Looking beyond Notion? Review 15 top alternatives for 2025, with hands-on comparisons of setup, features, templates, and key limitations.
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Here are my favorite Notion alternatives that I’ll review in detail below.
Want even more options? Check out my full breakdown of all my picks below.
Notion has come a long way since its inception, rising from what was essentially a note-taking app to now being one of the most well-known project management tools today.
But, I have found it to have several limitations that would cause me to seek other alternatives.
First, Notion is pretty complex to initially set up which can be overwhelming for even the most tech-savvy users.
It is essentially a highly flexible blank slate. This means you must invest a great deal of time and energy into setting up the structure for your Notion Space.
Notion templates make this process much easier, but you still have to decide the hierarchy, integrations, connections, and document formats, which can be daunting for some users.
Unlike ClickUp’s suite of features, Notion seems to be your company wiki, i.e., a collection of documents. Most features are designed from that perspective, making it sub-optimal in other areas.
Project management features are limited and unsuitable for big assignments It doesn’t have a native form builder or a workflow builder Notion integrations with enterprise tools like M365, AWS, etc. are patchy at best. Therefore, I found myself using another app for task management, adding to costs and efforts.
I’m a very productive individual and I rely on templates to systemize my work for discovery calls, meetings, etc.. However, I found these pretty difficult to create in Notion, and I have do end up redoing the structure for each type of document every time I needed it.
Several apps today overcome these challenges and offer much more. Let’s look at all the Notion AI alternatives at a glance.
| Note-taking tool | Best for | Best feature | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClickUp | Managing documents | Ability to convert ideas and notes into tasks for teams to take action | As ClickUp offers a lot more than just note-taking, it can be overwhelming for someone who just wants to jot down a few ideas |
| Nuclino | Simple wikis and knowledge bases | Collaborative documents where you can make notes, tag people, create tasks, embed files, etc | Lack of custom branding, themes, and styles |
| Obsidian | Documenting connected ideas and concepts | Bi-directional linking between notes, ideas, concepts, etc | Can have a steep learning curve |
| Microsoft OneNote | Audio and video notes | Similar to a physical notebook with pages, easy to use | Very few integrations |
| Evernote | Personal productivity and note-taking | Integrations with Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc. to streamline workflows | Project management features are limited to creating tasks and to-do's |
| Slite | Organizational knowledge bases | Automation to create recurring docs and reminders | Lacks advanced project management features |
| Confluence | Software teams using Jira | Live collaborative editing with in-line comments, likes, GIFs, and emojis | Designed for techies, it can have a steep learning curve for the rest of us |
| Scrintal | Visual note-taking and research | Linked visual mind maps | No database-style content structuring |
| Slab | Beautiful-looking documents | Simple, easy-to-use interface for anyone to get started quickly | Limited template library |
| Google Keep | Personal note-taking | Easy to use, can add notes as text, images, and audio | Eats into the storage of your GSuite account |
| Anytype | Teams focused on trust and security | Templates for communities, families, teams, and personal users | Complicated for non-technical users |
| Microsoft Loop | Copilot users | Real-time sync across apps and devices | Limited features compared to other popular note-taking apps |
| Upbase | Personal note-taking and productivity | Simple and easy to use by design | Might be too simple for enterprise needs |
| Mem | People who want AI to do the organizing | Custom AI to create notes and responses in your tone and style | Only note-taking, little to no task management features |
| Zoho WorkDrive | Keeping files and folders organized | Stronger admin to view and manage all files and folders | Limited personalization capabilities |
Modern note-taking apps powered by ClickUp brain
ClickUp is an all-in-one workspace with powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use note-taking features. It is a great Notion alternative. Here’s why:
Now, what do you do with all these notes once you document them?
If you struggle with scattered documentation, ClickUp can help with that as well. With ClickUp Chat, your documents can be easily linked to relevant conversations, ensuring that you always have the context you need.
And just like that, your chats, notes, and tasks are connected in one place, enabling you to move fast and get more done.
Connect your projects, documentation, and conversations in one place with ClickUp Chat
ClickUp’s biggest strength is its dedicated project management tools. From complex resource allocation to creative brainstorming, ClickUp offers everything you need in a modern virtual workspace.
Some of its best note-taking features are:
In addition to the in-built features, ClickUp also offers several pre-designed templates for various use cases.
Streamline your meetings and make them productive for everyone with ClickUp’s Meeting Notes Template, which includes agendas, notes, and action items.
Organize meeting agenda, notes, and follow-ups on ClickUp’s Meeting Notes Template
As ClickUp offers much more than note-taking, it can be overwhelming for someone who just wants to jot down a few ideas.
[pricing-table]
ClickUp is a tool which gives us ease while using. We can easily navigate through tasks, setting up projects, and assigning tasks are incredibly intuitive, even for those who are new to the project management tools. It also gives us a user-friendly interface which is a game-changer for our team because it helps us seamlessly in the project management without any additional learnings.
G2 review
Seamlessly integrate AI into your wokflows with ClickUp
Also Read: ClickUp Vs. Notion: The Best Docs Tool to Choose in 2025
When we speak of ‘knowledge’ work, we often think of tacit knowledge, i.e., the information we are conscious of knowing. This is what is recorded in the form of notes.
However, a big part of knowledge work is what we are not consciously aware of. For instance, developers might not know the entire product development or management workflow. This, too, is knowledge, though tacit.
To effectively manage both conscious and tacit knowledge and serve as the best Notion alternative, you need a tool purpose-designed for modern workplaces, like ClickUp.
ClickUp’s all-in-one project management platform enables you to record information through ClickUp Docs or Notepad actively. It is one of the most powerful AI tools for note-taking.
In addition, it also captures passive data like time estimates, time tracking, individual productivity, resource utilization, etc. This creates a wealth of knowledge for individual contributors, project managers, and team leaders.
See how ClickUp manages knowledge in your organization. Try ClickUp for free today.
via Nuclino
Nuclino is a relatively new all-purpose productivity suite with features to create documents, brainstorm ideas, and manage tasks. It is one of the many apps that work on the concept of building a digital brain or neural network.
In my experience, Nuclino is too focused on being a knowledge base or a repository of information. It aims to simplify complex processes instead of making space for them. This can be restrictive, especially when you have sprawling ideas or projects.
I am looking to jump start several businesses and writing projects in collaboration and individually. Nuclino has provided a way for me to share and organize my information seamlessly and skillfully.
Capterra review
Check out these Nuclino alternatives.
via Obsidian
Obsidian is a personal knowledge base that can be expanded to organizational needs. It includes a number of features for writing, note-taking, and documenting.
It is a powerful alternative to Notion because of the way it visualizes the relationships between notes, creating an engaging and interactive graph. From information about product development to George Washington, identify patterns and record them, just like your brain would.
I used Obsidian to record my general learning and write for ideas. Add journaling to it, and it makes for a good personal wiki. However, multi-device sync with Obsidian is complex, which was a big deterrent for me.
Add-ons
I think Obsidian is ideal for text-centric tasks and it excels in note-taking and daily task tracking.
Capterra review
Check out these Obsidian alternatives.
via OneNote
Microsoft OneNote is among the most famous digital note-taking apps available today. It comes bundled with the M365 suite, making it a part of the Microsoft productivity stack.
The great thing about OneNote is that you can type text, add images, clip and insert webpages, handwrite, or draw on each page on the app, it's just like a notebook. As someone using various products in the Apple ecosystem, I found Microsoft contrasting in aesthetics.
OneNote is accessible across every one of the expert apparatuses in Office 365 like Microsoft Viewpoint and group utilized across in all gatherings. One note is exceptionally valuable with its capacity to adjust online at more prominent speed. It additionally has cool and nitty gritty UI and offers more choices like adding segments and pages.
G2 review
Check out these OneNote alternatives.
via Evernote
Evernote is one of the earliest independent note-taking apps. Before using Notion or looking for alternatives, Evernote was right on top of my list. It is a simple, clean productivity tool that allows you to add notes in the form of text, images, web pages, PDFs, and audio.
Evernote is my favorite productivity app. To be fair, I can't live without it. I use it 10 to 20 times a day. If you know how to use Evernote well, It can be your second brain. Evernote is not just a place to share your notes, you can save images, files, and web pages to your Evernote. You can use Evernote as a cloud storage to save digital notes.
G2 review
Check out these Evernote alternatives.
via Slite
Slite is a new AI-powered collaborative knowledge base platform that enables organizations to create a single source of truth for all their information. Just as I was trying various tools, I especially took to Slite because of its collections feature, which keeps related documents organized to be filtered and sorted as needed.
With pre-existing note-taking templates for various use cases and the ability to create your own, Slite is great for streamlining knowledge management. However, Slite is a knowledge base, and that’s that. To go from information to action, you need a different tool.
It does what most note-taking or knowledge management tools do. It can handle real-time collaboration as well as asynchronous discussion. I really make good use of the sharing feature, particularly for sharing a document publicly via a secret link for editing.
Capterra review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXdN2ceAX7o
via Atlassian
Atlassian’s Confluence is documentation and collaboration software designed for development teams. It allows users to take notes, organize them, add keyword labels, and archive them for organizational use.
Like many of Atlassian’s products, Confluence is designed for large enterprise teams that create comprehensive knowledge bases. While you can certainly take meeting notes on Confluence, that is not the best use of the app.
What I love the most about Confluence is the fact that it is so easy to use, considering that it has a vast amount of templates for different documents and projects. This makes it easier to begin any project or work on any document because a lot of people struggle with starting.
G2 review
via Scrintal
Scrintal offers a fresh approach to workspace organization by combining visual note-taking with mind mapping. That’s what drew me to the app, it’s like having a digital whiteboard where you can connect thoughts, research, and ideas in a flexible, visual layout.
While setting up a knowledge base, I found Scrintal incredibly intuitive for brainstorming and organizing thoughts visually. However, it wasn’t ideal for more structured documentation or database-style use cases.
Working in Scrintal has changed my workflow, bringing clarity to it that I didn't have before.
Capterra review
ClickUp Insight: 37% of workers send follow-up notes or meeting minutes to track action items, but 36% still rely on other, fragmented methods.
Without a unified system for capturing decisions, key insights may get buried in chats, emails, or spreadsheets. With ClickUp, you can instantly turn conversations into actionable tasks across all your tasks, chats, and docs, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Try ClickUp For Free
via Slab
In the modern Internet, content should look as good as it reads. Slab promises to help users “create content that looks good by default.” Focused on experience, Slab includes advanced editing features.
I love that all the docs are automatically formatted the same so that you do not have to go in and select from a million different fonts. They made the platform very simple and easy to use.
G2 review
via Google Keep
Google Keep is an integrated note-taking app within the Google productivity suite. It is simple and easy to use and is bundled into the stack if you use GMail or the GSuite. Google Keep's biggest advantage is its simplicity, but that is also its biggest limitation.
As my work expanded and I took more notes, I found that documenting and organizing them took more effort with Google Keep. Key features for notifications and collaboration, which are par for the course in any other tool, are still lacking in Google Keep.
I like the speed and convenience of making a keep note. I also use it for reminders because they can push messages on my phone and are visible in Google Calendar at the specific time of the reminder.
Reddit review
via Anytype
Anytype is positioned as a collaborative workspace for creating products together. Its biggest advantage is that it allows you to create documents locally and execute decentralized sync across devices. It also enables local, on-device encryption.
It also means that you need some level of technical expertise to make Anytype work.
Been using it since December and I gotta say I love what Anytype is doing! There are minor bugs here and there but it's been an awesome experience and very refreshing UI.
Reddit review
via Microsoft Loop
Microsoft Loop is a co-creation platform, essentially an app for teams, families, or communities to come together and write. Its primary boost comes from Co-pilot integration, which brings AI to your note-taking.
I found that unless you are on the Microsoft stack, Loop as a standalone tool is barely competitive against other similar tools like Notion or ClickUp.
As a relatively new and lackluster app, there are few ratings and reviews on third-party platforms like G2 or Capterra.
I love using loop. It has replaced OneNote for me because of collaboration.
Reddit review
via Upbase
At its core, Upbase is a project management tool with note-taking capabilities. It includes planners, time-blocking, pomodoro, and other productivity features to keep you focused. However, it is highly focused on individual productivity rather than team collaboration.
I have tried many project management tools before (and who hasn't), but this one is the one that has REALLY helped me keep all my projects organized and stay on top of everything.
G2 review
via Mem
Mem is positioned as an AI-organized note-taking app. While you need to take your notes, Mem’s AI helps make connections and build relevance automatically, without you having to organize notes into folders or add tags.
I loved Mem for the fact that the AI gets trained on my own notes, understanding my tags and nomenclature. This means I can ask it questions like, “who proposed this idea?” and get answers instantly.
I have used Mem from the beginning and it's still my choice for quick notes and to find information quickly.
Reddit review
Check out these Mem AI alternatives.
via Zoho
Zoho WorkDrive is a file management system for teams. It helps consolidate documents and knowledge, including those currently living in third-party apps like Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
The best part of Zoho WorkDrive is its multimedia note-taking capabilities, you can add screen recordings and video and audio files to your notes. Yet, it sorely lacks the simplicity and accessibility of many of the apps discussed above.
The Zoho WorkDrive collaboration features makes it a possibility for me and my work colleagues to work together in managing and working on our files. It utilizes high end security features which maintains optimum security to all our files blocking any loopholes which could see us lose our files to cyber attacks.
G2 review
When we speak of ‘knowledge’ work, we often think of tacit knowledge, i.e., the information we are conscious of knowing. This is what is recorded in the form of notes.
However, a big part of knowledge work is what we are not consciously aware of. For instance, developers might not know the entire product development or management workflow. This, too, is knowledge, though tacit.
To effectively manage both conscious and tacit knowledge and serve as the best Notion alternative, you need a tool purpose-designed for modern workplaces, like ClickUp.
ClickUp’s all-in-one project management platform enables you to record information through ClickUp Docs or Notepad actively. It is one of the most powerful AI tools for note-taking.
In addition, it also captures passive data like time estimates, time tracking, individual productivity, resource utilization, etc. This creates a wealth of knowledge for individual contributors, project managers, and team leaders.
See how ClickUp manages knowledge in your organization. Try ClickUp for free today.
Answers to common questions about Notion alternatives
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