Chris True of AllMusic called "Even Flow" "the somewhat less ballady more swaggering follow up to the breakout single 'Alive'." True said that the song "doesn’t even really have an intro—it just starts and keeps going—and the band seems more in the groove than on the overly earnest 'Alive'." True said that the song "confirmed that Pearl Jam were more than just one hit grunge rock wonders." The song was placed at number 77 on a list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" by "Rolling Stone". It was also included on VH1's countdown of the "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" at number 30. According to Nielsen Music's year-end report for 2019, "Even Flow" was the fifth most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio with 132,000 spins. All of the songs in the top 10 were from the 1990s.