Evernote vs Microsoft OneNote

Evernote

• People who save web pages, scans and documents and need to search across them
• Keeping notes, tasks and calendar events in a single app
• Teams that want shared notes with central administration and single sign-on

Microsoft OneNote

• People who already have a Microsoft account or a Microsoft 365 subscription
• Handwritten notes and sketches with a pen or stylus
• Teachers and students working in Class Notebooks
• Free note-taking across Windows, Mac, phones and the web

Evernote

• The Free plan is limited to 50 notes, 1 notebook and sync on a single device.
• Starter is capped at 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks, 5 GB of storage and 3 synced devices.
• There is no Linux app; the desktop apps are for Mac and Windows only.
• In-note encryption is offered only in the Mac and Windows apps, and AI Cleanup only on mobile.

Microsoft OneNote

• A free Microsoft account stops at 5 GB of cloud storage, shared with OneDrive files and Outlook.com attachments.
• Only the Windows desktop app can keep notebooks on a local hard drive; the other versions work with cloud notebooks.
• Microsoft 365 AI features are limited to the subscription owner, with usage limits, even on the Family plan.
• Microsoft lists apps for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android but none for Linux, where OneNote is browser-only.

Evernote

Web Clipper and document scanning

A browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Safari saves web pages into notes, and paper documents can be scanned in alongside them.

Advanced and semantic search

Search supports Boolean, geographic and filtered queries, and semantic search surfaces related notes based on their content.

Tasks and calendar

Tasks take due dates, reminders and assignees. Google and Microsoft calendars can be connected: 1 on the Free plan and 5 on paid plans.

AI Assistant

A chat assistant searches, organizes and enriches notes, with monthly and per-chat usage limits. AI Edit writes, summarizes, tidies and translates notes.

AI Transcribe

Records meetings and conversations, then produces a transcript and summary inside a note.

Collaboration and MCP

Shared notes support real-time editing, comments and task assignment. An MCP connector lets Claude, ChatGPT and other compatible AI tools use your notes.

Microsoft OneNote

Typed, handwritten and scanned notes

Pages hold typed text, digital ink from a pen or stylus, pictures and videos. The mobile app also scans documents and extracts their text.

Voice transcription and dictation

Voice transcription captures spoken notes for later review, and the iPhone and iPad app takes dictation in 27 languages, some of them in preview.

Copilot in OneNote

Copilot responds to prompts to draft plans, generate ideas, create lists and organize information. Microsoft 365 plans include the desktop apps with Copilot, subject to usage limits.

Sharing and collaboration

Notebooks are cloud-connected, so they can be shared with other people and opened on a PC, a Mac, a phone, a tablet or in a browser.

Web Clipper

A free browser add-on for Edge and Chrome captures web content into a notebook, where it can be edited, annotated and shared.

Class and Staff Notebooks

Class Notebook gives each student a personal workspace, a content library for handouts and a collaboration space. Staff Notebook does the same for school teams.

Evernote

• Free$0

  50 notes, 1 notebook, 1 GB of storage and sync on 1 device.

• Starter$99

  per year ($14.99 if billed monthly)

  1,000 notes, 20 notebooks, 10 spaces, 5 GB of storage, 5 external calendars and sync across 3 devices.

• Advanced$249.99

  per year ($24.99 if billed monthly)

  Unlimited notes, notebooks, spaces, storage and synced devices, subject to safeguard limits against abuse.

• Enterprise (Flexible, Unlimited)Custom

  Team plans with centralized account administration, user activity logs and single sign-on. Pricing is by quote.

Microsoft OneNote

• OneNote$0

  The standalone app on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, used with a free Microsoft account and its 5 GB of cloud storage.

• Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99

  per month, or $99.99 per year

  For 1 person: 1 TB of cloud storage and the OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps with Copilot, on up to 5 devices at once.

• Microsoft 365 Family$12.99

  per month, or $129.99 per year

  For 1 to 6 people, with 1 TB of storage per person (up to 6 TB). AI features are for the subscription owner only.

• Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99

  per month, or $199.99 per year

  Everything in Family, plus extensive Copilot chat usage, agentic AI features for research and analytics, and more AI image creation.

Evernote

• Education

  40% off Evernote Advanced for students

  Eligible college students who are not already paying subscribers get 40% off a one-year Evernote Advanced subscription, with student status verified through UNiDAYS.

Microsoft OneNote

• Annual discount

  About 17% lower cost with yearly billing

  Microsoft 365 Personal is $99.99 per year against $9.99 per month ($119.88 over twelve months). Family and Premium show the same gap between yearly and monthly prices.

• Education

  Free Office 365 Education for students and educators

  Microsoft's education site says students and educators with a valid school email address are eligible for Office 365 Education, which includes OneNote, at no cost.