What Is Notion?
Notion is a connected workspace that serves as a notes app, database, project manager, wiki, CRM, and increasingly, an AI assistant — all in one. Founded in 2016 and now valued at $10B+, it has become the default "second brain" tool for creators, founders, and knowledge workers who need a flexible system that adapts to how they think.
Unlike linear note-taking tools (Evernote, Apple Notes), Notion treats everything as a block that can be reorganized, linked, filtered, and combined into views. A task can simultaneously appear in a Kanban board, a calendar view, and a filtered table — the same piece of data, rendered differently based on what you need to see.
Who Uses Notion?
Notion has three distinct user groups:
- Individual knowledge workers — Using it as a personal OS: notes, projects, reading lists, content calendar, CRM
- Small teams — Engineering wikis, product roadmaps, meeting notes, team handbooks
- Solopreneurs — Client management, content planning, SOP libraries, financial tracking
This review focuses on the solopreneur use case, where Notion has become something close to a standard.
Core Features
Pages and Blocks
Everything in Notion is a page containing blocks. Blocks can be text, images, videos, code, tables, databases, linked views, calendars, toggle lists, callouts, and more. You can drag and drop blocks anywhere, create multi-column layouts, and nest pages inside pages infinitely.
This flexibility is Notion's biggest strength and its biggest onboarding hurdle. There's no wrong way to organize — which means you'll spend weeks finding your right way.
Databases
Notion's databases are the secret weapon. A database is a collection of pages with properties (like spreadsheet columns, but smarter). You can:
- Filter by any property combination
- Sort and group dynamically
- Create multiple views (Table, Board, Calendar, List, Gallery, Timeline)
- Link databases to each other (relational)
- Roll up data across linked databases
A content database can show as a Kanban for status tracking, a calendar for scheduling, and a gallery for visual review — all from the same data.
Notion AI
Notion AI is now worth paying for. Capabilities include:
- Draft: Write first drafts of blog posts, emails, SOPs from a brief
- Summarize: Condense long pages or meeting notes to key points
- Action items: Extract tasks from meeting notes automatically
- Q&A: Ask questions about your entire Notion workspace ("What did we decide about pricing?")
- Translate and improve writing: Tone, clarity, formality adjustments
The Q&A feature across your workspace is genuinely impressive — it searches your notes and surfaces relevant context, essentially giving you an AI that knows your business.
Templates
Notion's template gallery has thousands of community templates covering every use case. High-quality templates from respected creators (like the Personal OS by August Bradley) have saved countless hours of setup for new users. The ecosystem around Notion templates is a business unto itself.
Notion Pricing
| Plan | Price | Users | AI | |------|-------|-------|-----| | Free | $0 | 1 | Limited | | Plus | $10/month | 1 | +$10/month | | Business | $15/user/month | Multiple | +$10/user/month | | Enterprise | Custom | Multiple | Included |
The free plan covers most individual use cases — unlimited pages and blocks, limited sharing. Notion AI costs $10/month extra on top of any plan, which is worth it if you're using it daily.
For solopreneurs, Plus + AI at $20/month is the optimal setup.
Notion vs. Competitors
Notion vs. Obsidian (Free)
Obsidian stores everything locally in markdown files — no cloud, no subscription, fully private. It has a stronger graph view and plugin ecosystem. The trade-off: no real-time collaboration, no web publishing, and a steeper setup curve.
Notion wins on: collaboration, databases, publishing, AI Obsidian wins on: privacy, offline, markdown purity, speed
Notion vs. Coda ($10-$30/month)
Coda is more spreadsheet-native, with formula power closer to Excel. It's better for building internal tools and automations. Notion is better for knowledge management and flexible content.
Notion wins on: templates, content management, simplicity Coda wins on: formula power, automations, app-building
Notion vs. Linear ($8-$14/user/month)
Linear is purpose-built for software engineering project management — it's not competing directly. Teams sometimes use both: Notion for docs/wiki, Linear for issues/sprints.
Real Use Case: Solopreneur Business OS
Here's how a typical solopreneur structures their Notion workspace:
Home Dashboard → Links to all major areas
- Content System → Articles database (status, publish date, platform, keyword)
- Client CRM → Client database (contact info, contract, project status, revenue)
- Project Tracker → Active and backlogged projects
- Finance Tracker → Revenue, expenses, MRR tracking
- Knowledge Base → SOPs, templates, research notes
- Weekly Review → Template for recurring review ritual
Setting this up takes 2-4 days the first time. Once it's running, it becomes the operating system that keeps everything in one place.
The Affiliate Program: 50% for 12 Months
Notion pays 50% commission on the first 12 months of any subscription you refer. For someone on the Business plan at $15/user/month, that's $7.50/user/month for a year. For a 10-person team, that's $75/month for 12 months — $900 per referral.
Combined with Notion's broad appeal (almost everyone in the knowledge worker / solopreneur space needs it), this makes it one of the better affiliate programs in the productivity tool category.
Verdict
Notion earns a 4.6/5 for solopreneurs and knowledge workers.
The platform is mature, the AI is now legitimately useful, and the template ecosystem means you don't have to build from scratch. The main friction points — slow performance on large databases, limited offline mode — are real but manageable for most users.
If you're a solopreneur building a business on information, systems, and content, Notion is the first tool worth setting up properly. Invest a weekend, use a solid template, and it pays dividends for years.
Start with the free plan, see if it fits how your brain works, then upgrade to Plus + AI when you're ready to get serious.