The Defensive Moat for SaaS Software has gone

Another day, another price increase for a SaaS app that I have used for years, Evernote. You can read more about this on the Reddit Evernote Megathread .

There is a heap of new AI related functionality in the updated Evernote and whether end users want to pay more to take advantage of this, I guess is a choice, but as you can see from the linked Reddit thread, many have strong opinions about it.

For my own part, this was another excuse to simply vibe code my way out of paying.

Evernote provides the ability to backup existing notebooks and notes as .enex files. Because Evernote's .enex export format is essentially just an XML file, the app reads the file as text and (post sanitizing the xmls) simply loops through the data using standard JavaScript DOM methods to cleanly extract the internal HTML stored specifically inside Evernote's custom <en-note> tags.

What I ended up with is something I've called WhyAI Notes, a zero-dependency, single-file responsive HTML web app that turns a browser into an AI-powered Evernote client. As with many of my vibe coded local first Apps, it uses IndexedDB for local storage, the Web Crypto API for AES-GCM encrypted backups, and I'm using (cheap) Gemini Flash to enable chat with the stored documents and PDFs.

They key point here is one I have made before, which is that for many applications there is no longer a defensible moat, it's gone.

Now, not everyone is going to vibe code a replacement app, but many can, and will, and its only going to get easier.

This is now the second App where I have cancelled a subscription and vibe coded an alternative (see my video app post here).

When I posted about Andressen Horowitz's consumer AI market analysis yesterday, in which the top consumer apps were ranked , there was no place for vibe coded apps but I do wonder how many people are regularly doing just this.

WhyAI Notes is here: 👉 https://jimliddle.github.io/WhyAInotes/