Evernote vs. Twos: Which is the Best Note-Taking App for You?

A note-taking legend vs. an all-in-one write things down app

10 min readAug 29, 2023

As our attention spans decrease, writing things down has only become more important to our daily lives.

We have more information to keep track of and remember than ever before and you never know when you’ll want to revisit or share things.

This means it’s important to choose a program that is quick enough to use on a daily basis and organized enough to find and remember the information you’ve captured.

I originally started my note-taking journey with Apple Notes. I used Evernote and Google Docs in college, but for the past 7 years, I’ve been building and using Twos for everything I want to remember.

I try every note-taking app, old and new, to discover the best features to include in Twos, and in this series, I compare Twos with those alternatives.

Today, I will be comparing the note-taking legend, Evernote, with the simple, all-in-one program, Twos, to discover which is best for you.

Evernote

Evernote is the OG note-taking app. Back when there used to be a shortage of note-taking options, Evernote stood out with web, mobile, and desktop versions that provided a reliable experience and sync capabilities.

For people looking for a solid document experience, similar to Microsoft Word or Google Docs, but with some additional benefits like document scanning and web clipping, Evernote is a great choice.

Evernote has some additional features in their paid tier ($14.99/mo) like Google Calendar integration, tasks, reminders on tasks, and templates that make Evernote more of an all-in-one platform than just a simple note-taking platform.

While Evernote has had a shaky past with a lack of feature development and performance and syncing issues, I have confidence Bending Spoons, Evernote’s recent acquirer, will redeem its reputation over time.

Evernote was acquired by Bending Spoons in 2022

Twos

Twos is a newer all-in-one productivity platform, recently named one of the top 5 new note-taking apps making waves in 2023.

For people who love capturing and writing things down, Twos is revolutionary.

Twos offers a simple note-taking experience plus task management, calendar integration, auto-date detection for reminders, lists, journaling, templates, and AI. The idea behind Twos was to privately capture anything and share some of those things with friends, family, and the world.

Twos is free and available on all devices — iOS, Android, web, Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome extension — plus it is quick and easy to access on public and work devices with Twos’ web browser access. Twos also has text and email integrations. Simply text 833–920–0404 or email save@twosapp.com to automatically add the contents of your message to your daily list.

How do they differ?

These two platforms share many things in common. They both support many devices (up to two in Evernote’s free tier), are great note-takers, and have a wonderful search, but Evernote and Twos differ in 5 main ways:

Evernote follows a traditional document and folder structure, while Twos centers around writing *things* down on days and lists.
Evernote’s calendar integration, reminders, and tasks are almost an afterthought to their documents, while they sit at the core of Twos.
Evernote supports file attachments, audio and sketching, while Twos is currently focused on writing *things* down.
Sharing and collaboration are part of Twos’ core pillars while sharing and collaboration are in Evernote’s team tier ($24.99/mo).
Evernote is much more expensive (one of the most expensive note-taking platforms available), while Twos is a free application that includes most of Evernote’s premium features.

Documents & Folders vs Days, Lists & *Things

While Evernote follows a traditional documents and folders organization structure, in Twos you write *things* down on days and lists.

Documents and Folders, while familiar, have limitations. Information in a document is not very flexible, requiring you to open and navigate between multiple documents and copy and paste blocks of text. A document can only belong to one folder and finding that document in the correct folder can be a challenge. These limitations are addressed with a new way to organize *things* in Twos.

*Things* are the new, unique technology in Twos specifically built for quick capture and easy organization of any piece of information throughout a day — a thought, a task, a birthday, an event, a recommendation, … any*thing*. *Things* are easy to write down and can be reorganized in a different day or list with a unique feature called “move.”

You don’t need to start a new note or a new document for every *thing* you want to remember. Twos gives you a daily list to quickly capture anything you want to remember. You can capture as many random thoughts, journals, and reflections as you’d like every day, and the next day you’ll have a new, fresh place to write *things* down.

A fresh, daily list (other than my daily to-dos) in Twos

If you want to organize related *things*, you can create a list. We all use lists because they are so effective, and Twos is designed around lists to provide a simple experience. If you ever want to group and organize lists, you can do that with sublists — similar to folders but allow you to nest a list inside multiple lists to create the structure you’d like.

Nested lists (current books I’m reading) in my side menu in Twos

Calendar integration, task management, and reminders

Evernote started as a document editor and has since added calendar integration, task management, and reminders, yet they still feel disconnected.

Calendar section in your Home view in Evernote

You can view all of these from your Home dashboard view and while tasks can live inside of a Note, they don’t fit into the normal flow of the document, and reminders can only be associated with a task.

This is also one of the ways Evernote gets you to become a paid-user with Google Calendar integration and task due dates and reminders falling under the Personal paid tier ($14.99/mo). If you want to connect all of your Google Calendar accounts, that will be in their Professional tier ($17.99/mo).

Since Twos is a simple, all-in-one system of days, lists & *things*, calendar integration, task management, and reminders fit right in. You’ll see events from your calendar directly on your day, *things* can be made into a to-do seamlessly, and you can add a reminder to a *thing* just by typing out a date or time.

Calendar events at the top of my day and to-dos on my day in Twos

Twos uses artificial intelligence to auto-detect reminders (i.e. “Tom’s birthday” would set a yearly repeating reminder, or “Dinner at 6 pm on Thursday” would set a reminder for Dinner on Thursday at 6 pm) and Twos integrates with any calendar (Apple, Google, and Outlook), so you can view your events, add events to your calendar, and join meetings with a single click.

Calendar integration, task management, and reminders are all included in Twos for free.

File Attachments, Audio and Sketching

These are three great features in Evernote, especially file attachments. Evernote’s free tier includes 60MB of monthly uploads, but with their Personal tier ($14.99/mo) you get 10GB per month, and with their Professional tier ($17.99/mo) you get 20GB of monthly uploads.

The most impressive attachments feature is in the Personal tier ($14.99/mo) which includes a search inside of images, docs, and PDFs.

Twos does not currently support file attachments. We’ve chosen not to include file attachments in the early days to keep costs low and provide a free experience. They are on our roadmap and will be added in the near future.

Currently, most Twos users will use Google Drive or Dropbox to store files and can use the Chrome extension to add hyperlinks to documents in one click.

Sharing & Collaboration

The ability to access your information on any device is a major selling point for both platforms, especially for people who use Windows or Linux computers at work, but a Mac at home, or for people who have a different device from their spouse (Android vs. iOS).

Both platforms allow sharing documents or lists with universal links accessible on any device and browser, but Evernote requires the Teams tier ($24/mo) to collaborate and share knowledge as a team.

Twos allows easy collaboration both with users and non-users and has no limitation on the number of people you can collaborate with.

Twos also has the ability to share lists and *things* with other people via Twos World. Twos World is a place to share, discover, and save once-private information within your Twos. It’s an entirely new sharing experience creating deeper connections around the *things* you’re originally capturing privately.

Sharing was half of the original idea behind Twos (half-private, half-social), so you’d have a way to share some of the *things* you are privately capturing to create easy, authentic connections with the people you care about.

Quick breakdown

Difficulty: Tie

Tie. Twos is a new experience of writing *things* down, but with a seamless calendar integration, task management with auto-carryover of unfinished to-dos, and auto-date detection for reminders, it still provides a simple experience. Evernote on the other hand has a simple document editor, but less of a cohesive experience with tasks, reminders, and calendars.

Price: Twos

Twos is free to use, includes all features for free on the web and desktop app and has some paid upgrades ($2/upgrade or $12 to buy all) in the mobile app, but all features can be bought for free with coins that are earned while using the platform.

Evernote has a basic free tier, but if you start uploading attachments, managing tasks, setting reminders, and connecting your calendar, it will cost between $14.99-$24.99 per month.

Power: Twos

This was a tough choice, given both platforms have some standout features. Twos has AI, daily lists, templates, calendar integration, auto-date detected reminders, auto-carryover of to-dos, custom colors, sharing and much more. Evernote has PDF search, document styling, and task management.

With Twos system of days, lists, and *things* (Evernote does not have days), Twos is a more useful tool for note-taking regardless of what you are capturing and can help you organize your life in one place.

Speed: Twos

Evernote has become slower and more complex over the years. “Am I creating a note? Sketch? Task?” Twos is all about writing *things* down and doing it as quickly and easily as possible. That is why Twos has days, to quickly capture *things* you want to remember, without needing to start a new note or use a scratch pad.

They both include a web clipper, but Twos also includes text and email integration so you can capture *things* from wherever they are happening.

Which note-taking app is best for you?

Like we started this article, the most important quality in a note-taking app is that you use it to write things down. We have more information to keep track of than ever before so need a tool that is quick, easy, and gets out of the way so you can get back to living your life.

If you’d prefer a traditional document application, Evernote might be the right solution for you.

If you want to write things down or want a simple, all-in-one solution, give Twos a try.

I started my note-taking journey in college with Evernote and after a while, it became unorganized and actually deterred me from writing more into it. It didn’t feel like a place I could capture any*thing* and have it accessible in the future.

A look back at lists and *things* I’ve been capturing for over 7 years

Twos is a long-term solution. Designed around days and lists, Twos keeps your *things* organized and simple. It helps you review and revisit old notes you may have forgotten, and with easy collaboration and sharing, it’s a program you can utilize throughout your life.

I hope that was helpful in making your choice between whether to use Evernote or Twos.

Please let me know if you use a different program or if you’d like me to compare Twos with any other apps in the future.

Happy Twosday

#BPTWTD ✌️

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