Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Notion VS Substly

Compare Notion VS Substly 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.

Substly logo Substly

Substly brings transparency to software costs and licenses, enhances security, and saves time & money.
  • Notion Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12
  • Substly Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-02

Substly helps small and medium-sized companies reduce SaaS sprawl by providing an easily accessible overview and simplifying the processes around SaaS management.

The product offers enterprise-level features at an entry-level price; this tool provides insights into SaaS usage and helps identify user frustrations. It also helps optimize SaaS spending by providing alerts before renewals and eliminating spending on unused accounts. Additionally, it helps avoid unauthorized access to company data by improving employee off-boarding, allowing departments/teams to minimize SaaS sprawl and share an overview with other stakeholders.

Customers highlight the following four aspects of Substly’s product: - The overview and the control it leads to (regarding costs & who has access) - Great for showcasing status/costs internally - The simplicity of the system - Easy to get started (intuitive and short learning curve)

Substly

$ Details
paid Free Trial €2.5 / Monthly (Essentials Plan)
Platforms
Browser
Release Date
2021 January
Startup details
Country
Sweden
City
Gothenburg
Founder(s)
Ola Stål
Employees
1 - 9

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.

Substly features and specs

  • AD Integrations & Extensions
    Integrate with Google Workspace or Entra ID to frequently sync new groups, users, services, and detect usage.
  • Financial Integrations
    Integrate with accounting systems such as Xero, Quickbooks, or Fortnox to automatically sync services from your supplier's list and import financial details.
  • Software & License Management
    Substly discovers SaaS apps used across your organization via Google Workspace/Microsoft Entra ID, our browser extensions, and financial data.
  • Cost Optimization
    Sync financial data to provide visibility into actual spending data, helping you stay on track with your budget.
  • Compliance & Security
    ) Incorporate your PII register, which includes data on services and user licenses, to streamline your GDPR compliance processes.

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)

Substly videos

Explainer video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Notion and Substly)
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
Subscription Management
0 0%
100% 100
Project Management
100 100%
0% 0
SaaS Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Notion and Substly. 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 Substly

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

Substly Reviews

  1. Tobias Larsson
    · Business Developer at Founders Loft ·
    Keeping track of all subscriptions just got (much) easier

    We have a ton of Saas tools. Before using Substly they were scattered around. Now everything is in one place which has made it much easier for us, especially when we are off-boarding someone. Easy to overview and great value for the money.

    👍 Pros:    Easy to use|Great customer support|Great value for the money|Lower cost|Saves a ton of time|Great for collaboration
    👎 Cons:    Slack and teams notification
  2. magnus Orrebrant
    · marketing at Svenska Rovdjursföreningen ·
    better control of our saas spending

    Overview - gather everything in one place have improved the visibility of all our subscriptions, quick implementation, improved cost control, User friendly,

    👍 Pros:    Overall quality|Lower cost|Easy user interface|Short learning curve|Overview of cost spend
    👎 Cons:    None
  3. Richard Uddh
    · Sales Manager at FlexIT Distribution ·
    Best way to spend money, to save money!

    Using Substly has given us a better understanding of how we use our SaaS-apps and improved our ability to manage software licenses, resulting in better decision-making and cost savings. Substly's overview feature has been particularly helpful in this regard. Additionally, the offboarding feature has streamlined the process of removing software access for departing employees.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Notion seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 441 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 / 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 / about 1 year 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

Substly mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Substly yet. Tracking of Substly recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Notion and Substly, 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.

Cledara - We help companies bring visibility and control to their ever-growing #SaaS stack.

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.

Zylo - Zylo helps organizations optimize their SaaS investments by providing insights around Spend, Utilization, and User Feedback.

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.

Torii - SaaS Management Software.