Evernote used to be the default answer to "what notes app should I use." It's still capable — web clipping, powerful search, PDF annotation, sync across everything. What's changed is the price. In 2025, Evernote discontinued its old Personal and Professional plans and replaced them with Starter ($99/year) and Advanced ($249.99/year) — and the free tier now caps out at 50 notes and a single device.
The plan with real features costs almost $250 a year now.
WIP Notes takes the opposite bet: no cloud service to fund, so no recurring fee to fund it. $27 once, and the app is yours — no renewal notice, no plan restructuring, no downgrade if you stop paying.
| WIP Notes | Evernote | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $27 once, perpetual, 5 Macs | Free · Starter $99/yr · Advanced $249.99/yr |
| 10-year cost | $27 | ~$990–$2,500 (Starter–Advanced) |
| Free tier | 30-day full trial | 50 notes, 1 notebook, 1 device |
| Storage | Local SQLite on your Mac | Cloud, synced by default |
| Account required | No | Yes, for any sync |
| Network activity | Zero requests — verifiable | Continuous sync |
| Web clipper | No | Yes |
| OCR / search inside images & PDFs | No | Yes |
| Organization | Note Pads, groups, color labels | Notebooks, stacks, tags |
| AI integration | Built-in local MCP server — Claude reads notes without upload | Evernote AI (cloud-based) |
| Platform | macOS 14+ only | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, web |
Evernote pricing changes — check evernote.com for current rates before you decide.
Migrating is real work, and that's fair. If Evernote's price is the only thing bothering you and everything else still works, that's worth weighing honestly against a move. If the price is one of several frustrations, WIP Notes is worth trying during Evernote's next renewal window instead of paying it again on autopilot.
In 2025, Evernote discontinued its Personal and Professional plans and replaced them with Starter ($99/year, capped at 1,000 notes and 20 notebooks) and Advanced ($249.99/year, unlimited notes plus AI tools). The free tier caps out at 50 notes, 1 notebook, and 1 device. Check evernote.com for current pricing before you decide — plans and prices change.
Export your Evernote notebooks (Evernote supports .enex export), convert to markdown, and import into a WIP Notes Note Pad. There's no one-click Evernote importer today.
No. Evernote's web clipper and image/PDF text search are real advantages for research-heavy, clip-everything workflows. WIP Notes is narrower by design — a workspace for the notes you're actively writing, not an everything-bucket for the web.
Evernote runs cloud sync, search infrastructure, mobile apps, and — as of its 2025 plan restructuring — AI features across every platform. That costs money to operate, and full-featured pricing has climbed to $249.99/year on the Advanced plan. WIP Notes has no server to run, which is exactly why it can be a flat one-time fee instead.