50 notes limit

[Zedxxx 11]

I cannot make new notes. Now I have 47 notes, but I got an error trying to make a new note that my limit is 50 notes. I have free plan. According system limits information free plan has 100,000 free notes. Why I have limit for only 50 (even less)?

[Boot17 1,457]

You’re part of a group of targeted free accounts that is having a semi-covert (i.e. no official announcement) monetization experiment done on them — limiting them to just one notebook and 50 notes  

I’ve also seen some free users being limited to syncing just one device, instead of the normal two device limit. 

Edit: As of December 4th, this  1 notebook, 50 note limitation is being rolled out to all free accounts.

[gazumped 11,677]

Hi - We're mainly other users here,  so no influence or information over increasing limits or ways around them.  Evernote haven't publilshed any information that we know of.  If you find the service useful,  then obviously subscribing would be the way to go.  Whatever you plan on doing,  entrusting notes to a limited free service does not seem a good idea.  As it is a free service I don't think they are bound by the online details - they can alter the terms as they wish.

There are other 'free' services out there - that make their money by showing you ads,  or selling details of your online activity.  Evernote don't do that,  so their only income is from subscriptions.  They seem to see the product now as purely a trial sandbox so you can see how things work and decide whether or not to subscribe to get full access.

You may be offered a discount for your first year.

See websites like https://noteapps.info or https://toolfinder.co for possible options.

[Zedxxx 11]

But I want to use my free account with 100,000 free notes. Is is very strange, they write about 100,000 free notes but in fact I have less than 50. Should I register a new account?

[PinkElephant 8,127]

The intended use is the Free account for a test drive, and then subscribe or leave. That’s at least how I read the new Free restrictions that pop up with some (yet not all) Free users.

Sure, you can add Free accounts. And then ? 50 notes each, and permanently logout/login/switch accounts ?

If you have nothing better to do with your life … 🤷

[agsteele 2,951]

This is a trial. We have idea whether it will become permanent or not. You can complain that you signed up to a Free plan with advertised data and note limits. Perhaps they will take you off the trial. Or perhaps they will announce that the limits on Free accounts had been reduced.

[gazumped 11,677]

Like I said originally,  this is a free service.  If the company effectively says "it's no longer our practice to allow totally free access in the way described in our literature" you've not been charged or harmed in any way.  You had the opportunity to evaluate the services available,  and you now have the chance to subscribe or try a different service.  All you can do is move on.  (Or subscribe,  obviously...)

[Zedxxx 11]

But I don't see in their rules that free account have only 50 notes. They said free account has 100,000 notes. My wife has free account registered the same day as mine and there is no 50 notes limit.

Maybe someone has support contact? I can't find any, just chat bots.

[WilliamL 654]

Just now, Zedxxx said:

But I don't see in their rules that free account have only 50 notes. They said free account have 100,000 notes. My wife has free account registered the same day as mine and there is no 50 notes limit.

Sadly what they write and then what they actually do or deliver seems to be two different things now. I’m sorry your experiencing this as others have written it seems free is about to become test drive only, though they have not communicated anything so that’s a guess. 

Personally I’m deeply uncomfortable with the lack of integrity, what we say something is - that’s what it should be. I am a paying customer and would normally encourage you to look at that, but under these circumstances that doesn’t feel appropriate. 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

The free user is a user, but not a customer. Only paying means having a binding contract, that defines a fixed set of features for a subscription period.

Anybody on Free has the risk that the plan can change WITHOUT notice.

Currently what we see looks like a test drive - it is a natural that while still testing, there is no general announcement made. This has nothing to do with "integrity" - it simply avoids to tell all Free users changes that may or may not apply for their plan.

If someone who is in that situation wants to continue using EN, it means subscribing. Which as well lifts his status from being a user to being a customer.

[WilliamL 654]

38 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

This has nothing to do with "integrity" - it simply avoids to tell all Free users changes that may or may not apply for their plan.

If someone knowingly says one thing whilst intentionally doing another, that does lack integrity in my book. The simple reality is what the website says people get when they sign up isn’t true, and Evernote know that. I can’t get my head around how that’s ok. I am going to disengage from talking about it now tho as my frustration is rising.

What I need to decide is if I’m comfortable continuing to pay when the companies ethics and mines are quite different on some fundamental levels. Going to give myself a month or so to decide, I’m currently paying monthly so no worries there. 

[Boot17 1,457]

4 hours ago, Zedxxx said:

But I don't see in their rules that free account have only 50 notes. They said free account has 100,000 notes. My wife has free account registered the same day as mine and there is no 50 notes limit.

You are right. There is no mention of this on their plan limits page. They are doing an experiment with some free users' accounts to see what works best to convert these users to paying for a subscription and they have made no official announcement of this anywhere. The only reason that we (fellow users) know about it at all is because other fellow users have posted about it in these forums and on reddit -- at least that's the places where I have seen it. I've only seen comments about it within the last few weeks to a month I think.

Your account is one of the unlucky ones to be experimented on first. Your wife's account has not been affected... yet.

[gazumped 11,677]

17 minutes ago, WilliamL said:

What I need to decide is if I’m comfortable continuing to pay when the companies ethics and mines are quite different on some fundamental levels. Going to give myself a month or so to decide, I’m currently paying monthly so no worries there. 

The company is trying to decide whether it should continue to allow the thousands of free customers who are likely using the free app to a fraction of its capacity for shopping lists and the like - and are understandably loath to give up this nice free perk while we pay for their convenience - to continue to do so.  They appear to be sensibly limiting the number of new customers that can join the party that is eating up company resources and server space while they make a decision.  It's legal and its eminently businesslike - ethics don't come into it.  How about all those folks who are happy to abuse a free service as far as they can push its limits?

[PinkElephant 8,127]

It's a typical Chicken-and-Egg problem.

You want to find out how a change will affect things (probably in this case mainly how many Free users will decide to leave, and how many will subscribe). This means you need a panel on which the intended changes can be tested.

Communicating it beyond the panel means you tell the result before you even have tested. And obviously you can't put new conditions on your website when you still don't know what these conditions will be.

The Free users affected don't loose anything - they still can sign in to their existing notes, they just experience new limits to an already limited plan. That's something anybody who decides to use a service without paying needs to put into the decision - Free means no security about a Free plans conditions.

I expect we will see a communication about it soon, and I expect it will practically abandon the Free plan as we know it.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Currently what we see looks like a test drive - it is a natural that while still testing, there is no general announcement made. This has nothing to do with "integrity" - it simply avoids to tell all Free users changes that may or may not apply for their plan.

28 minutes ago, gazumped said:

It's legal and its eminently businesslike - ethics don't come into it.  How about all those folks who are happy to abuse a free service as far as they can push its limits?

23 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Communicating it beyond the panel means you tell the result before you even have tested. And obviously you can't put new conditions on your website when you still don't know what these conditions will be.

I am with @WilliamL on this. An unannounced test on subjects who have not given consent raises ethical questions in any undertaking. "Purely business -- no ethics involved" is the motto of, say, Sam Bankman-Fried. Simply putting an asterisk on the plan comparison page with a note saying "*Currently some free users may experience a marketing trial with different limitations on use" would at least let people know that what they are seeing is part of an intentional program and not a complete overturning of what they signed up for. And if it is unethical to use a free service for years or decades while others pay the freight--well, it may be, although that was what was openly on offer, but even if it is the answer to an unethical act is not a countering unethical act.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

But now I have a different question. It may be that such an unannounced test will appear differently in some business cultures than in others. I can tell you that in the U.S.A. it feels wrong and offensive. But perhaps in Europe it is normal to randomly (?) choose a segment of your users to experiment on? I have long had great respect for the more stringent limitations on business activity that I seem to see in the E.U. (I have been delighted to see certain alphabetical constructions get spanked a little). But if this experimentation is commonplace there, while I would think it is almost unheard of in the U.S., that may be another cultural difference.

[WilliamL 654]

51 minutes ago, gazumped said:

How about all those folks who are happy to abuse a free service as far as they can push its limits?

I don’t understand how someone can be accused of ‘abusing’ the service by using it as offered personally. I think that’s an unfair statement. 

As you said, the company can do, as can I. In the grand scheme me using or not using makes little difference to their bottom line but a big difference to how I understand values. 

[gazumped 11,677]

OK I can respect that everyone has strong feelings on this.  I'm not agreeing in any way that Evernote has been 'unethical';  I just don't think the question of ethics arises at all.  The company is in a fairly ridiculous position through no fault of its own.  The prior management in their infinite wisdom - which was probably logical at the time - said "we'll give everyone access to most of our services for free - but with some strict limits" - in hopes exposure to the free bits would persuade users to pay for more.

If you remember they also gave subscribers unlimited storage - briefly,  before the option was withdrawn because some users simply dumped their entire hard drive online.  I'd imagine documentation lagged behind that withdrawal too...

But users being sneaky little hobbitses found ways around many of the free package limitations by replacing devices and using the web service - so Evernote restricted again... and I'm still seeing people in the forums who are free users and have been happy non-paying customers for many years.  Some have mentioned the logic that it's Evernote's fault that they have free users.. they're offering the service after all!

All these free users though must be using Petabytes of storage / connecting with RTE and adding to the overall bandwidth / and clamoring in the socials that the 'stupid company' isn't as good as it used to be.  I don't know how much we subscribers are paying for these individuals to enjoy their freebie,  but I don't think any amount is 'fair' in this context.  Not only are we paying,  but the service is overall a percentage slower  because of free user activity.

IMHO Evernote analysed the situation and saw that this is a potential disaster waiting to happen.  They have to do something responsible about folks who have thousands of notes already on the system,  and delete dormant accounts (which every IT specialist does regularly) which must number in the tens of thousands.  It's not a technical debt,  it's a technical crisis.  OK - one thing they can do without ruffling too many feathers is to limit who comes on board from now on.  At least they can build a firebreak and contain the worst of the damage.

But you still want to offer a trial period and still attract subscribers - so you test some packages and announce the End of Free.  There must be a lot of planning going on that we haven't seen yet to deal with existing users.  When all that's sorted out they can make a business like,  responsible and ethical statement.

Whatever they do isn't going to sit well with a lot of people who are not subscribers,  but its pointless to discuss it here because we're not in posession of enough facts.

I actually think Evernote are acting responsibly to protect subscribers and existing non-subscribers alike and I'm impressed that they are proactively doing something about it.

</pontification ends>

[Boot17 1,457]

45 minutes ago, WilliamL said:

I don’t understand how someone can be accused of ‘abusing’ the service by using it as offered personally. I think that’s an unfair statement. 

That's a great point.

The Evernote free plan limitations were probably not very good to encourage and entice users to migrate to a paying plan -- they were too generous -- but it's precisely what was allowed and even documented! Not the users fault really that they were using it as prescribed!

I think most paying subscribers can agree that Bending Spoons should alter the free limitations and try to get more people to pay (I know I do!), but the process and communication (or lack thereof) to get there is what is mostly being debated and wondered.

Cutting off free users abruptly from their notes is bound to lead to push-back and mistrust by most of those directly affected and by at least some that aren't directly affected. It's a calculated tradeoff that I think Bending Spoons was willing to make.

 

[WilliamL 654]

1 minute ago, Boot17 said:

I think most paying subscribers can agree that Bending Spoons should alter the free limitations and try to get more people to pay (I know I do!), but the process and communication (or lack thereof) to get there is what is mostly being debated and wondered.

 

That sums it up far better than I have! I aim to make this my last comment on this 😂

[Boot17 1,457]

Also, poor @Zedxxx, got much more than they bargained for with this post -- more drama than help. I wish you good luck in whatever you can figure out and get working (a new free account, becoming a paying subscriber, move to an alternate app) -- all the best.

[Shepsus 1]

Just created an account to see the forum. 

Thank you all for the information and discussion. I am also one of those affected. It's frustrating, because I am locked out of making anything new because I originally organized with stacks of Notebooks and Notes. 

I have about 10 notebooks, and about 21 notes, and now I can't create either because my notebooks are over their limit. It's nice that I haven't lost anything, but being suddenly unable to make additional notes is frustrating. 

Moreso, its frustrating it shows nothing to tell me how to fix it. It just continues to pop up requesting I pay a lot of money for the unlimited. I don't mind paying for subscriptions, I do for a few writing programs, but I've only been a driver of this product for a few months.

[s2sailor 2,207]

1 hour ago, gazumped said:

but its pointless to discuss it here because we're not in posession of enough facts.

 

That's never stopped us in the past 😎.

This is all on Evernote for offering the freemium model to begin with.  All those free users were supposed to fall in love with Evernote and migrate to a paid plan.  All that happened is that free users found a plan good enough to stay free.  I admire BS for taking the long-overdue step away from the free plan though I think their random approach to locking down some users but not others is wrong.  They should make the change across the board to all new users, and then think of a way to manage the millions of current free users.  This random, unannounced approach is frustrating to those affected, especially if another user in the same household isn't.  It is also confusing since the online free plan documentation is now only correct for some users, and wrong for others.

I don't think this marketing test, assuming that is what this is, is unethical, but it is ill-conceived. 

[Jimmy Bionic 15]

17 hours ago, gazumped said:

There are other 'free' services out there - that make their money by showing you ads,  or selling details of your online activity.  Evernote don't do that

well, we don't know that for sure yet 🙂 we don't know what's gonna happen to the data of the users who decide to retire their accounts.

While the way the new changes are being enforced and implemented makes me highly suspicious of what's gonna happen next

[Jimmy Bionic 15]

2 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

But now I have a different question. It may be that such an unannounced test will appear differently in some business cultures than in others. I can tell you that in the U.S.A. it feels wrong and offensive. But perhaps in Europe it is normal to randomly (?) choose a segment of your users to experiment on? I have long had great respect for the more stringent limitations on business activity that I seem to see in the E.U. (I have been delighted to see certain alphabetical constructions get spanked a little). But if this experimentation is commonplace there, while I would think it is almost unheard of in the U.S., that may be another cultural difference.

Same things are actually here in Russia. Sudden changes in pricing policy are no good, especially given the fact that the available information on free accounts limitations appears to be rather misleading

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005247-Evernote-system-limits

[Jimmy Bionic 15]

18 hours ago, gazumped said:

You may be offered a discount for your first year.

See websites like https://noteapps.info or https://toolfinder.co for possible options.

I would be very cautious to take on any particular advice from Evernote from now on. I think that users are free to choose from many more options:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_note-taking_software

The motivation for migration shouldn't also disregard the available toolset for migration, including 

Google query: evernote AND import site:sourceforge.net

or Google query: evernote AND import site:github.com

 

[Boot17 1,457]

4 hours ago, Shepsus said:

I have about 10 notebooks, and about 21 notes, and now I can't create either because my notebooks are over their limit. It's nice that I haven't lost anything, but being suddenly unable to make additional notes is frustrating. 

Moreso, its frustrating it shows nothing to tell me how to fix it. It just continues to pop up requesting I pay a lot of money for the unlimited. I don't mind paying for subscriptions, I do for a few writing programs, but I've only been a driver of this product for a few months.

In your case, I wonder if you can use tags instead of notebooks. Select all the notes in each notebook and then add a tag with the same name as the notebook. Then move all the notes to one notebook and delete the remaining 10 notebooks. That will buy you a little bit of time to better figure out where you go from here.

[Jimmy Bionic 15]

4 hours ago, s2sailor said:

 It is also confusing since the online free plan documentation is now only correct for some users, and wrong for others.

Agreed. The published pricing policy is absolutely misleading. Out of the whole bunch of free note-taking apps available. incl. Joplin, OneNote etc.,  only Evernote chose to block users from creating new notes and simultaneously notify them of the policy change, which is usually regarded  as non-sense akin betrayal. 

But my main concern is private data leaks. The moment like this is  too convenient for competitors to intervene and arrange that to finally bury Evernote's reputation.

[Shepsus 1]

2 hours ago, Boot17 said:

In your case, I wonder if you can use tags instead of notebooks. Select all the notes in each notebook and then add a tag with the same name as the notebook. Then move all the notes to one notebook and delete the remaining 10 notebooks. That will buy you a little bit of time to better figure out where you go from here.

That's what I'm working on right now, actually. Just tagging notes and beginning to reorganize things as I don't really have much of a choice. I looked at a few different note options. Obsidian seems to be a good choice, but local only. I tried a few others, but thus far nothing I've found has the Notebook>Notes functionality. 

[mackid1993 732]

46 minutes ago, Shepsus said:

That's what I'm working on right now, actually. Just tagging notes and beginning to reorganize things as I don't really have much of a choice. I looked at a few different note options. Obsidian seems to be a good choice, but local only. I tried a few others, but thus far nothing I've found has the Notebook>Notes functionality. 

Obsidian has a paid sync service, you can also use iCloud to sync on iOS and Dropsync to sync with Dropbox on Android. After trying it I'm sticking with Evernote. It's a mess of third party plugins needed for basic functionality and there is no WYSISYG editor, it's 100% reliant on markdown syntax for formatting which is too much work! If you are just looking for something free Joplin is probably the easiest option to use while not as robust and polished as Evernote.

[Guti 5]

shame on Evernote.

Although I never upgrade to paid version, I am a loyal user who recommend Evernote to my friends. And they do pay.

Free users are limited with functions. Those basic functions are easily replaced by other apps.

I will switch to Onenote if the 50 notes limit is going on.

 

[gazumped 11,677]

13 hours ago, Guti said:

I will switch to Onenote if the 50 notes limit is going on.

I imagine Evernote are expecting this.  They need customers who use and pay for the full range of their services,  not someone who uses their connection and storage resources for free and because it's convenient.  I'm sorry its been handled in the way that it has,  but I don't see this changing much.  We're mainly other users here,  but you can feedback your objections direct via the link in Mobile Settings.

[mika1151 2]

I am also the same victim. I found a temporary solution.
Please return the Evernote web version to an older version on your profile screen.
You will then be able to add notes and move notes. However, since the number of notes does not match, it is safer to edit using the app.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

No double posting please.

[gazumped 11,677]

...and please note that there is apparently a move to convert as many legacy users as possible to v10,  so 'older' versions of the web service might get retired without notice, and may give you anomalous results with note numbers and editing.  It's -probably- OK to use that as a short term work-around but I'd strongly recommend migrating to v10 (or another provider) for the longer term. 

[Bill Myers 458]

I'm not going to get into discussions of business ethics or whether a certain business decision is smart. If someone is upset because they signed up for a free account expecting one thing but receiving another, they can plead their case to support. Beyond that, I doubt there's any legal recourse. Posting complaints in these forums may be cathartic but it won't change anything.

I know this is a bit of tangent, but it wasn't until recently that I finally understood why so many people are angry about paying a higher price -- or paying any price -- for Evernote. I wish I could credit the forum member who said, but I can't remember their user name. But they pointed out that Evernote is aimed at heavy users, which I'm becoming. To many of us (not all, but I'm certainly not alone in this), the value is apparent. Whereas to casual users, the cost must seem exorbitant. And additional features must seem extraneous.

I remember @Ian Small -- who I feel I have criticized unfairly in these forums, not that he is hanging on my every word -- saying in an interview that Evernote wasn't aiming for the low-end market. I thought then, and still think now, that that was wise for a company offering a product funded exclusively through subscription revenue.

The point is, if people want something free and less full-featured, there are plenty of decent options like Apple Notes. I'm looking for something more powerful while still being user-friendly. For me, Evernote hits the mark and I'm willing to pay what they're charging. 

[GustavusHarding 4]

On 11/3/2023 at 12:05 PM, s2sailor said:

They should make the change across the board to all new users, and then think of a way to manage the millions of current free users.  This random, unannounced approach is frustrating to those affected, especially if another user in the same household isn't.  It is also confusing since the online free plan documentation is now only correct for some users, and wrong for others.

I don't think this marketing test, assuming that is what this is, is unethical, but it is ill-conceived. 

After about 13+ years of use, and Evernote consistently failing to provide an inexpensive plan with basic functionality, it looks like they've finally driven me to use another service with this ill-conceived and unexplained change.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Not granting a valuable service for nothing is ill-conceived and unexplained ? 

You believe in Santa Claus  bringing all the presents with his sledge as well ? 

Free users are no customers, and many of them (like yourself) seem to have forgotten that there is a price to pay - always. EN can change the limits of the Free plan at any time, the only legal provision AFAIK is to allow access to existing data, for example for an export. This is provided for.

That‘s all there is to say - you can either subscribe or leave.

[Andrew, Hove 7]

5 hours ago, GustavusHarding said:

After about 13+ years of use, and Evernote consistently failing to provide an inexpensive plan with basic functionality, it looks like they've finally driven me to use another service with this ill-conceived and unexplained change.

I am with you as a long time user, I would have stayed but I don't need all the fancy features (and AI ?!?) that power users would take advantage of, I even sent a plea asking for a FREE+ with the same limits but just remove the nags for a few dollars a month.

I keep seeing posts with "if you don't want to pay then don't use the service as it costs them to run it" but if you look at the other way round, if I pay for the first personal level but continue to use two devices and limited storage and uploads I am subsiding the rest that ARE taking advantage of the features of that level.

Anyway, as it happens after struggling to export all (700) of my notes to move to Joplin which kept inexplicably failing randomly at different counts, a 50% offer popped up. Starting to worry I would lose older historic posts I folded and paid for a year and magically the exports worked flawlessly.

Despite having now paid I'm intending to stick with Joplin. So far the only feature I'm missing is the favourites section as I had a dozen or so regularly used notes but I'll work round that with tags.

It will be interesting to see where this ends up.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

EN carried for a long time all the grandfathered subscriptions, that would have matched that Free+ subscription idea.

The current policy is that the grandfathered subscriptions are discontinued. These subscribers need to decide between upgrading to Personal or downgrading to Free.

This says it all when somebody asks for a base subscription.

[Uchi 3]

13 hours ago, Andrew, Hove said:

I am with you as a long time user, I would have stayed but I don't need all the fancy features (and AI ?!?) that power users would take advantage of, I even sent a plea asking for a FREE+ with the same limits but just remove the nags for a few dollars a month.

I keep seeing posts with "if you don't want to pay then don't use the service as it costs them to run it" but if you look at the other way round, if I pay for the first personal level but continue to use two devices and limited storage and uploads I am subsiding the rest that ARE taking advantage of the features of that level.

Anyway, as it happens after struggling to export all (700) of my notes to move to Joplin which kept inexplicably failing randomly at different counts, a 50% offer popped up. Starting to worry I would lose older historic posts I folded and paid for a year and magically the exports worked flawlessly.

Despite having now paid I'm intending to stick with Joplin. So far the only feature I'm missing is the favourites section as I had a dozen or so regularly used notes but I'll work round that with tags.

It will be interesting to see where this ends up.

This, I've been a long time user and even without need to upgrade I would happily contribute some amount because i understand its impossible to provide a free service (I've even emailed them) but the most basic is so expensive, when so many options are available for free for basic note taking. It makes sense as someone mentioned above the product is aimed at premium users, but im sure there are plenty of users out there who would pay to use the service but not what they are currently asking for.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

You either pick the service / product and pay the requested price (look out for rebates), or you set up your budget, and get the product money will buy. Simple as that.

In the first case you prioritize the value, in the second the set price limit. You can „want it all“, but it usually doesn’t work out.

[GustavusHarding 4]

19 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Not granting a valuable service for nothing is ill-conceived and unexplained ? 

You believe in Santa Claus  bringing all the presents with his sledge as well ? 

Free users are no customers, and many of them (like yourself) seem to have forgotten that there is a price to pay - always. EN can change the limits of the Free plan at any time, the only legal provision AFAIK is to allow access to existing data, for example for an export. This is provided for.

That‘s all there is to say - you can either subscribe or leave.

You missed the part where I said that Evernote "fail[ed] to provide an inexpensive plan with basic functionality". I don't, in fact, "want it all". I don't want all of the unnecessary features that they've tacked on in the past decade to justify the ridiculous price of their Personal plan - I just want a simple rich text editor with decent search and sync functionality that works smoothly on mobile & desktop devices and the web. "Free" with 50 notes and 1 notebook is useless for anything other than a trial. The Personal plan at $160/year doesn't provide enough value to me, and there isn't anything in between.

As a developer, I very much understand that the free plan as it existed was a loss leader, and that the company has clearly decided not to keep it around in perpetuity - though before the sale to Bending Spoons, clearly the company did find it useful as a way to convert free users to paid ones. 

IMO, Evernote missed an obvious opportunity to provide a reasonably priced "lite" plan to consumers, but there's now a number of other competing services available at a more competitive price point for those who don't want all of the bells and whistles. If the company's plan was, in fact, to do that and replace the formerly-useful Free version by converting users to a cost-effective plan, then they missed the boat by failing to announce their intentions.

Perhaps they determined that a lite plan would fail to convert enough Free users to compensate for cannibalizing of Personal-plan users who would gladly switch to a lower-priced option if it was available. The company likely know there's a market for it, but decided that those customers aren't worth it unless they're spending $100 per year. If Evernote is trying to get Free users to leave their platform, then it's mission accomplished.

At any rate, the undocumented change rolled out to a subset of users shows an obvious lack of care and/or clarity of communication from the company. I expect that Bending Spoons will continue the trend and will aim to extract as much value as they can from their subscribers in the coming years.

[gazumped 11,677]

2 hours ago, GustavusHarding said:

At any rate, the undocumented change rolled out to a subset of users shows an obvious lack of care and/or clarity of communication from the company

...The "subset of users" being those expecting to use the company's resources for free - i.e. extracting as much value from the company as they could in the coming years?

There is no "cost-effective" plan from Evernote,  so the simple choices are to subscribe,  or to use another provider.  Many alternatives offer a lower subscription or 'free' access plus advertising - and many have been careful to make it (allegedly) easy to import content from Evernote.  (I caveat the comment because I've never tried them out...)

Just to repeat.  This is/ was a free service,  offered through the generosity of the company.  It decided in these economically hard times that cutbacks were needed.  There are no contracts or obligations here,  just a company ensuring its resources are employed to best effect. 

Understandably frustrating for former users of the wider service,  but not by any means a crisis.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

I just learned my favorite car maker fails to offer a an inexpensive car with basic features - really need to talk to these guys in Zuffenhausen. Don‘t know how Porsche survives without a basic feature product that would suit my wallets possibilities …

Product definition and price setting is by no means trivial. In this case the company has decided to reduce the complexity of the plans in circulation, and defined the entry level for any serious use as the Personal subscription. Free by definition is not meant for any serious use cases - who is on a Free plan and decides to use it for any mission critical mission carries the risk himself.

If this ends up in making the company profitable remains to be seen. Definitely the mix of grandfathered „cheap“ subscriptions and a very high percentage of non paying users meant in the past that EN was piling loss on losses. Nobody can expect an improvement of the situation when at the same time asking to continue the dysfunctional business model.

Time for a change …

I am sure communication will follow once a rollout (of whatever solution, no inside knowledge) is decided.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

Personally, I like the idea of a low-cost, low-feature option for those with limited incomes or limited use cases. But clearly the existence of the Plus plan (whose pricing and specs I don't recall) was not enough to draw an appropriate number of free users into paying anything. Probably because the Free plan offered too much value for -0- cost. But a low-cost, low-feature option positioned just above a really bare-bones Free plan might possibly garner some interest and revenue. The trick is balancing the revenue against the cost of maintaining the data and features. What that equation is none of us here really knows.

[Bill Myers 458]

2 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

But a low-cost, low-feature option positioned just above a really bare-bones Free plan might possibly garner some interest and revenue.

I think the idea has merit. Of course, you're right that none of us in this forum know whether that would make financial sense. Still, if anyone at Bending Spoons is paying attention to this forum regularly, there's a recurring them of people looking for "a low-cost, low-feature option." Whether Bending Spoons can, will or should address that is anyone's guess. At least in terms of us users in the forum. I have a feeling someone from Bending Spoons has that answer but is wisely not spilling it here.

[annbelievesinwhales 1]

Wow. Today I went to create a note and was struck by the new limits. I've been using Evernote for...  I think since 2016? Very disappointed that I was given no notice about this change. I use EN primarily as a journal so my texts notes obviously don't take up a ton of memory. A very rare looooooong note of mine is only 288kb. I'm not averse to signing up for a paid version of EN, but not at the premium price. There has to be an in between service for the users who don't use all the bells and whistles.

If the annual premium plan is $77.99, they need another level that's something like $39.99 for those literally only needing unlimited texts notes and not using any other features. This is very disappointing, especially the lack of notification. Sigh. I'll use OneNote for now in hopes EN presents another option. Sad to leave abruptly on Thanksgiving! Now I have to go elsewhere to journal about family stress lol. Thanks EN!

[annbelievesinwhales 1]

Also is the 50 note limit in total or monthly? If it's monthly and had I known, I'd definitely be able to fit my note usage in under 50 notes. As long as I have one free note a day to journal, I'm fine!

[agsteele 2,951]

This is currently a trial affecting some users on the Free plan.

If the trial becomes a permanent thing for all Free users then we'll know how it will work.

[gazumped 11,677]

Hi.  You've been using a FREE service for several years,  and the company now providing that service has decided that they can't afford to continue doing so.  As I understand it,  the choices are - subscribe,  or find an alternative service.  Your choice.  

[PinkElephant 8,127]

1 hour ago, annbelievesinwhales said:

Also is the 50 note limit in total or monthly? If it's monthly and had I known, I'd definitely be able to fit my note usage in under 50 notes. As long as I have one free note a day to journal, I'm fine!

We can’t say for sure, because there may be several trials going on.

The one we learned a bit about is implementing a total cap of 50 notes and 1 notebook. It is not renewing !

You can create a new note when you go below 50, and you can „recycle“ existing notes for fresh content. But 50 is the limit, only lifted when you subscribe.

[annbelievesinwhales 1]

What's with the underlying hostility in that response? It doesn't matter that it was free, the issue was that there was zero notice on a service people use often. Not sure why that's difficult to understand, but it's not my job to explain basic empathy.

Anyway, I definitely hope they offer a lower price for those using few notes with little memory, or a one free note every day plan, but for now I'll use OneNote. Will definitely check back in every month to see if they change their offerings!

[PinkElephant 8,127]

You are a user, but not a customer. Customers pay for the service, and have a defined package of services for the duration of their subscription, protected by law.

Users are on the service „as is“, and if the service provider changes the term of use, they can do it „as of now“.

We are other users, and we can’t tell what will happen. But EN is in parallel switching the old cheaper „grandfathered“ subscriptions to regular new ones, so I doubt there will be new cheaper plans. There are 1st year rebates.

If you take „a few notes“, it probably has become the wrong service for you.

[agsteele 2,951]

9 hours ago, annbelievesinwhales said:

Anyway, I definitely hope they offer a lower price for those using few notes with little memory, or a one free note every day plan, but for now I'll use OneNote. Will definitely check back in every month to see if they change their offerings!

We know that there are no plans to offer a cheaper tier subscription at the moment.

[Uchi 3]

For me at least EN is highly comparable to OneNote, never bothered switching since i've always been using EN, understand its gotten better. Monthly subscription for 365 personal is $11 with whole heap of other apps inc. tasks, cal, etc., and 1 TB onedrive vs. EN personal for $18. This was my point and im sure many others point around free+ or lite.

[gazumped 11,677]

1 hour ago, Uchi said:

This was my point and im sure many others point around free+ or lite.

Evernote currently (IMHO) has too many users and not enough usage - which is to say that it's a product on a par with any other business application,  but far too many people use it very occasionally for shopping lists and stamp collections.  Evernote are delivering major speed and reliability upgrades and are weaning users from the out of date Legacy package.  They don't have the time or inclination to collect a much reduced subscription for a product that will place the same demands on their bandwidth and storage facilities as a full-fee payer.  The choices are only subscribe,  or move on.  If you prefer the latter ,  then good luck for the future. 

[Özcan Alkan 0]

On November 25, I encountered a limit of 50 notes. There was no problem until an hour ago.

Notion seems a very good alternative. From now on, EverNote will only be a place for me to look back at the notes I have taken before.

I don't think it's a good app worth paying for. Notion free version has excellent features.

Although EverNote is trying to add exciting features of its competitors, I think it will lose a lot of users with this new 50 note limit.

Evernote is like the Windows operating system. Easy to use, beautifully designed, but unnecessarily expensive and cumbersome.

I'm saying goodbye to the Evernote app I've been using for years. Good luck with your 50 note limit Evernote company.

[Bernard Menez 1]

Is customer support looking at the forums? I am trying to talk to someone from Evernote but can't find any option (could be my fault). 

Do we know if this is to stay? I fully understand it from a business standpoint and am not even trying to change their mind. I do know that I am not ready to pay for Evernote (too messy for me) and would like to know if I should move to another note taking app or wait a little bit. 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

On 11/24/2023 at 10:21 AM, gazumped said:

Evernote currently (IMHO) has too many users and not enough usage - which is to say that it's a product on a par with any other business application,  but far too many people use it very occasionally for shopping lists and stamp collections.  Evernote are delivering major speed and reliability upgrades and are weaning users from the out of date Legacy package.  They don't have the time or inclination to collect a much reduced subscription for a product that will place the same demands on their bandwidth and storage facilities as a full-fee payer.  The choices are only subscribe,  or move on.  If you prefer the latter ,  then good luck for the future. 

I highlighted a couple of points that seem to me to be contradictory. I may just not be reading it right, but I don't see how the occasional shopping list or a stamp collection place the same demands for bandwidth and storage as a daily professional usage.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

There are enough Free apps for shopping list, and anybody serious about collecting will watch out for a tool as serious.

The „reason“ to continue using EN for such uses is probably more inertia than necessity.

[Andrew, Hove 7]

Interesting point in which case assuming a big proportion are really light users but collectively utilising a lot of resource then the initiative won't succeed as they are likely well within the free limits and won't be affected.

[gazumped 11,677]

10 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

I highlighted a couple of points that seem to me to be contradictory. I may just not be reading it right, but I don't see how the occasional shopping list or a stamp collection place the same demands for bandwidth and storage as a daily professional usage.

I may have possibly  been a little over-dramatic (rare,  I know,  in this forum...) but I was more thinking that even an occasional-use app gets synced up to date on some schedule,  and storage space needs to be reserved for it,  even if not used.

[Wanderling Reborn 185]

They still advertise 100k limit on Free tier.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005247-Evernote-system-limits

If any of the affected users are in the US, you may want to contact the FTC (both federal and state) & see if the Truth in Advertising laws have been broken here. AFAIK they apply to "free" offers (but not to political ads, LOL).

While FTC can't, of course, demand from any business to offer something for free, or set the usage limits on such offerings, they absolutely can force them to accurately disclose the limitations of such free offers. But it's their job to determine whether the advertising laws have been broken.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

On something you give away for Free, no damage can be created, which pretty much stops any claim cold.

Unless as typical for US litigation you claim emotional distress ...

[Uchi 3]

On 11/25/2023 at 2:21 AM, gazumped said:

Evernote currently (IMHO) has too many users and not enough usage - which is to say that it's a product on a par with any other business application,  but far too many people use it very occasionally for shopping lists and stamp collections.  Evernote are delivering major speed and reliability upgrades and are weaning users from the out of date Legacy package.  They don't have the time or inclination to collect a much reduced subscription for a product that will place the same demands on their bandwidth and storage facilities as a full-fee payer.  The choices are only subscribe,  or move on.  If you prefer the latter ,  then good luck for the future. 

Understand value we see in products vary depending on the usage but I disagree EN does the same thing as Office 365 with 1 TB OneDrive. Subscription tiers should be designed around the usage, and they already have, its just not on par with the rest of the industry; and dont offer tier for lite users. 

[efx00 13]

Have we ruled out that he created two accounts in the same day - from the same IP address - ? Could that have triggered the tighter limit?

if same username, could the ‘xxx’ be flagged to prevent porn posting/bandwidth abuse - manual review required?

Are his 47 notes very large? Server limits are typically set in MB/GB, not in ‘notes’. Notion and others meter in ‘blocks’ (whatever that is). 

We’ve just gone running down one track on this thread.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

1 hour ago, Uchi said:

Understand value we see in products vary depending on the usage but I disagree EN does the same thing as Office 365 with 1 TB OneDrive …

To be on OneDrive with 1 TB, you need to be a subscriber. We are not discussing subscriptions here.

There are other threads about low cost subscriptions. The only ones that still exist from the past like the grandfathered Plus subscription are currently converted into full Personal, or downgraded to Free, BTW.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

1 hour ago, efx00 said:

…

We’ve just gone running down one track on this thread.

The title of this thread, created by the OP asks explicitly about the 50 notes limit. The first post describes exactly this, not a large note warning or similar.

[Krijns 1]

On 11/3/2023 at 2:20 AM, Zedxxx said:

I cannot make new notes. Now I have 47 notes, but I got an error trying to make a new note that my limit is 50 notes. I have free plan. According system limits information free plan has 100,000 free notes. Why I have limit for only 50 (even less)?

I have the same problem. I get a popup asking to upgrade. If I want to continue with the free program, I cannot add new Notes. If this is a marketing experiment It would have been nice to get a warning upfront. I am now moving to other software. I'm not sure if that is the right outcome for the experiment. Hopefully Evernote will allow me to export my Notes. What a weird stunt this is.

[Steveonline 1]

This is ridiculous. Going down from 100.000 (which I agree was excessive for a free version) to 50. I mean, no comments needed.
I've used evernote for years and could consider paying if it was more affordable. Sorry, but I'll move everything out as the company is not acting in a responsible way.

[gazumped 11,677]

On 11/27/2023 at 11:52 AM, Krijns said:

What a weird stunt this is.

No longer a stunt... https://evernote.com/blog/evernote-free-note-limits

Exporting - Export notes and notebooks as ENEX or HTML

Bye!

 

[Regor 3]

Thanks for the links!

Does anyone know what Evernote does with free users' notes and notebooks when they have "too many" of them?
Will their data simply be deleted?

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Excess data will be kept, but Read Only.

Edit : @Boot17 is correct

[stopcursorjumping 0]

Evernote has really gone down hill, unfortunately.

$80 per year for way too limited of access to anything that was previously free is unrealistic of a price for what is given. 

Companies are becoming too greedy after seeing Netflix and other subscription based pioneers being successful.

It would be nice to see Evernote charge companies for use at those rates, but charge individuals at a much more reasonable rate.

[Boot17 1,457]

But you can edit any of the existing excess data/notes though -- right? You just can't create new notes or notebooks.

[gazumped 11,677]

On 12/2/2023 at 6:19 PM, stopcursorjumping said:

$80 per year for way too limited of access to anything that was previously free is unrealistic of a price for what is given. 

Not sure about the $80,  but if you're subscribing you get full access to all your notes on any device

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

On 12/1/2023 at 11:11 AM, Steveonline said:

This is ridiculous. Going down from 100.000 (which I agree was excessive for a free version) to 50. I mean, no comments needed.
I've used evernote for years and could consider paying if it was more affordable. Sorry, but I'll move everything out as the company is not acting in a responsible way.

Honestly, I see this kind of "I'd pay if only..." a lot in these forums. And by now, to but it bluntly, my opinion is that if people have used it for years without paying, I doubt that anything would ever induce them to start ... and certainly not a more expansive free plan! I hope the new service you use for free enjoys your non-business.

[Regor 3]

Hello,

I find it very unfortunate for this company that such serious decisions are not announced long in advance.
99% of all free users won't even know about it.
There is no message about this in the app or program.

Best regards

[s2sailor 2,207]

100% of those that try to add a note beyond the 50 note limit will know.

[mrputtputt 0]

i don't use evernote much and only have 1 notebook and 12 notes. even though i was not even half of the free max limit, i consolidated. even though it says 12 notes, it won't let me create new notes. no biggie.. wasn't really a major thing for me with little use i have for it. but it is misrepresenting that they allow you to continue using it in free mode with 1 notebook and max of 50 notes but each click to create a new note, prompts me to sign up with varied pricing too.

i treat it more like google keep or outlook notes. nothing sophisticated or collaborative.

[gazumped 11,677]

Back out in the real world people are starting to notice...  Jon Tromans had some rational thoughts,  some interesting extra information... and a great picture!

New Evernote Free Plan Restrictions. My Thoughts & What To Do Next?

[Ronaldo Melo 0]

I have been a user of the Evernote system for 15 years and now they are limiting the creation of 50 notes on the Free plan.
From the beginning the propaganda was: UNLIMITED NOTES FOREVER, and now, that I have more than 500 notes, they change the terms of service and add these limitations.
Absurd.
I'm going to change tools

Sou usuário a 15 anos do sistema Evernote e agora eles estão limitando a criação de 50 notas no plano Free.
Desde o ínicio a propaganda foi: NOTAS ILIMITADAS PARA SEMPRE.
E agora, que tenho mais de 500 notas eles fazem a mudança nos termos de serviço e adicionam essa limitação.
Absurdo.
Vou mudar de ferramenta

[Jon/t 1,293]

Thanks @gazumped. You can make elephants do anything in Ai world 😂

There's a podcast to go with the article now - a chat with Dr Frank Buck about the new free plan:

https://tamingthetrunk.substack.com/p/evernote-free-plan-drama-a-lot-more

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,968]

2 hours ago, gazumped said:

Back out in the real world people are starting to notice...  Jon Tromans had some rational thoughts,  some interesting extra information... and a great picture!

New Evernote Free Plan Restrictions. My Thoughts & What To Do Next?

Great to have the context and background. I like this bit particularly: "Evernote over the last 15 years has been at almost every price point. You could buy it for around £40 a year back in 2016. Some folk managed to find deals at $35 a year. In fact exactly one year ago you could buy Evernote for around $6 a month. Even with these cheaper plans, large numbers of people obviously didn’t sign up. The free plan did everything they needed it to do."

Also this: "The drama and hyperbole will play out in the echo chambers of social media but the majority will boot up Evernote every day and get on with their lives."

[janndk 502]

2 hours ago, Jon/t said:

There's a podcast to go with the article now - a chat with Dr Frank Buck about the new free plan:

https://tamingthetrunk.substack.com/p/evernote-free-plan-drama-a-lot-more

"You can either tell your story, or you can have somebody else telling their version of what they think your story is". Wise words 💯👍

At the moment Evernotes story is told by evernote-devotees on the one side, and unsatisfied users on the other. The true story is probably somewhere in the middle, but not told clearly nor believably.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

I have started to ask those complaining Free users why they think I should continue paying to make them continue to use EN for Free.

Up to now none of these very outspoken people had the courtesy to give an answer to that question - so I assume there is not really a good argument why I should. For me they can continue the drama and mimimi, but without a volunteering sponsor on the other side covering the bill out of closed pockets is a short lived adventure.

But I am not desperate about it - I will continue to ask. Until I get a good answer I think that the measures implemented now by BS are still way too soft. I think accounts going beyond the plans limits should get locked after a certain period of time, only allowing Free export (followed by inactivation of the account) or subscription as possible solutions.

EN should build a proper backup solution for all users anyhow - they could offer it for desperate Free fellow users to make leaving a breeze. These fellows need their time to find a suitable and "Free" alternative. If I see market trends correctly, even if they manage it today, they likely will have to do the step more often now, with other services following the market lead, improving their balance sheets as well.

The time of cheap money to burn in exchange for bloated user stats is over, money is (again) too valuable for this sort of folly.

[janndk 502]

17 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

I have started to ask those complaining Free users why they think I should continue paying to make them continue to use EN for Free.

I think you should point this to Evernote (hmmm... the old Evernote, who is gone now), and not to the poor users who just have used what was given.

17 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Up to now none of these very outspoken people had the courtesy to give an answer to that question - so I assume there is not really a good argument why I should. For me they can continue the drama and mimimi, but without a volunteering sponsor on the other side covering the bill out of closed pockets is a short lived adventure.

But I am not desperate about it - I will continue to ask. Until I get a good answer I think that the measures implemented now by BS are still way too soft. I think accounts going beyond the plans limits should get locked after a certain period of time, only allowing Free export (followed by inactivation of the account) or subscription as possible solutions.

EN should build a proper backup solution for all users anyhow - they could offer it for desperate Free fellow users to make leaving a breeze. These fellows need their time to find a suitable and "Free" alternative. If I see market trends correctly, even if they manage it today, they likely will have to do the step more often now, with other services following the market lead, improving their balance sheets as well.

The time of cheap money to burn in exchange for bloated user stats is over, money is (again) too valuable for this sort of folly.

...Otherwise I somewhat agree with you. Although I think the implementation and communication about new limitations was done very clumsy.

[TechPerplexed 222]

19 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

I think that the measures implemented now by BS are still way too soft. I think accounts going beyond the plans limits should get locked after a certain period of time, only allowing Free export (followed by inactivation of the account) or subscription as possible solutions.

Shouldn't they bring back the knout and whip as well for those freeloaders/leechers/vermint/useyourownderogativeterm? Or wait, that's still way too soft - let's aim for capital punishment instead right?

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Any cloud service of any kind will charge you money for storing data. You may get 2GB, 5GB and rarely more, and it's plain storage, not much functionality involved. You go beyond, and they charge you for all of it.

EN charges nothing at all for storage at the moment. Every user expects he can log in, and have his data from 10 years ago on his fingertips within seconds. This excludes using cheap "Glacier"-type slow storage for these old accounts, the need to be kept on fast servers day and night.

And you tell "Oh, this is wonderful, just go on".

OK, so now for the juicy part: I want YOU to tell ME (not any anonymous group of subscribers) why I should continue to pay for YOUR data hoard on a server financed by ME. Hope you know my soft spots ...

[CalS 5,281]

The parallels of this discussion and those re the level of welfare in a country are interesting.  No particular point, just a "hmmm".

[Muhammed Shaheen 0]

Its a mistake that I switched from Samsung notes to Evernote. Didnt expect to reduce free notes limit to such a drastically low 50 count!

Now its time to look for a new app

[dyarb7 2]

I paid for 2 and a half years, but am in no financial position to keep paying. I'm frustrated that I got placed in the 50 limit category!! And worse still, there was no warning or allowance for me to have 50 notes until they closed the option so it's not like I could plan for this. I'm very frustrated, after investing so much money into this service, I thought that I would be allowed to at least create new notes...

[gazumped 11,677]

3 minutes ago, dyarb7 said:

I thought that I would be allowed to at least create new notes...

If you check the system limits page again,  you'll find it shows the new levels.  You still have edit access to existing notes - see https://evernote.com/blog/evernote-free-note-limits for more on that.  But Evernote have the not-unreasonable attitude that they can't give it away for free any more.

[dyarb7 2]

I'm not asking for any premium services. Simply the basic ability to add simple notes.  

[PinkElephant 8,127]

You can - up to 50.

And from then on you need to delete one note to make another, subscribe or leave. The message behind it is very clear: This Free plan is for trial only - it is not meant for continuous use.

[efx00 13]

20 hours ago, dyarb7 said:

I'm not asking for any premium services. Simply the basic ability to add simple notes.  

Actually you are. Windows and Mac both offer desktop files, and even 'sticky note' type apps. That's the 'basic' ability to create and save simple notes. It does cost Evernote money to purchase, setup, maintain, and service the hard-drives your free notes are hosted on. Even if you aren't using 'fancy' features, you are in fact trusting Evernote with your data, a premium service itself - cloud storage, it's often called. In this light, consider it generous of them (they could just delete all the terabytes of unused/unpaid notes and inactive accounts) to offer you two things at no cost going forward: The continued storage of your existing years of notes, and 2. Access to those notes, to edit, modify, and even share them. When you are financially ready/able to recommit to Evernote, all of your data will be there, safe and sound in their premium cloud storage. Pretty awesome of them, really.

[Andrew, Hove 7]

Hmmm, is all the extra functionality that has been added to Evernote free? ie subscribers only pay for the base service and storage and get all the AI and customisable panels and . . .  and  . . . etc. as a magical bonus as it doesn't cost anything?

If not, then those that do pay and just use the basic service, are they not subsidising all the power users who are using more features and resources and does that make the case for a more basic subscription that many are asking for?

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Who subscribes just to use basic functions does so out of his free decision. He allocates some money to get whatever he wants.

Who used the service for Free got all the functions, without contributing. The money came out of the pockets of other users, channeled by the company.

This is a fundamental difference, that can't be removed with a bit of "clever" semantics.

[gazumped 11,677]

42 minutes ago, Andrew, Hove said:

those that do pay and just use the basic service

Are,  by their own choice,  overpaying for something they don't need and could easily move to something much simpler and cheaper...  A bit like buying a Tesla and asking for a cheaper model because you only need to travel 10 miles occasionally and only need two seats anyway...  other forms of transport / note taking are available!