Jumping the ship on Evernote

I am a long time user of Evernote. Currently it has the best browser extensions, a wide range of supported operating systems, and it has a free tier; however, I am getting frustrated with it. In the past year, they have changed plans twice – now the free tier is only supported on 2 platforms. This has cost me to re-evaluate my use of Evernote. Lately all I have been using Evernote for is to sync a grocery list between devices and keeping my children’s memories in one location – their sayings, artwork, etc. In the past I also used it for note taking, article saving, and inputting ideas. I have also seriously considered buying a subscription just so I can continue uninterrupted.

While this may be a rant about a free user using a free service, I contribute to the monitization of their service by the viewing of advertisements. The free tier limits (except for maximum devices) are adequate for my occasional use and probably have cost Evernote around $3 total in the past several years. The valuation Evernote has placed on their second-level tier ($35/year) is much higher than I value it (~$12/year). While I may not be able to set the price on what Evernote costs, I can put a price on what I am willing to pay for a simple note service.

A recent article on opensource.com opened my eyes to looking at note taking alternatives. I was surprised at how mature Paperwork was; however, it contained one simple flaw that throws my grocery list experience out the window – no checkbox option. This caused me to evaluate Google Keep – yes, has check boxes, but functions more like sticky notes. Then I remembered Atlassian’s confluence has checkboxes. Their paid version is $10 for up to ten users (per year if it self hosted, monthly if in the cloud). This fits my budget, I can create grocery lists, take notes, and create notebooks/spaces. While I have not switched away yet, confluence seems like a viable option as I already have an always-on home server.