Where users complain and no one leads
No complaint theme was raised about 2 or more companies yet; 24 themes were raised about one company each and stay out — one company's complaint is about that company.
A theme enters when users raised it about 2 or more companies — one company’s complaint is about that company. The pairing is word overlap between the theme and what companies declare on their own pages, with the shared words shown; a theme with no match is unanswered in the declared names, not missing from every product. Nothing here is scored or ranked.
What was read
7 companies placed · 7 read in the last seven days
Most recent reading Oct 1, 2026.
The last seven days
27 observed claims across 6 of 7 companies.
- FACT · 12
- COMPANY CLAIM · 10
- USER OPINION · 5
4 further entries are tagged inference — a reading between the facts, counted apart from them and in no total above.
What these companies declare
- 20+ themes and app icons1 of 7 declare it
- 30-day version history1 of 7 declare it
- Advanced export formats (PDF, HTML, DOCX, ePub)1 of 7 declare it
- AI Assistant (Core/Fast/Max tiers)1 of 7 declare it
- AI Edit / Semantic Search (AI features)1 of 7 declare it
- AI Meeting Notes1 of 7 declare it
- AI-tagged saves with MCP connection to Claude/Cursor (ContextBolt)1 of 7 declare it
- All-in-one workspace (docs, wikis, databases)1 of 7 declare it
- all-in-one workspace/databases (Notion)1 of 7 declare it
- audio/video transcription into notes (Notelyn/SpeakNotes)1 of 7 declare it
Showing 10 of 56 names.
Counted from what each company says on its own pages, as the reading listed it. Never what a product has.
What users report
- Apple-ecosystem lock-in1 of 6 saw it raised
- automatic charges1 of 6 saw it raised
- capture without retrieval ('save everything and find nothing')1 of 6 saw it raised
- Commercial license confusion/compliance overhead1 of 6 saw it raised
- Cost for plain-text notes1 of 6 saw it raised
- iPad multi-block text selection limitations1 of 6 saw it raised
- Large pricing increases at renewal1 of 6 saw it raised
- Limited customization/advanced feature depth (G2 reviews)1 of 6 saw it raised
- Long migration effort for large note collections1 of 6 saw it raised
- manual organization burden in Obsidian/Notion despite good linking1 of 6 saw it raised
Showing 10 of 24 names.
Complaint themes the reading found raised about these companies. What people said, not a verdict on the product.
What these companies charge, as they state it
6 of 7 read companies have a pricing entry on record; 8 pricing changes recorded across 6 companies in the last 90 days.
- ObsidianCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026 · 2 pricing entries on record
Obsidian's pricing consists of the free core app plus four paid add-ons: Sync at $5/month ($4/month billed annually), Publish at $10/month ($8/month billed annually), Catalyst as a one-time $25+ donation tier, and an optional Commercial license at $50/user/year. Students, faculty, and nonprofit employees get 40% off Sync and Publish.
Establishes baseline pricing structure against which future changes (price moves, new tiers) will be compared.
outmano.com/tools/obsidian/pricing - BearFACTSep 30, 2026
Bear offers a free plan (local notes, basic editing, limited export, single device) and a Bear Pro plan priced at $2.99/month or $29.99/year, with a 14-day free trial.
Establishes baseline pricing for comparison against future changes
apps.apple.com/us/app/bear-markdown-notes/id1091189122 - NotionCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026 · 2 pricing entries on record
Custom Agents transitioned from a free beta to a credit-based pricing model starting May 4, 2026, with admins able to set per-agent credit limits.
Introduces metered/usage-based cost exposure for heavy automation users on top of flat per-seat pricing.
matthiasfrank.de/en/notion-updates/ - EvernoteCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Evernote's 2026 lineup is reported as Free, Starter, Advanced, and Enterprise (custom), replacing the older Personal/Professional naming; one tracker cites Starter at $8.25/mo ($99/yr) and Advanced at $20.83/mo ($249.99/yr), with the free tier cut to 50 notes and 1 notebook.
Establishes baseline pricing/packaging; buyers comparing to competitors like Notion or OneNote see a narrower free tier and higher paid pricing.
www.eesel.ai/blog/evernote-pricing - CraftFACTSep 30, 2026
Craft's current plan structure is Starter (Free) with up to 1,500 content blocks, 1GB storage, 25MB media uploads, 7-day version history, and 15 AI credits/month; Plus at roughly $8/month (with discounted rates shown, e.g. $6.4/month) offering unlimited documents/storage/media, 30-day version history, and 50 AI credits/month; Family as a fixed-price bundle of 2-6 Plus accounts; and Team as a fixed-price bundle of up to 10 Plus accounts (~$50/month).
Establishes the baseline pricing ladder; individual/solo buyers compare against Plus, teams against Family/Team bundles
www.craft.do/pricing - Lock-in and syncFACTSep 30, 2026
Evernote replaced its Personal/Professional plans with new Starter and Advanced tiers, with price increases reported to $8.25/month for Starter and $20.83/month for Advanced; US renewals reportedly jumped from $129 to $249 and EU from €99 to €199.
Existing Evernote subscribers face a roughly 2x cost increase at renewal, driving migration to competitors.
daveedwardsmedia.com/2025/11/17/new-pricing/
No pricing entry recorded for Students and knowledge workers — it was read, and the reading recorded no pricing change. Not the same as free, and not the same as unchanged.
Each row is the last pricing change the reading recorded for that company, with its date, its tag and its source — a company’s own page is its claim about itself. Forge keeps no price list and computes no price: there is no average, no cheapest and no ranking here.
Money into this sector
2 rounds recorded across 2 read quarters. 0 of them stated an amount; the sums are floors over those, per currency and per tag, never combined. The number of companies read moved from 6 to 1 across the span, so a change in the count is partly a change in what was read.
A round is counted from a dated, sourced ledger entry tagged FACT or COMPANY CLAIM. A sum is a floor over the rounds that stated a figure, never a valuation, and two currencies are never added. The label over a bar is how many companies were read that quarter — a taller bar over a bigger denominator is not more money.
How big this market is, as its publishers state it
No market-size figure has been recorded for this level yet. Not read is not zero.
Research-house estimates for this sector, carried side by side under each house’s own name. Estimates of one market can differ several-fold; none is averaged, and none is Forge’s.
No publisher is named for this level yet, so there is nothing to read from. Publishers are authored in the taxonomy and arrive with a deploy.
What each week held
Withheld: something was read in 1 week of the last 12. A series needs at least 2 to say anything a single reading does not.
Who is watched
Ordered by how much each said in the last seven days. A company Forge has not read yet says so — it is not a quiet one.
- Evernoteevernote.comCompetitor5 this weeka source did not answerread Sep 30, 2026
- Notionnotion.soCompetitor5 this weeka source did not answerread Sep 30, 2026
- Bearbear.appCompetitor5 this weekread Sep 30, 2026
- Craftcraft.doCompetitor4 this weekread Sep 30, 2026
- Obsidianobsidian.mdCompetitor4 this weekread Sep 30, 2026
- Lock-in and syncArgument4 this weekread Sep 30, 2026
- quiet this weekread Oct 1, 2026
The ledger
Newest first. A fact, a company’s own claim about itself and a user’s opinion are all here, and the tag on each row is which one you are reading.
- Students and knowledge workersPRODUCTINFERENCEOct 1, 2026
Within the student-specific niche, spaced-repetition/flashcard-centric tools (RemNote) and lecture-audio-to-notes tools (SpeakNotes, Notelyn) are repeatedly surfaced as the differentiated picks versus general-purpose apps.
Indicates two durable student-specific feature wedges (spaced repetition; lecture/audio capture) that any new entrant competes on.
kenznote.com/blog/best-notetaker-apps-students - Students and knowledge workersPRODUCTINFERENCEOct 1, 2026
A distinct 'AI second brain' sub-category has emerged, positioned against plain note apps on automatic capture and AI-driven organization: examples cited include Littlebird (captures from active window/meetings automatically), ContextBolt (AI-tagged saves wired into Claude/Cursor via MCP), and Mem/Tana/Capacities/Reflect as 'AI-native' structuring tools.
Signals a positioning shift buyers researching 'second brain' tools now see: AI-automated organization vs. manual systems like Notion/Obsidian.
littlebird.ai/blog/best-second-brain-apps - Students and knowledge workersPOSITIONINGINFERENCEOct 1, 2026
Across nearly every 2026 roundup searched, Notion and Obsidian are named as the two dominant 'default' picks for students/knowledge workers (Notion for all-in-one structure, Obsidian for free local-first linked notes), with OneNote as the top free Microsoft-ecosystem alternative.
Establishes the incumbent baseline that any challenger app in this segment is compared against.
primetechinsights.com/best-note-taking-apps-2026/ - BearCOMPLAINTUSER OPINIONSep 30, 2026
Some users express concerns over privacy and Bear's heavy reliance on the Apple ecosystem, limiting cross-platform use.
Highlights Apple-exclusivity as a recurring limitation for non-Apple users
alternativeto.net/software/bear-writer/about - BearCOMPLAINTUSER OPINIONSep 30, 2026
Some users criticize Bear's cost for what is essentially plain-text note-taking and note that better Mac alternatives exist.
First sighting of a pricing/value complaint theme; watch for repeat mentions
alternativeto.net/software/bear-writer/about - BearPOSITIONINGCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Bear markets itself as "beautiful, powerfully simple" and private, emphasizing that notes are stored in plain text/markdown with no signup or account required to get started.
Baseline homepage/App Store positioning language
apps.apple.com/us/app/-/id1016366447 - BearPRODUCTCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Bear Pro includes iCloud sync across Apple devices, note encryption with Face/Touch ID lock, OCR search inside images and PDFs, export to HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub, and over 30 themes and app icons.
Baseline feature set buyers compare against competitors like Obsidian, Notion, Apple Notes
apps.apple.com/us/app/bear-markdown-notes/id1091189122 - BearPRICINGFACTSep 30, 2026
Bear offers a free plan (local notes, basic editing, limited export, single device) and a Bear Pro plan priced at $2.99/month or $29.99/year, with a 14-day free trial.
Establishes baseline pricing for comparison against future changes
apps.apple.com/us/app/bear-markdown-notes/id1091189122 - ObsidianPRODUCTFACTSep 30, 2026
The September 2, 2026 early-access release (1.14.0) added color highlights to the editor and a new kanban layout for Bases, allowing files to be displayed in ordered columns.
Kanban-style Bases view moves Obsidian closer to project-management/PKM hybrid tools, relevant for competitive positioning against task/database apps.
obsidian.md/changelog/2026-09-02-desktop-v1.14.0/ - ObsidianPRODUCTFACTSep 30, 2026
The February 27, 2026 desktop release (1.12) introduced the Obsidian CLI, a command line interface letting users control Obsidian from the terminal for scripting, automation, and integration with external tools.
New capability expanding Obsidian's appeal to power users/developers wanting scripting/automation workflows.
obsidian.md/changelog/2026-02-27-desktop-v1.12.4/ - ObsidianPRICINGFACTSep 30, 2026
In February 2025, Obsidian made its Commercial license optional rather than mandatory, so any business can use the app for work at no cost, with the $50/user/year license now positioned as a voluntary way to support development rather than a required gate.
Baseline note: this licensing shift predates the tracking window but defines current buyer expectations for commercial use.
www.usecarly.com/blog/obsidian-pricing/ - ObsidianPRICINGCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Obsidian's pricing consists of the free core app plus four paid add-ons: Sync at $5/month ($4/month billed annually), Publish at $10/month ($8/month billed annually), Catalyst as a one-time $25+ donation tier, and an optional Commercial license at $50/user/year. Students, faculty, and nonprofit employees get 40% off Sync and Publish.
Establishes baseline pricing structure against which future changes (price moves, new tiers) will be compared.
outmano.com/tools/obsidian/pricing - Lock-in and syncPOSITIONINGCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Notesnook markets itself as 'zero lock-in' with notes leaving in open formats any other app can read, and PrivacyNotes similarly states lock-in is not part of its business model, both leading with export/portability as a core buyer-facing capability.
Competitors are directly positioning against Evernote-style lock-in as a market differentiator, which buyers evaluating note apps will encounter.
notesnook.com/help/export-notes-from-notesnook - Lock-in and syncDISCOURSEUSER OPINIONSep 30, 2026
A 15-year Evernote user publicly detailed migrating to Obsidian, citing that their notes and workflow were locked inside a proprietary system with no API, no CLI, and no integration with automation tools.
Represents the lock-in complaint crossing into public long-form writing/migration guides, not just forum venting.
medium.com/@dennis.somerville/how-i-finally-walked-away-from-evernote-after-15-years-8ae66ebd062c - Lock-in and syncCOMPLAINTUSER OPINIONSep 30, 2026
Long-term Evernote users across multiple independent forum threads describe the new pricing as 'extortionate' and cite vendor lock-in (large note collections, no export path, no API) as the reason leaving feels difficult despite wanting to.
Signals a mainstream (not niche) discourse theme: pricing dissatisfaction reinforcing lock-in fears, appearing across at least three separate forum/blog threads.
discussion.evernote.com/forums/topic/156605-what-do-you-think-about-the-new-subscription-prices/ - Lock-in and syncPRICINGFACTSep 30, 2026
Evernote replaced its Personal/Professional plans with new Starter and Advanced tiers, with price increases reported to $8.25/month for Starter and $20.83/month for Advanced; US renewals reportedly jumped from $129 to $249 and EU from €99 to €199.
Existing Evernote subscribers face a roughly 2x cost increase at renewal, driving migration to competitors.
daveedwardsmedia.com/2025/11/17/new-pricing/ - EvernoteCOMPLAINTUSER OPINIONSep 30, 2026
Third-party review aggregation describes user sentiment as mixed to negative, with reviewers praising search and sync but citing steep price hikes, automatic charges, and a weakened free tier.
Baseline complaint theme to track for recurrence/escalation in future checks.
checkthat.ai/brands/evernote/pricing - EvernotePEOPLEFACTSep 30, 2026
Evernote's current CEO is Francesco Patarnello, who has held the role since January 2023 following the Bending Spoons acquisition.
Leadership baseline for future change tracking.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evernote_Corporation - EvernoteFUNDINGFACTSep 30, 2026
Evernote's parent company Bending Spoons listed on Nasdaq at an $18.4 billion valuation, with Forbes reporting Evernote's revenue was up 34% in 2024 and continued growing further in the following period.
Parent-company IPO and Evernote's reported revenue growth indicate increased capital and scrutiny available for reinvestment in the Evernote product.
www.forbes.com/sites/iainmartin/2026/07/01/how-bending-spoons-built-a-184-billion-empire-by-buying-internet-has-beens-like-aol/ - EvernotePRODUCTCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Evernote's Advanced tier is described as including AI features (AI Edit, Semantic Search) plus Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations, positioning AI and third-party integrations as premium differentiators.
Signals Evernote is gating AI capability behind its top paid tier rather than offering it broadly.
www.eesel.ai/blog/evernote-pricing - EvernotePRICINGINFERENCESep 30, 2026
Multiple independent trackers (eesel.ai, usecarly.com) corroborate a free-tier squeeze to 50 notes/1 notebook and a paid structure of roughly $99/yr Starter and $249.99/yr Advanced, though other aggregators report differing numbers (e.g., $7.99-$24.99 ranges), suggesting either regional/promo variation or stale competitor data.
Indicates real pricing may vary by billing cycle/region; downstream monitoring should verify directly against evernote.com/pricing next cycle.
www.usecarly.com/blog/evernote-pricing/ - EvernotePRICINGCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Evernote's 2026 lineup is reported as Free, Starter, Advanced, and Enterprise (custom), replacing the older Personal/Professional naming; one tracker cites Starter at $8.25/mo ($99/yr) and Advanced at $20.83/mo ($249.99/yr), with the free tier cut to 50 notes and 1 notebook.
Establishes baseline pricing/packaging; buyers comparing to competitors like Notion or OneNote see a narrower free tier and higher paid pricing.
www.eesel.ai/blog/evernote-pricing - CraftFUNDINGFACTSep 30, 2026
Craft Docs was backed by an $8 million Series A round led by Creandum, disclosed at the time the company surpassed 300,000 Apple users globally.
Baseline funding fact; no more recent round was found in this search
www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211202005370/en/Craft-Docs-Wins-Mac-App-of-the-Year-for-Apples-2021-App-Store-Awards - CraftPRODUCTFACTSep 30, 2026
Craft's blog changelog shows a steady 2026 cadence of feature releases including Whiteboards v1.0, embedded Tasks with a unified task sidebar and calendar view, Daily Notes template support, Tags flowing inline in text, a major colors/color-picker revamp, and Dark Mode/OS 27 updates (most recently September 15, 2026).
Shows Craft broadening from a docs tool toward a life-OS-style workspace (tasks, calendar, whiteboards)
www.craft.do/blog - CraftPRODUCTFACTSep 30, 2026
Craft now offers an AI Assistant with three model tiers (Core, Fast, Max), with Plus users getting 50 monthly credits and access to the higher-reasoning Max tier, alongside native MCP server connections ('Imagine' hub) to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, and Raycast, plus API integrations with Lovable, Replit, Bolt, v0, and Apple Shortcuts.
Positions Craft's AI/MCP layer as a differentiator versus other docs tools for AI-assistant buyers
websites2know.com/craft-do-review/ - CraftPRICINGFACTSep 30, 2026
Craft's current plan structure is Starter (Free) with up to 1,500 content blocks, 1GB storage, 25MB media uploads, 7-day version history, and 15 AI credits/month; Plus at roughly $8/month (with discounted rates shown, e.g. $6.4/month) offering unlimited documents/storage/media, 30-day version history, and 50 AI credits/month; Family as a fixed-price bundle of 2-6 Plus accounts; and Team as a fixed-price bundle of up to 10 Plus accounts (~$50/month).
Establishes the baseline pricing ladder; individual/solo buyers compare against Plus, teams against Family/Team bundles
www.craft.do/pricing - NotionPRODUCTCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
In February 2026 (Notion 3.3) Notion launched Custom Agents that run autonomously on schedules or event-based triggers, distinct from the personal, task-directed Notion Agent.
Expands Notion's competitive surface into autonomous workflow automation, a category adjacent to dedicated automation tools.
www.eesel.ai/blog/notion-ai-review - NotionPRICINGCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Custom Agents transitioned from a free beta to a credit-based pricing model starting May 4, 2026, with admins able to set per-agent credit limits.
Introduces metered/usage-based cost exposure for heavy automation users on top of flat per-seat pricing.
matthiasfrank.de/en/notion-updates/ - NotionPRODUCTFACTSep 30, 2026
In May 2026 Notion launched the Notion Developer Platform, introducing Workers (a cloud-based sandbox for running custom code), database sync for pulling live external data, and two-way webhooks so external apps can trigger Notion workflows.
Positions Notion as a developer/integration platform, not just an end-user workspace, competing with iPaaS and workflow-automation tools.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notion_(productivity_software) - NotionPRODUCTCOMPANY CLAIMSep 30, 2026
Notion's April 2026 release added Skills to Notion Agent, letting users save recurring workflows (e.g., drafting weekly updates, prepping meeting briefs) as reusable agent commands, plus native Calendar/Mail/Slack integration for the agent, inline doc editing, and voice dictation of prompts.
Signals Notion is deepening its agent product area with workflow automation and cross-app integration, raising the bar for competitors on agent depth.
www.notion.com/releases/2026-04-14