What is Notion?
Notion is a hosted workspace made by Notion Labs, Inc. Its about page describes it as an all-in-one workspace assembled from building blocks, so that task lists, product roadmaps and design repositories live in one place, and states that the company is based in San Francisco with offices around the world. The homepage cites 100 million users in over 50 countries and use by 62% of the Fortune 100.
The core unit is the page, which is made of blocks such as headings, paragraphs and lists and can hold text, media and embedded content. Databases are collections of pages with properties and views such as tables, and they are used for task tracking, roadmaps and other structured work. Pages can be organized into teamspaces and wikis, published as sites, or turned into forms. Notion Calendar is a separate app for scheduling, and the Notion Web Clipper saves web pages into Notion from Chrome.
Notion AI now centers on agents. Notion Agent works inside the workspace, and Custom Agents run repetitive tasks for a team. According to the release notes, Notion 3.7 (September 15, 2026) added a shared skills library that can be downloaded to local agents such as Claude Code and Cursor. Notion 3.8 (October 13, 2026) added MCP controls for admins, connections to more than 150 MCP tools, a Skills API, version history across pages and databases with attribution for people and agents, column-level database permissions and rebuilt synced databases. An October 19, 2026 update rebuilt the agent harness, introduced an Auto model router and a single credit system for all AI usage, and let users connect a ChatGPT Plus, Pro or Go plan to their personal Notion Agent.
Notion is closed source and runs only as a hosted service. It is available in the browser, as a desktop app for macOS (Universal, Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows (x64 and ARM64, as installer or MSIX) from the download page, and as mobile apps for iOS and Android. There is no Linux desktop app on the download page. Developers use the Notion API to create and read pages, databases and other objects.
Pricing on the pricing page covers Free, Plus, Business and Enterprise plans, with AI agent usage billed through Notion credits. Similar listings on iThub include AppFlowy and AFFiNE as open-source workspaces, Superhuman Docs (formerly Coda) and Outline for team wikis.
Notion screenshots
Explore the interface. Open a screenshot to view it at full size.
Version history across a page, with highlighted changes and attribution to people and the Notion App.
Database property menu with Property access (alpha) for column-level permissions.
Database sync from GitHub, Jira and Salesforce into Notion databases.
Notion MCP settings for connecting external agents and tools.
Source: official Notion project page.
Key capabilities
- Pages and blocks Every page is built from blocks such as headings, paragraphs, lists, media and embeds. Pages nest inside other pages to form a hierarchy, and the API can create pages from enhanced markdown, which it converts to Notion blocks.
- Databases and views Databases are collections of pages with properties and views such as tables. They support filters, sorting and grouping, and are used for roadmaps, task trackers and registers. Notion 3.8 added property access, which lets database owners control which properties each person or agent can view or edit.
- Synced databases Database sync brings data from other tools into Notion databases. The rebuilt version in Notion 3.8 is initially available for GitHub, Jira and Salesforce, shows live health status for each sync, and allows extra properties, views and automations on the synced data.
- Wikis and teamspaces Pages can be organized as a wiki for team knowledge, and the Business plan adds private teamspaces. Granular database permissions and domain verification are also part of Business.
- Version history Page history covers 7 days on Free, 30 days on Plus and 90 days on Business, with customizable history and retention on Enterprise. Since Notion 3.8, version history covers pages and databases, highlights edits and attributes changes to people and agents, with restore of earlier versions.
- Notion Agent and Custom Agents Notion Agent is included on Business and Enterprise, while Free and Plus include a trial of Notion AI. Custom Agents are free to try and then cost $10 per 1,000 monthly Notion credits. Agents can propose edits that users review and approve one by one, and since October 2026 they can work on tasks for up to 24 hours.
- Model choice and AI billing Workspace owners can choose which AI models are available to Notion Agent and Custom Agents and set a default for Custom Agents. The Auto model router matches each task to a model. Business and Enterprise users can connect a ChatGPT subscription to cover their Notion AI usage.
- AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search The Business plan includes AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search (beta), which finds answers across the workspace and connected tools. Enterprise adds zero data retention with LLM providers for Notion AI.
- Notion MCP Notion runs an MCP server that lets external agents and tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and Composio read workspace context and take actions. Admins can see who connected each AI tool and revoke individual access. The October 2026 update positions MCP as shared memory for external agents, with memory sync live.
- Skills A shared skills library lets teams store reusable skills, run them from chat and download them to local agents such as Claude Code and Cursor. The Skills API syncs skills to ChatGPT, Claude and other agents.
- Connections Plus includes basic connections such as Slack and Google Drive, and Business adds premium connections such as GitHub and Asana. Notion Agent and Custom Agents can use more than 150 MCP tool connections, with examples such as HubSpot, Stripe and Cloudflare. Notion notifications can also be answered in Microsoft Teams.
- Forms and sites Free includes basic forms and sites; Plus adds custom forms and sites and charts. Custom domains for sites cost $8 per month billed yearly or $10 per month billed monthly, per domain.
- REST API and SDK The developer documentation covers pages, databases, views, data sources, file uploads, comments, search and users, with a Notion-Version header on every request. Personal access tokens authenticate requests; on Business and Enterprise, token creation is restricted by default until a workspace owner enables it. The official JavaScript SDK is @notionhq/client.
- Workers (beta) Workers are listed as a beta add-on that requires Notion credits. A Developer section in the sidebar manages Workers, connections and tokens.
- Desktop, web and mobile apps Desktop builds are offered for macOS Universal, Apple Silicon and Intel, and for Windows x64 and ARM64 as .exe or MSIX packages. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android. Notion Calendar is offered for macOS, iOS and Android.
- File uploads and guests The Free plan limits uploads to 5 MB per file; Plus and Business allow up to 5 GB per file. The pricing page lists an external guest limit of 10.
- Security and compliance The security page lists annual SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISMAP and BSI C5 audits and attestation against ISO 27701 and ISO 27018. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.2 or higher and at rest with AES-256. Enterprise customers can sign a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement, and Notion states that customer data is never used to train AI models.
- Enterprise controls Business includes SAML SSO. Enterprise adds SCIM user provisioning, advanced security controls, an audit log, SIEM and DLP connections, domain management, data residency in a specified region and a customer success manager.
Where Notion fits
Team documentation and wikis
Notion describes bringing team knowledge into one system of record. Pages are nested into a wiki, organized in teamspaces with permissions, and searched together with connected tools. Version history shows who changed what, including changes made by agents, and earlier versions can be restored.
Project and task tracking
Databases hold projects and tasks as pages with properties such as status, team and owner, shown in table and other views. Property access limits which people or agents can see or edit sensitive columns, and synced databases pull issues from GitHub or Jira and records from Salesforce into the same workspace.
Meeting notes
On the Business plan, AI Meeting Notes records a meeting into a Notion page with summary, notes and transcript tabs, as shown in Notion's own product imagery. The notes stay in the workspace next to related projects and documents.
Automating recurring work with agents
The homepage lists workflows such as triaging product feedback, resolving support tickets in Slack, responding to security alerts and automating weekly reporting. Custom Agents handle these tasks using workspace context, connected tools and skills, and are billed through Notion credits after a free trial.
Using Notion as context for external agents
Through the Notion MCP server, agents such as ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor read and update docs and task trackers in the workspace. Skills stored in Notion can be downloaded to local agents or synced through the Skills API, and admins control and revoke each AI tool connection.
Publishing sites and collecting input
Pages can be published to the web as sites, with custom domains as a paid add-on that removes Notion branding. Forms collect responses into databases, with basic forms on Free and custom forms on Plus and above.
Building internal tools on the API
Developers create pages and database entries with the REST API, authenticating with a personal access token and sending markdown that the API converts to blocks. The Developer section in the sidebar manages Workers (beta), connections and tokens, and offers a developer bar for copying object IDs.
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Alternatives to Notion
AppFlowyAppFlowy is an AGPL-3.0 open-source AI workspace for projects and wikis, with desktop and mobile apps and a self-hosting option.AAFFiNEAFFiNE is an open-source, local-first workspace that merges documents, an edgeless whiteboard and databases as an alternative to Notion and Miro.
Superhuman Docs (formerly Coda)Coda is now Superhuman Docs, a collaborative document workspace with connected tables, formulas, automations, and Packs.