The Enshittification of Evernote is Complete

More like EverNOT

There is so much enshittification going on these days, we are wallowing in it. Everywhere you look, platforms and things we once loved have the unmistakable taint of being enshittified. We might as well be donning scuba gear as we sift through the septic tank of the tech world. It brings me no joy to say Evernote, something I’ve used since 2016, has been utterly enshittified beyond repair. Others have been using Evernote even longer, and yet I’ve seen post after post saying they are done. People who once praised the mighty note-taking app are swearing to never give another dollar to that digital-brained green elephant and scrambling to find somewhere else.

Evernote has had its fair share of issues over the years. Who can forget the great walkout of 2018 that saw most of the higher-ups depart? They tried selling physical products and that flopped hard. They were acquired by an Italian developer who laid off a ton of people in February, then it happened again in July. And we simply have to mention the scare over its privacy policy in 2016 when it sure sounded like its employees would be able to read our private notes. Fun times to be sure.

On top of all that, there are years of scaling back free and mid-tier features, price increases, and excessive bloat and shoddy software. As an Evernote user, you became used to the routine of being on limited devices, notes not syncing up, and so, so many duplicate notes. The less said about the flaming garbage heap that is the desktop app, the better. This was supposed to be your digital brain, leaving nothing not captured for posterity. Every to-do, every spreadsheet, every password, every single intrusive thought that crossed your mind. Now imagine entrusting this wonky, bug-ridden homunculus with some super-important information. Could you imagine trying to bang out a novel or any other intensive writing project on Evernote? Hell fucking no.

I’ll admit, I’m not a power user. It used to be good for a to-do list, saving receipts, and clipping things from the internet. I wouldn’t even recommend it for that anymore. The list of features it has that you don’t want has grown by leaps and bounds while things you actually use shrink and disappear. Being able to nest as many notebooks as you want continues to elude Evernote. You know, that thing you’ve been able to do with folders on your computer for decades. The whole point is all your shit is supposed to be organized, or am I missing something? Good luck finding anything, too. Tags are useless.

The feeling of enshittification is palpable. Imagine having a user base that would champion your product, tell everyone they know how great it is, and then make decision after decision that makes them leave in droves. Evernote has routinely failed to keep up with the competition, and there’s no shortage of alternatives out on the market that easily beat anything Evernote offers, paid or free. Capturing a quick note or making a to-do list is about the easiest thing possible, assuming you’re not using Evernote.

I’ve paid for a subscription ever since I tried out Evernote in 2016. Its plus-tier option always seemed perfect for me. Enough space for everything, and I could record my audio logs about how my day sucked with ease. Then, their tiers became more expensive and restrictive. I would have gone to a free account a long time ago had I and other plus users not been grandfathered in, otherwise we would have suffered that particular price hike. Well, guess what? Fuck all of us grandpa plus accounts, and every other user for that matter, because there’s no avoiding this shit sandwich of a money squeeze.

You probably forgot about your subscription until you saw the Evernote email in your inbox informing you of the price increase. I was on the fence last year about it, but I decided what the hell, maybe it would still make my 2023 more organized. It did not. After scanning the email, your eyes linger on the price. It would be one thing to raise the price a bit. It’s annoying, but a lot of people could justify it as it’s a pain to migrate. But this, whoo-boy this was a ball-buster of a price increase.

Even less usability for the free plan. A limit of 50 notes in total, so get ready to use it as a glorified to-do list and nothing else. Gone is the plus plan, which was a nice little middle ground. Want more features than free? Pony up $130 a year, more if you’re using Professional (but, why in God’s name would you?). The fun thing about old Evernote, besides the fact that it didn’t suck, wasn’t overpriced and worked correctly, was that it felt like there was a plan that worked for everybody. If you didn’t need all the extra doohickeys and features, that was fine. Not anymore.

If you’re an Evernote user and were waiting for them to do something so egregious that it would force your hand, this is that moment. It’s time to pack your digital bags, take the digital kids, and find somewhere else. Hell, at this point the best option is just keeping all your stuff backed up on a CD or a thumb drive like the old days. Another old hand at enshittification is shutting down their drive storage, so hopefully you caught that in time to move your documents where they’re safe. We’ll talk about that little company soon enough.

I have notes scattered all over the place. Movies I want to watch, stories I want to write, things I need to do (and knowing damn well I’ll never get around to them), and maybe some far-off day I’ll organize them all and have the uber digital brain I’ve always dreamed of. Maybe Evernote just goes to show you can’t really do it all in one app, no matter what some billionaire peabrain might think otherwise. At the very least, I know they’ve lost a lot of formerly loyal customers. If I felt it was priced fairly, that would be one thing. But Evernote is asking for three times what I was paying for it. Bye Evernote, good luck suckering in somebody to pay your exorbitant prices for software well past its expiration date.