In Evernote vs Joplin, one with premium features and another with all free policy… As the apps industry spikes with new apps it’s important to look at the benefits of each in-app purchase.

Open Source Note

  1. Joplin is pretty much like the power user note-taking application. While on the surface it’s as easy to use as Evernote, providing nearly all the same features or even more, it requires the user to.
  2. Joplin is ranked 6th while Evernote is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose Joplin is: Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.

Dec 14, 2017 Joplin was designed as a replacement for Evernote, so it can import complete Evernote notebooks, as well as notes, tags, resources (attached files), and note metadata (such as author, geolocation, etc.) via ENEX files. To import Evernote data, first export your Evernote notebooks to ENEX files.

What is a note-taking app?

Before we begin, let’s understand what’s digital note-taking is all about and why should we use it. And after that Evernote vs Joplin: Which one is better!

Does it happen to you, some idea pops into your head and you find nothing in front of you to capture it? Don’t worry! We at shutter apps came up with this article, which is all about excelling at note-making and similar stuff. So that you can be better organized and value your think-tank!

Back in time, people used to write on slates, on leaves, or whatever they could get. Then came the era of paper. And with paper, notebooks, (albeit at the expense of forests). Now finally, humanity is going to achieve something really crazy.. yes! It’s about making digital notes.

In a nutshell, this means making notes on your Laptop, organizing them neatly, saving them on your email-id, and finding them on your smartphone or tab for ease of access.

That’s how digital note-making is reshaping our ritual of keeping notes. Below are the key points that’ll make you fall in love with digital notes in an instant.

Evernote and Joplin: Why Digital Notes

  • Eco friendly: It’s eco-friendly, meaning no trees got cut to provide you with world-class quality paper.
  • Lifetime usability: You can save those precious notes for a lifetime. So that, when you ever need them, you won’t be the one regretting that you burn them (let’s be honest, we all know what happens to them on a festive occasion).
  • Audios, videos, images, you name it: Yep, making notes on your device also means you can add pictures, audio, clips, and even videos. Want more? Pdfs, text documents, ppts can also be attached.
  • Single space is all you need: It also offers you to make and organize your notes in a single space, which is revolutionary in itself. The traditional note-making activity involves writing your notes, clipping suitable images to them, eventually purging them, adding new ideas to your notes, re-clipping images, and finally, organizing them (that too in a way so they’re easily accessible to you or your colleagues), the whole shabang! With digital notes, you can do all that stuff without ever having to worry about running out of space.
  • Sync and secure notes: Many good digital note-making apps like Evernote allow you to sync your documents on your email-id. So you don’t have to worry about taking those good old notebooks with you all the time. Access your notes when you want them, where you want them. If you want, you can also share your ideas with your friends and colleagues.

These points can easily seduce one to switch from traditional notes to digital ones. Now let’s dig deep into the two most famous note-making apps and see which one you’re going to use.

Evernote App

As described above, Evernote is a digital note-taking app. It has gained popularity over the years and is now dominating the industry.

It was probably the first of its kind in a real sense since Microsoft notepad never really got popular. It’s proprietary software, with monthly charges usually around 2-10 USD.

This is why it might not be the best option for those whose usability for such apps is restricted to gathering relevant news information and making schools and college notes.

With Evernote, you can write down and save ideas whenever inspiration strikes. Also, you can search for intended information faster. Furthermore, you can share your notes with friends, family, and classmates.

As this app puts all those notes in one place, you can save your all class notes organized and in one place. Moreover, write and rewrite your notes. Place only the best of the best ideas on your notes.

Also, you have inbuilt options to scan your documents inside the app. But the most important feature of Evernote I’d say is its inbuilt search engine to find relevant photos and videos for your notes.

Replacement

This limits your burden of finding them on google and browsing them from inside the app. That, I’d say is one of the two reasons to spend your money on it.

Another reason is that paid users have the freedom to back-up their notes on dedicated Evernote servers so that if something happens you can freely retain them.

Evernote JoplinEvernote

“Use Evernote because the place you set everything … Don’t ask yourself which device it’s on—it’s in Evernote”

The NY TimesEvernote joplin missouri

“When it involves taking all manner of notes and getting work done, Evernote is an important tool.”

PC Mag

Its usage span from gathering college/school notes to converting your best business ideas into reality. This app is really amazing! However, it does have few drawbacks.

Joplin Vs Evernote

For a long time, Evernote serves as a wonderful and easy-to-use note-taking app, But, besides this all success and fame the worth asking question is ….”Is it still worth paying for it?”. From the origin of technology “freeware” has always been a preferred choice among common users. And thus Evernote’s high price makes potential users make thinking “if it’s worth it or not?”.

For dedicated users and big business associates, who need more security and feasibility, this good-old green elephant works like a charm. But it’s probably not the best bet for those not in the above categories.

Simply put, spending 2-10 dollars a month just for making college notes is not the best bid when you can do the same with similar but free software. This is why we at shutter apps decided to let you have acquaintance with a similar but free app.

Joplin App

This app was designed to replace Evernote. It’s a free, open-source note-taking, and to-do software, capable of handling a large number of notes organized into notebooks in one space. It comes under many different flavors, be it GUI (Graphical User Interface) or CLI (Command Line Interface), if you’re a terminal geek.

This app proudly boasts itself as the only app to officially support every major platform, including Windows, Mac, Linux (and in Linux, arch, Debian, fedora, free-BSD, you name it)! This was really remarkable since, even though Evernote, also covers much of these platforms, you can clearly see the difference between the Windows Evernote application and its Linux counterpart.

Not just that, you can also import your previous Evernote notes via “.enex” files. With Joplin, you have the freedom to choose where you want to save your notes.

Evernote Joplin Mo

You can synchronize them with various cloud hosting services like Nextcloud, Dropbox (my favorite), OneDrive, or simply the file system (in a network directory).

It does so by using API (application programming interface) requests with these hosting platforms. Meaning, before you sync your notes, you’ve to have an account in one of these hosting services.

Joplin for CLI

As mentioned above, if you’re a CLI guy, this app is just for you. Joplin supports terminal application (though only in Free-BSD). With few tweaks, you’ll be able to use it in the terminal (check out over here).

And even though the app does not have any fancy search engine like Evernote, it does provide you with a browser extension, aka “Joplin Web Clipper”, by which you can save screenshots and URLs directly in your notebook.

All you need to do is open the Joplin desktop application, go to settings, search for Web Clipper, allow access, and add the extension on your browser.

Evernote vs Joplin – Review

In all fairness, this app is not just at the par with Evernote, it is better! It does work exactly like Evernote, and at the same time, much more.

Excellent mobile companion to desktop Joplin. I wish I could filter tags while adding (I use too many tags to scroll). Start much faster than Evernote V10. Reliable and fully featured as a desktop app.

Pan Talon13 – A play store user

Perhaps, it is the first of its kind app that is free and works better than its proprietary counterpart! I’d recommend anyone to switch to Joplin and save those few bucks you’d waste on Evernote.

A great cross-platform solution for quick notes, reminders, and other multi-purpose notes. I ended up using it as a replacement for Apple Notes, mostly for quick note-taking and reminders.

Joplin Evernote インポート

Phuoc Do28 – a play store user

All but business workers, who need dedicated support and a secured place to put their notes. Also, one thing Evernote does better is its backup facility.

You don’t need to worry about your notes, since they get managed in Evernote’s own dedicated servers.

So this was all about Evernote and Joplin, the two most preferred note-taking application. If you’ve any question, feel free to ask us down in the comment section. Also tell us about your own experiences.