Craft vs Notion
Learn more about your options and pick the best tool for your team.
Unsure whether you should use Craft or Notion? You've come to the right place.
Named Apple’s App of the Year in 2021, Craft promotes itself as a fresh take on collaborative documentation tools. It focuses less on features, and more on simply helping you create visually appealing documents.
Notion, on the other hand, is an all-in-one productivity app. It's been around for a while and has gained a massive following for its versatility. Need to take notes, manage projects, or create a personal database? Notion has got you covered.
If you are evaluating productivity and note-taking tools and ended up with Craft and Notion on your shortlist, you are not alone. In this article, we will take a closer look at both Craft and Notion and examine their strengths and weaknesses to help you make the right decision for you or your company.
Craft and Notion compared
If you're looking for a modern tool for managing documents, both Craft and Notion can do the job. But while these two solutions have some similarities, they also have several fundamental differences that need to be kept in mind when making a decision.
Let's dive deeper into what Notion and Craft have to offer and also have a look at other alternatives you may want to consider.
Craft
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $5/user/month
Rating on G2: 4.5/5
Craft was launched in 2019 and quickly gained traction as a personal knowledge management (PKM) tool. Initially, it was exclusive to Apple devices and was often referred to as the Apple-native alternative to Notion.
Since then, Craft has evolved to support a range of new use cases and cater to a wider audience, including professionals, startups, and large businesses. The release of a Windows app, as well as a cloud-based version, also made it more accessible, turning Craft into a stronger contender against Notion.
Today, Craft is a general-purpose document management platform that shines thanks to its elegant and modern design.
Why you might prefer Craft over Notion:
Craft is considerably faster than Notion.
Craft is better optimized to be used offline.
The interface of Craft is simpler and more streamlined.
If you're an Apple user who values design and aesthetics, Craft's interface may be more appealing to you than Notion's.
What users say about Craft:
"Craft has quickly become my multiplatform, (Windows, MacOS, iOS, or in-browser) personal knowledge management (PKM) system. I have been able to create many different types and styles of documents, with a mix of online and standalone content. There are many available templates to be used, that can easily be customized."
Notion
Pricing: Free, advanced features starting from $8/user/month
Rating on G2: 4.8/5
While Craft is primarily a note-taking and document sharing app, Notion is an all-in-one workspace that combines notes, tasks, and databases in a single platform. It's like having a Swiss Army Knife for productivity, allowing you to organize your life and work in one place.
Notion is considerably more customizable than Craft and can adapt to your workflow. Notion's broader range of features, including databases, tables, and formulas, make it a more versatile tool that can be used for a variety of tasks, from project management to personal note-taking.
With that flexibility comes a fairly steep learning curve and an interface that is more dense and cluttered than that of Craft. Notion has also been known to suffer from performance issues, including slow-loading pages and sluggish search.
Why you might prefer Notion over Craft:
Notion is far more versatile and covers more use cases, allowing you to replace not just Craft, but also tools like Trello, Confluence, Airtable, and more.
Notion offers more ways to keep your documents organized, Kanban boards, databases, and more.
Notion offers a generous free plan to individuals.
Notion has a massive community, so you can take advantage of various user-generated resources, including templates, tutorials, meetups, and more.
What users say about Notion:
"Notion is a really spectacular piece of software, with a great level of flexibility. I've used it to organize tons of product planning documents in a rather complex hierarchy and have been delighted at how it rewards my resourcefulness. I've tried a lot of other tools with similar goals - Craft, Almanac, Coda, Obsidian - and I think Notion has the best balance of flexibility, collaboration support, and customization. Notion's one weakness is that it lacks some of the more data-oriented features that I'd want, things related to automations that I've been able to imitate with formulas but in ways that are unintuitive or clumsy to work with."
Looking for more tools similar to Notion? Check out this list of Notion alternatives.
Other alternatives
It should be mentioned that your options are not limited to just Craft and Notion. There are many other great productivity and document management tools that can serve you just as well — or even better.
For example, if you want the best of both worlds, consider Nuclino. It's a great tool for those who like the idea of replacing multiple tools with a unified solution like Notion, but prefer the simple and elegant design of Craft.
Every document in Nuclino can be collaborated on in real time. Comments and mentions can be used to exchange feedback, and related documents can be linked together. Simply type "@" and the name of the page you'd like to link to.
But like Notion, Nuclino is more than a document management platform. It's a multi-purpose tool that allows you to bring all your knowledge, docs, and projects together. You can visually organize your work in a nested list, a Kanban board, a table, or a mindmap-style graph. It can be a great solution for a wide range of use cases, including sprint planning, document collaboration, project management, asynchronous communication, and more.
At the same time, Nuclino is designed to be as user-friendly and intuitive as possible. It focuses on the essentials and offers a clean, distraction-free interface with no clunky menus and rarely-used options, lowering the learning curve for new users.
Learn more about how Nuclino compares to Notion: Nuclino vs Notion
Craft vs Notion: So which is better?
Notion and Craft offer different strengths and features. If you're looking for a fast, modern, and simple tool to create visually appealing documents, Craft may be a better fit. And Notion can be a great option for those who aren't intimidated by a complex interface and want a powerful and flexible tool where they can consolidate all their work.
On the other hand, if you value both simplicity and flexibility, consider exploring other alternatives, such as Nuclino.
We hope this article has made your decision a little easier. In the end, the choice between Notion and Craft will depend on your personal preferences, the type of work you do, and the platforms you use. The best way to determine which tool is right for you is to try them out and see which one fits your needs best.
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