Zoho Notebook
A free Evernote-shaped app from a company that sells other things.
By Zoho · since 2016 · zoho.com
B · out of 10
Zoho Notebook uses card types: a text card, a checklist card, a photo card, an audio card, a sketch card. It clips from the web, scans documents, syncs across every major platform and costs nothing, because Zoho makes its money elsewhere. It is prettier than it needs to be.
How it scores
Features25% of score
6.6Depth and breadth of what the app can do.
Ease of use20% of score
7.8Speed, polish and how long it takes to feel at home.
AI15% of score
4.8Quality and usefulness of the built-in AI, not just its presence.
Sync & reliability15% of score
7.6How dependably notes move between devices.
Value15% of score
9.2What you get for what you pay.
Platform coverage10% of score
7.8How many places you can actually use it.
Pricing
No paid plan
Free tier: Everything, free, with generous storage.
Zoho positions Notebook as a free entry point to its wider suite.
Platforms
- Windows
- macOS
- iOS
- Android
- Linux
- Web
42 tracked features supported
What it does well
- Genuinely free with no note or device caps
- Card types make short structured notes pleasant
- Solid web clipper and document scanner
- Imports Evernote archives
Where it falls short
- Search and organisation get weak at scale
- AI is minimal compared with rivals
- Tied to a Zoho account you may not otherwise want
- Feature development is sporadic
Our take
The best free Evernote clone that is not open source. Fine for a few thousand notes, not for a lifetime archive.
Best for: People who liked old Evernote and refuse to pay for it.
Feature by feature
Capture & input
How notes get into the app in the first place.
- Voice recording
- Audio transcription
- Speaker identification
- Meeting recordingPartly
- Handwriting / stylusPartly
- Drawing canvas
- OCR / handwriting searchPartly
- Web clipper
- Share extension
- Quick capture
- Images
- PDF & documents
- Document scanning
Organization
How notes are structured, linked and found again.
- Tags
- Folders / notebooks
- Multi-level foldersPartly
- Internal links
- Backlinks
- Graph view
- Databases / boards
- Daily notes / journal
- Note templatesPartly
- Saved searches
- Pins / favorites
- Merge notes
AI
Assistants, generators and meaning-based search.
- AI chat / writing assistantPartly
- AI agent with tools
- Custom AI agents
- Semantic search
- AI web search
- Connected apps for AI
- Prompt templates
- Custom AI instructions
- AI memory
- Scheduled AI tasks
- Flashcard generator
- Spaced repetition
- Quiz generator
- Fill in the blank
- Mind maps
- AI image generation
- Infographic generator
- Slide deck generator
- AI mini apps
- Brainrot video generator
- AI audio overview
- Bring your own model
- AI job notificationsPartly
Writing & editing
What the editor itself can actually do.
- MarkdownPartly
- Rich text
- Code blocks
- Math / LaTeX
- TablesPartly
- Find and replace
- Version historyPartly
- Note infoPartly
Sync & data ownership
Where your notes live and how easily they leave.
- Cloud sync
- Sync through your own cloud
- Offline support
- Offline-first / own your data
- Self-hosting
- End-to-end encryptionPartly
- Locked notes
- Daily backup
- Import
- Export
- Public APIPartly
- Command line tool
- Remote MCP server
- Plugins / extensions
Sharing & collaboration
Working with other people inside your notes.
- Share with people
- Real-time collaborationPartly
- Comments
- Public sharing
Experience
The everyday polish around the writing surface.
- Dark mode
- Custom themes
- Multi-language
- Command palette
- Split viewPartly
- Focus mode
- Home screen widgets
- Apple Shortcuts
Compare with
All Zoho Notebook alternatives
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Zoho Notebook vs Craft
Documents that look designed before you touch anything.