The new update just killed evernote

[Victor Brufatto 2]

I've been using evernote for four years. I had to stop using today. I had over 80 notebooks used for college, personal reflections, music and story writing. There were over 1357 notes. The new update limits the free version to ONE notebook with fifty notes at maximum.

I can't afford R$264.00 a year in a note software. I think they just converted the price from dollar to real, which is clearly not fair from a comprehensive perspective. (mercy on third world countries, lol)
I paid 1 year when i was offered a discount that presented me a fair price.

I just thought it would be useful to share this thought on this forum, to see if anyone relates to me.

[gazumped 12,076]

Thanks for a non-abusive comment!  None of us are happy with the price increase,  but (IMHO) this just saved Evernote rather than killing it.  There were literally millions of Free users who had between 5 and 5,000 notes on the system,  and Evernote was providing 24/7 bandwidth and storage to service everyone.  The much smaller number of paying subscribers were (I think) just about keeping things afloat,  but Evernote did not have a future if it still had to drag around this huge wedge of non-contributing users.

The new owners of the company have been in place for less than a year but have been very active in fixing some of the defects they found in the system.  They decided to concentrate on getting the infrastructure right and cutting costs - plus they increased the subscriptions which had not changed for 5-6 years.

Once the company is on a sound financial and technical footing I think we'll see cheaper products and a lot more innovation;  but for the moment this is something that Evernote must do to survive.  You still have access to your existing notes,  and there are other similar free apps out there - maybe look at Evernote again in a year or two if you feel inclined,  to see what's on offer. 

I'm pretty certain they'll still be here...

[Boot17 1,539]

On 12/12/2023 at 7:30 AM, Victor Brufatto said:

I think they just converted the price from dollar to real, which is clearly not fair from a comprehensive perspective.

R$264.00 is 53.47 USD. The Personal plan in the USA is 129 USD. i.e. it's not just a conversion from the dollar to real. So it seems like they are at least trying to make it a little more fair with regards to the global market with the regional pricing.

(Edit: Also -- lots of people in the USA think that $129 is way too much money for Evernote as evidenced in this and scores of other threads, so you aren't alone thinking R$264 is also a lot of money for your location.)

[delawaredave 55]

There's a lot of good alternatives - free or $40 (here in USA) or less.  Notetaking isn't "rocket science".   I test ported some notebooks over to Notion - seems easy and will work fine.

Under "new Free", you cannot transfer notes between notebooks - that's tough given your config.  I generally have one big notebook w 2500 notes and I can "recycle" old notes (delete info but keep note) to buy me some time.

Good luck !

[PinkElephant 8,839]

You can buy yourself time.

It‘s easy enough, they call it a „subscription“ …

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

On 12/15/2023 at 12:58 PM, delawaredave said:

Notetaking isn't "rocket science".

And, by the same token, rocket science (and a lot of other professional activities) are not "notetaking." To jot down this week's grocery list in a note you can reuse every week, or today's activities in a note you can reuse every day, the Free plan's 50 notes should be plenty. Or Notion, or OneNote, or sticky notes of some kind. To do anything very serious is worth paying for serious software and service.

[mackid1993 1,294]

For grocery lists and a couple of tasks for the day 50 notes should be plenty. From what I can tell I don't see any mention of a device limit and the Help & Learning article about it is gone. It seems like they aren't restricting the number of devices on the Free plan anymore which if that's the case is awesome. Perhaps someone with a free test account can check this.

For second brain knowledge management type features that should cost money. It's great that they adjust their pricing based on purchasing power around the world. The cost of living in the US is different than Brazil so $53 USD in Brazil seems reasonable when we are paying $129 here.

[gazumped 12,076]

Everyday is a learning day...  I logged into an old test account and immediately got image 1 - but there was a clear link to image 2 (where apparently they think I'm in Los Angeles,  but my VPN and Whois says London) and it was easy to dump one device (image 3) and get to my notes...  and hilarious that the marketing department builds a 25%.  then a 40% discount into the process automatically!  Bad news that there's still (apparently) a Device Limit - but no-one (also apparently) needs to pay $129.99 in their first year - it should be $77 & change!

1      2     3   

 

[Grant837 137]

We have to be objective. 

Evernote would likely not exist today if a risk investor had not taken up the debt of the business and continued with it.  They now need to recover that risk investment.  

The new prices, including for free, are part of that. 

There is no statement from Bending Spoons what new innovations they will provide (roadmap).  The AI features are Beta, and have mixed success.  The fixes so far have largely been due to Bending Spoons migrating to another data format for what ever reasons they deemed  necessary, but have not added to the core  feature set of  the product in the last year.  

Bending Spoons does have a rumored reputation of buying up products, and harvesting them for profit, and not for feature or user growth.  This may or may not be a consideration in the decision to take a subscription. 

The abrupt implementation  of the restrictions on free users is the one highlight that supports users most rational worries.  It raises the question about what long-term business would implement such an abrupt significant change in customer subscription base, if paid user growth was their core focus, instead of RoI based on reducing costs, and maximizing income from a captured (trapped) customer base?  

Thus, any user has to look at what they use today and the features today, and make a decision if this is enough for them to pay for a subscription for another year.  Similarly, they have to also worry about the availably of their full data set (notes, folder, and tags) at each moment. 

I have enough value right now, that I was OK to pay the full new price a while ago (and am not too irritated that later they offer discounts for the less certain).  On the other hand, I am going to establish a 2nd product back-up so any new short term restrictions (GDPR aside) on my data accessibility will not be at risk.  This is an additional effort and cost, that could lead me still leave Evernote.  

[gazumped 12,076]

<Sigh>

1. No one knows what Evernote's financial status is or was - they have never shared accounting detail.  They were initially funded to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars but probably getting to the end of their investors' patience with no clear way forward.
2. Evernote,  who's CEO is and was a fan,  decided he liked the product so much he bought the company - much like everyone dreams of from time to time.
3. Like any commercial operator with competitors,  Evernote have never provided a Roadmap and Bending Spoons have no reason to do so either.
4. Bending Spoons have improved the speed and reliability of the product,  added a BETA AI service,  improved the code base and increased prices - which had not changed for some years before that.
5. BS also dropped a completely free service that was being abused by some users
6. BS have acquired a reputation - supported by no evidence I've seen yet - of asset-stripping and price gouging.  I'd be interested to see actual proof.
7. Evernote customers are not "trapped" - if anyone needs detailed instruction on how to leave I'll be glad to supply them.  I will charge a large fee,  because all of it is available online - do your own research.
8. If you're not look at what subscription services you use and deciding whether or not they are worth the cost I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
9. Notes,  folder and tags are all available on backup - again,  pay me a huge fee or look it up.
10. If you're not prepared to put in the 'additionnal effort and cost' of protecting your own data,  then you probably shouldn't store it online.  Backups are essentail!

Please can we go back to talking about actual facts instead of shaky opinions soon?

[Marka2000 3]

I signed up two years ago and have been paying $69.99 per year. Now they want me to pay $129.99! That price increase is crazy. I suppose after a few years they think we won't switch but that kind of a leap in cost makes me question what the next price increase will be like, how many other people will quit, and if this is really a good place to store my data. Kind of sad about this as I like to support indy developers.

[Grant837 137]

@gazumped  I hope you where not replying to me... In my above your post,  I thought I was just stating the facts, most of which you just repeated in another way, and I was not complaining - I was only saying the facts and rumors people should take into account, and then decided if they want to say for leave.  I closed with my personal approach. 

[gazumped 12,076]

25 minutes ago, Grant837 said:

@gazumped  I hope you where not replying to me... In my above your post,  I thought I was just stating the facts, most of which you just repeated in another way, and I was not complaining - I was only saying the facts and rumors people should take into account, and then decided if they want to say for leave.  I closed with my personal approach. 

I was responding to your post - mainly to point out that you were making wholly unsupported speculations or were just flat wrong in every case - but hey,  that's just my opinion.  If I was in any way unclear that I disagree with you in every respect,  (except for the common-sense need to make sensible decisions about any expenditure,  and to always have a backup  and an escape plan) then I do apologise.

[Bill Myers 469]

23 hours ago, gazumped said:

Please can we go back to talking about actual facts instead of shaky opinions soon?

*Shakes magic eight-ball*

All signs point to NO

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:41 PM, Marka2000 said:

I signed up two years ago and have been paying $69.99 per year. Now they want me to pay $129.99! That price increase is crazy. I suppose after a few years they think we won't switch but that kind of a leap in cost makes me question what the next price increase will be like, how many other people will quit, and if this is really a good place to store my data. Kind of sad about this as I like to support indy developers.

The price had actually not increased for several years, so the new owners kind of bundled it all into one big jump. Not a great approach, IMHO; but in reality we were all paying too little for a few years. I'm pretending I've amortized it backward over that time.

[Paul A. 677]

On 12/17/2023 at 9:54 AM, gazumped said:

Evernote,  who's CEO is and was a fan,  decided he liked the product so much he bought the company - much like everyone dreams of from time to time.

Hmmm, questionable. Bending Spoons has raised money from investors who expect a high return on their investment. They purchased Evernote because they believe they can get a strong financial return, not because the BS CEO likes the product.

On 12/17/2023 at 9:54 AM, gazumped said:

Bending Spoons have improved the speed and reliability of the product,  added a BETA AI service,  improved the code base

First and third statement are also questionable. Evernote's reliability has gone down for me since the acquisition - I've lost data multiple times in the (rushed?) migration to RTE sync. 

On 12/17/2023 at 9:54 AM, gazumped said:

BS also dropped a completely free service that was being abused by some users

Where's the evidence it was being abused? Evernote likely had items in their TOS against abuse of the service (all online services have this), so they could have targeted any abusers individually. I'm a little disappointed with how quickly some people have started denigrating former free plan users as freeloaders, ingrates, and now "abusers." As far as I can tell (absent any evidence of real abuse), all the Free users were using the product exactly as it was designed to be used.

 

On 12/17/2023 at 9:54 AM, gazumped said:

BS have acquired a reputation - supported by no evidence I've seen yet - of asset-stripping and price gouging.  I'd be interested to see actual proof.

Clearly they are taking a page out of a popular (though often maligned) private equity playbook with their purchase of struggling or under-monetized assets and then improving their financial performance. Some private equity companies have developed a bad reputation for behaving like vultures (stripping all value from a company and leaving the rotting carcass), and some have been reasonably good stewards of their purchases. I personally think the jury is still out on Bending Spoons. 🤔 

More directly to your question, the below article has been influential in shaping some of the narrative around Bending Spoons. I share without comment on the merits of its arguments:

https://impassionedmoderate.substack.com/p/ryan-reynolds-didnt-pay-close-enough?utm_source=direct&r=1ix542&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

On 12/17/2023 at 9:54 AM, gazumped said:

Please can we go back to talking about actual facts instead of shaky opinions soon?

I don't know, can we? 🤪

[cchambliss 0]

I haven't been able to access my notes anywhere since the change. The price jump was too much and now they've got all my YEARS of notes trapped.

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

14 hours ago, cchambliss said:

I haven't been able to access my notes anywhere since the change. The price jump was too much and now they've got all my YEARS of notes trapped.

Welcome to the forums. Can you say a little more about what's going on? Even if you dropped back to the free plan and have >50 notes, you should still be able to access your existing notes, just not add new ones. Unless you switched to Free and have >2 devices connected. In that case, first log out on any devices you wish to disconnect (including an Evernote Web client), then go to https://www.evernote.com/Devices.action and revoke access to those devices (you can only disconnect 2 per month on Free). Alternatively, instead of disconnecting devices you can re-subscribe for 1 month and do the necessary management, then drop back to Free.

[s2sailor 2,456]

19 hours ago, cchambliss said:

now they've got all my YEARS of notes trapped.

As mentioned above, your notes aren’t trapped.  If you decide to export your notes and go elsewhere keep in mind that you can only export from a desktop app.  It is not enabled from the web or mobile device.

[nforgetter 2]

Every day I get annoying revoke messages from Evernote. constant upsell. I am done.

After 11 years with evernote.. i am moving on.
 

 

 

[gazumped 12,076]

56 minutes ago, nforgetter said:

Every day I get annoying revoke messages from Evernote. constant upsell. I am done.

After 11 years with evernote.. i am moving on.

Thank heavens.  Don't let the door hit you on the way out...

[Grant837 137]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:16 AM, gazumped said:

I was responding to your post - mainly to point out that you were making wholly unsupported speculations or were just flat wrong in every case - but hey,  that's just my opinion.  If I was in any way unclear that I disagree with you in every respect,  (except for the common-sense need to make sensible decisions about any expenditure,  and to always have a backup  and an escape plan) then I do apologise.

 

On 12/17/2023 at 6:54 PM, gazumped said:

<Sigh>

1. No one knows what Evernote's financial status is or was - they have never shared accounting detail.  They were initially funded to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars but probably getting to the end of their investors' patience with no clear way forward.
2. Evernote,  who's CEO is and was a fan,  decided he liked the product so much he bought the company - much like everyone dreams of from time to time.
3. Like any commercial operator with competitors,  Evernote have never provided a Roadmap and Bending Spoons have no reason to do so either.
4. Bending Spoons have improved the speed and reliability of the product,  added a BETA AI service,  improved the code base and increased prices - which had not changed for some years before that.
5. BS also dropped a completely free service that was being abused by some users
6. BS have acquired a reputation - supported by no evidence I've seen yet - of asset-stripping and price gouging.  I'd be interested to see actual proof.
7. Evernote customers are not "trapped" - if anyone needs detailed instruction on how to leave I'll be glad to supply them.  I will charge a large fee,  because all of it is available online - do your own research.
8. If you're not look at what subscription services you use and deciding whether or not they are worth the cost I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
9. Notes,  folder and tags are all available on backup - again,  pay me a huge fee or look it up.
10. If you're not prepared to put in the 'additionnal effort and cost' of protecting your own data,  then you probably shouldn't store it online.  Backups are essentail!

Please can we go back to talking about actual facts instead of shaky opinions soon?

 I would like to reply, as I feel I was mis-understood.  

• Bending Spoons assured Evernotes future.  Indeed not a fact, but I did not say it was. This is the general conscience of supports in this forum and Reddit, and you seem to generally agree.
• The new prices are part of the survival strategy:  Again, this is the general conscience of supports in this forum and Reddit, and you seem to generally agree.
• New features since BS took over.  Evernote has not provided a roadmap: Fact, and you agree.  The AI features are Beta: you agree.  The documented new feature, next to AI is real-time editing (so I stand corrected).  Other than that I can find no new features since BS purchase . I would be happy to be disproved.  I can document that the last 3 months of releases, since 10.62 have only been fixes and improvements to existing features.
• BS reputation for price gouging.  As I said, its only a rumor/opinion (see article link from Paul A. above) , and anyone making a decision to pay can consider this point. 
• The abrupt change to the free user accounts is, at least, a radical approach, and at worst reflects a business with a lack of user focus and possibly only maximum profit.  Future users might want to consider if this kind of approach to the user base might reflect their general approach to all users. 
• (Free) users being trapped. I actually said "captured (trapped?)".   Many users have a lot of value and work put into `1000s of notes,  embedded images, tagging, folders, and internal links that can not be easily (I have looked into it) exported and imported elsewhere.  Thus they are "trapped'  in an important sense. Also Evernote has features like the Webclipper, that are best in class so its punitive if they leave the product.  
• The 1 Notebook and 50 notes update.  It's a fact it was very abrupt in all ways.  Future paying customers need to decided for themselves if this is a concern in regard to how well BS will support them also in the future.

As I often said, these considerations, along with the features that exist today (and not hoped for features)  might help someone decide if they want to pay for Evernote in the future.

I closed saying my personal conclusion (which you can not disagree with😉 was I get enough value to pay, but remain cautious and will establish a safety net for my data if I should ever be cut off from/buy Evernote.

[gazumped 12,076]

1 hour ago, Grant837 said:

The documented new feature, next to AI is real-time editing (so I stand corrected).  Other than that I can find no new features since BS purchase . I would be happy to be disproved. 

Stand by to be happy...

I'll grant you this past year Evernote have concentrated on speed and reliability issues which have not been very visible to users,  though my experience is that things are generally much faster now than last year.  Also there has been mention of (at various times)

Real-Time Editing (released May 2023): Users and collaborators can edit the same note simultaneously, seeing changes appear instantly on everyone's devices. 
Improved Search (throughout 2023): Evernote has (allegedly) improved search accuracy and speed
Tasks (throughout 2023): Tasks now fully integrated to help streamline workflows and keep everything in one place.
New Web Clipper (released October 2023): It was revamped for smoother clipping and cleaner note creation including more capture options
Enhanced Table Editing (released December 2023): Easily resize columns and rows, drag and drop content, and apply formatting options for a more polished look.

EDIT:  Oh yeah - and they removed 7,000 lines (or was that 70,000?) of "unnecessary code" - gulp.

Not bad for BS's first eight months...

1 hour ago, Grant837 said:

The abrupt change to the free user accounts is, at least, a radical approach, and at worst reflects a business with a lack of user focus and possibly only maximum profit.

(My emphasis)  People were running businesses for 10 years based off Evernote's badly-judged initial marketing ploy to persuade new users to flip from free to a subscription service.  "It's too expensive"  is not an excuse because there were options that cost a few dollars a year - that the 'old' Evernote got rid off for lack of interest.  Evernote's focus is now on not overcharging subscribers for giving opportunists a free ride - which I think is good business!

1 hour ago, Grant837 said:

Thus they are "trapped'  in an important sense. Also Evernote has features like the Webclipper, that are best in class so its punitive if they leave the product. 

<Sigh> Use a desktop and there are several ways to export notebooks and notes.  Go to a competitor and they'll often offer a way to import from Evernote.  Leave notes with Evernote and -for the moment- they'll stay available for viewing and editing.  Personally I'd leave my notes there and just manually copy any history I needed across when I needed it.

- And really?  Offering a feature that is best in class is "punitive" for users leaving?  It's a fact of life that some products are better than others in different ways.  It's entirely up to the individual to make a choice as to whether the services offered by a provider are worth the amount they have to pay.  Since there are a lot of online options to 'save' webpages as screenshots or convert to PDFs (some of which I use when websites prove difficult for Clipper) I think I could live without it...

I plan on continuing with Evernote until they (or anyone else) show me some actual evidence of incompetence or overpricing - the rather strong opinions of (apparently) one individual -not you in this case - do not seem a reliable indicator.

 

I do respect your opinion and wouldn't want you to change it - but I'm always wary of "We're All Doomed" prognostications,  because users can get panicked into changing to another provider - any other provider - which I suspect is the aim of a percentage of the former users who post here.  They just want to cause Evernote some damage in 'revenge' for their own experiences.

Happy Holidays by the way - I'm sure there's a drink with my name on it somewhere around here...

 

 

[Grant837 137]

Hi, thanks for the reply.  I really think you are reading things into my text, based on your frustration with those complaining so much.   

I respect your points, largely because I think we agree.  🙂

[Kool 5]

Goodbye Evernote. Thank you for the good times. I am not paying $100/year just to store a few notes.  

[PinkElephant 8,839]

Nobody requires you to pay to store a few notes. „50“ in my dictionary is beyond „a few“.

[James Longley 90]

I'm all for ensuring the sustainability of the product and investing in its future but it grates my proverbial when I have to pay twice what I paid before and then there's constantly 40% and 50% discounts being advertised to new users. 

From a business perspective I get it but it feels like a slap in the face to existing users.

[gazumped 12,076]

40 minutes ago, James | Headquarters said:

there's constantly 40% and 50% discounts being advertised to new users.

Since I'm addressing HQ I'd like to note that I'm standing to attention as I type this..  but - you could try to change your account to Basic as of your next payment date and see what offers come up...

And yes this practice sucks - I could get a huge discount if I was a new customer to my current insurance company(ies) forinstance;  but 'new users' only is a standard term.  I suspect this level of offer is mainly because the 'free' option got severely reduced and some people might actually want to stay on.  It makes no sense to offer a deal which essentially means the whole company takes a 40% drop in revenue over the next year...

[PinkElephant 8,839]

Sometimes you get surprised: I hold my Internet and Mobile with Vodafone. They send me a message 1st of December that they give me 500GB mobile data on top over Christmas. They said enjoy the holidays without bothering about upload limits. Nice !

Now I sit here and tinker about moving my contract up a notch or 2, to get more mobile data … nice, and on top of it good marketing 🤣

[James Longley 90]

7 hours ago, gazumped said:

Since I'm addressing HQ I'd like to note that I'm standing to attention as I type this..  but - you could try to change your account to Basic as of your next payment date and see what offers come up...

And yes this practice sucks - I could get a huge discount if I was a new customer to my current insurance company(ies) forinstance;  but 'new users' only is a standard term.  I suspect this level of offer is mainly because the 'free' option got severely reduced and some people might actually want to stay on.  It makes no sense to offer a deal which essentially means the whole company takes a 40% drop in revenue over the next year...

I've managed to convince myself that having multiple calendars connected and having Boolean search (which, to be fair, I do use regularly) is worth the price of admission. Again, I'm willing to pay the higher price for what is essentially the place I spend most of my working day but having that reminder in front of me just after price hikes is a bit galling.

[Kool 5]

Has anyone bothered to read the reviews on the Apple appstore?

There are hundreds of recent negative reviews. People are pissed and are leaving Evernote.

Bending Spoons aquired Evernote and the price for basic functionality jumped from Free to $130/year. That is B.S.

The current "Free" offering is a joke and is really just to try out the software.

I just want a decent note taking application to store my recipes and personal notes. I love the Evernote webclipper and I use the PC software and the iPhone app.

I don't need 100,000 notes, 1000 notebooks or 10GB monthly uploads.

Why not offer a Basic tier at a fair low price of $1.99/month for customers that just want basic functionality?

[s2sailor 2,456]

For better or for worse they are now targeting Evernote as a premium app and not really intended for the casual user.

[PinkElephant 8,839]

@Kool Why do you guys post always the same stuff, instead of reading a bit first ?

As we write this, EN send emails to subscribers of the grandfathered "cheaper" subscriptions, telling them they need to upgrade to Personal, or to drop to Free. Free under the current conditions for a user with a stock of notes is sending them to another app - they can't add new notes when starting above 50.

It is pretty easy to conclude: A sustained Free use is not in the scope of the plans offered. There will be no cheaper subscriptions than Personal, maybe with a significant rebate for the first year, but only under some conditions.

The "Why" doesn't need to be answered, when this is already happening. There may be a time for reasoning, but not when an execution of decisions already taken is ongoing.

[Boot17 1,539]

Big changes make people upset. With Evernote we've got a bunch of them: v10 upgrade, legacy going away, ending grandfathered plans, huge price increases, strict freemium limitations, new ownership. It's kind of an abrupt, sharp course correction and gave many people whiplash.

A high, high majority of Evernote users are freemium and of course they aren't going to like these changes. What's there to like for them? They already weren't paying anything and now are basically being forced to pay or leave. If they are going to start paying, now they have to start paying double! Of course anyone affected would hate that!

So let them give 1 star and leave -- no way around it really.

 

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

15 hours ago, Boot17 said:

Big changes make people upset. With Evernote we've got a bunch of them: v10 upgrade, legacy going away, ending grandfathered plans, huge price increases, strict freemium limitations, new ownership. It's kind of an abrupt, sharp course correction and gave many people whiplash.

A high, high majority of Evernote users are freemium and of course they aren't going to like these changes. What's there to like for them? They already weren't paying anything and now are basically being forced to pay or leave. If they are going to start paying, now they have to start paying double! Of course anyone affected would hate that!

So let them give 1 star and leave -- no way around it really.

I have to agree. Reviews in the Apple app store or Google Play saying you can't seriously use Evernote for free anymore are exactly are exactly what BenSpoo wants: shedding costly high-use free accounts.

17 hours ago, Kool said:

Why not offer a Basic tier at a fair low price of $1.99/month for customers that just want basic functionality?

I do hope that eventually they'll offer something like this (though I doubt that $2/month will cover their costs!), once people get used to the idea that they won't get anything meaningful for nothing. But they'll have to craft the "basic functionality" carefully--it can't be so rich that Personal users drop back to this new basic level. Out of curiosity, @Kool, what would you expect for $2 (or maybe more realistically $4) per month?

[Kool 5]

I have been an Evernote member since 2013. I have 14 note stacks, 116 notebooks, and about 1000 notes.

I primarily use Evernote on my Windows PC. I use Evernote webclipper with Chrome. I sometimes use the iPhone app. I use the application to keep track of recipes and personal notes. Some of my Notebooks are titled Family, Financial, Health, Home, Recipes, School, Self. So, basically for personal use.

I don't care about:
Calendar Integration
Collaboration/Sharing
Project Management/Planning
Artificial Intelligence

I am thinking about transitioning to UpNote, unfortunately their webclipper is not as robust as the EN webclipper. The cost for UpNote is $0.99/month or $29.99/lifetime. Some features of UpNote are superior to Evernote. UpNote has a desktop client and an iPhone app.

In 2019, Evernote reported having about 250 million users, with about 10% being paid users. I don't know how many users Evernote has in 2024.

Due to the terrible way that Bending Spoons has handled the transition there are now millions of users jumping ship. There are numerous YouTube videos and articles discussing the mass exodus.

Having a situation where 90% of your customers are enjoying the product for free is not a sustainable business model. A large portion of those customers either have very few notes or will never pay. However, I would argue that there are a good percentage of customers would pay a fair price.

Let's say 50 million users are willing to pay $2/month for basic features. 50 million x $2/month = $100 million/month. That comes to $1.2 billion dollars of revenue a year.

In 2023, Bending Spoons hit $120 million in revenue according to GetLatka.com. So, it's not like Bending Spoons is a trillion dollar company like Apple. Why piss off a potential billion dollar revenue stream.

I can only hope that someone will communicate directly with Luca Ferrari that the current pricing model for Evernote is terrible for millions of customers and terrible for his company.

[gazumped 12,076]

14 minutes ago, Kool said:

Having a situation where 90% of your customers are enjoying the product for free is not a sustainable business model. A large portion of those customers either have very few notes or will never pay. However, I would argue that there are a good percentage of customers would pay a fair price.

I agree it's not sustainable. But these users had multiple offers at multiple price options dangled under their noses over the past 15 years.  Very few bothered to subscribe.  I have to disagree strongly that there was anything left to generate there.

Plus. Evernote was built on a bad foundation.  Bending Spoons have taken the time to fix the basics before trying to develop more.  Your only choices at the moment are:  stay or leave.  There won't be any new packages for a little while...

[Kool 5]

With all due respects @gazumped your argument is flawed.

The fact that customers opted out of paying in the past is because the "Free" service fulfilled their needs.

The current "Free" option is to trial the software.

Just out of curiousity, 

do you ( @gazumped  @Dave-in-Decatur  @PinkElephant  @s2sailor @Boot17)

 work for Bending Spoons or Evernote?

 report to anyone in the management at Bending Spoons or Evernote?

Edited January 15 by Kool
fixed names

[gazumped 12,076]

Hi again.  Can't answer for anyone else,  but for me the answer to your question would be 'no'.  I pay a subscription (Professional as it happens) just like lots of other folks.  I work for myself in Wales, UK.  How about you?  Do you receive any kind of benefit or remuneration from any Evernote competitor? 

[s2sailor 2,456]

I'm pretty sure the answer for all of us is no.  We are users, just like you.  The only employee I've seen here in a while is Federico.  You will see them identified as staff.

[Kool 5]

@gazumped I am just one of a million Evernote users angered by the recent changes. I have spent the last couple of days researching alternatives to Evernote. And have found in my limited research that there are some decent choices. Though I can't find one that has a webclipper as good as the Evernote webclipper.

I do not benefit or get any money or am associated with any Evernote competitor. 

I like Evernote, and I want Evernote and Bending Spoons to be successful. I am angry that the current pricing model has forced me to find an alternate solution. 

 

 

 

 

[s2sailor 2,456]

If it makes you feel any better, many of us feel there should be a lower entry point into Evernote.  I don't think anyone is happy about the price increase but we all have to go through an evaluation to decide whether it provides enough value for us at the new price.  I've done my homework as well, and at least for now v10 is where I will stay, but I will go through the analysis again next year before renewal.  There are numerous competitors out there and there may be one that works better for you at a more acceptable price point.

For free users I think they are still offering a 40% discount for the first year if that helps at all.  Good luck with your search.

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

1 hour ago, Kool said:

Just out of curiousity, 

do you ( @gazumped  @Dave-in-Decatur  @PinkElephant  @s2sailor @Boot17)

 work for Bending Spoons or Evernote?

 report to anyone in the management at Bending Spoons or Evernote?

Of  course not. This is frankly insulting and even hurtful. It is possible to have an opinion that differs from yours and still be an honest person. In case you were wondering.

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

1 hour ago, Kool said:

Let's say 50 million users are willing to pay $2/month for basic features. 50 million x $2/month = $100 million/month. That comes to $1.2 billion dollars of revenue a year.

I really would like you to lay out more clearly what you think of as "basic features" for $2/month. $1.2b/year would be great--unless it cost $1.5b to provide those features.

[PinkElephant 8,839]

The problem of a lower entry point is as always: It will make users from the higher tiers degrade their subscriptions, shedding some features in exchange for money.

All accounts carry a minimum cost, stripped down or not. So probably it takes 10 users of an "entry level" subscription to make up for 1 user of a regular subscription, in terms of profit.

Or in other words: If one single user moves downward from a regular account, you need to win 9 new budget users to make up for the loss. This business model will hardly pass the reality test.

[Kool 5]

@Dave-in-Decatur 

My question was not to insult. I was trying to ascertain whether I am chatting with fellow users or if someone is an employee.

In my opinion, a Basic tier could consist of something like the following:

1000 notes
100 notebooks
max 100MB monthly uploads
max note size 50MB
max total data used 5GB

no AI
no Calendar integration
limited sharing

Ideally a price point of $1.99/month

I'm currently using under 1GB total data with about 1000 notes. I have obtained this information by looking at the Evernote files located under the User/AppData/Roaming/Evernote directory. So, if my info is wrong please let me know.

Evernote utilizes the Google Cloud Platform to store user's data. Cloud Storage pricing is based on the following components: Data storage, Data processing and Network usage. According to Google the typical bill for 50GB is $1.19/month. Please refer to the following doc https://cloud.google.com/storage/pricing-examples, I may have read the document wrong.

So, I estimate the data cost for a user that has about 1000 notes and uses 5GB total data comes to about 12 cents per month.

I would guess that the cost for software development, support, marketing and management would dwarf the data costs. But, keep in mind that what I am requesting is already built into Evernote.

The specific details of a Basic plan that I have suggested don't really matter.

The point is that the current offerings are terrible.

[PinkElephant 8,839]

The current offerings are no issue if you make use of what you get.

If you are on a light profile, you will likely feel a distortion between price and perceived value. But then you are probably an accidental subscriber, one that is not in the scope of the pricing model but subscribed anyhow.

Any comparison with Google services is misleading - with Google you are the product, no matter which service you use. Every single service forces you to run a Google account on your devices, and this opens the floodgates to milk all of your digital life, to be distilled and sold to the highest bidder.

My theory is that EN will let go all light users to other services - and up to now this assumption is passing the reality check.

[Kool 5]

@PinkElephant You misunderstood what I wrote. I am not comparing Evernote to Google Services. Evernote uses the Google Cloud Platform to store their data.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/226885427-Google-Cloud-Platform-FAQ#:~:text=Your Evernote data is stored,region of the United States.

 

 

 

 

[s2sailor 2,456]

The problem with trying to define a minimum entry subscription is that everyone will have a different list.  There will be no consensus.  Regardless of what is defined most will comment that it would be perfect if just one more thing (that they want) is added.  Evernote tried this with the Plus plan in the past and then did away with it.  It doesn't seem like, at this point anyway, that Bending Spoons is inclined to try this again.  

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

@Kool, just very briefly, I don't know that we can calculate what Google charges Evernote for storage based on what it charges the general public. And of course what we pay Evernote for is not just storage, but various features, including working with notes on multiple platforms (where the notes and interface look about the same on all), OCR of attachments, search, etc., all of which will cost something to make happen. To price something like what you specify at less than 20% of what Evernote wants for a Personal account is more an expression of distaste for that price than of certainty about the right price, it seems to me. I do think there should be a lower priced, lower featured tier, once it's clear that no one's getting anything useful for free. But even if they do that (which not many experienced users here think they will), I doubt they're going to price it that low.

[Andrew Burnes 1]

On 12/22/2023 at 6:38 PM, gazumped said:

Thank heavens.  Don't let the door hit you on the way out...

Great business since there, bub.