Open-source alternatives to Evernote
4 alternatives, ranked by a published maintenance score computed from live GitHub signals (fetched 2026-09-04). We flag unmaintained projects on both sides — including Evernote itself when the data says so.
About Evernote: Proprietary; after the Bending Spoons acquisition the free tier was cut to 50 notes, sending many users looking for exits. It is closed-source, so the same public maintenance signals do not exist for it — we score only the alternatives below.
The alternatives
Joplin
Markdown notes with end-to-end-encrypted sync; direct Evernote importer.
How this 90/100 was computed
| Last commit | yesterday | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | 5 days ago | 25/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 15/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 90/100 |
Logseq
Outliner-style knowledge base on local Markdown files.
How this 90/100 was computed
| Last commit | yesterday | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | 9 days ago | 25/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 15/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 90/100 |
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking, continued by the community after the original author retired.
How this 90/100 was computed
| Last commit | today | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | 16 days ago | 25/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 15/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 90/100 |
Standard Notes
End-to-end encrypted notes focused on longevity and privacy.
How this 87/100 was computed
| Last commit | today | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | today | 25/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 12/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 87/100 |