Evernote is a note-taking app that started in the US. Since January 2023 it has belonged to Bending Spoons of Milan, which now provides the service and is the data controller. The same list works if you're replacing Google Keep and Microsoft OneNote. The European alternatives that replace it best are Joplin (France) for Evernote users who want open source and control, Standard Notes (Switzerland) for people who want private notes on every device and Anytype (Switzerland) for privacy-minded people who want Notion-style pages offline.
European alternatives
12
From 7 countries
Keep data in Europe
1
By default, no setting needed
With a free plan
11
No time limit
Open source
3
Can run on your own servers
Evernote alternatives from Europe, compared
Best first for someone replacing Evernote. Headcount and founding year come from LeadWave's database; prices, hosting and G2 ratings from each company's own pages and G2, checked in November 2026.
Open-source notes with optional end-to-end encryption
Open-source Markdown note app for desktop and mobile with optional end-to-end encryption. Syncs through paid Joplin Cloud or your own Nextcloud, WebDAV or Joplin Server.
Compared with Evernote: Open source, with optional end-to-end encryption. Sync runs through Joplin Cloud or your own Nextcloud or WebDAV, which takes some setup.
Imports Evernote notebooks with notes, tags and attachments.
Headquarters
Saint-Brieuc, France
Employees
19
Your data
Self-hosted
Price
From €2.99/account/month
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Evernote users who want open source and control
2. Standard Notes
End-to-end encrypted notes, now part of Proton
Open-source note app with end-to-end encryption and a free plan with unlimited notes. Proton, based in Geneva, took it over in 2024 and runs it as a separate product.
Compared with Evernote: End-to-end encrypted notes, owned by Proton since 2024. The free plan has unlimited notes, where Evernote's stops at 50.
Local-first, encrypted workspace for notes and data
Notes, pages and databases stored on your devices first and synced with end-to-end encryption. Sync nodes can be self-hosted. Made by Any, a Swiss association; the code is source-available.
Compared with Evernote: Local-first and end-to-end encrypted, organising notes as linked objects rather than notebooks.
Documents an import from Evernote.
Headquarters
Switzerland
Founded
2018
Employees
185
Your data
Self-hosted
Price
From $4/account/month
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Privacy-minded people who want Notion-style pages offline
4. Bear
Markdown notes for iPhone, iPad and Mac
Markdown note app for Apple devices from Shiny Frog, a company founded in Parma. Free to use; the Pro plan adds sync through the user's iCloud and note encryption.
Compared with Evernote: Markdown notes for iPhone, iPad and Mac, synced through iCloud. Not available on Windows or Android, unlike Evernote.
Headquarters
Italy
Founded
2015
Employees
1
Your data
Not stated
Price
Free
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Apple users who want a clean writing app
5. Craft
Notes and documents with a polished page layout
Writing app for notes and shareable documents on Apple devices, Windows, Android and the web, with team spaces. Built by a Budapest team; the UK company Craft Docs Ltd is the legal parent.
Compared with Evernote: Polished documents and notes with a free plan, from a Budapest team. Focused on writing rather than clipping and storing everything.
Note app that sorts notes into object types such as people, books and meetings, linked together. Aimed at individuals; the Basic plan is free.
Compared with Evernote: Notes organised by object type and links instead of notebooks, with a free Basic plan. Built by a small team in Freiburg.
Headquarters
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Founded
2022
Employees
6
Your data
Not stated
Price
From $9.99/account/month
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Individuals building a linked personal knowledge base
7. Agenda
Date-based notes for Mac, iPhone and iPad
Note app for Apple devices that ties notes to dates and calendar events, made by Momenta B.V. Free with no time limit; Premium unlocks extra features. Syncs through iCloud or Dropbox.
Compared with Evernote: Date-based notes for Mac, iPhone and iPad, free with paid Premium features. Apple devices only.
Headquarters
Aalsmeer, Netherlands
Your data
Not stated
Price
Free
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Apple users who plan projects by date
8. Supernotes
Card-based notes you can nest and link
Note app built on short cards that can be linked, nested and shared with others. The core features are free; a paid plan removes limits.
Compared with Evernote: Short note cards you link and nest, instead of long pages in notebooks. Core features are free.
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Founded
2018
Employees
4
Your data
Not stated
Price
Free
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Students and writers who think in small notes
9. Zenkit
Project boards plus Hypernotes wiki, hosted in Germany
Suite of work tools from Axonic GmbH, including project databases and Hypernotes for wikis and notes. Content is stored only in Germany.
Compared with Evernote: Hypernotes for notes and wikis, with content stored in Germany. Priced per seat for teams rather than for one person.
Open-source office tools (rich text, sheets, kanban, forms) with end-to-end encryption, used in the browser. Free on public instances; paid storage on cryptpad.fr or a dedicated instance.
Compared with Evernote: Encrypted rich-text documents in the browser, open source and free on public instances. Browser only, with no native apps.
Headquarters
Paris, France
Owned by
XWiki SAS (France)
Your data
Self-hosted
Price
From €5/account/month
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Groups drafting sensitive documents together
11. Nuclino
Lightweight wiki and docs for small teams
Team wiki with linked pages, boards and canvases, made by a small company near Munich. A free plan covers up to 50 items.
Compared with Evernote: Team wiki with a free plan. Better for shared knowledge than for capturing personal notes.
Workspace that combines pages, tasks and an AI assistant, with links to Google Drive and other apps. Free for up to three members per workspace.
Compared with Evernote: AI workspace for notes and tasks, free for up to three members and billed per member after that.
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Founded
2021
Employees
21
Your data
Not stated
Price
From $6/user/month, billed yearly
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Small teams wanting a Notion-like workspace
Why look for a European alternative to Evernote?
Evernote is headquartered in Milan, Italy and owned by Bending Spoons (Italy). These are the reasons buyers in Europe most often give for looking elsewhere:
The free plan is limited to 50 notes and one notebook.
There is no open-source or self-hosted version.
How this list was made
A company counts as European if it's headquartered in Europe: the EU, the EEA, Switzerland, the UK, or elsewhere in geographic Europe, never Russia or Belarus. Headquarters means where it's run from, not a registered office. Companies founded in Europe but headquartered elsewhere today are listed separately, and a non-European owner is always named.
Each company was checked against its own legal notice, pricing page and data-processing terms, and its G2 page. Headcount, funding and founding year come from LeadWave's database of SaaS companies. No company paid to be listed or ranked.
It depends on what you use Evernote for. Joplin (France) for Evernote users who want open source and control, Standard Notes (Switzerland) for people who want private notes on every device and Anytype (Switzerland) for privacy-minded people who want Notion-style pages offline. All 12 on this page are headquartered in Europe; the table compares their hosting, prices and G2 ratings.
Joplin, Standard Notes, Anytype, Bear, Craft, Capacities, Agenda, Supernotes, CryptPad, Nuclino and Saga have a free plan with no time limit.
Zenkit stores customer data in Europe by default.
Yes: Joplin, Standard Notes and CryptPad. Open-source tools can also be self-hosted on your own servers in Europe.
Joplin and Anytype document an import from Evernote; the details are under each one below.
By ownership, yes. Bending Spoons of Milan bought Evernote in January 2023, and Evernote's privacy policy names Bending Spoons S.p.A. as data controller. Evernote's contact page also lists a US office of Bending Spoons in New York.
Common reasons are the limits of Evernote's free plan (50 notes, one notebook) and the wish for open source, self-hosting or end-to-end encryption, which Joplin, Standard Notes and Anytype offer.
For quick notes, Standard Notes and Joplin work on all major platforms. Apple users can look at Bear or Agenda, and teams at Nuclino.
