Evernote tripled prices, gutted the free tier to 1 device, and got slower every update. Enough was enough. Cimanote is the note app Evernote used to be: fast, clean, no bloat. Instant load · All devices · Rich editor · Evernote import (notes, notebooks, tags, attachments, all intact) · Real-time collaboration · Your data, always exportable. First year is completely free for our first 500 users. No card required. Then $6/mo, no surprises, ever. — Blagoja, founder
Hey Product Hunt 👋 Blagoja here, founder of Cimanote.
I'll be honest about why I built this. I was an Evernote user for years. Then they tripled prices, locked the free tier to one device, and shipped three CEOs in two years while the app got slower. I complained about it long enough that I finally just built something better.
Cimanote is fast, clean, and does what note-taking software should do: get out of your way.
A few things I'm particularly proud of:
— The Evernote import. Your notes, notebooks, tags, attachments, and formatting come across intact. No cleanup weekend required.
— No device limits. Ever. Desktop, mobile, tablet, all included.
— It installs like a native app on any device directly from the browser. No app store.
This is a soft launch. I won't pretend everything is built. But the core is solid, and I shipped it because real feedback from real users beats another month of building in private.
We're giving the first year free to our first 500 users, no credit card, no catch. After that $6/mo and I'm committing to no surprise price hikes.
I'll be here all day answering everything, the good, the bad, and the brutal. Ask me anything.
— Blagoja
Wow, and you import Evernote attachments too. I don't think anyone else does that. Finally, something that I can actually switch to. I attach PDFs, sometimes audio files to my Evernote, and that's what's kept me stuck in it forever. Will you be launching desktop/iOS apps?
Evernote lost the plot years ago. Curious how you handle sync conflicts when editing the same note on two devices — that's where most note apps fall apart.
As a former big fan of Evernote, Cimanote is a welcome sigh of relief. It has a great UX and just works. It feels like it picks up the torch of being my extended brain. I love using it now and am excited to see how it grows.
I've trialled a number of notes apps over the years and was a long time Evernote user but eventually went back to my default mac app and Google Keep.
Been using Cimanote and I've been loving the UX. It's simple, clean and efficient.
Dictation would be a key feature for me.
What you've built so far is fantastic and I'm looking forward to how the app evolves!
Search is often the deal-breaker in this category: what’s your approach to “find anything” (full-text, PDFs, images/OCR, attachments), and what tradeoffs did you make to keep it fast and reliable?
There's something quietly powerful about "get out of your way." The best tools don't demand attention — they just hold the space. The frustration with Evernote wasn't just price, it was the grief of watching something you trusted turn into something that needed managing. What are the two or three things you're absolutely refusing to compromise on as you grow this?
This one hit me. I was an Evernote user too. Felt that same frustration when they jacked up prices and locked everything down. You built the thing I just complained about.
As a homepage positioning expert, I spent some time on the site. The import feature got me. Most tools make you start from scratch. You let people bring everything with them. This strategy makes someone trust you right away.
Anyway, just wanted to say I'm rooting for you, @blagoja. Hope this takes off.
Congrats @blagoja. Excited to give this a shot. Similar to others I have abandoned Evernote as it wasn't living up to my expectations and reverted back to my old Notes app on my macbook. With these big name products you always find lack of support, lack of new feature etc. I have done a similar thing with a fitness/food tracker app, just tired of all the ones that showed promise but never lived up to expectations.
I used the early beta and found it useful. It was so easy to share my note with others.
the evernote migration being painless is huge honestly. that's the biggest barrier for most people switching note apps, you've got years of stuff in there and nobody wants to spend a weekend cleaning up broken formatting. the no device limits thing is also a great move, locking free users to one device felt like such a cash grab by evernote. how does the rich editor handle things like tables and code blocks?
Interesting space — how do you see Cimanote positioned vs Notion (flexibility) and Apple Notes (simplicity)? Where do you want to win long-term?
OMG finally, someone fixed all the reasons why I ditched evernote. This looks so good. Does it work on Android, IOS, Windows and MacOS?
It’s really refreshing to see user experience as a top priority for Cimanote.
Evernote lost its focus years ago when it decided to optimize for value extraction instead of utility.
I’ve been using (and enjoying) early versions of this app. I’m excited to see what comes next. Keep up the great work!
I wish this had launched four years ago, when I decided to abandon Evernote. It will be interesting to fire up Evernote again and see how the export goes!
Simple and effective. The essential element done well at a fair price.
Any plans to support dictation / transcription integration?
Really appreciate the honesty and transparency here, @blagoja Blagoja. It’s rare to see a founder lay out the pain points that motivated the build so clearly. The Evernote import and device-unlimited approach are subtle but huge quality-of-life wins that often get overlooked in note taking apps.
Curious how did you balance speed and feature completeness during the soft launch? So often a fast, clean experience gets compromised by trying to do too much too soon.
This is cool, congrats on the launch. Any ETA on a native iOS app? (vs the current PWA)
