Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Notion VS draw.io

Compare Notion VS draw.io and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Notion logo Notion

All-in-one workspace. One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized.

draw.io logo draw.io

Online diagramming application
  • Notion Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12
  • draw.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-20

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.

draw.io features and specs

  • Free
    draw.io offers a free version with extensive features, making it accessible to individuals and small teams without requiring financial investment.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The platform provides an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that is easy to use for both beginners and advanced users.
  • Collaboration
    It supports real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same diagram simultaneously.
  • Integrations
    It integrates seamlessly with popular cloud storage services like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox, facilitating easy sharing and saving.
  • Versatility
    Draw.io supports various diagram types including flowcharts, UML diagrams, network diagrams, and more, catering to a wide range of use cases.
  • No Installation Required
    As a web-based tool, draw.io does not require any installation, making it accessible from any device with an internet connection.
  • Customizability
    Users can customize shapes, styles, and templates to fit their specific needs, enhancing the utility of the tool.

Possible disadvantages of draw.io

  • Performance Issues
    Users may experience lag or performance issues, especially when working with very large diagrams or on less powerful hardware.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    While suitable for most general uses, draw.io might lack some advanced features available in premium diagramming tools like Visio.
  • Cloud Dependency
    As a cloud-based tool, draw.io requires a stable internet connection for optimal performance, potentially limiting its use in areas with poor connectivity.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Using a cloud service can raise privacy concerns, especially when dealing with sensitive or proprietary information.
  • Learning Curve
    Although user-friendly, becoming proficient with all features and integrations can take some time for new users.

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)

draw.io videos

draw.io - Draw diagrams in the cloud or as an AppImage

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Draw.io Tutorial - Getting Started || How to use Draw.io
  • Review - Creating Entity Relationship Diagrams using Draw.io
  • Review - Using Layers, an advanced draw.io feature
  • Review - Draw.io (aka diagrams.net) Basics
  • Review - Better, faster, stronger; draw.io introduces AI-powered Smart Templates

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Notion and draw.io)
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
Diagrams
0 0%
100% 100
Project Management
100 100%
0% 0
Flowcharts
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Notion and draw.io. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

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 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
20 Obsidian Alternatives: Top Note-Taking Tools to Consider
Notion is a popular alternative to Obsidian for its simplicity, minimalistic interface, and large community. On top of note-taking, you can use Notion as a task management tool to create simple to-dos or build a personal knowledge base. You can also embed links, images, videos, code snippets, etc. Notion also has bi-directional functionalities enabling you to interconnect...
Source: clickup.com

draw.io Reviews

5 great diagramming tools for enterprise and software architects
Where do you even begin with Diagrams.net, formerly known as Draw.io? Besides being free of charge, it also has a low learning curve, so anyone can quickly start creating diagrams or whiteboards. Many people use Diagrams.net for diagramming business processes, data flows, and networks. You can also modify elements without having to change the entire diagram with this tool.
Source: www.redhat.com
Software Diagrams - Plant UML vs Mermaid
There are many generic diagramming tools that can be used to design software such as diagrams.net (formerly draw.io), Miro, or Lucid Charts. These generic tools do allow a lot of flexibility but end up costing you more time than you intended to align all boxes and arrows and to get the colour schemes just right.
10 Best Visio Alternatives for Cost Effective Diagramming [2022]
Price may vary from time to time as Draw.io does some promotions and might give discounts as well. You should check their website for the latest prices. Also, the pricing depends upon the features you are taking it for. So, it has very distinctive processing. You’ll get all your options in the right column and the drawing and editing options you’ll get in the space provided...
Top 10 Alternatives to Draw.io / Diagrams.net - Flowchart Maker Reviews
Drawio is a free online software for creating flowcharts and process maps. It is an easy way to create professional diagrams and share them with your team, your clients, or the whole world. Drawio's user-friendly interface lets you drag and drop shapes from our library onto the canvas and format them using our comprehensive set of tools. Drawing charts has never been easier!...
Best 8 Free Visual Paradigm Alternatives in 2022
Another cost-efficient option as an alternative to Visual Paradigm is Draw.io. This is an online flowchart maker that you can use for free. Draw.io is absolutely free to use so you won’t have to worry about spending any amount. The only drawback that we saw upon reviewing the tool though, is the lack of templates. It is purely made for flowchart creation so the interface...
Source: gitmind.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, draw.io should be more popular than Notion. It has been mentiond 716 times since March 2021. 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.

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 / 6 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 / 7 months ago
  • Karyam: Simples everyday writing app
    Advanced Notion and Google Doc writing editor. - Source: dev.to / 11 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

draw.io mentions (716)

  • Creating Diagrams and Databases with Online Tools
    Draw.io (available at drawio.com) is an online and offline tool that lets you create various types of diagrams, including:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Random VS Code finds
    During my college days I used to use Drawio to draw wireframes and flowcharts. When I found that there is a VS Code extension that allows me to do it in the IDE it was a no brainer. I have found it is also useful whenever I am screen sharing to use it as a whiteboard during meetings. All you have to do is create a new file with the .drawio extension and you're off to the races. You can then export to .svg and .png... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Reactor controller
    Glad you like it! :D Feel free to reuse/edit it for the Steam page if you want. Also happy to send you the draw.io file if you'd like :). Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Note taking app
    Shraing, LDAP, sync, reminders are all possible. draw.io can be integrated by an app in nextcloud. Also, there is "Deck" which is a Kanban board for Nextcloud. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Diagramming on Note 2 Air+
    I've been using draw.io web to diagram, but I can't find it on android... Is there any good alternatives? Source: about 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Notion and draw.io, you can also consider the following products

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.

LucidChart - LucidChart is the missing link in online productivity suites. LucidChart allows users to create, collaborate on, and publish attractive flowcharts and other diagrams from a web browser.

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.

yEd - yEd is a free desktop application to quickly create, import, edit, and automatically arrange diagrams. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux.

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.

PlantUML - PlantUML is an open-source tool that uses simple textual descriptions to draw UML diagrams.