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Notion.so - Now Free for Personal Use

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Notion.so - Now Free for Personal Use
Go to Deal
snowcold on 21/05/2020 - 12:48 notion.so (7400 clicks)
Last edited 21/05/2020 - 17:12

Notion is an all in one workspace (notes, tasks, wiki) and a good alternative for onenote/evernote. With the latest release, they have made their personal plan ($5/pm) free to for personal use.

Release notes

Here's the TL;DR from their Reddit post:

  • The old Free Plan had a limit of 1,000 blocks of content. Our new free Personal Plan has no cap on content.
  • Before, only guests or members could edit a page with you. Now we've added a new sharing feature that lets you give edit access to any Notion user by sharing the link to the page. Learn how to do that here
    We've added a new pricing plan called Personal Pro. More on this below.
  • Check out full details on this news and more at notion.so/personal - including examples and stories about how Notion can help you manage your life!

Here's a quick FAQ:

If you were already using Notion with a Free Plan, here's what changed:

  • No more block limit! Add as much content as you like.
  • The free Personal Plan now has a limit of 5 guests. Any guests that you already invited will still be there, but you'll need to upgrade to a Personal Pro Plan to add more.
  • You can also collaborate with others on the free plan via link sharing.
  • If you were using a Free Plan with multiple members, you've been switched to a Team Plan trial automatically. Other than the name, nothing is different for you until you hit 1,000 blocks of content. At that point, you can remove the other members and switch to a Personal Plan (make sure they back up their private pages first), or upgrade to our Team Plan.*

If you were using Notion with a paid Personal Plan subscription, or if you're a student or teacher, you've been automatically upgraded to the new Personal Pro Plan! It includes all the features of the free Personal Plan, plus:
* No limit on file uploads (5MB is the limit for free)
* Adding unlimited guest collaborators to any page
* Version history up to 30 days
* Priority customer support
* API access (coming soon, for real)

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Comments

  • pitufon on 21/05/2020 - 13:03
    +1

    Just downloaded and started checking it out, so far it looks really good. the preset templates are something I have not seen in any other similar app.

  • tof on 21/05/2020 - 13:12

    Anyone have any personal experience on this vs TickTick?

    • CyberMurning on 21/05/2020 - 13:14
      +1

      why ticktick not google calendar/tasks?

      • fiveferrari on 21/05/2020 - 13:19
        +4

        Google tasks is good for minimal use. Ticktick and Todoist is used by power users.

        • Jofzar on 21/05/2020 - 13:37
          +1

          Personally using Amazing marvin here,

          Big fan, Only issue is price is expensive.

        • isthisreallife22 on 21/05/2020 - 14:35
          +3

          How do I know if I am a power user? I'd love to be a power user but I don't know where to start

          (kind of /s… but, i would)

          • fiveferrari on 21/05/2020 - 15:38

            @isthisreallife22: Well, How many projects you have?
            How many tasks do you input dialy?
            Do you use want to use " Fill out this form @10Pm tomorrow night" ?

            If you have read GTD, you would know.

      • Pineapples on 21/05/2020 - 20:20
        +1

        I like TickTick because it has text parsing, like remember the milk (but cheaper)

    • Jofzar on 21/05/2020 - 13:34
      +2

      Its not really a ticktick competitor more like an all in everything compeitor.

      Kinda like Onenote, Evernote ETC.

      I love it tbh,

      Having everything in one place was significantly better.

      Unless your using a pen, I prefer it significantly for my work flow.

      Sadly still using one note for hand writen notes.

    • Alwayshungry on 21/05/2020 - 13:56
      +1

      TickTick is good, has natural language input and it's quick and fast to add new tasks if you're after something lightweight. But the free version has limits on how many lists you can create. Personally I've started using Notion for even light weight tasks such as sharing shopping lists etc and works just fine. Notion does have a steeper learning curve to make it work just right for you personally, but once you're familiar with it you'll love it. If you have a student .edu account you can even subscribe to the personal pro plan which has unlimited uploads i think. But the new free tier is great already.

    • jv on 21/05/2020 - 14:00
      +3

      Anyone have any personal experience on this vs TickTick?

      My kids asked if they could download TickTick on their ipads because their friends are all using it. Mum said no !!!

    • montorola on 21/05/2020 - 14:14
      +3

      Lol for a sec there I thought you were talking about TikTok

      • CyberMurning on 21/05/2020 - 14:15
        +6

        JV made you think that

        • IVI on 11/06/2020 - 06:41

          Nano-Deal-insert:

          We just rec'd a small pile of:

          • "MATH" hats (fr Andrew Yang's suspended 2020 campaign)

          MATH = "Making America Think Hard"

          …also works for AUSTRALIA, eg, on Nuclear MSR, due ~2030

          What cost US$ 25 or 30 (to supp. Yang B4 he suspended it)
          can be <= AU$ 9 via AliExpress [if you shop-around]

          [Mum -can't- say Not to MATH]

    • JPic on 21/05/2020 - 15:19

      I still prefer Ticktick for to-do list.
      I use notion purely for note taking, planning, grocery list etc.

    • morediscount on 21/05/2020 - 15:20

      you mean Youtube vs TikTok ?

    • manicmoon on 21/05/2020 - 16:51

      I use this for note taking for university, random databases/notes related to my hobbies/interests. TickTick is purely to-do app whereas Notion is more of an 'all in one master of none' type of application.

  • CyberMurning on 21/05/2020 - 13:13
    +1

    interested! im using free evernote now.
    currently researching and found: not sure this is current or not:

    https://www.keepproductive.com/blog/the-major-flaws-with-not…

    i think the biggest issue is with offline access

    • nate9 on 21/05/2020 - 14:03
      +1

      I've been using Notion for about 2 years so I can comment.

      Offline Access on a mobile device is pretty much limited to the last 10 to 15 pages you have accessed, there's some sort of cache. Haven't had much experience on a laptop. It might be a dealbreaker if you plan on being offline a lot, or like to be able to access everything. Otherwise, I've never really had problems syncing offline when going back online. If you need to you just create a new page and type on that, then copy/paste that back into a page that you need to.

      For me, I've used Notion for trip planning and was a bit disappointed during my last travels when I wasn't able to bring up some of my travel notes when I was in a country that my travel sim didn't support. These days though data is fairly cheap when at home so I just leave data on.

      YMMV. I've tried Simplenotes, Notion, and was looking at Joplin but never got around to it. Simplenotes had syncing issues at the time which is why I migrated. My use case might differ from you though, I prefer to use Markdown over everything.

      • CyberMurning on 21/05/2020 - 14:18
        +1

        and you dont give evernote a go? seems they are the best especially if you dont mind paying premium fee. i am still at free, happy with 2 devices only and limited feature. but i can see all my notes with aeroplane mode on mobile once they synced

        • nate9 on 21/05/2020 - 16:03
          +1

          Evernote doesn't support Markdown. For me, that's a dealbreaker.

      • Calran on 21/05/2020 - 14:49
        +1

        Highly recommend Joplin, it's my daily.

        • turtlesinmypants on 24/05/2020 - 21:31
          +1

          I'm a Joplin convert, came from notable. Great app.

      • LlamaFace on 21/05/2020 - 15:51

        Simplenote user here. Syncing has gotten much better in the last few years.

        • nate9 on 21/05/2020 - 16:05

          Actually the other thing that bothered me was the lack of "folders". Everything was at the top level, you could only tag things. Became difficult once I had more than 100 or so notes.

  • zzzz99 on 21/05/2020 - 13:24

    what advantage do these apps have over just the stock ios reminders?

    • KangaDrew on 21/05/2020 - 13:55
      +9

      For starters, you're comparing apples and oranges.

      • Zorlin on 21/05/2020 - 15:51
        -3

        Better than comparing Apples and Googles.

  • Abomination on 21/05/2020 - 13:25
    +8

    Might be worth noting that the personal (education/pro) plan is free for all students.

  • RohanBhatia27 on 21/05/2020 - 13:29
    +1

    Cannot recommend this enough. It's replaced all my note taking workflows and is just a great jack of all trades in the productivity sphere.

    • CyberMurning on 21/05/2020 - 13:47
      +2

      how about offline access? can i write a note online from my laptop, sync to my android mobile phone app, few hours later can i see it on mobile without internet?

      • maxdba on 21/05/2020 - 14:06

        It doesn't support offline at the moment. You have to keep the specific page open while working offline.

      • KangaDrew on 21/05/2020 - 16:24

        This is where OneNote reigns supreme for me. Any offline work syncs once you are connected the internet again.

  • lawesomes on 21/05/2020 - 13:32

    Nice - this app is really good for a lot of things.
    -I.e. Recipe book, Study …etc

  • Deals For Days on 21/05/2020 - 13:37
    +9

    From memory some privacy issues - their ToS say employees can view you notes at any time for any reason or something along those lines. So probably not a good platform for any sensitive info.

    That being said, I assume other platforms have similar privacy issues. I know evernote did.

    Either way nice post - useful for recepies and study notes all the same

  • bouncybear on 21/05/2020 - 13:39
    +2

    I'll give it a go for my notes (and maybe wikis now). I've been using a very basic Simplenote: https://app.simplenote.com/.

    Apple Notes are too often out of sync and I lose content because of that, ie. I add something on my phone, then open my laptop and Notes uploads and overwrite what I've just done on the phone. Terrible.

  • hoxyz on 21/05/2020 - 13:40

    JIRA. I am here!

  • tonyyang on 21/05/2020 - 13:56
    -1

    Why not just use Google Tasks? Simple and quick.

    • maxdba on 21/05/2020 - 14:00

      Very different tools. Notion is kind of a knowledge base that could also be used as note taking and planner.

  • parki on 21/05/2020 - 13:57
    +1

    I think I could really learn to like Notion, if it could search embedded PDFs. Until then - Onenote it is.

  • metalvalour on 21/05/2020 - 14:03

    This vs. OneNote? :) If anyone has a take on that

    • pifts on 21/05/2020 - 14:06
      +2

      Notion for sure if you're after personal organisation, notekeeping, creating your own ecosystem etc. OneNote is better if all you need is basic pages/notebook structure.

      I find OneNote too clunky and nowhere near as intuitive as Notion.

      • metalvalour on 21/05/2020 - 14:09

        Thanks! I've never heard of this one before but definitely sounds like it's worth checking out :)

        • Jofzar on 21/05/2020 - 14:46
          +2

          Onenote sadly still has the best "pen" support so I would recomend that if you use it for free flow notes.

    • maxdba on 21/05/2020 - 14:16

      Onenote is too slow TBH. I use the simple mac os note or google keep app for quick note, and notion for more detailed, structured information.

    • bonechiller on 21/05/2020 - 16:10

      Notion does not seem to have pen support though. Couldnt use my apple pencil on my ipad for handwritten notes like i do with onenote.

  • nawalo on 21/05/2020 - 14:10
    +1

    Can‘t even share a note with at least one person like my wife on the free plan.

    • CyberMurning on 21/05/2020 - 14:14
      +1

      really? https://www.notion.so/personal

      it says share with 5 ?

      Personal
      free
      Free for individuals
      Unlimited pages & blocks
      Share with 5 guests
      Sync across devices

      Personal Pro
      $5
      per month
      Everything in Personal, plus
      Unlimited file uploads
      Unlimited guests
      Version history
      API accessCOMING SOON

      • nawalo on 21/05/2020 - 14:32

        Thanks, worked it out was confused with the one person only.

      • OnlineShopper123 on 21/05/2020 - 14:52

        I think guests can see the document but cannot edit.

        • CyberMurning on 21/05/2020 - 15:02

          can edit…
          https://www.notion.so/Guest-access-823e981ce5e44b348e6df0521…

          but not sure about if guess need to create notion account to view/edit? if so that's is annoying for the guests
          edit: can without creating account/

          If you'd like your students to be able to view the page without needing to have a Notion account, you can turn on "Public Access" for the page. They won't be able to make any edits without an account though.

    • snowcold on 21/05/2020 - 16:00

      Changed with this release. Now you can share (read/write) with up to 5 people

  • nawalo on 21/05/2020 - 14:19

    Blocked by my company IT policy as well. Not sure why.

    • OnlineShopper123 on 21/05/2020 - 14:51

      use your own email account.

    • lastkey on 21/05/2020 - 15:26

      Yea, Its same for me. I can't access Nothion from company laptop. IT block all such websites so we only use recommended note app (OneNote)

    • craighogan on 22/05/2020 - 07:44
      +1

      The reason it is blocked is because notion has the domain name ".so" which is Somalia. IT assumes it is a scan site. Contact your IT department to unblock it.

  • ajGold on 21/05/2020 - 15:13
    +1

    Notion seems to have functionality more like Confluence (macros, etc.) than a general task manager.

  • kealii on 21/05/2020 - 15:17
    +1

    I've been trying out different productivity/collaboration/wiki software over the last couple weeks.
    Notion, ClickUp and Airtables are all pretty good.
    I think Notion gets the nod if they're offering unlimited storage and blocks!

    • craighogan on 22/05/2020 - 07:48
      +1

      Tried almost all available productivity apps recently and settled on clickup. Best by far if you're trying to manage tasks with it for multiple projects.

      Notion is good as a wiki or information database sort of thing but sucks for task management.

  • lastkey on 21/05/2020 - 15:26
    +5

    I like Notion. If you have an educational email. You can get the pro account for free.

    • molad on 21/05/2020 - 15:54

      How did you manage to get a pro account? I signed up with my educational .edu email and only got personal account.

      • bonechiller on 21/05/2020 - 16:09

        same here. signed up with educational account but got personal only.

        • raphael2012 on 21/05/2020 - 16:17
          +3

          You just need to change your plan in the settings. Wasn't able within the app, so go through the web app

  • Wonderstache on 21/05/2020 - 15:33

    Anyone replaced Trello with Notion? Looking to see if it's a solid replacement for 'To Dos' and (multiple) Project Management.

    • snowcold on 21/05/2020 - 15:53

      It would be a no brainer to replace Trello with Notion for personal use. You can have a small trello-like board within a page for example

    • craighogan on 22/05/2020 - 07:46

      Tried all of these and found Clickup was the best by far. Notion doesn't have good task management functions. Clickup also has optional Kanban views like Trello if you like those. I prefer list views though as you can see more information at once.

  • dubfonik on 21/05/2020 - 15:39
    +1

    Interesting. I've been using Roam Research and it's really quite good - I've not used another note taking app like it. however, I know that they will be coming out of beta soon and may have a fee - not sure if there will be a free tier at all. if it's too expensive then I might migrate to Notion's free plan

    • ryban3z on 21/05/2020 - 15:47
      +1

      +1000000 for Roam Research. Has completely changed the way I think about maintaining knowledge and taking notes. Also doubles as a great personal CRM.

      THeir waitlist is huge but will be opening up this Friday I think.

      Just search #Roamcult on Twitter for all the cool stories on how people are using it.

      • dubfonik on 21/05/2020 - 16:58

        I signed up a few weeks ago and didn't have to go on a waitlist. however, I think because they've had a massive influx of users over the past few weeks they must have stopped signups for the moment. word on the street is that it will cost $15usd/month once out of beta. again, unsure if there will be a free tier.

  • Zenyth on 21/05/2020 - 16:16
    +12

    Notion is fantastic, I'm on the personal education/pro plan as a student. The main drawback to this plan is you can't collaborate to the extent that the 'Team' plan allows you to do, which allows for an unlimited amount of members.

    Many power-users of Notion see it as an extension of themselves, operating as almost a second brain, such as one of my favourite YouTubers, Ali Abdaal. I found it quite difficult to get started with Notion at the start, as there's so much you can do with it, beyond using it as a linear note-taking app. There are still so many features I haven't yet been able to take advantage of. In terms of note-taking, the main reason why I love Notion is because of the 'toggle' feature it has that allows you to set up your notes really neatly. The toggle feature is also perfect for creating active recall questions because you can create a question and then 'embed' the answer into that toggle. It forces you to think about the answer to a question and limits the chance that you might drift your eyes towards the answer before you've had a go at really thinking about the question.

    Screenshotting pages and embedding them within your toggles is also a killer feature.

    Another function I use it for is as an online journal which complements the daily journal I write in. I include info about new people I've met, activities I've done on the day, the amount of sleep I've obtained, the subjects that I've studied, whether I've exercised etc.

    If you're interested, I really recommend this YouTube video by Ali Abdaal on how he uses it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONG26-2mIHU&t=1034s. Some other well renown Notion users are 'Marie Poulin' (widely known as the master of Notion), 'Thomas Frank' and 'Keep Productive'.

    I still use Microsoft Word for assessment tasks etc and Todoist as my task manager, but Notion has become my hub for virtually everything else. Ultimately, what's most important is finding the process that works for you, as some people have killer routines and productivity set-ups that don't obviously rely on using Notion, such as some of the Roam Research users here (which I haven't heard of before today). It's definitely worth giving Notion a shot, just watch some videos on how different people use it to get an idea of how it might fit into your life and don't be discouraged if you find it a little bit difficult to grasp at the beginning when compared to Evernote, OneNote etc. You'll get there!

  • Pancaku on 21/05/2020 - 16:34
    -1

    It's really not that good. Application on desktop is extremely laggy and I'm not even on a bad computer.

  • Kivharo on 21/05/2020 - 16:45

    This is fantastic. I've been on the Personal Pro tier. I can't recall a cheaper tier at the time, when I upped my sub I went from free to the cheapest unlimited block option.

  • manicmoon on 21/05/2020 - 16:59
    +2

    I've been using Notion for the last few months now and it has seriously made things so much easier for me in university. Before when using OneNote, I felt it wasn't as easy to navigate my notes.

    The only downside to Notion is that it doesn't offer much word-processing features and getting used to the 'block' style content can be a bit jarring at first. All the features available in Notion does have a bit of a learning curve (e.g. using relational databases) but once you get used to it, it feels like second nature

    I'll just link an image my current uni setup

    As you can see from the sidebar, I have things categorised into personal/work/education. I've been using almost exclusively Notion + Anki for my studies and it has been great so far.

    I'm really glad they opened this up so that even more people can start using Notion. Can't sing its praises enough honestly!

    • Metamorphosis12 on 24/05/2020 - 10:20

      Can you explain your table? How many databases did you create and how have you linked them? For example, when you have a lecture, what do you create first? Lecture notes in your unit database?

  • jonnys1n on 21/05/2020 - 17:49

    is there a windows app version? i really dont like using websites for this stuff

    • nobodyowens on 21/05/2020 - 18:27

      Yep there's a windows app

    • Zenyth on 21/05/2020 - 18:30
      +1

      Yes, there is! Its boot-up time isn't the best, but I know from reading their updates that they've been working on reducing start-up times across all platforms.

  • nobodyowens on 21/05/2020 - 18:24
    +1

    Been using notion for a while and can definitely recommend it for students or people writing notes in general. The templates they provide are actually useful, although as some others have said, getting used to "blocks" will take a bit of time.

    For those asking about why IT departments might have blocked it, it's probably got to do with Notion's terms and conditions.

    Monitoring Content: Although we’re not obligated to monitor access to or use of the Service or Content or to review or edit any Content, we have the right to do so for the purpose of operating the Service, to ensure compliance with these Terms and to comply with applicable law or other legal requirements. We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to remove or disable access to any Content, including User Content, at any time and without notice, including, but not limited to, if we, at our sole discretion, consider any Content to be objectionable or in violation of these Terms. We have the right to investigate violations of these Terms or conduct that affects the Services. We may also consult and cooperate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute users who violate the law.

    So probably stay away for personal info and other sensitive information.

    Also the android app is pretty slow so there's that.

  • crong on 21/05/2020 - 18:59

    I’ve switched to notion from OneNote to use the toggle feature so I can practice active recall. But am frustrated with the inability to annotate notes with my surface pen and the inability to search in PDFs, which means I can’t search for anything in my research notes.

    Anyone found a way to use a toggle-like feature on OneNote?

    • Djent on 21/05/2020 - 22:40
      +2

      Hey mate, I've been using OneNote for work a lot more recently and was happy to discover there is a toggle like feature. Doesn't work as well as Notion's, but it's functional (the toggle box isn't permanent).

      https://bealers.com/hiding-text-onenote/

      • crong on 21/05/2020 - 22:59

        This could be a game changer!!! Thanks so much!

  • confidantduk on 21/05/2020 - 21:10

    BEST. APP. EVER.

    Also their android app isn't crappy anymore which is great \o/

  • squeeb on 21/05/2020 - 21:31

    So excited that they have removed the block limit. 1,000 blocks went so quickly. I have been using Joplin and Slite but now might migrate over to Notion. Thanks OP.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/05/2020 - 21:40
    +1

    How long is this going to be free for? They're not trying to pull a google are they?

  • BigLeviathan on 22/05/2020 - 09:47

    I've been using google keep to share shopping list and egiftcard with my partner, the only downside is I cannot use voice command on google home to add item to the list.

    Does notion.so have integration with Google voice to text?

  • Focus8 on 22/05/2020 - 10:24

    Transferring from OneNote, I wish Notion could support global tags.
    BTW,I give a lot of credit to OneNote tags, tag anywhere on a page is classic!

  • RocketSwitch on 22/05/2020 - 15:57
    +1

    If I use Google Keep, any reason for this?

    • illumination on 23/05/2020 - 16:22

      Wondering the same.

      I'm gonna download Notion and give it a play.

    • CyberMurning on 23/05/2020 - 17:01

      I think keep Is too simple, Evernote is more comparable with this

  • Calcifer on 22/05/2020 - 20:46

    Notion v Evernote?

    • AncientWisdom on 23/05/2020 - 12:21

      Also an Evernote user. The way Evernote keep restricting the free tier over recent years makes me want to take a serious look into this.

      • raphael2012 on 26/05/2020 - 09:55

        In notion you can create folders in a folder. As far as I remember, in Evernote we are not able to create a notebook inside a notebook.

        One of the downside is that you don't have full offline access as you can with Evernote

  • Ausbob on 23/05/2020 - 17:29

    No linux support :(
    Getting sick of onenote being web only, other nix note taking apps don't have cross support either unless they're web based.

  • Sullie on 23/05/2020 - 19:13

    Needs 2fa. Nice looking notes app though.

  • atlinus on 25/05/2020 - 15:49

    Can you use notion for content creation to publish on blogs like blogger or wordpress?

    • illumination on 18/10/2020 - 01:57

      Did you ever figure this out?

  • qwerty123 on 31/05/2020 - 16:54

    Thank you for posting this, I'm loving it at the moment!

  • sridhar on 18/06/2020 - 06:47

    I feel like I am not utilising Notion to its full potential.

    It seems so powerful and I am only using it to store notes and some snippets :|

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