Asana vs Evernote
Side-by-side comparison of the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of Asana and Evernote.
Asana provides meaningful privacy safeguards, certifications, data residency choices, and clear rights-request channels, which are notable positives. But the user-facing terms remain protective of Asana: the service is provided as-is, liability is capped at $100, users owe indemnity, and Asana can change terms or discontinue service with broad discretion.
Asana’s legal posture is generally business-oriented but comparatively transparent. It offers strong privacy/compliance signals, data residency options, admin controls for AI, and a clear privacy-rights request process. However, its terms include broad service-control rights, a very low liability cap, indemnity obligations, and broad discretion to change terms, suspend access, or remove content—especially important for free users and people using employer-managed accounts.
Points of interest
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negative ●●●●● termsLiability capped at $100
If Asana causes harm, its maximum contractual liability is generally limited to $100, which is very low for a productivity platform that may store important work data. It also broadly disclaims warranties.
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negative ●●●●○ termsBroad indemnity obligation
You agree to defend and reimburse Asana for claims tied to your use, content, legal violations, or others' rights. This can shift substantial legal risk and costs onto the user.
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negative ●●●●○ termsUnilateral terms changes
Asana can change the terms by posting updates, and continued use counts as acceptance. That means your rights and obligations may change without a fresh signature.
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positive ●●●●○ privacyStrong privacy certifications
Asana highlights third-party privacy and security certifications and audits, which is a meaningful trust signal for handling customer data. This suggests more mature internal controls than many consumer services provide.
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positive ●●●●○ privacyData residency options
Customers can choose among several data regions, which can help with compliance, localization, and reducing cross-border privacy concerns. Enterprise users can also bring their own encryption keys for added control.
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negative ●●●○○ termsService may end anytime
Asana reserves the right to modify or discontinue the service, temporarily or permanently, with or without notice. Users may have limited recourse if features are removed or access ends.
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negative ●●●○○ termsContent removal discretion
For free users, Asana can remove content it considers objectionable in its sole discretion. This gives the platform broad moderation power beyond clear legal violations.
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negative ●●●○○ termsManaged users lack control
If you use Asana through your employer or another organization, that customer controls much of your data, permissions, integrations, and disputes. Your privacy and access may depend more on your organization than on Asana directly.
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negative ●●●○○ privacyAI may use content
Some AI-powered features use metadata, personal information, and user-generated content such as task titles and descriptions. Users handling sensitive work should understand that AI processing may extend beyond metadata.
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positive ●●●○○ privacyPrivacy rights request form
Asana provides a specific global form for access and deletion/privacy requests, making rights exercise more straightforward. That is more user-friendly than requiring ad hoc email requests.
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positive ●●●○○ privacyLaw enforcement review
Asana says it reviews government requests for validity and proportionality before responding. This is a meaningful transparency and privacy-protective commitment.
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positive ●●●○○ privacyAI can be disabled
Admins can turn Asana AI features on or off, giving organizations meaningful control over whether AI processing happens in their workspace. This can reduce privacy and governance risks.
Documents
Evernote includes meaningful privacy positives like no sale of personal data, export/deletion options, and limited employee access to content. But those are offset by strong liability disclaimers, broad service-change rights, U.S. data transfers, backup retention, and mandatory individual arbitration for many users.
Evernote presents a mixed but fairly transparent legal posture. It says users keep ownership of their notes, offers data export and deletion requests, and says it does not sell or rent personal data. However, it requires arbitration for many U.S.-linked disputes unless you opt out quickly, reserves broad rights to change or suspend the service, disclaims warranties, limits liability, and retains some deleted data in backups for up to one year.
Points of interest
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negative ●●●●● termsMandatory arbitration waiver
For U.S. users or those under the Federal Arbitration Act, most disputes must go to individual arbitration instead of court, and class actions are waived. You can opt out, but only within 30 days.
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negative ●●●●○ termsBroad liability disclaimer
Evernote provides the service "as is" and broadly disclaims warranties, while limiting liability to the maximum extent allowed by law. If the service fails, loses data, or has outages, your remedies may be limited.
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negative ●●●●○ termsCan change or limit service
Evernote can modify features, impose limits, suspend access, or discontinue parts of the service, sometimes without notice. This means features or access you rely on may change unexpectedly.
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positive ●●●●○ privacyNo sale of personal data
Evernote explicitly says it is not in the business of selling or renting your personal data and does not share it for third parties' own advertising purposes. That's a meaningful privacy protection compared with many ad-supported services.
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positive ●●●●○ privacyExport and deletion rights
You can access, edit, export, correct, or request deletion of your personal data, and you can export notes at any time. This gives users a practical path to leave the service with their information.
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negative ●●●○○ termsIrrevocable content license
You keep ownership of your content, but grant Evernote a worldwide, transferable, sublicensable license to store, reproduce, modify, and distribute it as needed to run the service. This is service-related, but it is still broad while your content remains stored there.
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negative ●●●○○ privacyDeleted data lingers in backups
Deleted content may remain in backup systems for up to one year, and some account/support data can be kept for up to three years or five years for legal compliance. Deletion is therefore not always immediate or complete across systems.
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negative ●●●○○ privacyU.S. storage and transfers
Your synced data is stored on servers in the United States and may be transmitted internationally. Users outside the U.S. may face weaker local privacy protections or more government-access concerns.
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positive ●●●○○ privacyLimited employee content access
Evernote says staff generally cannot view your content unless you give permission or access is legally required. Support access is described as temporary and consent-based when tied to specific issues.
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positive ●●●○○ termsNotice before account closure
If Evernote decides to close your account, it says it will usually give at least 30 days' advance notice so you can retrieve stored content. This is a useful safeguard against sudden loss of access.
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negative ●●○○○ privacySecurity scanning of shared content
Evernote may automatically analyze shared notes and emails for spam, malware, fraud, and policy violations. This is framed as security protection, but it still means some content is machine-scanned.
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neutral ●●○○○ privacyDo Not Track ignored
Evernote says it does not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals. Users who rely on that browser setting should not expect it to control tracking here.
Documents
Comparison is based on each service's published Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Read the source documents linked above before relying on any specific clause.