Notion Review: Your All-in-One Digital Workspace
Notion has taken the productivity world by storm, amassing over 30 million users since its launch. It's part note-taking app, part database, part project manager—and it does all three remarkably well. But is it right for you?
We've been using Notion for over a year across personal projects and team collaboration. This review shares our honest assessment of its strengths, weaknesses, and ideal use cases.
The Verdict: Notion
Notion is incredibly flexible, serving as a wiki, project manager, and note-taking app all in one. Its learning curve pays off with a highly personalized workspace.
Pros
- Extremely flexible and customizable
- Beautiful, clean interface
- Excellent for documentation and wikis
Cons
- Can be slow with large databases
- Offline mode is limited
- No native time tracking
What Makes Notion Different?
Unlike traditional productivity tools that force you into rigid structures, Notion gives you building blocks to create your own system. Everything in Notion is a "block"—text, images, toggles, databases, embeds, and more. You combine these blocks to build pages that work exactly how you want.
This flexibility is Notion's superpower and its challenge. You can build almost anything, but you have to build it yourself (or use a template).
Core Features
- Blocks: The foundation of Notion. Everything—text, images, embeds, databases—is a movable block.
- Databases: Create tables, boards, calendars, galleries, and lists. Link databases together with relations and rollups.
- Templates: Thousands of community templates for everything from habit trackers to company wikis.
- Notion AI: AI-powered writing assistant for drafting, summarizing, and brainstorming.
- Real-time Collaboration: Work together with teammates, leave comments, and mention users.
- Web Clipper: Save articles and web pages directly to Notion.
- API & Integrations: Connect with Slack, Zapier, GitHub, and more.
Popular Use Cases
- Company Wiki: Centralize company knowledge, policies, and documentation.
- Project Management: Track tasks with Kanban boards or table views.
- Personal Knowledge Base: Build a "second brain" for notes, articles, and ideas.
- Meeting Notes: Create templates for recurring meeting agendas and notes.
- Content Calendar: Plan blog posts, social media, and marketing campaigns.
- CRM: Build a lightweight customer relationship manager.
Pricing Structure
- Free: Unlimited pages and blocks, 7-day page history, 5MB file uploads.
- Plus ($10/user/month): Unlimited file uploads, 30-day history, 100 guests.
- Business ($18/user/month): SAML SSO, private teamspaces, bulk export.
- Enterprise (Custom): Advanced security, audit log, dedicated success manager.
Note: The free plan is quite generous for personal use. Teams will likely need Plus or higher.
Notion vs Confluence
| Feature | Notion | Confluence |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Very Easy | Moderate |
| Free Plan | Yes (Limited) | Yes (10 users) |
| Databases | Excellent | Basic |
| Enterprise Features | Growing | Mature |
| Jira Integration | Third-party | Native |
| Offline Support | Limited | No |
Limitations to Consider
- Performance with Large Databases: Pages with thousands of database entries can become sluggish.
- Offline Mode: While improving, offline support is still limited compared to native apps.
- No Native Time Tracking: You'll need third-party tools or workarounds.
- Blank Page Syndrome: The flexibility can be paralyzing—where do you even start?
- Mobile App: Functional but not as smooth as the desktop experience.
Tips for Getting Started
- Start with templates instead of building from scratch.
- Begin with one use case (e.g., notes or tasks) before expanding.
- Learn keyboard shortcuts—they'll save you hours.
- Use the Notion community for inspiration and templates.
- Don't over-engineer your system initially. Keep it simple and iterate.
Final Verdict
Notion is a beautiful, powerful tool that rewards investment. If you're willing to spend time building your ideal workspace, it can replace multiple apps and become your digital home base.
It's particularly excellent for documentation, wikis, and knowledge management. For pure project management, dedicated tools like Asana might be more straightforward.
Our recommendation: Perfect for individuals and teams who value flexibility and beautiful design. Start with templates, and don't try to build everything at once.