PrivacyNotes
Zero-knowledge notes, tasks, files, passwords and journal secured by a single 12-word recovery phrase, with no email or password required. The crypto core and database schema are published for audit. No subscription model.
Best Evernote Alternatives in 2026
10 private alternatives, vetted against our public criteria.
Your notes are a running record of what you think, plan, and half-remember, and Evernote keeps all of it readable on its servers. The notebooks below encrypt your notes on your device first, so your second brain stays yours.
Standard Notes
Free accounts come with a good set of features already, even in the long run if you are fine with plain text notes.
Notesnook
Developers decided recently to open-source their application. Comes with a generous free version, rich text editor and import functionality from: Files (txt, html, and .md…
Joplin
Synchronize notes across devices, publish and collaboration are for paid subscriptions only.
Anytype
A local-first, end-to-end encrypted knowledge base and note-taking app with peer-to-peer sync, built as a privacy-respecting alternative to Notion.
Cryptee
Free accounts come with 100MB storage. Your documents are encrypted before they leave your device, so Cryptee can't see your documents. Use the code "privacytools" at the…
Turtl
Free accounts come with storage of up to 50MB of note data and collaborate with 3 people each space.
Logseq
Not encrypted , but the server will never store or analyze your private notes. Your data are plain text files.
Memos
A lightweight self-hosted memo and note-taking app with a timeline-style interface, built on Go and SQLite, released under the MIT license.
Org-mode
A GNU Emacs major mode for keeping notes, managing to-do lists, planning projects, and authoring documents in plain text. Files are stored locally on Windows, Mac, and Linux; no account or cloud dependency required.
Why settings won’t fix Evernote. Sync, server-side search, and web access all depend on Evernote being able to read your notes. There is no privacy switch for that, because the readable copy on the server is how the product works. Real privacy means notes that are encrypted before they ever leave your device.
What actually matters in a notes app. End-to-end encryption, an open-source client you or others can audit, reliable cross-device sync, offline access, and export to an open format like Markdown so you are never trapped. The best options keep search and organisation fast even though the server can no longer read a word.
How to switch. Export your Evernote content as ENEX or HTML, import it into the new app, then spot-check a few heavy notes for attachments and formatting before you trust the move. Keep Evernote in read-only mode for a few weeks as a safety net, and rebuild any notebooks that relied on Evernote-only features by hand.
Frequently asked
- Can I bring my Evernote notebooks across?
- Yes. Export your notebooks as ENEX or HTML, which most of these apps import. Check that attachments and images came over, since those are the parts that occasionally need a second pass.
- Is my sync actually private?
- On an end-to-end encrypted notebook, your notes are encrypted on your device before they sync, so the provider stores text it cannot read. That is the difference from Evernote, where notes sit readable on the server.
- Will I lose web clipping and search?
- Search stays, and it runs locally on your own device. Web clipping varies by app, but most offer a clipper or a share-sheet shortcut. The trade-off for encryption is that search and clipping happen on your machine, not in the cloud.