Notion: A Productivity App To Change the Way You Work
From writing a master thesis to planning a DnD campaign to wedding planning to writing a book, Notion helps you get your tasks organized to manage tasks, take notes, and manage projects all from one centralized location.
Notion is one of the fastest-growing productivity applications with over 4 million users. Notion offers an all-in-one workflow place that allows infinite customization, making any workflow and future adjustments easy and streamlined. Also provided is a team function that enables real-time collaboration so that team members can easily share, comment, send reminders, and assign tasks all from one place.
What Is Notion?
Notion has often been compared to a box of Legos. Everything needed is there; you have to arrange and rearrange the blocks to create whatever you want. Examples in the form of templates are also available for you to follow and customize to fit whatever you want. Or you can craft your own set of blocks your way from scratch.
There are many components like notes, databases, wikis, calendars, reminders, and Kanban boards. Each part can be used individually are used in collaboration with other elements to create systems for organization and management.
Notion has a clean and fresh look with its white space background and has aesthetically pleasing and functional emojis that make at-a-glance overviews simplified and easy to decode. Notion boards, templates, lists, and projects are easily customizable, making it easier to find what you are looking for as users can design layouts and templates to what works best for them.
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Key Features of Notion
- Note Taking: With Notion, taking notes is easier than ever. Lists, plain text, videos, code snippets, sound, the list is endless on the notes that can be added to Notion. With drag and drop features, it is easy to change and rearrange lists and notes so that you can stay organized.
- Lists: Notion makes it easy to create lists and tick tasks off your list. The digital platform makes it easy to move around and rearrange lists as needed. Users can create as many lists as needed or wanted.
- Tasks and Projects: Users can make projects and assign tasks from one centralized location. Folders or lists can organize projects and tasks. Users can also enable task notifications that keep you informed of project developments, which can be especially helpful for teams that use Notion. Notion is considered a good replacement for Trello, Asana, and Jira.
- Kanban Boards: With Kanban boards, Notion users can take their projects to a whole new level. Kanban boards allow users to set up columns for each phase which provides a clear and concise visual presentation of where a project is in its lifecycle.
- Templates: Notion makes it easy to duplicate templates. Once you find a template that works, it only takes few button clicks to set a duplicate board up and start making it work for you. Notion also has many templates to choose from that are easily customizable to make it work for you and your team. Many creators around the web create templates and share them for free, taking some of the work out of the process for beginners or those who want ready-to-go templates.
- Integration: Notion supports integration with various tools like Typeform, Google Calendar, and Google Drive, making it easy to ingrate information across platforms into one consolidated location.
- Team Wiki: A place where a whole team can stay up-to-date and informed in real-time. The team wiki allows your entire team to have a collective space where anyone can share knowledge, daily tasks, goals, and planning. Notion boasts that the Team Wiki function can replace Confluence and GitHub Wiki.
- Extensive Guides and Tutorials: Notion has provided a large database and tutorials that guide users through almost any question they might have. Ranging from beginner tutorials to industry-specific recommendations on how to make Notion more effective and efficient for your needs, Notion has a wide range of knowledge to learn from. Tutorials also come in a variety of formats like written articles and videos.
In addition to Notion’s large database of knowledge, there are many tutorials, courses, and resources available on Skillshare.
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Notion Pricing
#1 Personal – Free
Anyone can create a free account and use Notion. With the free version, there are unlimited pages and blocks. Projects can be shared with up to three guests. Information is synced across all devices, content API is available, and up to 5MB of file uploads.
#2 Personal Pro – $4 per month
In addition to all personal plan options, the Personal Pro option offers unlimited file uploads and version history up to 30 days.
#3 Team – $8 per month
All previous features are available with the Team package and add unlimited team members, collaborative workspace, admin tools, and advanced permissions.
#4 Enterprise – Custom Pricing
Added to all the available features in all the pricing tiers, the Enterprise tier comes with SAML single sign-on, dedicated manager capabilities, customers contracts, SCIM, API, and advanced security.
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Notion Pricing Plans Comparison
| Personal | Personal Pro | Team | Enterprise | |
| Price | Free | $4 per month | $8 per month | Custom |
| Blocks | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage | 5MB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Users | 1 | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Guests | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Version History | Limited | 30 Days | 30 Days | Unlimited |
While some might complain about what Notion lacks, their pricing makes their unique productivity tools available at highly affordable rates. With their unlimited free trial, it is easy to get a full understanding of everything that Notion offers without paying. Finding which plan is right for you is almost as easy as just trying it out.
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What are some alternatives to Notion?
Notion is a great handyman platform where you can complete a wide range of tasks in one place. Two robust alternatives to Notion that just might surprise you with their features are Monday.com and ClickUp. Both platforms are known for their collaboration tools for teams and businesses, but both perform equally well for individuals.
Monday.com differs from Notion at its core. It is a Work Operating System and unlike Notion, it provides Gantt charts and time tracking for project management. If you are looking for Wikis and journaling, stick with Notion, but if you’re looking for risk analysis, budget tracking, hundreds of integrations, visual imagining, and project management solutions check out Monday.com’s free trial.
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ClickUp is a one-stop option for all your project management needs. Its offerings are similar to Monday.com’s, but individuals receive access to a free plan. Like Notion, ClickUp also offers docs and Wikis. Unlike its competitor, ClickUp provides dashboards, goal setting, archivable docs, a personal notepad, and the ability to write and assign comments. Users also have access to email, Gantt charts, mind maps, in-app video recording, and automations. Both ClickUp and Monday.com feature robust tools for team collaboration, but both platforms are equally as useful for the goal-oriented individual.
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Direct Competitors of Notion
While Notion may be easy to use and has a highly customizable page, there is a lot to learn. As Notion has been compared to legos, some have said that Notion is more like a box of Legos mixed with Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, and an erector set that got dumped on the floor. And now you have to sort and figure it all out.
Notion offers a lot, but it does not compete with programs that are dedicated to project management tools. And while Notion works well for personal use and small companies, it does not translate well to much larger organizations because there are limitations to Notion’s collaborative capabilities.
| Notion | Tettra | Slite | Slab | |
| $0-$8/month | $0-$99/month | $0-$6.67/month | $0-$60 month | |
| Free Plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free Trial | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Blocks/Docs | Unlimited | Unlimited | 50 docs | Unlimited |
| Users | Up to 5 | Up to 5 | Unlimited | Up to 10 |
| Storage Free plan | 5MB | 1GB per user | 2GB per team | 10MB |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Notion offer a free trial?
Notion offers an unlimited free trial for higher-priced tiers. The only limitation is a 1000 block limitation.
Are there free plans for educators or students?
Notion offers their Personal Pro plan for free for eligible students and educators. Signing up for the education plan is as easy as verifying an official email address. A free personal account will immediately be updated to a free Personal Pro account.
For teams, clubs, or classes that need to have more than one user, Notion offers a 50% discount. The discount only applies to K-12 and higher education institutions that are registered as a 501(c)3 in the United States.
Can you use Notion offline?
Notion is a web-based productivity tool. If you want to access Notion offline, you will have to open the pages you want while still online and leave them open. Any changes that are made while offline will sync up once your device goes back online.
Is Notion just for personal or small business use?
Though Notion is great for beginners and has a great free tier of their services, Notion has helped big-name companies stay on track and stay focused. Some companies that have used Notion’s productivity app include Headspace, Buffer, Match, Pixar, Slack, IBM, Spotify, ImmigrationHelp.org, Codecademy, and Chipper to name a few. These customers have used Notion to organize meeting notes, manage team knowledge, manage projects, drive teamwork, and prioritize ideas all to streamline and simplify workflow.
Which tools does Notion replace?
Notion has the capacity to replace several organization and productivity apps. Some of these apps include Trello ($5 per month), Pipeline ($5 per month), and Evernote ($7.99 per month) as well as apps like Dropbox and Box, Confluence, and Github Wiki.
References:
- medium.com/the-leadership-journal/how-to-use-notion-day-one-a136c5de8fef
- notion.so/Help-Support-Documentation-e040febf70a94950b8620e6f00005004
- keepproductive.com/blog/notion-for-beginners