Notion review

Notion is less a notebook than a set of building blocks, and that is why it ranks first for people who organize a lot. A lecture page can link to a reading database, a thesis tracker can hold subtasks and dependencies, and a team can publish a page or simple site to the web from the same workspace. Its pricing page lists offline access on the desktop and mobile apps, where you pick pages to download and Recents and Favorites are saved automatically, which matters on trains and in lecture halls with poor Wi-Fi. Students get the best deal: the Plus plan, with a 1-member limit, is free with a school email and adds longer version history and larger uploads. The trade-offs are real. A new workspace starts empty, so you design your own system, and the free plan limits uploads to 5 MB per file. The newest AI features, such as AI Meeting Notes and Notion Agent, are reserved for the Business plan.

Who it is for

Students and professionals whose notes grow into projects, trackers and shared pages.

Price

Free plan; Plus is free for students and educators with a school email. See vendor pricing (USD check pending).

US price check pending. See the vendor pricing page.

Key features

• Databases with subtasks, dependencies and custom properties
• Offline pages on the desktop and mobile apps, with Recents and Favorites downloaded automatically
• Page history of 7 days on Free, 30 days on Plus and 90 days on Business
• Notion Calendar connects several calendars next to your notes
• Publish pages and simple sites to the web

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Plus plan is free for students and educators with a 1-member limit
• Strength: Free plan already includes databases, forms and web publishing
• Strength: Choose which pages to keep available offline
• Weakness: Free plan caps file uploads at 5 MB each
• Weakness: AI Meeting Notes and Notion Agent sit on the Business plan
• Weakness: A blank workspace takes time to set up compared with a simple notes app

Key facts

• Free plan: Yes, for individuals
• Student offer: Plus free with a school email, 1 member
• File upload limit: 5 MB on Free, 5 GB on paid plans
• Page history: 7 days Free, 30 days Plus, 90 days Business
• Yearly discount: Up to 20%

Where it ranks

Notion is No. 2 in our Best Note Taking Apps verdict.