New blog post: Evernote Free accounts will have fifty notes and one notebook

Bill Myers · December 8, 2023

54 minutes ago, CalS said:

Force the issue. Fair shot at kicking the tires for a prospective user. Onus is on the user to see if the software meets their needs. Both sides participate in the bargain.

Yeah, I think offering a time-limited trial is an idea with merit. On the other hand, it's possible Bending Spoons considered it and decided shutting off all the free users, or trying to manage two different free tiers (a grandfathered one for existing free users and another for new users) might for whatever reason be impractical.

Still, my only real opinion about this is that if it is a mistake, it's theirs to make. It's a free-market system.

Of course, it would be PITA if Evernote did go away, because in the last few months I started relying on it heavily and am blowing up my note count. It would be just my luck.

You heard it here first, folks: if Evernote goes the way of the dodo, you will have me to blame and not Bending Spoons.

CalS · December 8, 2023

29 minutes ago, Bill Myers said:

On the other hand, it's possible Bending Spoons considered it and decided shutting off all the free users, or trying to manage two different free tiers (a grandfathered one for existing free users and another for new users) might for whatever reason be impractical.

Could be. I was just saying BS could make the decision to terminate Basic with a timeline for folks to sign up or move on. No grandfather stuff. Rip that Band-Aid off. They aren't shy about RIFing acquired development teams.

Nathan T · December 9, 2023

I get why they're making the change, but it does seem like quite a user-hostile move to blindside people with it with no warning. IMO a more reasonable approach would have been a warning that the limits would be changing in 3-6 months.

I'm concerned this is another death spiral indicator. It seems like it'll be very difficult for them to attract new users given such a limited trial, along with how many former evangelists they've disillusioned at this point.

PinkElephant · December 9, 2023

Time will tell. I doubt there was any relevant conversion rate of these dug in longterm free users. If they don’t subscribe anyhow, why donate them another half year of doing what they always did: Exploit a plan paid for by the subscribers.

This group of tight fisted users are lost for any conversion to be subscribers.

If it was „user friendly“ how it was implemented doesn’t really play a role. IMHO making big announcements was not necessary - nobody looses anything, all data is preserved and accessible.

Dave-in-Decatur · December 9, 2023

20 hours ago, mitchmdrums said:

As a senior citizen on a very low retirement income, I find it extremely difficult to add one more monthly payment. With Evernote I have helped other senior citizens with health problems at no cost.

I'm sure there are thousands of us that have the same problem, many of them who have served our country in battle and are disabled.

Your industry has a reputation for executives having multi-million dollar homes and yachts. That may not be the case in your situation, and I don't know whether you are oblivious, clueless, or uncaring towards senior citizens, but thousands of companies have considerations for low-income users.

I hope the decent, sensitive people in your company see this and act accordingly.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Mitch M

Hi Mitch, and welcome to the forums. To be clear, they are populated by other users, with very occasional threads started or responded to by Evernote staff. Bottom line, you won't reach Evernote's decent, sensitive people, or their heartless bean-counters, here. Best option is to email feedback@evernote.com.

That said, I agree with your overall point. The suggestion/request for a modestly priced, entry-level Evernote plan for people with limited incomes has been made in many posts in this and other threads. I'm retired too, fortunately in decent financial shape, but I know not everyone can handle an extra $10/month. I hope you'll email them at the address above, and that they'll hear from enough people to consider how to wedge in a bottom-dollar tier.

Bill Myers · December 9, 2023

On 12/8/2023 at 3:18 PM, mitchmdrums said:

As a senior citizen on a very low retirement income, I find it extremely difficult to add one more monthly payment. With Evernote I have helped other senior citizens with health problems at no cost.

I'm sure there are thousands of us that have the same problem, many of them who have served our country in battle and are disabled.

Your industry has a reputation for executives having multi-million dollar homes and yachts. That may not be the case in your situation, and I don't know whether you are oblivious, clueless, or uncaring towards senior citizens, but thousands of companies have considerations for low-income users.

I hope the decent, sensitive people in your company see this and act accordingly.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Mitch M

Believe it or not, I sympathize. I am not yet a retiree but I was unemployed for six months this year, and I had to pinch pennies. I canceled my Evernote subscription and went on the free plan. Had the new restrictions been put in place during that time, I'd have needed to find an alternative.

The thing is, there are free and low-cost alternatives to Evernote. Apple Notes and Google Keep are free if one's needs are basic. OneNote has a free version. As others have pointed out, if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, OneNote is part of that package. Joplin has a free version. These are just a few examples. I think you might be better off trying one of these alternatives than banging your head against a brick wall trying to get Bending Spoons, the owner of Evernote, to do something they don't appear to be inclined to do.

As for the broader issue, I don't think it's fair to be singling out Bending Spoons for the shortcomings of capitalism. Since Bending Spoons is not, to the best of my knowledge, a publicly traded company, we don't know how much their executives get paid or how many expensive personal possessions they have.

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic. Again, I get it. When I was on unemployment, I was on a "fixed income" that didn't go very far. Which is why I would again suggest you look to the free and low-cost competitors to Evernote that already exist.

Bill Myers · December 9, 2023

3 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

I hope you'll email them at the address above, and that they'll hear from enough people to consider how to wedge in a bottom-dollar tier.

This assumes we know that the lack of a such a plan is just a failure to "consider" it. We don't know how much Bending Spoons paid for Evernote. We don't know how much it is costing Bending Spoons to deal with the technical debt they inherited when they purchased Evernote. We don't know how much they're having to sink into development to come up with new features to keep up with competitors. (I've seen forum posts bashing Evernote for failing to innovate, and yet others insisting that Evernote is wrong to invest in features that light users don't want. Well, Bending Spoons can't make a circle that's a square.) And of course there is the cost of storage and bandwidth for each new user.

Bending Spoons isn't a democracy. They'll do what they believe is in the best interests of their company. If they turn out to be mistaken, it's a mistake they have a right to make.

I'm probably not going to get anywhere with an analogy but I'll get it off my chest anyway. Reading threads like this strikes me as being like someone going to a Porsche dealer and saying, "Your cars are too expensive and the supposed high quality isn't worth it to me. Here's the car I want you to sell me."

"Oh, you're describing a Kia."

"Yeah, exactly. Sell me a car like that."

"I can't. We only sell Porsches. A Porsche is nothing like a Kia. And besides, there's a Kia dealer just down the road from us. They'd be happy to help you, I'm sure."

"I don't want to go down the road! I want you to sell me a Porsche that's just like a Kia!"

"I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"You don't care about your customers, you stupid, greedy, @!!#$!!!. You're going to fail as a business and I'm glad! And I'm also not going to leave because I want to keep yelling at you!"

Maybe Evernote is overpriced. Maybe it's not a Porsche. But that seems all the more reason to seek out the free or low-cost options that are just down the proverbial road.

I'm not sure why it's "bashing" anyone simply because I'm pointing out something that is true: there are other readily available products that satisfy the demands of this angry cohort. I can't think of a single post I ever saw in this forum where anyone ever blamed users for taking advantage of Evernote's formerly generous free plan. None of us voiced an opinion until a bunch of people came out of the woodwork to complain about the new restrictions to the free plan (and the increase in prices, for that matter). I think it's fair game to point out that it was always dicey to rely on a for-profit company to offer generous freebies in perpetuity. And asserting that Bending Spoons had any kind of legal or moral obligation to keep the free users happy is putting oneself on shaky ground, at best.

But let's say I'm wrong. Let's say this was the biggest blunder in the history of business decisions, and the company goes under. My prediction: the world will go on spinning.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: if Evernote gets to a point where it is just pissing me off to no end, I will bail. But none of you will know it, because I won't be kicking over the chairs on the way out. Evernote is under no obligation to be what I want it to be. Absent any crimes or fraudulent activity, the best thing I can do when a company ceases to satisfy me is take my business elsewhere and leave it at that.

Dave-in-Decatur · December 9, 2023

@Bill Myers, I appreciate your viewpoints here, but you're quoting me and then responding to other people. My only point is that Evernote might be able to offer a lower-priced tier with fewer features that are less costly for them to supply (in terms of storage and bandwidth) and find people glad to take them up on it. Not the free-forever-how-dare-you-charge-me folks, but those who have explicitly said they need that level of service and will pay for it. And what Evernote offers is not a product, like a car, but a service, like an airline. Airlines offer first class, business, economy plus, economy, who knows what else. They don't insist that only first and business will pay for the fuel.

Lisa5787 · December 10, 2023

I don’t have a problem with this, but I only have 23 notes and it says I’m at my limit and will not let me create a new one. Any advice?

Bill Myers · December 10, 2023

4 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

@Bill Myers, I appreciate your viewpoints here, but you're quoting me and then responding to other people. My only point is that Evernote might be able to offer a lower-priced tier with fewer features that are less costly for them to supply (in terms of storage and bandwidth) and find people glad to take them up on it. Not the free-forever-how-dare-you-charge-me folks, but those who have explicitly said they need that level of service and will pay for it. And what Evernote offers is not a product, like a car, but a service, like an airline. Airlines offer first class, business, economy plus, economy, who knows what else. They don't insist that only first and business will pay for the fuel.

That's fair. I did use your post as a springboard from which to make a larger point. For the record, where your POV on this begins and ends is very clear.

We could debate the finer points of our analogies, but none of us really know the reality behind the scenes at Bending Spoons. Here are the only things I know for sure about this: first, Bending Spoons is not offering the kind of subscription plan you're talking about; second, they've shown no indication that they're going to; and third, there are services in this category that do offer free and "economy" plans.

Well, and I also know that whatever happens, it's out of my hands.

janndk · December 10, 2023

13 hours ago, Bill Myers said:

I'm probably not going to get anywhere with an analogy but I'll get it off my chest anyway. Reading threads like this strikes me as being like someone going to a Porsche dealer and saying, "Your cars are too expensive and the supposed high quality isn't worth it to me. Here's the car I want you to sell me."

Evernote for sure isn't a Porsche. It used to be a practical and reliable family car, but nowadays a bit old model. Some standard equipment is missing, and parts keep breaking down while others get fixed. Still very practical, but unfortunately not so reliable anymore.

13 hours ago, Bill Myers said:

Maybe Evernote is overpriced. Maybe it's not a Porsche. But that seems all the more reason to seek out the free or low-cost options that are just down the proverbial road.

There needs to be a balance between price and quality. Although the future is beginning to seem brighter, Evernote 10 is still at beta-stage.

PinkElephant · December 10, 2023

Wouldn't this qualify ?

janndk · December 10, 2023

I just wish the last bugs got finally fixed, and at least some basic testing would be done before sending out updates. If Bending Spoons' staff themselves would start to use Evernote, bugs would probably get catched earlier and better.

AlSiebs · December 10, 2023

This is unfair to users who have been using the product for many years. You should “grandfather” in users and give them the original plan they had signed up for.

Wanderling Reborn · December 10, 2023

On 12/4/2023 at 6:46 PM, LiftHeavy said:

Yes, Evernote will gain some paid users (which is good). They will also lose many free users (which is bad, not good). My position is that the loss of free users outweighs the gains of paid users in the long run.

I just want to mention that I'm studying microeconomics right now. If the market demand curve is elastic, Evernote is in trouble. I believe it's elastic because we're in a competitive market and there are hundreds of free apps out there. Again, time will tell.

I think you're fundamentally wrong in your assessment of Evernote's position ("good" vs "bad").

The large numbers of new users are only needed ("good") if you plan on growth strategy "in the long run". The problem is, their growth-based strategy failed even ten years ago, when the smartphone market was expanding like mad, there was little to no competition against Evernote, and the price of service was relatively cheap. It's absolutely not going to work now, that the market has matured (stagnated) and there's ton of competition offering a lot for free. They won't grow the revenue by offering a generous free plan in the future, if they couldn't do it ten years ago from a far better market position. Their free users just didn't voluntarily convert to paid plans, even when the prices were much lower and there was few alternatives. To put it bluntly, there's no growth for Evernote in the long run, unless they come up with some magic.

They are now monetizing their existing user base. A large number of EN users are deeply invested into the service and have built entire personal workflows based on it over the years, they will pay up rather than lose it.

EN had 250 million accounts, but only about 1.4 million paid accounts in 2020. Even if only 75 of that 250 million accounts were active, and if only 5% of these converts from free to paid, that's still 3.8 million additional paid customers - compared to 1.4 million (give or take) two years ago. That's triple the revenue.

Yes, the natural attrition will eventually take its toll, if they fail to attract enough new customers to offset it. But with 4-5 million paying users who are very invested into their EN data, it would take years for that to become a noticeable problem. And that's years of tripled revenue. The free users are just a ballast at that point. They don't contribute to the revenue, they don't historically convert to paid users unless forced to (which is what EN is doing now), and they are no longer a major factor in the new company's business strategy.

Wanderling Reborn · December 10, 2023

On 12/8/2023 at 3:18 PM, mitchmdrums said:

As a senior citizen on a very low retirement income, I find it extremely difficult to add one more monthly payment. With Evernote I have helped other senior citizens with health problems at no cost.

I'm sure there are thousands of us that have the same problem, many of them who have served our country in battle and are disabled.

Your industry has a reputation for executives having multi-million dollar homes and yachts. That may not be the case in your situation, and I don't know whether you are oblivious, clueless, or uncaring towards senior citizens, but thousands of companies have considerations for low-income users.

I hope the decent, sensitive people in your company see this and act accordingly.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Mitch M

Well there's a lot of free alternatives. We're not talking about some life saving necessity or a basic service that every senior citizen absolutely needs.

Look at Joplin. Or the basic free Onenote. It's more than enough for anyone who doesn't have advance requirements.

gazumped · December 10, 2023

I generally agree with you, except for one point:

13 minutes ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

they will pay up rather than lose it.

The majority of paying users (I would guess) are trading off the inconvenience of moving - the conversion / the learning curve / the necessary changes - against a moderate increase in cost. But certainly in my case, there's a pain point past which I would not be willing to go. If we get past that I'll drop Evernote without a second thought.

We're not there yet, and I'm willing to stick around and see what happens in the next year or so. Bending Spoons have a user-base of their own, and once they are happy that the operation is back on an even keel, that would be an obvious place to start looking for more new business...

Wanderling Reborn · December 10, 2023

4 minutes ago, gazumped said:

I generally agree with you, except for one point:

The majority of paying users (I would guess) are trading off the inconvenience of moving - the conversion / the learning curve / the necessary changes - against a moderate increase in cost. But certainly in my case, there's a pain point past which I would not be willing to go. If we get past that I'll drop Evernote without a second thought.

We're not there yet, and I'm willing to stick around and see what happens in the next year or so. Bending Spoons have a user-base of their own, and once they are happy that the operation is back on an even keel, that would be an obvious place to start looking for more new business...

I think we're saying the same thing. By "paying up" I meant the current price increases, and perhaps a couple more carefully planned ones spread over the future years. My gut feeling is that the "pain point" for many Western users lies around $25-30 per month, and we're not nearly there yet. I mean, anyone having a Starbucks latte every day spends more than that on ***** coffee without complaining... and I bet that's the majority of EN customers.

Boot17 · December 10, 2023

Who ever would have thought that Starbucks would perhaps be the saving grace for so many software companies trying to justify a subscription? They should have trademarked that concept... perhaps offered it up as their own subscription. Call it subscripception...

natgreen · December 10, 2023

I guess it's time to say bye bye Evernote! I've been a user of the free plan since 2015 and always stay within the limits. Now I see that I need to upgrade if I want to continue using it as I have more than 50 notes.

I appreciate your service but your new limits stink!

PinkElephant · December 11, 2023

Your intellectual effort brought you to the right conclusion: It’s time to leave.

If you would have followed this conclusion without uttering mean remarks, it would have been an exit with style.

This way I’m sorry to tell you sucks. Or if you prefer so, it stinks.

#got_it · December 11, 2023

Hi All,

In 2022 I paid 198HKD (about 25USD) for a one year subscription.

The current renewal rate is 458. that's more than double.

In my view, the software doesn't justify that price.

Here are the reasons. There are some glitches with the app. Namely -

1) Occasional loss of date. (eg. 200 word note typed on iPad. When I got to work, The first paragraph was missing. Went home , looked at iPad, same part of the note was missing)

This is unacceptable. No, I did not contact support. I expect better quality app.

2) More than occasional duplication of notes. App copies and labels notes as duplicate even though only one device is connected and turned on.

3) Over the years, the app has become slow and cumbersome due to added features I don't need.

Thus, last year, I downgraded to the free plan thinking that doubling the price is not justified.

Now the free plan is neutered.

Good luck in the future, Evernote.

I'm leaving. Bye bye

I appreciate that my 10 or so years of notes will not be deleted but since Evernote made an abrupt u-turn on the free account policy, I would think that they will eventually tell me that my notes will be removed from their servers.

I understand there are limits but I can't justify the current price.

See you later

apclyps130 · December 11, 2023

Joining the ranks of free users who are upset with this change. I tried to figure out a way to contact, but there's no such option for free tier users, and the "Send Feedback" button in the app doesn't actually take you anywhere, so resorting to here.

I used Evernote for the past decade moderately to take formatted notes. It was a handy place to put longer, structured content, that was not as conducive to put in other cloud note solutions. The recent-ish limit to devices was fine, a reasonable way to drive paid memberships. However, lately I've been getting non-stop offers in the app to upgrade, presumably given this coming change.

I might have considered paying for a Personal Tier if it did not cost $11-15 / month, which is just ridiculous pricing. Ok I get it, you're a for-profit business, you need to monetize somehow, and free tier leeches like me aren't helping. But has any Product person at Evernote thought about how this value prop makes sense for its pricing? We're talking about a super-featured (and now bloated imo) note-taking app here, at the same pricing as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Evernote should not be anywhere in the same ballpark as those two services' pricing. If a consumer has only $15/month of discretionary spend to use, do you think they are going to spend it on Netflix/Amazon or Evernote? 😅

I liked using the service and might have considered paying a couple dollars a month. But at this pricing, I just migrated everything to Google Keep which has most of the features I need anyway. I would be happy to support a product and its developers if it was priced fairly for its features. But it seems to me that Evernote's corporate structure requires ridiculous pricing to maintain its bloated product. So long...

PinkElephant · December 11, 2023

With 25$ you were on a grandfathered subscription. They are discontinued, which explains the major part of the raise.

You must know for yourself which features you need and are willing to pay.

Byebye_Evernote · December 11, 2023

this new restrcition makes me leave evernote...

Franco Crocetta · December 11, 2023

Bending Spoons is known for buying struggling companies, augmenting their products with weekly/monthly subscriptions and driving them to death until the last drop of subscription money...writing was on the wall when they acquired Evernote. There are many alternatives on the market, I guess is time to look around.

PinkElephant · December 11, 2023

That‘s no more than hearsay, and a bad one on top.

One of the first apps they bought is Splice, originally by GoPro as video editing software. It is one of the apps with the most frequent releases on my iPhone. Yes, it costs money - as do many competing apps. But it’s properly maintained, receives new features and has a very good rating at the AppStore.

If one should stay with EN should be viewed from a value perspective: Is the price right for the value it creates for me ? This is an individual question every user needs to check for himself.

Franco Crocetta · December 11, 2023

..we shall see what happens with Filmic...

Boot17 · December 11, 2023

9 hours ago, apclyps130 said:

I might have considered paying for a Personal Tier if it did not cost $11-15 / month, which is just ridiculous pricing. Ok I get it, you're a for-profit business, you need to monetize somehow, and free tier leeches like me aren't helping. But has any Product person at Evernote thought about how this value prop makes sense for its pricing? We're talking about a super-featured (and now bloated imo) note-taking app here, at the same pricing as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Evernote should not be anywhere in the same ballpark as those two services' pricing. If a consumer has only $15/month of discretionary spend to use, do you think they are going to spend it on Netflix/Amazon or Evernote? 😅

I liked using the service and might have considered paying a couple dollars a month. But at this pricing, I just migrated everything to Google Keep which has most of the features I need anyway. I would be happy to support a product and its developers if it was priced fairly for its features. But it seems to me that Evernote's corporate structure requires ridiculous pricing to maintain its bloated product. So long...

I think Bending Spoons' product persons are going to make their pricing changes based on things that have worked for them in the past and actual subscription numbers from this latest restrictive free limitations initiative. I don't think they are going to decide to change things based on freemium user feedback in forums. I'm in the peanut gallery along with you, but that makes more sense to me.

Evernote shouldn't be in the same ballpark as Netflix? I cancelled Netflix over 2 years ago because the value just wasn't there for me. On the other hand, I use Evernote 10x as much and pay half for Evernote now compared what I was paying for Netflix two years ago. A bargain for me by that measure. I also don't think of paying for Evernote as discretionary money, it is one of the tools that I most heavily rely on for work and personal use -- so maybe that is part of the difference of opinion here.

If Google Keep is a good fit, then there are also dozens of other apps out there that could work as well. For many of us, Google Keep doesn't even come close to the feature-set we need and so our pool of potential alternatives is much smaller.

Boot17 · December 11, 2023

11 hours ago, #got_it said:

I appreciate that my 10 or so years of notes will not be deleted but since Evernote made an abrupt u-turn on the free account policy, I would think that they will eventually tell me that my notes will be removed from their servers.

I think that is a future possibility. We see that Google is now planning to delete accounts that have not been used for two years. I would expect that any company would want to remove data that is not being paid for.

If I was planning to leave Evernote permanently or indefinitely I would at least export all my notes into ENEX, html or import into another tool just in case.

Mike Stone · December 11, 2023

Y'all totally screwed me with these limits. Thanks

PinkElephant · December 11, 2023

1 hour ago, Franco Crocetta said:

..we shall see what happens with Filmic...

Filmic’s business model was killed when Blackmagic Cam launched - more modern, same features, at least for now for free.

So they decided to shrink the cost base accordingly. Probably there will be a hibernation phase, with Italian staff keeping the app going on a low level.

If Filmic survives remains to be seen.

Dave-in-Decatur · December 11, 2023

On 12/10/2023 at 7:11 AM, PinkElephant said:

Wouldn't this qualify ?

A bit late replying, but this made my day. I grew up on a farm in the Midwestern USA, about the time this beautiful old machine would have been produced. But we had sturdy American brands like Ford and Allis Chalmers. I had no idea Porsche made tractors!

Gazebo · December 11, 2023

I bought the Filmic App a few years ago (significantly more expensive than competitors, but seemed to have more features). About 12 months later (I presume when BS got involved) it moves to subscription which is three times the price I paid for a one time purchase.

As an occasional video maker it's hard to make a case for a monthly sub, when you probably use it twice a year.

I use Filmic Legacy (no updates, a bit like EN Legacy), but am now trying out Cinema P3, which is on a one off purchase basis.

I dislike subs generally, but used EN enough in the past that it was worth the cost. Have used it less and less over the past five years, and really only pay still because I have 3358 notes. Increasingly I am using Onenote, which has got better, while EN got worse.

On a positive note have accessed EN today on my laptop for the first time in about three months and was pleasantly surprised. Two or three updates, and seemed much faster on both Windows and i-phone. Hopefully it will get back to how good it was in 2014/5 when I relied on it for everything!

Dave-in-Decatur · December 11, 2023

11 hours ago, apclyps130 said:

Joining the ranks of free users who are upset with this change. I tried to figure out a way to contact, but there's no such option for free tier users, and the "Send Feedback" button in the app doesn't actually take you anywhere, so resorting to here.

I used Evernote for the past decade moderately to take formatted notes. It was a handy place to put longer, structured content, that was not as conducive to put in other cloud note solutions. The recent-ish limit to devices was fine, a reasonable way to drive paid memberships. However, lately I've been getting non-stop offers in the app to upgrade, presumably given this coming change.

I might have considered paying for a Personal Tier if it did not cost $11-15 / month, which is just ridiculous pricing. Ok I get it, you're a for-profit business, you need to monetize somehow, and free tier leeches like me aren't helping. But has any Product person at Evernote thought about how this value prop makes sense for its pricing? We're talking about a super-featured (and now bloated imo) note-taking app here, at the same pricing as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Evernote should not be anywhere in the same ballpark as those two services' pricing. If a consumer has only $15/month of discretionary spend to use, do you think they are going to spend it on Netflix/Amazon or Evernote? 😅

I liked using the service and might have considered paying a couple dollars a month. But at this pricing, I just migrated everything to Google Keep which has most of the features I need anyway. I would be happy to support a product and its developers if it was priced fairly for its features. But it seems to me that Evernote's corporate structure requires ridiculous pricing to maintain its bloated product. So long...

Just a series of small points:

The Feedback button should go to: feedback@evernote.com. Here it's just other users.
If all you need is a minor-league "note-taking app" Evernote isn't and never was for you. Even for free you weren't getting everything you weren't paying for. 😂
As usual: you spend how much per week on coffee to get the WiFi?
"A couple dollars a month" was never going to cover the cost of anything you were doing on Evernote.
If all you need is Google Keep ... see above.
Evernote is absolutely priced fairly for all its features now--it was underpriced for years; and of course almost no one actually uses all the features. It would be overpriced for Google Keep's features.

PinkElephant · December 11, 2023

@Gazebo The difference to an app like Filmic is that such an app has little running cost beside the ongoing development.

EN needs to run a massive server infrastructure, delivering and accepting content 24/7, running value added services on what the users create. This makes a continuous income crucial.

If you don’t need all these features, you will maybe feel you pay too much. This you can only solve for yourself.

Bill Myers · December 11, 2023

On 12/10/2023 at 5:35 AM, janndk said:

Evernote for sure isn't a Porsche.

On 12/9/2023 at 4:19 PM, Bill Myers said:

Maybe Evernote is overpriced. Maybe it's not a Porsche. But that seems all the more reason to seek out the free or low-cost options that are just down the proverbial road.

FlyingElmo · December 12, 2023

Hi all - first post and probably last one as well. I'm disappointed that Evernote suddenly rolled out these changes to us free users without adequate notice. I just logged in today to find that I"m unable to create any additional notes, since I'm over my limit of 50. Surprise.

I'm a longtime very light user of Evernote. I typically use it to organize my thoughts or meeting notes via basic formatted text and appreciate its ability to sync between my phone and laptop. Sometimes I'll insert an image in my notes, but never come close to consuming the monthly uploads on the Free plan. I also don't use it for clipping webpages or reminders because candidly, there are much better options for that.

I'd be willing to pay for the product, but there really is no tier that makes sense for my light workload. I'm certainly not going to pay $130 a year to store simple notes and be able to sync across 3 devices. It makes me miss their old basic tier from years ago that was a couple dollars a month but allowed syncing across lots of devices; since sunsetting that, you've either got to be a power-user or an extreme power user to fit into one of their tiers. They're leaving money on the table by not having any basic tiered option for light users. I'd pay $30-40 dollars for it per year for basic functionality, but clearly they don't want to cater to users like me.

Wanderling Reborn · December 12, 2023

15 hours ago, FlyingElmo said:

They're leaving money on the table by not having any basic tiered option for light users. I'd pay $30-40 dollars for it per year for basic functionality, but clearly they don't want to cater to users like me.

Or, they believe that the "light" plan would be too attractive to the existing users who would switch from the current plans. For any existing user switching from $130 per year to $40 per year plan, they would need to attract more than 2 additional new paid users just to keep the same revenue. And this is very unrealistic, so in reality they would lose money as many existing paying customers switch to the cheaper plan.

They are no longer concentrating on growth, so I don't expect any moves designed to attract a larger number of new customers at the expense of revenue stream.

Dave-in-Decatur · December 12, 2023

43 minutes ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

They are no longer concentrating on growth, so I don't expect any moves designed to attract a larger number of new customers at the expense of revenue stream.

Begging your pardon, but we don't know this. Argue your point as you wish, but you can't prove it without inside knowledge.

Wanderling Reborn · December 12, 2023

Just now, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Begging your pardon, but we don't know this. Argue your point as you wish, but you can't prove it without inside knowledge.

I don't need the inside knowledge to see very clear signs.

Everything in Evernote's marketing and pricing structure indicates that the revenue growth, not user base growth, is their main strategy at this time. Which makes sense given the overall stagnation / maturity of the market, greatly increased competition, their historic failure to convert new users to paid plans, and the fact that their biggest asset is the relatively large number of deeply invested existing users.

However, I will gladly acknowledge that this is just my analysis and not something they told me. By the same token, I do not know for sure that it's going to snow this winter.

Dave-in-Decatur · December 12, 2023

28 minutes ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

I don't need the inside knowledge to see very clear signs.

Everything in Evernote's marketing and pricing structure....

What is this "Evernote" that people are still talking about? Based on posts in these forums from 3 years ago, 5 years ago, etc., there were very clear signs that Evernote died long ago. 🙂

Bill Myers · December 12, 2023

16 hours ago, FlyingElmo said:

Hi all - first post and probably last one as well. I'm disappointed that Evernote suddenly rolled out these changes to us free users without adequate notice. I just logged in today to find that I"m unable to create any additional notes, since I'm over my limit of 50. Surprise.

I'm a longtime very light user of Evernote. I typically use it to organize my thoughts or meeting notes via basic formatted text and appreciate its ability to sync between my phone and laptop. Sometimes I'll insert an image in my notes, but never come close to consuming the monthly uploads on the Free plan. I also don't use it for clipping webpages or reminders because candidly, there are much better options for that.

I'd be willing to pay for the product, but there really is no tier that makes sense for my light workload. I'm certainly not going to pay $130 a year to store simple notes and be able to sync across 3 devices. It makes me miss their old basic tier from years ago that was a couple dollars a month but allowed syncing across lots of devices; since sunsetting that, you've either got to be a power-user or an extreme power user to fit into one of their tiers. They're leaving money on the table by not having any basic tiered option for light users. I'd pay $30-40 dollars for it per year for basic functionality, but clearly they don't want to cater to users like me.

At the risk of being accused of further "bashing" people like yourself, to put it plainly: you chose to bet on the idea that a for-profit service would be available to you completely free indefinitely, even though neither the old Evernote company nor Bending Spoons had ever made you any such guarantee. If it was going to upset you that much to have the rug pulled out from under you, then that wasn't a good bet to make.

Evernote doesn't sell your data or sell advertisements to make money. It's funded solely through subscription revenue. So a free user who doesn't convert to a paying customer represents a cost to the company, not a benefit. If you weren't aware of this, or you were but didn't see the implications, consider this a lesson learned.

As for the price point that would have enticed you to subscribe, I remember Evernote having significantly lower subscription prices at one time and it didn't appear to convert a lot of free users to paid customers. It doesn't matter whether you or I would subscribe at a certain level. It matters whether enough people would do so. I don't think there were ever enough.

As for Bending Spoons "leaving money on the table," you don't know that. You want to believe it, but you don't know it. People here have been talking about storage space and bandwidth costs, but those aren't the only expenses the the company has to take into account. There is SG&A, like salaries. Also, Bending Spoons bought the Evernote product. Even if they chose to amortize that cost, they're going to have to find a way to make that money back.

Just because something would suit your needs or wants doesn't mean it would make good business sense to offer it to you, and it sure as heck doesn't mean someone is morally obligated to do it. If you believe Evernote is overbuilt for your needs, it doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong.

As for giving so little notice to free users, I'll grant you that wasn't a great PR move on Bending Spoons part. But unless you can point to something in the Ts and Cs that obligated them to give free users more notice, you have no recourse. Whether it was "nice" or not in your eyes doesn't enter into it.

I once thought Evernote was becoming bloated with worthless features because I didn't need them. I thought tags were stupid until I found a good user for tags. I thought the home screen was silly until I began using it, and now I find it's become a significant part of my daily workflow. My point is simply that one person's junk is another person's treasure. If those features aren't useful for you, then you're right, Evernote is not catering to you. There are other companies that clearly are catering to the wants you've described. Go use their services instead.

And if it turns out that Bending Spoons backed themselves into a corner, that their cost structure forced them to price Evernote out of the market, that will be unfortunate. But as I keep saying, it's a mistake they had a right to make. Who among us hasn't made mistakes, even in business?

Anyway, I am a happy Evernote user. I don't know if I'm a "power user" -- I don't have a lot of notes -- but given the amount of time per day that I use the service, I'd daresay I'm a heavy user. I really love a lot of the features and am learning more about the product on the regular. It helps me greatly. If that's not the case for you, that's OK. I don't feel the need to tell less full-featured services they're doing something wrong. Maybe Evernote isn't either. Something to consider.

Bill Myers · December 12, 2023

42 minutes ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

However, I will gladly acknowledge that this is just my analysis and not something they told me.

It's not an analysis. It's something you choose to believe. You don't have enough information to make an informed analysis.

Most companies prioritize user growth in the short term, the long term, and everything in between. It's considered a truism that even under the best of circumstances, you lose about 20 percent of your customers every year.

Could Bending Spoons be an exception to the growth mindset? Sure. But you don't know that they are, and I don't know that they aren't. But I think I'm on solid ground saying we're not going to answer the question here, in a forum that is really supposed to be about users helping other users with Evernote questions.

Wanderling Reborn · December 12, 2023

34 minutes ago, Bill Myers said:

It's not an analysis. It's something you choose to believe. You don't have enough information to make an informed analysis.

Most companies prioritize user growth in the short term, the long term, and everything in between. It's considered a truism that even under the best of circumstances, you lose about 20 percent of your customers every year.

Could Bending Spoons be an exception to the growth mindset? Sure. But you don't know that they are, and I don't know that they aren't. But I think I'm on solid ground saying we're not going to answer the question here, in a forum that is really supposed to be about users helping other users with Evernote questions.

First, let's clarify the definitions. By "growth" I meant growth in the number of users / market share. I think I've made this pretty clear on several occasions. All indicators, to me, are showing that they are pursuing revenue growth at the expense of user base growth.

The lack of an attractive free plan to encourage as many people as possible to try the service and stick with it for a while. The current free plan is designed to force people to move on sooner rather than later. They are clearly not concerned if most free users leave, as long as at least some upgrade to the new plan.
The lack of an attractive entry level tier to encourage the new users to upgrade to a paid service. The current price is high compared to the competition, most of whom are providing a generous free plan or pretty cheap paid plans.

So, the current pricing strategy and free plan limitations are designed to minimize the number of free users, and don't provide enough enticement for the potential new users to sign up for paid service. What it does do is to maximize the revenue from the deeply invested legacy users who have too much data committed in Evernote, and are too used to the specific EN-centric workflow they've developed over the years, to move to an alternative over $70 or so in yearly savings.

This is not something "I chose to believe", it's an analysis of their pricing structure and free plan limitations as compared to the competition.

Now, if you see any indicators that BS are indeed pursuing a growth strategy for Evernote, I'd like to know what they are. They may have some plans that they want to implement in the future, but as of now, their entire pricing strategy strongly emphasizes maximizing the revenue from existing users over growth by adding more new users.

Bill Myers · December 12, 2023

8 minutes ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

Now, if you see any indicators that BS are indeed pursuing a growth strategy for Evernote, I'd like to know what they are.

The only indicators I see here are telling me that you would be all too happy to argue this into the ground. The need to prove oneself right is often an impediment to learning.

Hey, I get it. I used to obsessively participate in Internet argument culture, so I know all the signs. Like the challenge above, demanding that I play your game.

One of my character defects is to every once in a while slip into that whole argument for argument's sake thing. Like I've been doing in this forum for the past two or three weeks.

I'll give you some advice that probably won't register today, but may resonate with you someday: it isn't worth it. Argument culture isn't about proving the point. It's about the act of arguing as an end in itself. In the immortal words of General Leia to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, "It's a trap!"

I'm going to go back to focusing on those threads that offer me a chance to learn something new about Evernote. I withdraw from your argument, and if you want to interpret that as a "forfeit" on my part, that's great. As long as I'm not perpetuating a pointless argument, I'm happy.

And believe it or not, I really wish you all the best.

Wanderling Reborn · December 12, 2023

35 minutes ago, Bill Myers said:

...

And believe it or not, I really wish you all the best.

Why would I not believe it ? This is a discussion, not a personal argument. Constructive disagreement is healthy.

Sorry if I somehow came across as argumentative. In my job, one of the many "hats" I have to wear requires me to make assessments of known data, make logical assumptions, provide analysis and recommendations, and be able to explain the reasoning behind them. I am used to saying "that why I think it's X and not Y, why do you think it's Y and not X ?" Sorry if it came out as too combative, this was nevcer my intent.

Bill Myers · December 12, 2023

1 hour ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

Sorry if I somehow came across as argumentative. In my job, one of the many "hats" I have to wear requires me to make assessments of known data, make logical assumptions, provide analysis and recommendations, and be able to explain the reasoning behind them. I am used to saying "that why I think it's X and not Y, why do you think it's Y and not X ?" Sorry if it came out as too combative, this was nevcer my intent.

Apology accepted. If I also came across as too combative, I apologize as well. Your job requires you to analyze data. I'm a know-it-all with a big mouth. Only one of us gets paid for our thing, though.

I'm still not sure there's anything more to discuss, because I don't believe either of us actually has enough information to draw any conclusions. Also, I don't think it matters whether one of us is right or wrong. But maybe I'll clarify a couple of things and that will be OK.

2 hours ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

By "growth" I meant growth in the number of users / market share.

Yes, I got that. That's what I meant, too.

2 hours ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

All indicators, to me, are showing that they are pursuing revenue growth at the expense of user base growth.

The lack of an attractive free plan to encourage as many people as possible to try the service and stick with it for a while. The current free plan is designed to force people to move on sooner rather than later. They are clearly not concerned if most free users leave, as long as at least some upgrade to the new plan.

The lack of an attractive entry level tier to encourage the new users to upgrade to a paid service. The current price is high compared to the competition, most of whom are providing a generous free plan or pretty cheap paid plans.

Here's why I don't think it's worth beating this dead horse much further: I just think we're too far apart in terms of what we consider "indicators." To me, those bullet points are assumptions and not facts.

There is also the fact that neither of us can control what happens inside or outside of Bending Spoons by arguing about it. Nor will I change the minds of people coming on here to complain about the new pricing, the new restrictions on the free plan, or any other grievance they choose to air out.

Nor will I change any minds by arguing about "argument culture."

On the other hand, I'll feel better if I stay out of arguments I don't need to be involved in. That's something I can actually control.

Bobby 55 · December 13, 2023

With the recent downgrade, I've switched the bulk of my notes to OneNote. I just couldn't justify the pricing structure when numerous cross-platform formatting issues have existed unfixed for years. I really like the overall feel of Evernote, but the stress it causes having to reformat notes over and over motivated me to abandon ship. There is not a very robust feedback loop for improvement at Evernote, and it shows. I've had to re-edit notes frequently when the format is messed up after saving on one platform and then reading and editing it in another. It seems as though these issues are tolerated by the staff or they aren't really using it like I do (simple checklists, reference information with bullet points, etc., primarily using the app and online version). End of an era, I guess.

s2sailor · December 13, 2023

22 minutes ago, Bobby 55 said:

With the recent downgrade, I've switched the bulk of my notes to OneNote. I just couldn't justify the pricing structure when numerous cross-platform formatting issues have existed unfixed for years. I really like the overall feel of Evernote, but the stress it causes having to reformat notes over and over motivated me to abandon ship. There is not a very robust feedback loop for improvement at Evernote, and it shows. I've had to re-edit notes frequently when the format is messed up after saving on one platform and then reading and editing it in another. It seems as though these issues are tolerated by the staff or they aren't really using it like I do (simple checklists, reference information with bullet points, etc., primarily using the app and online version). End of an era, I guess.

If OneNote is working out for you great, honestly. I do want to comment on your reformatting notes over and over comment. That was definitely a problem with the Legacy version. V10 has a consistent, though limited, text formatting editor across platforms. It sounds like maybe you haven't tried v10 before jumping ship. If the issue is cost, that is understandable, but there is no longer a mixed formating problem.

Bobby 55 · December 13, 2023

I had the latest Android app version, and mostly also used the online version on my laptop. Between the two platforms, the notes with bullet points and checklists would auto-revert to bullet points and also change the indenting, etc. Happened all the way up to last week. Line spacing was another issue as well. I'd edit in one platform, and the next day open it in another platform, and the note would have all bullet points in it instead of checklists or checkboxes. I generally did not use a downloaded desktop app for EN. I've asked for support on these but they would tell me that they were aware of those issues, and I didn't get any resolution, so I just sort of re-edited notes that would get frazzled.

s2sailor · December 13, 2023

It sounds like the issue is between your Android app and Evernote Web. I'm not an Android user, but this still doesn't sound right to me. Make sure you are using the new web interface. It is under Account Summary. Maybe an Android user will jump in and also help out. If you are fully in v10, I don't think this should be happening.

Bobby 55 · December 13, 2023

I just checked, and the box is checked for the Enable V10 version. I hadn't changed any of those settings in ages. It would be nice to know whether there's some fix out there, and maybe when EN offers a basic subscription I'll revisit using it more. I have a huge checklist that is 2/3 bullet points now and I don't know of a fast way to switch it back to checklist or checkboxes using the app or web client. Appreciate the help/ replies.

Arantes · December 13, 2023

If you are having trouble authenticating your account to enable the Gmail add-on on Android?

I can't authenticate my account in any way to enable the add-on and use it in my emails.

The same happens with the Web Clipper for desktop, when trying to authenticate, it keeps asking to enter the password over and over. Attached is a video capture showing the problem.

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me!

Ron-New-Notes-User · December 13, 2023

This is unfortunate. I used Evernote for 10+ years. I say "used" because when the announcement came out I exported my notes out of EN and into Apple Notes. Done. Free. Forever. Bye Evernote.

Gazebo · December 13, 2023

@PinkElephant Completely agree that what EN are doing is chalk and cheese to Filmic, and I have no problem with paying for something that I use all of the time, particularly considering the amount of data and security required to maintain EN..

EN was my lead app of choice since 2013 when I first started paying for it, but in recent years had to move to Onenote for work (EN blocked on servers) and phone apps became really cumbersome for personal stuff so it fell out of favour somewhat..

As I said, pleasantly surprised by latest updates and hoping for a resurgence!

meingraham · December 13, 2023

Regarding the updated free plan limits:

Can I select the one notebook I will use going forward and use that for new notes?

Is the 50 notes a total of all notes or a monthly quota?

s2sailor · December 13, 2023

3 minutes ago, meingraham said:

Regarding the updated free plan limits:

Can I select the one notebook I will use going forward and use that for new notes?

Is the 50 notes a total of all notes or a monthly quota?

50 notes is a total and one notebook is a total as well. You don't select just one to use. They are obviously trying to move folks off the free plan, one way or another.

delawaredave · December 13, 2023

On 12/11/2023 at 6:40 AM, Franco Crocetta said:

Bending Spoons is known for buying struggling companies, augmenting their products with weekly/monthly subscriptions and driving them to death until the last drop of subscription money...writing was on the wall when they acquired Evernote. There are many alternatives on the market, I guess is time to look around.

You may be right, see below.

My strategy: I went through my notebooks - cleaned up / consolidated many notes. Instead of deleting the now empty notes - I'm "recycling" them - just put EMPTY in the note.

Now I have a pile of empty notecards I can use for new information.

This buys me time while a evaluate alternatives - likely Notion - like it so far.

https://thedeadpixelssociety.com/bending-spoons-lays-off-filmic-staff-aquisition/

delawaredave · December 13, 2023

52 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

50 notes is a total and one notebook is a total as well. You don't select just one to use. They are obviously trying to move folks off the free plan, one way or another.

Found you also cannot move notes between notebooks. I have several notebooks and over 50 notes.

s2sailor · December 13, 2023

3 minutes ago, delawaredave said:

This buys me time while a evaluate alternatives - likely Notion - like it so far.

You can also buy a subscription for only a month to avoid the hassle if you want.

Dave-in-Decatur · December 13, 2023

18 hours ago, Bobby 55 said:

I just checked, and the box is checked for the Enable V10 version. I hadn't changed any of those settings in ages. It would be nice to know whether there's some fix out there, and maybe when EN offers a basic subscription I'll revisit using it more. I have a huge checklist that is 2/3 bullet points now and I don't know of a fast way to switch it back to checklist or checkboxes using the app or web client. Appreciate the help/ replies.

In Android are you seeing bullets or boxes? If bullets, that would indicate you're still in v. 8 in Android (which seems unlikely). If the bullets are showing up in the Web version, then it might be good, making sure that Enable V10 is checked, to clear the browser cache. To reformat from bullets to checks, I would select the list (probably just a test patch to start!) and select Checklist in the formatting bar.

The boxes/bullets issue showed up when they first introduced some new formatting, maybe even before v. 10 was (prematurely) released. It was lousy and still is if you run into it. But if everything is running v. 10 it shouldn't occur any more.

One complicating factor: in v. 10 there are checklists (inserted from the formatting bar) and checkboxes (inserted from the blue + button). The 🚫latter🚫 FORMER are real lists that create a new entry with each line. The 🚫former🚫 LATTER are just boxes that get an X not a check when clicked--except that if a line begins with a checkbox it will convert to a checklist when you press Enter. This lunacy has never been explained or corrected, but still catches me from time to time.

Edited to correct errors.

meingraham · December 13, 2023

1 hour ago, s2sailor said:

50 notes is a total and one notebook is a total as well. You don't select just one to use. They are obviously trying to move folks off the free plan, one way or another.

Thanks for your reply. I suspected as much, but I thought I'd ask/confirm before undertaking the painful exercise of moving my notes to a different platform (probably OneNote). Even if I had fewer than 50 notes, I can't even move notes to get them into a single notebook without subscribing!

The one feature I haven't found that has kept me with EN until now has been to encrypt selected text within a note. I guess I'll have to rethink my sensitive information management... because text encryption is not worth the annual $130 (which could very easily continue to increase).

s2sailor · December 13, 2023

3 minutes ago, meingraham said:

The one feature I haven't found that has kept me with EN until now has been to encrypt selected text within a note. I guess I'll have to rethink my sensitive information management

One possibility is using a password manager such as 1Password. That has a secure note section that would work as a nice replacement for your secure notes.

Whichever app you migrate to, the encryption scheme of Evernote will not import into any other app. Make sure to unencrypt notes before moving them over.

VincentC · December 13, 2023

"I can't even move notes to get them into a single notebook without subscribing!"

Have you tried merging notes instead of moving them? Highlight more than one note using shift and control and a bar appears at the bottom of the screen. Merge is third from the left (on the Windows client). I don't know if this will work now in a free plan, but it might be worth trying as a way to reduce your note count.

Vinnie

meingraham · December 13, 2023

43 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

One possibility is using a password manager such as 1Password. That has a secure note section that would work as a nice replacement for your secure notes.

Whichever app you migrate to, the encryption scheme of Evernote will not import into any other app. Make sure to unencrypt notes before moving them over.

I use a password vault for passwords. But there is other sensitive information in my notes that I obfuscate.

Hmm, I need to go through and un-encrypt everything first before exporting? Ouch! Looks like I'll be spending my weekend with EN for one final hurrah.

s2sailor · December 13, 2023

1 minute ago, meingraham said:

Hmm, I need to go through and un-encrypt everything first before exporting?

Yes. If you don't, what you have encrypted will be unreadable in a different app. To find all of your encrypted notes, search on:

encryption:

chrisbizarre · December 13, 2023

I can't create any new notes despite only having one notebook and 29 notes (I had 30, deleted one to see if that would fix it and it didn't). Whenever I press the button to create a new note I just get a pop up saying to upgrade my account to a subscription plan

PinkElephant · December 13, 2023

Isn’t the correct command

content:encryption

? Or use „Encrypted“ from the content filters.

s2sailor · December 13, 2023

encryption: in the search box works. I'm familiar with that one. Maybe the others do as well..

Update:

content:encryption - doesn't work

From the filter - contains - encrypted does work

Both the filter and encryption: in the search box return the same number of notes on my system.

Dave-in-Decatur · December 13, 2023

3 hours ago, meingraham said:

Even if I had fewer than 50 notes, I can't even move notes to get them into a single notebook without subscribing!

This is correct. But I assume it would be possible to subscribe for just one month, do all the re-organizing you will need, then drop back to free. Just an idea and I could be wrong!

eric99 · December 13, 2023

3 hours ago, s2sailor said:

Whichever app you migrate to, the encryption scheme of Evernote will not import into any other app. Make sure to unencrypt notes before moving them over.

...except for my own Enex to Html implementation: if a password provided, my tool decrypts all encrypted content in the notes. Decryption and reconstruction of note links provides a consistent, self-contained HTML archive without losing any note content. This is my safety net in case everything else goes wrong...

Kristen Kelly · December 14, 2023

You made me cry! I’ve used Evernote for more than 5 years. It’s become a daily component of my life. I use it to journal personal thoughts. I keep my grocery list in it. I make notes for the kids’ school work. I even make lists of what Christmas cookies I plan on making. So yes after years I have much more than 50 notes. I feel betrayed and that a huge part my life has been high jacked from me. I’ve been a loyal user for years. I’ve recommended it to so many people and family members.

meingraham · December 14, 2023

15 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

This is correct. But I assume it would be possible to subscribe for just one month, do all the re-organizing you will need, then drop back to free. Just an idea and I could be wrong!

Subscribing would allow you to re-organize into a single notebook... but you still would have to subscribe once you got to 50 notes. So, not a lot of incentive to put stuff in a single notebook.

meingraham · December 14, 2023

15 hours ago, eric99 said:

...except for my own Enex to Html implementation: if a password provided, my tool decrypts all encrypted content in the notes. Decryption and reconstruction of note links provides a consistent, self-contained HTML archive without losing any note content. This is my safety net in case everything else goes wrong...

How does your "Enex to Html implementation" work? Do you export EN and then run it through your HTML "converter" which also finds the encrypted text and decrypts it?

biglarry5 · December 14, 2023

On 12/1/2023 at 11:51 AM, agsteele said:

The trial of the new note limits which affected around 1% of Free users had been well debated and discussed for two months. It hasn't been hidden. The latest announcement is that the trial is being rolled out to all Free users from Monday.

Why do you expect average Evernote users to spend their time on the discussion.evernote.com unless they are forced to do it by the company's failing to inform its subscribers about the vital changes well before they occur? I've been getting offers to upgrade to a paid account almost every day for quite a while now, but none of them contained any info as to why that might be beneficial for me in the light of the pending changes.

Today, when I received the new change announcement, I was ready to upgrade, but the only option listed for me, who live in Texas, is to make a payment with Indonesian rupees. That doesn't change when I enter United States as the country of subscription. I doubt Indonesian currency will inspire the trust of many Texans or other potential American subscribers. If Evernote cares about their business, they should enable the USD option tout-suite.

Boot17 · December 14, 2023

24 minutes ago, biglarry5 said:

Today, when I received the new change announcement, I was ready to upgrade, but the only option listed for me, who live in Texas, is to make a payment with Indonesian rupees. That doesn't change when I enter United States as the country of subscription. I doubt Indonesian currency will inspire the trust of many Texans or other potential American subscribers. If Evernote cares about their business, they should enable the USD option tout-suite.

I wonder what the technical issue was for that. I'd love to pay with the Indonesian rupee vs a US dollar if I could -- well, as long as you still get the Indonesian regional cost which is probably something like 30% of the USD price!

eric99 · December 14, 2023

6 hours ago, meingraham said:

How does your "Enex to Html implementation" work? Do you export EN and then run it through your HTML "converter" which also finds the encrypted text and decrypts it?

Yep. By the way, I would never decrypt my notes on the EN server because this defeats the whole point of encryption. Instead I would write an ENEX to 'decrypted' ENEX tool, in case I would migrate to another note taking tool. Starting from my ENEX to HTML code, it's not that dificult...

edit: or perhaps encrypt it in a different format, known by the target app or something?

meingraham · December 14, 2023

21 minutes ago, eric99 said:

Yep. By the way, I would never decrypt my notes on the EN server because this defeats the whole point of encryption. Instead I would write an ENEX to 'decrypted' ENEX tool, in case I would migrate to another note taking tool. Starting from my ENEX to HTML code, it's not that dificult...

edit: or perhaps encrypt it in a different format, known by the target app or something?

Might you be persuaded to share your code? 😉

hyyen · December 15, 2023

Just got an email about the new limitations on the free account.

I never looked at the plan pricing.

Wow $15 a month but it's on sale so you would save $50 the first year, $130 instead of $180.

Evernote has been very useful for me over the years and I can afford $130 or even $180 a year.

But there are a lot of other services I'd pay for before I'd pay for Evernote.

Well I'm going to try living without EV.

Anyways, I enjoyed the product but ciao!

Yes I know they have to pay operating costs as well as the employees. Understand this move. Just don't want to get caught into this cycle of more and more recurring bills.

GLA.

biglarry5 · December 15, 2023

2 hours ago, hyyen said:

Just got an email about the new limitations on the free account.

I never looked at the plan pricing.

Wow $15 a month but it's on sale so you would save $50 the first year, $130 instead of $180.

Evernote has been very useful for me over the years and I can afford $130 or even $180 a year.

But there are a lot of other services I'd pay for before I'd pay for Evernote.

Well I'm going to try living without EV.

Anyways, I enjoyed the product but ciao!

Yes I know they have to pay operating costs as well as the employees. Understand this move. Just don't want to get caught into this cycle of more and more recurring bills.

GLA.

My quote for the annual personal account was about $52.00, but it was given in Indonesian currency even though I live in Texas. I doubt that it applies to U.S. subscribers. This must be one of the least transparent and most disorganized changeovers in the Internet app history.

MtVerno · December 15, 2023

I've been using Evernote free since 2018 and have over 500 notes, and over 10 notebooks. It's now telling me I'm limited to **ONE** notebook and 50 notes?

Is this a ***** joke? Is the leadership of this company inept enough to piss off loyal fans, who often freely market your product to others based on its usefulness? You would rather squeeze every last penny out of those who ALREADY found it useful? WTF? Where is the incentive outside of being enormously frustrated by this bullshit tactic?

I have never seen this kind of thing done with a product of Evernote's caliber. I feel like I'm being held hostage, with years of personal journals and notes being completely orphaned and useless.

With Microsoft, I get AN ENTIRE OFFICE SUITE + a superior product for half the price of yours. As a long time fan I will happily ***** off now.

--

Lee

eric99 · December 15, 2023

19 hours ago, meingraham said:

Might you be persuaded to share your code? 😉

I have implemented it for personal use so far. I made a first quick and dirty prototype in Python, and now I'm implementing it in a real programming language to make it more readable, performant and secure. If more people are interested, I might consider publishing it, but not until it's completely finished.

Mishkafofer · December 15, 2023

The outrage of non-paying customers reminds me of Seinfeld.

gazumped · December 15, 2023

On 12/14/2023 at 12:53 AM, Kristen Kelly said:

You made me cry! I’ve used Evernote for more than 5 years. It’s become a daily component of my life. I use it to journal personal thoughts. I keep my grocery list in it. I make notes for the kids’ school work. I even make lists of what Christmas cookies I plan on making. So yes after years I have much more than 50 notes. I feel betrayed and that a huge part my life has been high jacked from me. I’ve been a loyal user for years. I’ve recommended it to so many people and family members.

Hi. Sorry for the upset, but you still have access to your existing notes; you just won't be able to create any new ones.

hyyen · December 15, 2023

It also appears you won't be able to edit existing notes? They're just read-only?

Jon/t · December 15, 2023

3 minutes ago, hyyen said:

It also appears you won't be able to edit existing notes? They're just read-only?

Yes you can edit existing notes and export them.

Bill Myers · December 15, 2023

PinkElephant · December 15, 2023

Unfortunately he is tied to a rowing boat driven by Bart and Marge 🤣

rocky500 · December 16, 2023

I can see why a company might change the policy like they have. I was a free user for 12 years.

The only thing I find disappointing is the little notice they gave their user base. Can see why some will be frustrated.

I have only ever used Evernote myself for less that 700 notes total. Just to look up bits of info I collect over the years. eg. Purchases, Computer/router/CCTV camera etc setups, keeping track of my Hifi hobby, Health/doctor stuff, howto fix things etc.

At least now I have finally had a chance to look at Alternatives. I would of subscribed to Evernote in the past but really wanted something a bit more Secure to put all my sensitive stuff and passwords into.

I have a Roboform subscription but the notes part is not that great, heck in any of the password programs I have looked at.

I have learnt theses days there are a lot of alternative programs offering a great import from Evernote enex backups.

So if any one if finding the subscription a bit too much to afford and is looking for a promising alternative, I would recommend Upnote. Its free for 50 notes and can be accessed from multiple devices. Subscription is cheap per month and I bought a lifetime subscription being so cheap. It's not there for me yet but looks great. No sub Tags but they did mention they are looking at that and many other things too as they progress.

I actually ended up trying Standard Notes as well and was so impressed, I purchased a 5 year subscription some days later.

It is such a dream to use and so fast. Links to all my devices and security is up there with the best of them.

Now I can finally put all my sensitive Data and all my passwords in there. Well anything that is important to me and know it will be secure away from the possibility of prying eyes of others.

As I mentioned the one thing that held me back from really getting into Evernote was the security of my data, so was reluctant to put too much in there.

So no problems from me with Evernote changing their policy and good luck to them into the future and all the current subscribed users.

I had a great run with my little usage of Evernote over the years and thank them for that.

biglarry5 · December 16, 2023

23 hours ago, Mishkafofer said:

The outrage of non-paying customers reminds me of Seinfeld.

Hello, Newman! You are talking out of your nether ***** in an unsuccessful attempt to be funny and maybe suck up to Evernote. Who knows, maybe you are an employee with a vested interest too. I've had free Spotify with stationary ads for 10 years now. I just renewed VIPRE security for two years for about 50 bucks. I've had free Microsoft Outlook email for about 30 years. My chief complaint about the new system is the fact that its introduction was not transparent enough, i.e., free customers were not informed adequately about the new rules by repeated notifications. Only a management that has something to hide or is incompetent would expect most free subscribers to waste time on this website, which apparently contained the info about the change. Only a management that is incompetent would offer me, who lives in the U.S., to upgrade by paying in Indonesian rupees and now in euros instead of American dollars. I was ready to upgrade until I saw the new subscription price (about $120 per year) - probably one of the highest prices of its kind in the Internet app world. Even if I eventually decide to upgrade, I won't even consider it until the offer is in USD.

PinkElephant · December 16, 2023

You would never consider … you are way to clever (counting down numerous irrelevancies) … you don’t like to follow forum rules … boy, you are the GREATEST …

Know what: Stick to forum rules, and we don’t care. Mess with other forum users in an unfair manner: It’s a good way to find out how short the fuse is today.

biglarry5 · December 16, 2023

36 minutes ago, biglarry5 said:

Hello, Newman! You are talking out of your nether ***** in an unsuccessful attempt to be funny and maybe suck up to Evernote. Who knows, maybe you are an employee with a vested interest too. I've had free Spotify with stationary ads for 10 years now. I just renewed VIPRE security for two years for about 50 bucks. I've had free Microsoft Outlook email for about 30 years. My chief complaint about the new system is the fact that its introduction was not transparent enough, i.e., free customers were not informed adequately about the new rules by repeated notifications. Only a management that has something to hide or is incompetent would expect most free subscribers to waste time on this website, which apparently contained the info about the change. Only a management that is incompetent would offer me, who lives in the U.S., to upgrade by paying in Indonesian rupees and now in euros instead of American dollars. I was ready to upgrade until I saw the new subscription price (about $120 per year) - probably one of the highest prices of its kind in the Internet app world. Even if I eventually decide to upgrade, I won't even consider it until the offer is in USD.

The management/marketing incompetence saga continues. After I wrote the above comment, I received a notification/offer to subscribe with a 40% off. I thought that was an acceptable price, so I whipped out my Discover card (a ubiquitous credit card in America) and filled out the subscription form. Imagine my surprise, disappointment, and anger when I found out accidentally at the end of the process that my Discover is not "supported in this country" even though it was shown among the cards on that page and even though I clicked on United States as my country. What happened was that the default subscription screen position was hiding a message on the top of the screen saying that Discover is unsupported instead of that message appearing around the area where my card number was entered. We're probably dealing with a reseller somewhere in Asia (still Indonesia?). How many ways does Bending Spoons have to prevent U.S. residents to subscribe?

gazumped · December 16, 2023

While I sympathise with the annoyances of a computer system / web process that does not do what you want, Evernote is not going to change the cards they accept for one user. Find a different option or use a different application. Plus a blow by blow account of how incompetent the management of Evernote appears is not the purpose of this forum. Please play nice.

gazumped · December 16, 2023

I deleted one post here. Please think about what you're typing...

biglarry5 · December 16, 2023

4 minutes ago, gazumped said:

While I sympathise with the annoyances of a computer system / web process that does not do what you want, Evernote is not going to change the cards they accept for one user. Find a different option or use a different application. Plus a blow by blow account of how incompetent the management of Evernote appears is not the purpose of this forum. Please play nice.

If this forum's purpose is not for complaints about the management (among other things), then it is nothing but an autocratic device for protecting the management from customer dissatisfaction and free speech. It is particularly ironic that I'm getting this flak for complaining about an inability to help Bending Spoons' business by upgrading my account. A business that cares about potential customers and customer service would first apologize about the difficulties I incurred and would then try to find ways and offer suggestions to surmount them instead of playing a blame game and defending the rigidity of its subscription system.

PinkElephant · December 16, 2023

@biglarry5 You were talking negatively about fellow forum users.

Second, if you mix up free speech with being offensive and off topic, it’s your problem. I think it’s a good thing when we keep this forum a civilized place.

mackid1993 · December 16, 2023

Based on the things people come here to complain about you'd think Evernote is some demon spawn succubus rather than a productivity app.

biglarry5 · December 16, 2023

7 minutes ago, mackid1993 said:

Based on the things people come here to complain about you'd think Evernote is some demon spawn succubus rather than a productivity app.

Mixing apples and oranges. Evernote is still good, but its new owners, Bending Spoons? Not so much. They have deprived (just guessing) hundreds of thousands of free subscribers around the world of a chance to continue being productive and even of a chance for many of them, like myself, to upgrade without jumping through hoops and wasting time.

mackid1993 · December 16, 2023

1 minute ago, biglarry5 said:

Mixing apples and oranges. Evernote is still good, but its new owners, Bending Spoons? Not so much. They have deprived (just guessing) hundreds of thousands of free subscribers around the world of a chance to continue being productive and even of a chance for many of them, like myself, to upgrade without jumping through hoops and wasting time.

There are plenty of ways to pay, try adding your Discover card to PayPal and subscribe that way.

New blog post: Evernote Free accounts will have fifty notes and one notebook

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