Notion
All-in-one workspace for notes, documents, wikis, databases and project tracking.
Liked as a well-designed home for docs and knowledge bases,1234 with an API that commenters use for publishing pipelines, integrations and AI workflows.5678 The most common complaints are that it feels slow and too heavy for simple tasks,910111213 and some say it works poorly with AI agents.141516
Why people recommend it
API and integrations · 3
Commenters build on the official API, webhooks and MCP setups to connect Notion to websites, AI assistants and agents.
“We use Notion to write and edit our blog posts”
“I love Notion and use it extremely heavily.”
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“making a Custom GPT with a trivial Notion API”
Docs and knowledge · 3
Used for blog drafting, team docs, per-project notes and personal knowledge bases.
“We use Notion to write and edit our blog posts”
“Notion is great, but for day to day work it quickly turns into “build your own system”.”
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“I maintain a notion page for every single project.”
Thoughtful design · 3
Some commenters call it well thought out and say they love using it heavily.
“i think it’s notion, it’s well thought.”
“I love Notion and use it extremely heavily.”
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“Notion is great, but for day to day work it quickly turns into “build your own system”.”
Easy export · 1
One user who migrated to Markdown files praised how easy Notion makes exporting notes.
“I do miss the visual editor in Notion”
Enterprise privacy controls · 1
One user picks Notion Enterprise for its Zero Data Retention access and a toggle to disable an AI provider.
“I use Notion Enterprise specifically for its Zero Data Retention (ZDR) access.”
Caveats and dissent
Slowness · 3
Several users left or looked elsewhere because Notion felt slow to use or launch.
“the slowness of Notion”
“started with Notion, but was frustrated with speed and then privacy issues”
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“other products are becoming increasingly cumbersome and slow to launch”
Heavy and complex · 3
Users find it too feature-rich for lightweight needs, and one says day-to-day use turns into building and maintaining your own system.
“I'm relying on a notion calendar table which is annoyingly feature rich”
“I tried Notion, spreadsheets, and a few CRM apps, but they were all too heavy for what I needed.”
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“Notion is great, but for day to day work it quickly turns into “build your own system”.”
Agent workflows · 3
Users report block-based content corrupting with multiple agents, API-only agent access, and weaker results from in-app LLMs.
“Notion ended up being a royal pain: it is built for humans not agents.”
“Notion and Google Docs work better for teams, but agents have to go through APIs”
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“I use ChatGPT/Claude/etc in the Notion web app now to organize my pages of knowledge”
Large pages · 1
One user's very large pages crash on mobile and tablet, so they can only open them on desktop.
“I use never-ending notion pages like this and now they have grown so large that they crash on mobile / tablet”
Keyboard shortcuts · 1
One user says shortcuts fail on non-US keyboard layouts and cannot be changed.
“I tried using it, but I just can't because the keyboard shortcuts don't work with my non-US keyboard layout”
Data ownership · 2
Some users raise privacy concerns and dislike that the platform, not the user, controls their data.
“Notion is a hotel; comfortable, but they own the keys.”
“started with Notion, but was frustrated with speed and then privacy issues”
Often compared with
3 moved from Notion to ObsidianEvernote3 comments mention both
1 moved from Evernote to Notion
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Ask HN: What software feels exceptionally polished? 2 mentions
- Show HN: How I take notes as a VC, and the app I built for it 1 mention
- Show HN: Edi Life OS – self-hosted life dashboard with an MCP server for AI 1 mention
- Ask HN: Feedback regarding my AI setup 1 mention
- Agents don't need memory, they need documentation 1 mention
- Show HN: Publish a Notion database as a Next.js blog 1 mention
Data: notion.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 37
“bandwagoned onto Notion and Obsidian”
“I use Notion too.”
“so I use Notion, linear and add a simple artefact for my non technical team”
“docs in repos or Notion etc”
“We use Notion to write and edit our blog posts”
“Me too! Never moved off of it: https://notionwm.net/”
“I've done the same but using Notion, and I've found really interesting to let the agents write a small "Dev Blog" post on a Notion page”
“I’m still locked into notion for my handwritten knowledge base”
“I use Notion Enterprise specifically for its Zero Data Retention (ZDR) access.”
“I use ChatGPT/Claude/etc in the Notion web app now to organize my pages of knowledge”
“Quizlet, Khan Academy, Notion, and Gizmo are all great, but each only handles one piece of the puzzle.”
“I'm relying on a notion calendar table which is annoyingly feature rich”
“When collaborating on Notion, we had to pop into Google docs for comments, suggestions and history.”
“I tried using it, but I just can't because the keyboard shortcuts don't work with my non-US keyboard layout”
“i think it’s notion, it’s well thought.”
“started with Notion”
“Notion ended up being a royal pain: it is built for humans not agents.”
“We use Slack, Notion, and Google Docs.”
“I was a super super early user of Notion”
“I love Notion and use it extremely heavily.”
“started with Notion, but was frustrated with speed and then privacy issues”
“It send them to notion notes as todos notes”
“Notion and Google Docs work better for teams, but agents have to go through APIs”
“I do miss the visual editor in Notion”
“a sync tool that pulls Notion pages down as local markdown”
“Notion is great, but for day to day work it quickly turns into “build your own system”.”
“I tried Notion, spreadsheets, and a few CRM apps, but they were all too heavy for what I needed.”
“whatever lousy project management tool we would use (Notion, ClickUp, Jira etc..)”
“I don't think I love it as much as I used to.”
“Notion is a hotel; comfortable, but they own the keys.”
“i treat notion as my "source of truth", not because it's good, just because it's what i've been using since the start.”
“even though we have notion”
“I maintain a notion page for every single project.”
“I use never-ending notion pages like this and now they have grown so large that they crash on mobile / tablet”
“the slowness of Notion”
“other products are becoming increasingly cumbersome and slow to launch”
“making a Custom GPT with a trivial Notion API”