Anytype vs Evernote: Breakdown & Comparison

Let's take a look at an application called Anytype, which has been gaining a lot of attention, and another application that is well-established in the market, called Evernote. We will compare the two, looking at both note-taking applications and how they can be used as your go-to experience for notes.

What do they both do?

Evernote has long been a popular note-taking resource, and many people have downloaded it. It has evolved into a more recent application that focuses on artificial intelligence to help enhance how you're taking notes.

However, Evernote is a much more traditional note-taking application that focuses on notes and weaves in tasks and calendar events to help you better plan. The application in recent months, in 2024, has been enhancing the way that you can add notes and turn them into more useful notes using artificial intelligence, as well as using the calendar mode to help better plan your tasks, calendar, and notes alongside each other, suitable for meetings and organizing more effectively.

Many people consider using Anytype to make their notes more secure. Anytype is encrypted, works offline, is local-first, and is an open-source company, whereas Evernote is run by Bending Spoons, an AI-based app development company based in Milan, Italy.

For Notes

Now, both of these applications are interesting resources, so the first category that we should look at is how they can take notes.

Now, Anytype is slightly different from Evernote, as the application is designed around objects. Objects help structure the note and create an almost template-like structure from which they can build.

For example, you can make a meeting, a human, or maybe even a book that will allow you to create a template that best suits those types of characteristics when adding details. This makes it helpful to start adding notes. Still, more importantly, it helps to connect notes that will help you to build a PKM, personal knowledge management-type structure, that many people have liked as part of their note-taking application in recent years. This structure for note-taking lends itself to creating really effective notes and connecting them.

Many people like in Anytype that you can use Markdown, and it has a range of templates you can add to each of your notes, as well as a database structure to organize those notes and objects more effectively. This helps you to create then structures like you would in apps like Notion, which can help you to manage and bring together all of your notes in one place. There are also some visual options for those who like databases with gallery views and nice filtering, sorting, and property management. If you like that type of structure, then you'll like Anytype, but Notion also has a really nice structure.

Within the application for notes, you can add a range of multimedia, much like you would in Anytype. You can add audio, PDF, documents, tasks, calendar events, and much more to bring together all of your notes. Both of the applications work offline for taking notes, which is very helpful, and they both have web clipper abilities, although Evernote is much more extensive.

At the same time, Anytype is much better for just capturing text. Both of these applications can be used for note-taking on all devices, meaning you can access them on mobile and on desktop. Anytype offers a Linux version, which Evernote doesn't officially.

For Task Management

When we're looking at these for task management, Evernote has a much more structured task management function inside the application, allowing you to add a task, a project, a note, and many more details to each task you create.

You can add a priority level and due dates and start going with your task management, and there's even a panel to help you organize those tasks into one location.

At the same time, Anytype is much more build-your-own in terms of its structure. Each of the notes that you create will have to be based on an object type called task, which will help you to coordinate what tasks are important and start organizing them into their own database properties with filtering and sorting.

There is an excellent ability in Anytype that you can organize on the left-hand side to see a widget to see your upcoming tasks and activities, and you can also manage your tasks across all of your accounts, which you can do in Evernote. If you're looking for task management aspects, Evernote is probably a much more structured and managed way to do it, while Anytype can be used as a task management system.

For Calendar Management

Now, when you look at calendar management, Evernote wins by a country mile, and this is because Anytype doesn’t have any available connection to apps like Google Calendar.

It allows you to very simply organize any of your items inside of your databases using dates, but there’s no real system for creating a functional calendar that you can use like in Evernote. In Evernote, you can connect to Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar, and you also can create using Evernote’s calendar, which is perfect for planning and schedule management.

Many people like this because they can create notes and associate them with dates, which is appreciated. Although functionally, you could do this in Anytype, there’s no notification system or way to connect it with a popular service you may already be using, like Google Calendar.

Evernote or Anytype?

If you’re considering Evernote or Anytype, it’s worth examining what they do and how they serve you. We typically recommend Anytype for someone who probably wants an open-source, offline PKM-like application that will allow them to take notes in a structured manner.

Whereas those who are considering Evernote are likely better suited for busy professionals who want something more traditional in structure with task and calendar abilities. It won’t necessarily be the application that it used to be in the past with its popularity and abilities, but at the same time, it’s a structured system that you’ll probably understand instantly. In contrast, Anytype, with its object-based management system and similar functions, will attract many people looking at this application for the future.

Both of these applications work very well and have highly rated apps, with Evernote paying more attention to its mobile applications in recent months.