It seems that everyone is searching for a free Evernote alternative. Why? If you use the free version of Evernote, you probably received an email this week letting you know that you will either have to pare your use to two devices or upgrade to the paid version. And, honestly, who only has two devices these days? As I sit here, there are at least four devices within my reach.

A Free Evernote Alternative

For the last few years I have kept a secret. Because it seems that all of the cool kids were using Evernote, I didn’t want to talk about it much. Yes, I used Evernote for specific tasks, but most of the time I use my favorite alternative to Evernote: Google Keep. Now that everyone is looking for a good Evernote alternative, I thought I’d share.

Free Evernote Alternative: Google Keep

I don’t know why Google Keep has been such a well-kept (pardon the pun) secret. As far as I can see, Google Keep does everything that Evernote does, and perhaps more. You can write and edit notes. You can record your voice and Google Keep will automatically transcribe your notes. You can create lists and set reminders. You can share notes. You can save pictures. And you can organize your notes with tags and color coding. And better yet, Google Keep is available for free on any web browser. They also have Android and iOS apps.

How I Most Often Use this Evernote Alternative

I have “entrepreneur running syndrome.” That is:

• Run for five minutes.
• Thunderstruck by a random idea.
• Stop.
• Record a voice message on Google Keep.
• Close the app.
• Repeat.

I record blog post ideas, follow-up reminders, ideas for the podcast, Social Entrepreneur and even book chapter ideas. Once I’m home, I can grab any device to edit and organize my notes.

The notes appear as little tacky notes that can be rearranged. If a note is long, it can be copied to Google Docs and saved on Google Drive.

How Do You Use This Evernote Alternative?

Here’s the good news. If you have a Google account, you already have Google Keep. Just go to https://keep.google.com and start adding notes.

Once you start, let me know about your experience. If you’re replacing Evernote, what do you think of this Evernote alternative?