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Foswiki VS Notion

Compare Foswiki VS Notion and see what are their differences

Foswiki logo Foswiki

Foswiki is the free and open source enterprise collaboration platform.

Notion logo Notion

All-in-one workspace. One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized.
  • Foswiki Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-28
  • Notion Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12

Foswiki features and specs

  • Open Source
    Foswiki is an open-source platform, meaning that it is free to use and its source code can be modified and customized to meet specific needs.
  • Extensible
    Foswiki offers a flexible plugin architecture, allowing users to extend its functionality with a wide variety of available plugins.
  • Robust Permissions
    It provides robust access control and permissions settings, enabling secure management of user roles and content access.
  • Version Control
    Versioning capabilities allow tracking changes over time, making it easy to revert to previous states of a document or page.
  • Active Community
    There is a supportive and active community around Foswiki, offering help, extensions, and regular updates.
  • Platform Independent
    Foswiki can be installed on any server that supports Perl, making it platform-independent and versatile for different environments.

Possible disadvantages of Foswiki

  • Complex Setup
    The installation and setup process can be complex, especially for users not familiar with Perl or server configurations.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Users may encounter a steep learning curve due to its broad feature set and extensive customization options.
  • Outdated Interface
    Some users find the default user interface outdated and not as intuitive or modern as other wiki solutions.
  • Performance Issues
    There might be performance issues with large-scale deployments, requiring optimization or additional resources.
  • Limited Built-in Features
    While extensible, Foswiki's core installation has fewer built-in features compared to competitors, relying heavily on plugins.
  • Maintenance Overhead
    Regular maintenance is required to ensure security and compatibility with plugins, which can be resource-intensive.

Notion features and specs

  • All-in-One Workspace
    Notion combines note-taking, task management, databases, calendars, and collaboration features in a single platform, reducing the need for multiple tools.
  • Highly Customizable
    Users can tailor Notion to fit their specific workflow with customizable templates, pages, and databases, making it versatile for various use cases.
  • Collaboration Features
    Notion offers seamless collaboration with real-time editing, comments, mentions, and shared workspaces, enhancing teamwork and productivity.
  • Cross-Platform Availability
    Notion is available on multiple platforms, including web, desktop, and mobile, providing flexibility and accessibility from anywhere.
  • Integration Capability
    Notion supports integrations with various third-party applications like Google Drive, Slack, and Trello, allowing for a more interconnected workflow.

Possible disadvantages of Notion

  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive features and customization options, new users might find Notion challenging to learn and navigate initially.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users report that Notion can become slow or experience lag, especially with large databases and complex pages.
  • Offline Limitations
    While Notion offers some offline capabilities, its functionality is significantly reduced without an internet connection, which can be inconvenient for some users.
  • Pricing for Teams
    Though Notion offers a free version, its premium plans can be expensive for larger teams, which may be a constraint for startups or small businesses.
  • Privacy Concerns
    As with any cloud-based service, there are potential privacy and data security concerns, especially for users handling sensitive information.

Foswiki videos

Lonely Data vs Linked Data (with Foswiki)

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Foswiki Tutorial - How to create a new user
  • Tutorial - Vadim Belman - "Foswiki, And How To Redesign 20 Years Old Code"
  • Review - Introduction to Foswiki - The free and open source Wiki
  • Tutorial - Foswiki Tutorial on how to create, edit and control a new topic
  • Tutorial - Foswiki Tutorial on how to create, edit and control a new topic

Notion videos

The Most Powerful Productivity App I Use - Notion

More videos:

  • Review - I switched to Notion for a week... Here's what happened!
  • Review - Notion is Truly an All-in-One Productivity Tool (App Review)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Foswiki and Notion)
Note Taking
4 4%
96% 96
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100
WiKis
100 100%
0% 0
Project Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Foswiki and Notion

Foswiki Reviews

We have no reviews of Foswiki yet.
Be the first one to post

Notion Reviews

  1. jk22
    · consultant at GFI ·
    Notion has helped in documenting our business

    It's been very very helpful to streamline different people on our team, especially remote workers to help them understand what's going on in our business without 100s of meetings.

    👍 Pros:    Ui is very attractive|Easy to use|Great for collaboration|Good customer service|Free to use
    👎 Cons:    Steep learning curve
  2. Ramesh Kumar
    · Product Manager at Aerial ·
    Extremely helpful- made life easier

    My remote-first start-up has eliminated more than 200+ hours of meetings and 1000s of mismanaged documents because our entire communication happens through Notion.

    👍 Pros:    Clean ui|File sharing|Modular
    👎 Cons:    Learning curve
  3. Boyd Richardson
    · Writer at SE ·

    As someone who's always on the lookout for the perfect productivity app, I was excited to try out Notion. It promises to be an all-in-one tool for everything from note-taking to project management to personal wikis.

    From the moment you open Notion, you can tell that it's different from other productivity apps. The interface is sleek and modern, and it's easy to navigate. The app is divided into pages, which can be customized with different templates to fit your needs. You can create to-do lists, databases, wikis, calendars, and more.

    One of the things I love about Notion is the ability to create relationships between pages. For example, you can create a database of your favorite books and then link to a page with your book reviews. Or you can create a to-do list and link to a page with notes about the task. This feature makes it easy to keep all of your information in one place and to connect related items.

    🏁 Competitors: Microsoft Loop
    👍 Pros:    Highly customizable|All in one|Collaboration|Cross platform
    👎 Cons:    Steep learning curve

Top 10 Productivity Apps for MacOS 2025
Okay, I know, I know. Notion is probably the most predictable pick for a productivity app list. But here’s the thing: It’s popular for a reason. Notion’s flexibility, customisation, and overall smooth user experience make it a standout, no matter how many times it pops up on productivity lists. Whether you’re organising tasks, taking notes, or creating databases, Notion lets...
Source: dev.to
Top 10 Notion Alternatives for 2025 and Why Teams Are Choosing Ledger
If you're looking for a Notion alternative that supports real, scalable teamwork, you're not alone. Whether you’ve outgrown Notion or are just exploring more robust, team-friendly platforms, here’s a breakdown of the top 10 alternatives in 2025—and why Ledger is becoming the go-to choice for modern teams.
How Tight-Knit Teams Get More Done with Innovative Project Management Tools
Notion: More than a task manager, it acts as a knowledge base. You can store guidelines, references, wikis, and to-do lists all under one roof.
Source: medium.com
11 Popular Knowledge Management Tools to Consider in 2025 
Notion AI (Optional Add-on) – $8 per user/month (billed annually). Available for all plans (including the free plan)
Source: knowmax.ai
11 Best Google Keeps Alternatives for 2024
Unlike other note-taking apps, Notion stands out for its endless customization. It’s like an all-in-one workspace structured by pages and blocks.
Source: upbase.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Notion seems to be a lot more popular than Foswiki. While we know about 441 links to Notion, we've tracked only 5 mentions of Foswiki. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Foswiki mentions (5)

  • Otter Wiki: A minimalistic wiki powered by Python, Markdown and git
    Do you know a wiki where one can add metadata to the pages? I used https://foswiki.org and it was great for combining structured and non structured information. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Making a Company Directory
    Use FOSWiki. It's best suited for a corporate intranet, but has a learning curve. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Software for an organization, think 'teams' and 'sharepoint'
    The best software around is FOSWiki, which is an enterprise wiki with numerous plugins, eg for taking meeting notes, setting up workflows, searching, appending files to wiki pages, etc. The only drawback is that it comes as a blank page, but there are foswiki consultants available for this job. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Does anyone else create cooking "plans" before a large meal? What's that called?
    I host my own instance of https://foswiki.org/ on my home linux box. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Recommendations: Standard Compliance Audit software
    Use an enterprise wiki with forms and workflows. A lot of work to customise the system, but if you use FOSwiki, you can use pattern matching queries to extract the standards from the text of a page (eg from documentation), having the advantage that whenever you edit the documentation, the standards (and questions) change automatically ;-) You should think about versioning, though. Source: almost 4 years ago

Notion mentions (441)

  • Cool SHIT you can do with docker
    Two of the most popular open source note taking app are affine (basically notion but open source) and obsidian (which stores notes in markdown). - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2024)
    Notion | https://notion.so | Android Engineer | SF | hybrid (in office 2x a week) | Full time
      Level: Mid/Mid+ (4-6yrs experience).
    - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Karyam: Simples everyday writing app
    Advanced Notion and Google Doc writing editor. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • My blog post workflow
    I manage my non-work and work-adjacent tasks in Notion. Whenever I have an idea, regardless of how big or small or silly or achievable it is, I'll add it to Notion, and use labels to categorise it by type of output (e.g. blog, silly project, website update). Today I wanted to write a short post for my site. I clicked on the filtered blog post view, and selected this one (because I hoped it would be a quick one!). - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • 6 AI tools that feels illegal to know🤖
    Notion.so redefines workspaces. With its intelligent organization and collaboration features, it's more than a productivity tool—it's a digital haven. Discover the art of streamlined and efficient teamwork. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Foswiki and Notion, you can also consider the following products

WackoWiki - WackoWiki is a light and easy to install multilingual Wiki-engine.

Trello - Infinitely flexible. Incredibly easy to use. Great mobile apps. It's free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.

DokuWiki - DokuWiki is a simple to use and highly versatile Open Source wiki software that doesn't require a database.

Asana - Asana project management is an effort to re-imagine how we work together, through modern productivity software. Fast and versatile, Asana helps individuals and groups get more done.

TiddlyWiki - a non-linear personal web notebook

Evernote - Bring your life's work together in one digital workspace. Evernote is the place to collect inspirational ideas, write meaningful words, and move your important projects forward.