From cheap tool to premium subscription: When a beloved app’s price skyrockets
Bending Spoons has sharply raised Evernote’s prices, prompting long-time users to reconsider whether the note-taking app is worth the cost. Company disclosures suggest the increases are part of a deliberate effort to earn more from a loyal, established customer base, rather than a response to declining new-user numbers.
After acquiring Evernote in 2023, Bending Spoons raised its monthly price from $8 to $15 and its annual price from $70 to $130; some users later faced a change from $130 to $250 a year. The company said the average customer had used Evernote for 7.2 years and that it ran more than 200 experiments on pricing and product changes. It also said revenue per monthly active user was 2.5 times higher in 2025 than in 2022, while usage limits accounted for 51 per cent of subscription conversions in 2025.
In short
- Evernote’s annual price rose from $70 to $130 after its 2023 acquisition.
- Some users now face annual charges of up to $250.
- Bending Spoons says revenue per active user more than doubled.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A higher subscription price can be justified if it helps fund Evernote’s continued development, reliability and support, especially for a mature product used by long-standing customers. The company’s experiments and usage limits may be ways to identify which customers receive enough value to pay for the service, while a loyal user base can make predictable investment possible.
The case against
Sharp increases, particularly from $130 to $250 a year, may impose an unfair burden on users who have built years of notes and routines around the app and face real costs in switching. If the increases are designed to earn more from established customers rather than reflect better service or rising costs, they can weaken trust and make a once-accessible tool poor value.