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What we’re going to look at:
Is Evernote really losing users?
How much did Bending Spoons really pay for Evernote?
How profitable is Evernote today?
How many people are actually working on Evernote?
What has Bending Spoons changed behind the scenes?
How is AI being used to improve Evernote?
What does Evernote need to do next?
The last few days has seen a bit of press for Evernote and some of the usual controversy on social media.
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal and a two hour sit down interview with the Bending Spoons CEO where he talked a lot about Evernote.
I want to go through the WSJ comments about Evernote and I’ve also pulled a lot of Evernote comments from a couple of recent interviews.
The first thing to go through is the ‘interesting’ article in the Wall Street Journal which is behind a paywall. I managed to find it as it is included in my Apple One subscription.
There’s only one short paragraph about Evernote which has generated the usual social media nonsense with one post on Reddit saying Evernote is dying, which is far from true.
Here’s the paragraph in question;
“Evernote, a note-taking app acquired in 2023, was among the holdings Bending Spoons profiled in its IPO prospectus. Evernote’s revenue was 30% higher in 2025 than in 2022, and during that time average revenue per monthly active user rose 150%. What the prospectus didn’t say: Those figures meant the number of users fell 48%. Revenue rose through price increases as the customer base shrank.” - Excerpt From “Analysis | At Bending Spoons, the Numbers Are the Real Mind-Bender - Jonathan Weil
From my research and chatting with a couple of people, the author is known to be a bit controversial, aiming at the shorts market and trying to stir things up.
Evernote has lost users, paid and free, but we need some context. The bulk of the losses have been from the free plan which has been severely restricted. Evernote is no longer a free app with a paid upgrade, its a paid app with a free version that’s really a trial.
Evernote is concentrating much more on paid customers and people who find value in the product. It’s no longer a quick note taker and something for your shopping list, its there for serious users, like us, who value the features and functionality.
Evernote is finally, after 20 years making profit and yes, with a smaller user base, but user numbers are not everything.
The online software market is very different now than 20 years ago, when the strategy was to get as many users as possible and then try and monetise them.
There are very few new software startups that run this strategy now. The norm is to actually build a business that generates break-even or profit from the start, which is why you see a lot of new apps offering free trials and subscriptions within the $15 - $30 price range.
The investor money is going into AI, so it can’t be used anymore to subsidise subscription costs, folks need to make some money right away, just like any normal business would.
Evernote has been happy to lose the free and low paying customer to retain the higher payer that values the product more.
I did the same with my own work during COVID. I had around 60 lowish paying consult clients plus my training work, I was busy as hell and earnings had reached a limit. I had time during COVID to reassess things and what I did was get rid of the low paying clients and replace them with around 10 clients who pay a lot more and see much more value in what I do. I now earn much more money for less work!
In my opinion this is similar to what Bending Spoons have done with Evernote. They’ve improved the app with new features they know the low payers don’t need but the value driven customers want. They now have less customers but better quality ones, like us, who find huge value in the product.
So, just like me, higher quality and more advanced work for fewer customers earns more money.
The key question now for Evernote is how they start growing this new type of customer.
Interestingly they are increasing new users.