Noodle vs Evernote: an honest comparison

Evernote is the more complete app: on more devices, with a real editor and nearly two decades of work behind it. Its free plan is small, though, and your notes live on its servers. Noodle is free and keeps everything on your Android phone, but it's new and has no sync. We make Noodle, so weigh what we say with that in mind; the Evernote facts link to Evernote's own pages.

Which one to pick

• Pick Evernote if you want your notes on every device (phone, computer, browser), need an editor with tasks and a calendar, share notebooks with others, or want a product with a long track record. Plan on paying, since the free plan holds 50 notes.
• Pick Noodle if you're on Android, mostly save things you find on your phone (videos, Instagram posts, articles, screenshots, voice notes), want it free and would rather nothing you save leaves the phone.
• Pick both only if you already pay for Evernote. The two overlap more than Noodle and Notion do.

What each one is

Evernote is a notes app that launched in 2008 and has been owned by Bending Spoons since early 2023. You keep notes in notebooks, add tags, clip web pages, scan documents, attach files and record audio. It syncs across the web, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. Newer AI features include an AI Assistant, search by meaning and AI Transcribe, which turns recordings into text. Above a free plan sit several paid plans.

Noodle is a free Android app for saving and finding. Share a YouTube video, an Instagram post, a web page, a photo, a PDF or a voice message into it, and Noodle reads it: what the video says, the words in a photo, the text of an article. Later you find it by describing what you remember. It also has a short daily to-do list and reminders from dates in your saves. Everything stays on your phone (how it works).

How we compared

We used the same 10 criteria for every app in this series: how you save, what it reads, how you find things, AI, offline use, privacy, devices, sharing, writing and price. Facts about Evernote come from its plan comparison page, help center and blog, checked in October 2026. We didn't run a long hands-on test of Evernote for this post, so we stick to what Evernote documents, and we say where we couldn't confirm something. The Noodle column describes the app as it is today.

How they compare, feature by feature

As of October 2026. Evernote changes its plans often, so check the sources below.

Sources: Evernote's plan comparison (limits and AI features), Evernote's February 2024 post (offline notes for all users) and Engadget on the Bending Spoons sale. Evernote's help center said its AI Assistant wasn't on mobile yet; its marketing pages describe one on Android, so we couldn't confirm which is current.

Where Evernote is better

• Every device, in sync. Apps for the web, computers and both phone platforms. The free plan syncs one device and paid plans sync more. Noodle is Android only, with no sync.
• A real editor. Formatting, checklists, tables, tasks with due dates, a calendar connection, templates. Noodle has a title and a plain note.
• The web clipper. On a computer, Evernote's clipper saves a full page, a simplified article, a screenshot or a bookmark. Noodle reads articles you share from your phone and has nothing on the desktop.
• Scanning paper. Evernote has had document scanning and search inside PDFs and images for years. Noodle reads words in photos and PDFs too, but it's newer and has seen far less use.
• Sharing. Share a note or a notebook with someone. Noodle can't share at all.
• Stronger AI. Evernote's AI runs online on large models, so it can do more than Ask Noodle. Ask Noodle runs on your phone, gives simpler answers, takes storage and works best on newer phones.
• Track record. Evernote has been around since 2008, is on the Play Store and the App Store, and has years of guides. Noodle launched in 2026, comes from a small team and is installed from a download on our website.

Where Noodle is better

• No note limits. Evernote's free plan stops at 50 notes and one notebook, and Starter at 1,000 notes. Noodle has no plan limits; a big library just takes space on your phone.
• It reads videos and posts. Share a YouTube talk and Noodle knows what's said in it, so a search for a point from minute 20 jumps to that moment. It also reads Instagram captions and the words in their images. Evernote keeps the link.
• Private by design. Your saves never leave the phone, and Ask Noodle runs there too. Evernote stores your notes on its servers, and its AI features work online.
• Less filing. Noodle suggests a category and tags for each save, and anything you haven't filed waits in To organize. Save first, sort later.
• Other languages. Noodle translates what it reads into English, so a video in Spanish turns up in an English search.

Price and privacy

Evernote's free plan allows 50 notes, one notebook and one device. Starter raises that to 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks and three devices, and Advanced removes the note and notebook limits, as of October 2026 (Evernote's plan comparison). Prices vary by country and billing period, so we don't quote them; the same page shows yours. Paid plans come with a seven-day free trial. Notes are stored on Evernote's servers, and its privacy policy says how they're handled.

Noodle is free, with a paid Cloud plan planned but not available (pricing). Nothing you save is uploaded, and the app has no ads and no tracking (privacy).

Switching or using both

Noodle can't import Evernote notebooks yet, so switching means starting fresh and keeping Evernote's export for your old notes. If you already pay for Evernote, adding Noodle on your phone makes sense for the things Evernote doesn't read: videos and Instagram posts. Keep your written notes, scans and shared notebooks where they are. If you're on Evernote's free plan, one app is probably enough.

For more options, see the best second brain apps for Android, or Noodle vs Google Keep.

Evernote is a trademark of its owner. This post is our own comparison and isn't endorsed by them.