Evernote vs Todoist
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Evernote is free tier available, Todoist is from $4/mo.
- How to start: Evernote is free tier available, Todoist is from $4/mo.
- Where they differ: on what we checked they match — both offer public api, mobile app and sso (saml).
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Evernote is
What Evernote isEvernote stores notes, web clippings and documents with search that reaches inside images and PDFs. Search that reaches inside scanned documents and images is still its strongest argument, which is why archives live there long after people stop writing in it. The cost is a heavier client and a pricing history that has pushed many users to lighter tools.
What Todoist is
What Todoist isTodoist is the world's most popular task manager, designed to help you declutter your mind and organize your life. Its 'Natural Language Processing' allows you to type 'Buy milk tomorrow at 5pm' to instantly create a task with a reminder. While minimalist in design, it contains deep features like project sections, priority levels, and team collaboration. Flawless sync across everything from Apple Watch to your browser ensures you maintain focus and never forget a single task throughout the day.
Side by side
| Evernote | Todoist | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | $4/moverified |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | Yes |
| Visit | Evernote ↗ | Todoist ↗ |
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What Evernote is built to do
- Search inside attachments
- Finds text within PDFs and images, not just note bodies.
- Web clipper
- Saves pages and articles with formatting into a notebook.
- Cross-platform sync
- Keeps the same archive on desktop, mobile and web.
What Todoist is built to do
- Quick Add
- Use natural language to add tasks, dates, and labels in a matter of seconds.
- Project Sections
- Organize complex work into manageable sub-lists and distinct sections.
- Karma Productivity
- Track your progress with charts and set daily or weekly productivity goals.
- Team Collaboration
- Assign tasks to others and keep communication flowing through task comments.
Choose Evernote if
- People testing note-taking at no cost, accepting hard caps: Free allows 50 notes, 1 notebook-level workspace, 1 synced device and 1 GB of storage
- Individuals who want the app on more than one machine — Starter lifts the cap to 1,000 notes, 3 synced devices and 5 GB of storage
- Heavy users: Advanced removes the note limit entirely and adds the AI features (assistant, semantic search, meeting transcription and summaries)
Skip Evernote if
- You expect a free plan you can live in — 50 notes and one synced device is a trial in practice, not a working tier
- You work across a laptop, phone and tablet: Starter's 3-device cap is the first wall most people hit
- You need custom limits or organisational controls, which sit on the separate Enterprise tier
Choose Todoist if
- Individuals on the free Beginner plan: 5 personal projects, 5 MB uploads, 3 filter views and 5 people per project
- Power users on Pro: 300 personal projects, 100 MB uploads, 150 filter views and full reporting history
- Teams on Business: up to 500 team projects, 250 people per team project and 1,000 team members and guests
Skip Todoist if
- You keep more than 5 projects and will not upgrade — the free plan caps projects, not tasks
- You need one week of history to be enough; the free plan keeps only 1 week of activity
- You want a large free team: the free plan allows 5 people per project
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Evernote: pros & cons
- Search inside attachments and images
- Web clipper remains excellent
- Mature apps on every platform
- Price rose sharply while free tier shrank
- Performance complaints persist
- Ownership changes unsettled users
Todoist: pros & cons
- Speed: Entering a task takes just seconds; the keyboard shortcuts are industry-best.
- Universal Access: Available on more platforms (and works better) than almost any competitor.
- Simplicity: Does not push features on you unless you explicitly go looking for them.
- Karma System: Gamify your productivity by earning points for finishing your tasks.
- Reminders: A basic feature like task reminders requires a paid subscription.
- Calendar View: Its internal calendar view is newer and less mature than some rivals.
- Notes: Not designed for long-form writing or storing massive amounts of notes.
Our verdict on Evernote
Hard to recommend for a new user today. Existing archives are the main reason to stay.
Our verdict on Todoist
A well-balanced task app: fast capture, and enough structure to keep a personal system running.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Evernote
- Free$0/mo
Free: 50 notes, 1 notebook, 100 tags, 200 attachments, 1 synced device, 1 GB storage
Todoist
No published plan prices verified. Todoist either quotes on request or renders its prices in a way we could not read from the pricing page.
Evernote vs Todoist: common questions
- Does Evernote or Todoist have a free plan?
- Evernote has a free tier with limits, while we have not verified a free plan for Todoist.
- What is the difference between Evernote and Todoist?
- On the criteria we check, on what we checked they match — both offer public api, mobile app and sso (saml). The table above lists every criterion side by side.