The complexity came through the aggregation of those personalities.

I think I mastered that complexity to some extent and thus had a very powerful tool with EN (legacy).

Today, EN is throwing in new functions without targeting them to any particular use case. They are mere features. They don't play together, sometimes work at the expense of others and they are certainly not thought-through, let alone well tested. Some of the forists rejoice about the number of releases of V10. They are actually a necessity and a consequence of the missing plan (and missing QA process).

Thus, it is not surprising to me that many user are dissatisfied. I am, too. Many of the "personalities" have become weaker.

Perhaps there is a very satisfied target group. But EN/BS has never communicated a description of that target group. What this forum reflects is a "target group" that frowns at the struggle of long-time users claiming that they are just legacy die-hards and cry-babies.

I submit that usability has been greatly reduced and my productivity has been decreased. Your milage may vary.

Before you attack, just look at the mere length of @ferol's list. Just the number of entries.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there is a real problem here.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

Task manager, Workflow builder, Home dashboard, Collaborative editing tool - you forgot a few.

Maybe because these were added in v10, and are seemingly ignored by some users, for unexplained reasons. But no matter, we normal EN users enjoy the added functionalities, and wait for more to come. 

AI editing is right now entering the beta stage, and looks promising.

[ferol 487]

2 hours ago, Razmataz said:

My view is that EN used to have several "personalities" (e.g. simple note-taking, filing system, simple web-publisher, document workflow system, etc.). I used it for several of those and felt that it was quite simple for any one of the personalities. The complexity came through the aggregation of those personalities.

I think I mastered that complexity to some extent and thus had a very powerful tool with EN (legacy).

Today, EN is throwing in new functions without targeting them to any particular use case. They are mere features. They don't play together, sometimes work at the expense of others and they are certainly not thought-through, let alone well tested. Some of the forists rejoice about the number of releases of V10. They are actually a necessity and a consequence of the missing plan (and missing QA process).

Thus, it is not surprising to me that many user are dissatisfied. I am, too. Many of the "personalities" have become weaker.

Perhaps there is a very satisfied target group. But EN/BS has never communicated a description of that target group. What this forum reflects is a "target group" that frowns at the struggle of long-time users claiming that they are just legacy die-hards and cry-babies.

I submit that usability has been greatly reduced and my productivity has been decreased. Your milage may vary.

Before you attack, just look at the mere length of @ferol's list. Just the number of entries.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there is a real problem here.

And I'd rather not post here on the forum what I found out after a week of using Obsidian, what it helps me in addition, what I didn't even think to write in the list, because I didn't even know that something could be done better...

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

2 hours ago, Razmataz said:

Today, EN is throwing in new functions without targeting them to any particular use case. They are mere features. They don't play together, sometimes work at the expense of others and they are certainly not thought-through, let alone well tested.

I keep seeing statements like this, sometimes with examples, often without. Can you give some specific examples of functions with no use case? Bearing in mind that just because you don't use it, that doesn't mean there is no use case.

2 hours ago, Razmataz said:

What this forum reflects is a "target group" that frowns at the struggle of long-time users claiming that they are just legacy die-hards and cry-babies.

I never frown at anyone's struggles, I hope, and I've tried to give helpful responses even to some fairly rudely asked questions about how to use v. 10 as people migrate to it from Legacy. What I don't care for are pleas that nothing ever change, new features never be added, syncing never be improved, etc., especially when these are accompanied by abusive remarks about Evernote's owners and developers, or about people who do find v. 10 useful.

[ferol 487]

42 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Task manager, Workflow builder, Home dashboard, Collaborative editing tool - you forgot a few.

I don't use any of that.... so it's really individual. But I've been on v.10 for more than half a year now... somehow I got used to it... but it's true that the efficiency is questionable... I probably didn't find v.10 more efficient...  but now.. Collapsible Secsion is realy perfect..

 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

2 hours ago, Razmataz said:

My view is that EN used to have several "personalities" (e.g. simple note-taking, filing system, simple web-publisher, document workflow system, etc.). I used it for several of those and felt that it was quite simple for any one of the personalities. The complexity came through the aggregation of those personalities.

And here I agree with you. One of Evernote's best points, I think, has always been its flexibility for use by many people in many different endeavors. It did render it complex, and it tempted people to want it to be better specialized, for coding, for example, or for writing a novel (seriously).

[eugenes 30]

15 hours ago, ferol said:

I don't use any of that.... so it's really individual. 

 

That's key. Each of us uses a subset of EN features and cares mainly about those. Sometimes a new feature comes in and we adopt or ignore it. For me, for example, the features I use to price ratio has become too low to continue with EN.

[janndk 556]

I still miss some features from EN "Legacy", but tasks and a nice UI were the reasons I jumped to EN10 as soon as it came out. 

ENs unique way to have tasks inside notes was something I adopted right away, as it matches very well with my workflow. And tasks are the reason I still keep hanging around here a little bit (despite all the bugs and all other inconveniences).

However, the former nice UI has now turned to the opposite, and has become downright unpleasant to use. Don't know how much longer I can take it 😭

[Naomi'sNotes 0]

I have been billed twice at the new rate; apparently I have two accounts? I look forward to hearing from company support personnel to resolve this issue with me, to ensure I don't lose data and am refunded for one of those charges.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

If you have 2 accounts, 2 bills should be no surprise.

Evernote Support Ticket:

 

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

[System 7 0]

Having been a user since 2013, I didn't realize that Evernote was acquired by another company. It makes sense now why, for about a year or so, there have been updates almost every other day. But updating to what, exactly? I think the search functionality has worsened over the years. I preferred the old application and couldn't care less about the flashy upgrades. The AI search and the regular search seem the same to me, even though the app's performance has declined. With over 17,000 notes, it's been a real hassle moving stuff over to OneNote. I don't understand who in marketing thinks suddenly doubling the price is a good idea. It sounds like something the COO would come up with if they have a CMO. He or she must be out of touch to not realize that doubling the cost like this is a bad idea. I appreciate them at least sending us an email about the change. 

[PinkElephant 8,242]

Let’s do some simple math: Driving away most Free users is a gain, because they created only cost, with a (likely) dismal conversion rate to a subscription. Most were ingrained in the Free model, and had no intention to ever switch to a paid plan. Some even were honest enough to confirm this.

Now we have the subscribers. Many are still on a budget plan, long grandfathered. So the group of subscribers who pay a full subscription is likely rather only a tiny fraction of all users, and probably not even the majority of paying users.

If you raise the prices across the board, and stop the renewal of the grandfathered plans, you can still have a similar net income as before, but lower operating expenses. While it goes on, you can optimize your retention rate by offering rebates to users who cancel. Even with 50% of users left you would still do better than before.

This is more or less what has happened. It is still ongoing, because it takes a full year until all subscriptions have been renewed under the new conditions. 

For me the interesting question is what will come next. They need to answer 2 questions for me:

What will I get as a user when my plan renews, for a price that needs to be justified with the adequate value.

What will be done to win new users, which is a necessity for a sustained operation - and thus availability of EN for the next years.

You can and should look for alternatives - take your content where you get the most value for your investment. My personal view is that this is NOT OneNote, and that many are only choosing it because it is part of their Office package anyhow. Looking at the investment in time, and the IMHO disastrous GUI of ON I would never consider it for myself. The greed of taking the „free“ option is a bad counselor .

But there are many other options, and some of them may be a good fit for your use cases.

 

[slugdugg 0]

I have been a paying user since 2008, mostly on the Plus plan. I used it sporadically and in bursts over time.  I never neared the max on uploads. Now that my only option is the $129/yr plan I am moving on.  I spent that $120 on a different platform that is modern and has more functionality and is closer to being "worth it".  I don't begrudge EN for changing plans and pricing, but I think they are fooling themselves that they can go directly to premium pricing in a world that has dozens of viable note/organization/PKM platforms without first making the EN platform more feature  competitive.

I am a chronic investigator of PKM/notes/tasks apps, so I'm sure when the yearly subscription for my new platform nears expiration I will investigate to see if Evernote has evolved.  I hope it can.

[xAgyex 0]

So disappointed in you evernote. I have been your biggest champion for over a decade. But with these ridiculous prices I will be moving on and not able to recommend you to folks. Best of luck.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

I finally got The Email a few days ago: the price for my Professional subscription will change to $169.99/year, an increase of $70. It came a month before my renewal date of May 11, so plenty of time to decide.

The new price is $14.17/month, $3.27/week, $0.47/day. My existing price is $8.33/month, $1.92/week, $0.27/day. 70% is a very steep rise, but the actual amounts match up well with what I myself get out of Evernote, esp. as some new features are being introduced (collapsible sections, links to sections of notes; not AI) that I will find useful. I'll also take time to compare the Professional plan and price with the Personal. The latter was updated, I think, and it might work for me to drop back to it.

[s2sailor 2,279]

I dropped from Professional to Personal when my renewal came and I'm fine there now. Still, when the dust settles on the new enhancements, it will be interesting to see which may go to the Professional only tier.  Based on how that shakes out I might consider Pro again.

[bmcl26 508]

To provide some perspective on the price increases, I would like to share my experience. I was on the Plus plan and later upgraded to the Professional plan when it was introduced during my subscription year. I recall being charged an additional £25 for the remaining duration of my subscription. My plan renews annually on May 27th. Fortunately, the new price increases only applied to new subscribers from May 1st, 2023, and to existing subscribers from June 1st, 2023. This meant that I was able to enjoy another year at the usual price (£84.61 at the relative exchange rate last year), minus three days, which worked out to be 24p per day. I am set to renew on May 27th, and the current UK Professional Plan (Annual) costs £104.99, making my daily cost 29p. Despite the price increase, I believe that the plan still offers good value, considering the new features added over the past two years. It is worth noting that I was not on a grandfathered plan that was heavily discounted, which may have made a significant difference in price. 

 

 

[asan 3]

Great reply @PinkElephant.  I did get the discount offer, which would be great except when this went to my employer their immediate response was "we have alternatives" and so it was just not budgetted . I find this model, where you raise prices then offer a discount to those who don't continue, frustrating (my cell phone provider did the same thing).  Problem is once people sink their data into a platform, and all the work that entails, it is hard to win them back.

They seem to be banking on premium corporate customers anyways, so I hope it works out for them.  Casual users aren't their target and that's fine, but I do wish they would see them as entry-points into their ecosystem and offer something beyond "50 notes" for a minimal cost. Time will tell.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

1 hour ago, bmcl26 said:

To provide some perspective on the price increases, I would like to share my experience. I was on the Plus plan and later upgraded to the Professional plan when it was introduced during my subscription year. I recall being charged an additional £25 for the remaining duration of my subscription. My plan renews annually on May 27th. Fortunately, the new price increases only applied to new subscribers from May 1st, 2023, and to existing subscribers from June 1st, 2023. This meant that I was able to enjoy another year at the usual price (£84.61 at the relative exchange rate last year), minus three days, which worked out to be 24p per day. I am set to renew on May 27th, and the current UK Professional Plan (Annual) costs £104.99, making my daily cost 29p. Despite the price increase, I believe that the plan still offers good value, considering the new features added over the past two years. It is worth noting that I was not on a grandfathered plan that was heavily discounted, which may have made a significant difference in price. 

That was basically my experience too, which is why I only just recently got The Email. This was the first time I really considered Evernote's cost/value ratio for my use -- which could indicate a number of things, including that it was underpriced previously, so I never gave it a thought, but now it's closer to what I need to think about before paying.

[pcammall 5]

Did any Legacy Plus* users besides me make a note of what they were expecting to pay on the renewal date of their subscription this year by going to the Billing section of their account months in advance, only to then find a discrepancy with the renewal rate stated in the "Important change to your Evernote subscription" email they eventually received?

Back on March 2, I was expecting to pay CAD $78.39 on my renewal date of May 29 -- please see first attached screencap, taken March 2 from the Billing section of my account. Call me naive if you like for thinking my renewal rate would be the same as it was in 2023, but I don't have the resourcefulness many of you have to find out what Bending Spoons has coming down the pipe with respect to Evernote before the company eventually makes formal announcements. I find out about these changes much later, i.e., when I receive the emails from Evernote.

Today, May 1, I received the aforementioned email, and it indicated the renewal rate would be CAD $159.99 going forward and effective on my renewal date of May 29 -- please see second attached screencap, taken today from the Billing section of my account. 

*I intentionally typed "Legacy Plus" because the aforementioned email is the first time Evernote actually took the time to inform me that my account has been transitioned from Plus to Personal. (A couple of months ago, I accidentally found out about the upgrade via an online post in the personal productivity club run by a Certified Evernote Expert.) This lack of communication is reminiscent of how I found out in a January 31 email from Evernote that my Evernote Free account would be limited to 50 notes and 1 notebook -- "Starting on December 4" is how that email started, and then I discovered that here on the forums, Federico Simionato had posted about the change on November 29 of last year. I've actually liked the new features I have been able to use since learning I was upgraded from Plus to Personal but I wished I had been told earlier so that I could start taking advantage of these features right away. Exporting my 6,500+ notes from my free account took about 6 hours on a Saturday back in February, which was no big deal, but then I couldn't import the .enex file into my paid account no matter how many times I tried. Over the next 2 weeks I managed to move all those notes to my paid account, as I had long ago shared notebooks between it and the free one -- I was relieved but I know I would have gone about the migration differently had I known earlier about the impending changes to free accounts.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

In May 2023 Plus subscriptions were still renewed, as grandfathered plans and with a price raised by the same amount as the other subscriptions.

Since autumn the grandfathered subscriptions are automatically upgraded to Personal. The grandfathered plans are discontinued.

What you see is exactly this, a move to the Personal plan.

Your alternatives are a Free account (which is not meant for use with a lot of notes, as you already learned), or to leave. I look for the value EN creates as main driver for my own decision.

[willjesko 0]

Today I got hit with a deduction in my account for AUD 126. I did not keep up to date with the Evernote Blogs and other communications, therefore it came as a shock. The software is just not that important to me. I will not continue to use this product. I think OneNote has caught up with much of the functionalities that Evernote had. I dont really think that I am alone on this. 

[xthought 0]

binHEX you are right.  I am surprised by the level5 responder, but not completely surprised.  After the ridiculous price increase AND their responses... I am cancelling my subscription.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

On 4/15/2024 at 11:26 AM, Dave-in-Decatur said:

I finally got The Email a few days ago: the price for my Professional subscription will change to $169.99/year, an increase of $70. It came a month before my renewal date of May 11, so plenty of time to decide.

The new price is $14.17/month, $3.27/week, $0.47/day. My existing price is $8.33/month, $1.92/week, $0.27/day. 70% is a very steep rise, but the actual amounts match up well with what I myself get out of Evernote, esp. as some new features are being introduced (collapsible sections, links to sections of notes; not AI) that I will find useful. I'll also take time to compare the Professional plan and price with the Personal. The latter was updated, I think, and it might work for me to drop back to it.

This evening I sat down and compared the features between Personal and Professional, and realized that the two plans have changed so much that the Pro is now beyond my needs. I don't do enough PDF editing to need an Acrobat subscription; I used 4 GB of my 20 so far this month, so that 10 will not be a constriction; and I explicitly don't want AI features. So I dropped back to Personal. The increase will be 30%, still a lot in the abstract, but working out to a cost of only $2.50/week. I spend more than that on a weekly slice of pie with our granddaughter, and my Evernote usage is well worth it. Glad I did this and didn't go with the Pro subscription just out of inertia.

[mackid1993 917]

1 hour ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

This evening I sat down and compared the features between Personal and Professional, and realized that the two plans have changed so much that the Pro is now beyond my needs. I don't do enough PDF editing to need an Acrobat subscription; I used 4 GB of my 20 so far this month, so that 10 will not be a constriction; and I explicitly don't want AI features. So I dropped back to Personal. The increase will be 30%, still a lot in the abstract, but working out to a cost of only $2.50/week. I spend more than that on a weekly slice of pie with our granddaughter, and my Evernote usage is well worth it. Glad I did this and didn't go with the Pro subscription just out of inertia.

I may do the same, I never come close to 20GB and now that this is the only difference I may let my renewal lapse actually and try to get back in on Personal with a discount. 😉 Don't hate the player hate the game.

Edit: I didn't realize the AI features are now Professional only, nevermind then. I like those.

[bmcl26 508]

I have done the same, dropping down to Personal when my plan renews later this month, as I do not consider the Professional cost to be valuable for my use requirements.

[PinkElephant 8,242]

Probably I will use this as well when my sub is up for renewal. Just need to find out how to perform this trick with a subscription handled through iTunes. Last time I needed to cancel, and subscribe fresh.

[janndk 556]

First and foremost it's not a question about the price itself - or not even price compared to features - but about if the software is functioning properly or not.

At the moment I pay for features that are an important part of my workflow, but aren't functioning properly or not functioning at all.

It's also a question about if the company behind the software is to be trusted or not. I feel Bending Spoons is "speaking with two tongues" - saying one thing, but in reality acting in a different way.

At the moment I'm very much in doubt what Bending Spoons' real intentions and future plans for Evernote are. It's very sad.

[Kaspar 11]

My general advice to users who find the price increase unacceptable, is to cancel the paid plan and wait a few days for a discount.
If the discounted price is still too big, then wait a bit more for a bigger discount.
The discounts are not guaranteed ofcourse, but doesn't hurt to try.

[pcammall 5]

On 5/2/2024 at 12:02 AM, pcammall said:

Did any Legacy Plus* users besides me make a note of what they were expecting to pay on the renewal date of their subscription this year by going to the Billing section of their account months in advance, only to then find a discrepancy with the renewal rate stated in the "Important change to your Evernote subscription" email they eventually received?

Back on March 2, I was expecting to pay CAD $78.39 on my renewal date of May 29 -- please see first attached screencap, taken March 2 from the Billing section of my account. Call me naive if you like for thinking my renewal rate would be the same as it was in 2023, but I don't have the resourcefulness many of you have to find out what Bending Spoons has coming down the pipe with respect to Evernote before the company eventually makes formal announcements. I find out about these changes much later, i.e., when I receive the emails from Evernote.

Today, May 1, I received the aforementioned email, and it indicated the renewal rate would be CAD $159.99 going forward and effective on my renewal date of May 29 -- please see second attached screencap, taken today from the Billing section of my account. 

  

On 5/2/2024 at 1:50 AM, PinkElephant said:

In May 2023 Plus subscriptions were still renewed, as grandfathered plans and with a price raised by the same amount as the other subscriptions.

Since autumn the grandfathered subscriptions are automatically upgraded to Personal. The grandfathered plans are discontinued.

What you see is exactly this, a move to the Personal plan.

Your alternatives are a Free account (which is not meant for use with a lot of notes, as you already learned), or to leave. I look for the value EN creates as main driver for my own decision.

So on May 2, 2024, Evernote Support <support-webform@evernote.com> provided an AI-generated reply just a couple of minutes after I submitted my support request re: the discrepant renewal rates. I waited till May 4 to follow up by re-asking why the lower rate appeared in the billing section of my account on or prior to March 2.

The reply from an actual person on the Evernote Support Team (please see also my screenshot attachment of the reply):
 

Quote

While this change might come as a surprise, it’s important to note that the Plus plan you’ve been on has been discontinued for several years. During this time, you’ve enjoyed a substantial discount compared to what other users have been paying for our services.
 
As we transition legacy subscriptions such as your former Plus plan to Evernote Personal, we must also adjust the price of your subscription to match our current offering.
 
I understand that it’s never pleasant to pay more for something. However, I believe that you’ll find Evernote’s value will only grow. We’re committed to making Evernote better than ever—you can read about our most recent efforts in the latest blog post, and I’m certain there will be many more exciting developments to come.
 
Should you need any further assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us again.

I was billed in 2022 and 2023 for my Plus Annual subscription (please see the 2 remaining screenshots). It most certainly was not discontinued for several years, and as I previously wrote, Evernote did not formally tell me till I recently received a May 1 email that my Plus subscription was transitioned to a Personal subscription.

I have paid for an Evernote subscription since Nov. 28, 2016. Does Evernote consider me a leech or did the Support Team member speak out of turn by citing false information?

Would established Premium and Personal subscribers consider me a leech for choosing the lower-priced Plus tier in Nov. 2016 because it best suited my needs? for not paying for my free account (separate account) since Oct. 2009?

[s2sailor 2,279]

13 minutes ago, pcammall said:

I was billed in 2022 and 2023 for my Plus Annual subscription (please see the 2 remaining screenshots). It most certainly was not discontinued for several years

Existing Plus subscribers were grandfathered in.  I believe this comment coincides with when they stopped accepting new Plus subscribers.  The Plus plan is over and prior Plus subscribers are no longer grandfathered under the old plan.  The options we have now are only the Personal and Professional plans.

[pcammall 5]

On 5/5/2024 at 6:47 AM, Kaspar said:

My general advice to users who find the price increase unacceptable, is to cancel the paid plan and wait a few days for a discount.
If the discounted price is still too big, then wait a bit more for a bigger discount.
The discounts are not guaranteed ofcourse, but doesn't hurt to try.

If you cancel your paid subscription, will Evernote immediately convert your account to an Evernote Free account or wait till the end of the billing cycle to do so? 

[PinkElephant 8,242]

@pcammall A subscription means a contract for the subscription period, in this case 1 year. The company offering the subscription can alter its plans, its policy and its handling of old plans at any time. They need to honor paid for subscriptions until they expire.

This EN did in your case, no doubt about this.

Now a new year is up, and the conditions have changed.

You can decide to go for an actual subscription, let the account drop to Free (with the relevant restrictions) or leave altogether. That’s your options - the decision is yours.

EN will honor your paid for plan until the last date. The only exception would be if you decide to upgrade - then you pay the new price, and get a „pro rata“ refund for the unused part of your old subscription.