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.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
Best Evernote Alternatives in 2026
10 private alternatives, vetted against our public criteria.
Your notes are a running record of what you think and half-remember, and Evernote keeps all of it readable on its servers so sync and the web app can work. There is no privacy switch for a design built on the company being able to open your notebook. The apps 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.
Joplin
Synchronize notes across devices, publish and collaboration are for paid subscriptions only.
Turtl
Free accounts come with storage of up to 50MB of note data and collaborate with 3 people each space.
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. Evernote’s core features depend on the company being able to read your notes. Both server-side search and the web app rely on storing a readable copy on Evernote’s servers, so any setting that truly hid your notes from Evernote would break the product itself. That is not a privacy toggle waiting to be flipped. It is the architecture. As long as the readable copy lives on someone else’s machine, you are trusting that company and anyone who ever breaches it to leave your notes alone. Real privacy here is not a configuration change. It is moving to an app that encrypts every note on your device before it leaves, so the server only ever holds text it cannot open.
What actually matters in a notes app. Start with end-to-end encryption, where notes are sealed on your device and the provider stores nothing it can read. Pair that with an open-source client you or others can audit, so the encryption is verifiable rather than a claim. Then look for the things that make a notebook livable: reliable cross-device sync that also works offline, plus export to an open format like Markdown so you are never trapped again. Standard Notes is the straightforward encrypted-by-default choice and a clean landing spot for most Evernote refugees. Joplin is the power-user pick, open source with Markdown notes and sync you control. Notesnook sits between them, encrypted and friendly with a capable free tier. The best of them keep search and organisation fast even though the server can no longer read a single word.
How to switch. Export your Evernote content as ENEX or HTML, import it into your new app, then spot-check a few of your heaviest notes for attachments and formatting before you trust the move. Keep Evernote in read-only mode for a few weeks as a safety net rather than deleting it on day one. Rebuild any notebooks that leaned on Evernote-only features by hand, since those rarely survive an export. If Evernote was only one piece of a wider cleanup, Notion is the other big notes app worth replacing on the same principle. Give the new app a couple of weeks of real use and the muscle memory follows, because the habit is the only meaningful adjustment.
Frequently asked
- Can I bring my Evernote notebooks across?
- Yes. Export your notebooks as ENEX or HTML and most of these apps import that format. Check that attachments and inline images came over, since those are the parts that occasionally need a second pass after the text lands cleanly.
- Is my sync actually private once I switch?
- On an end-to-end encrypted notebook, your notes are encrypted on your device before they ever sync, so the provider stores text it cannot read. That is the difference from Evernote, where your notes sit readable on the company's servers and staff or an attacker could in principle open them.
- Will I lose search and web clipping?
- Search stays, and on an encrypted notebook it runs locally on your own device instead of in the cloud. Web clipping varies by app, but most offer a clipper extension or a share-sheet shortcut. The trade for encryption is that this work happens on your machine rather than on a server that can read along.
- What happens if I forget my password?
- Often you cannot recover the notes, and that is the point. True end-to-end encryption means the provider holds no key to reset for you, so the password or recovery phrase is the only way in. Back that secret up somewhere safe and treat it like the key to a vault, because losing it usually means losing the notebook.
- Is a local-first notebook better than a synced encrypted one?
- It removes the server from the trust equation entirely, since the notes live on your own machine and you arrange any sync yourself. That is the strongest setup for confidentiality, but it puts backups and device security on you. A managed encrypted service is easier day to day and still keeps the provider from reading your notes, so the right choice depends on how much you want to run yourself.