Notion
Your next business platform?
It’s been around for a while, but recently, our team has been putting Notion to the test. If you’ve been searching for a business tool that promises to do it all—note-taking, project management, calendar integrations, and more—you’ve probably come across Notion. But does it live up to the hype? And more importantly, is it a good fit for your startup?
We’ve taken Notion for a spin, and we’re here to share what we love, what’s a bit tricky, and whether it’s worth adding to your business toolkit.
The Real Power Behind (or infront) Notion are Databases
One of Notion’s most powerful features is its database functionality. Unlike traditional tools where databases are hidden behind the scenes, Notion brings them front and centre, allowing users to view and interact with them in various formats. You can switch between views such as tables, boards (like a Kanban system), calendars, and lists, depending on what works best for your workflow.
Why are Databases Cool?
For example, a content team might use a database to manage blog posts. In the table view, you can include fields like title, publication date, status, and author. Switch to calendar view, and you instantly see your editorial schedule laid out in an easy-to-digest format. Need to brainstorm ideas? Flip to the board view for a more visual approach. This level of flexibility makes Notion’s databases indispensable for teams and individuals juggling complex projects.
Integrations
While Notion aims to be an all-in-one tool, it also recognises that no single app can do everything perfectly. That’s where integrations come into play.
Notion connects with tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Zapier to bridge the gap between its native features and other popular platforms.
This means information from your emails, website or other company systems can effortlessly ping into your Notion planning pages and dashboards.
Mobile Experience: Great, But Not Perfect
Notion’s mobile app is well-designed and mirrors much of the desktop experience. This makes it easy to access your work on the go, whether you’re jotting down notes, reviewing tasks, or updating a project timeline. That said, the mobile app does have its drawbacks. Some features, like dragging and dropping blocks, are more cumbersome on smaller screens.
Despite these minor flaws, the app’s ability to sync seamlessly across devices ensures that you’re always up to date, whether you’re working from your phone, tablet, or desktop.
Use Cases:
Personal Productivity to Business Solutions
Notion’s versatility makes it suitable for a wide range of use cases. Here are just a few examples:
- Personal Productivity: You can use Notion to create custom pages and dashboards to:
- manage to do’s,
- track habits,
- manage goals,
- collect and curate articles, learning or recipes, or even
- maintain digital journals.
- Team Collaboration: We find Notion great as a small team to organise projects, assign tasks, and share resources, all within a single workspace.
- Knowledge Management: Notion excels as a central repository for documents, meeting notes, and standard operating procedures.
- Client Interfaces & Onboarding: Using Notion’s website feature you can create mini websites to onboard and collaborate with your clients.
The Notion Interface: Clean, Customisable, and Intuitive
One of the standout features of Notion is its clean interface. At first glance, it appears minimalist, but this simplicity hides a deep level of customisability. The left-hand sidebar offers a way to navigate your workspace, with options to create nested folders, organise projects, and access shared spaces. For teams, the ability to have separate workspaces for different departments or projects helps reduce clutter.
What sets Notion apart is its drag-and-drop functionality. Blocks—the fundamental building units in Notion—can be moved around easily, whether it’s text, images, videos, or databases. This modular system means you can design your pages exactly how you want. It’s almost like having a canvas for your work, where you decide what goes where.
Collaborating?
For teams, Notion’s collaboration features are a significant draw. Real-time editing allows multiple people to work on the same page simultaneously, and comments or mentions make communication straightforward. Assigning tasks to teammates is as simple as typing “@” followed by their name, which links them directly to the task at hand. On the free version you can collaborate with up to 10 other people.
Version history is another crucial feature, especially for teams working on dynamic projects. With this functionality, you can easily revert to a previous version of a page, ensuring that accidental changes or deletions don’t become permanent. Permissions are also highly customisable, giving workspace owners control over who can view, comment, or edit specific pages.
Customisation: A Double-Edged Sword?
Notion’s unparalleled customisation is both its greatest strength and, potentially, its most significant barrier to entry. While the ability to create anything from a simple to-do list to an advanced database is empowering, it can also feel overwhelming for first-time users. This isn’t a tool that holds your hand; you’re given a blank slate and encouraged to build your systems from scratch or adapt pre-existing templates.
For some, this freedom is exciting. For others, it may lead to decision fatigue. However, this is where the community’s collection of templates becomes invaluable. Whether you’re setting up a habit tracker, a project timeline, or a knowledge management system, there’s likely a template out there to suit your needs.
Pricing: Free vs. Paid Plans
The free plan offers an impressive array of features, including unlimited pages and blocks, which is more than sufficient for many individuals and small teams. Whilst testing on the free version, we’ve hit the file upload limit of 5Mb. Paid plans—starting at $8 per user per month—unlock additional functionality, such as unlimited file uploads and advanced permissions.
Conclusion: Is Notion Right for You?
Notion provides the flexibility to design systems that work for you. However, it’s worth noting that this flexibility comes with a learning curve. For users accustomed to rigid tools with predefined workflows, Notion’s open-ended nature might feel daunting at first. But with a bit of time and experimentation—and perhaps a deep dive into the template library—the possibilities become almost limitless.
In short, Notion is a powerful tool for those willing to invest the time to master it. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution that can evolve with your needs, it’s certainly worth taking for a test drive.