Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

WorkOS VS Notion

Compare WorkOS VS Notion and see what are their differences

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WorkOS logo WorkOS

Application and Data, Application Utilities, and User Management and Authentication

Notion logo Notion

All-in-one workspace. One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized.
  • WorkOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30
  • Notion Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12

WorkOS features and specs

  • Easy Integration
    WorkOS provides straightforward integration for developers with well-documented APIs and SDKs, allowing organizations to incorporate enterprise-ready features into their applications quickly.
  • Security and Compliance
    It offers built-in security and compliance features such as single sign-on (SSO), directory sync, and audit logs, helping businesses meet regulatory requirements with ease.
  • Scalability
    WorkOS is designed to scale with your business, providing the flexibility to add more users and features as your application grows.
  • Time Efficiency
    By providing pre-built solutions for complex enterprise functions, WorkOS saves developers time and resources they would spend building these features from scratch.
  • Broad Compatibility
    The platform supports a wide range of identity providers, making it compatible with many different enterprise environments.

Possible disadvantages of WorkOS

  • Cost
    While WorkOS offers a lot of features, the associated costs might be high for startups and small businesses.
  • Dependency on Third-party
    Relying on WorkOS for critical components means entrusting a third-party service, which can lead to challenges if service outages or changes occur.
  • Complexity for Smaller Use Cases
    For companies with simpler access management needs, the comprehensive features provided by WorkOS might be more than necessary, leading to potential over-engineering.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite robust documentation, there might be a learning curve for developers unfamiliar with integrating third-party enterprise solutions.
  • Potential Vendor Lock-in
    As with any third-party service, there can be concerns about vendor lock-in, making it difficult to switch providers once integrated deeply.

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.

WorkOS videos

Add SSO to your Next.js app using WorkOS in 7 minutes

More videos:

  • Review - Introducing Admin Portal (by WorkOS)

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 WorkOS and Notion)
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100
Identity Provider
100 100%
0% 0
Project Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using WorkOS and Notion. 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 WorkOS and Notion

WorkOS Reviews

Top 10 Best SAML Identity Providers List for SSO (Pros and Cons)
Just launched in 2018, and WorkOS is already well liked by many enterprises and IT developers. The all in one solution boasts Enterprise SSO and supports all OIDC and SAML providers right out of the box.

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Notion seems to be a lot more popular than WorkOS. While we know about 441 links to Notion, we've tracked only 12 mentions of WorkOS. 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.

WorkOS mentions (12)

  • What is SCIM Provisioning: In-Depth Guide [2024]
    WorkOS aims to provide enterprise-grade identity management solutions for your app to help you ship without needing extensive resources or time. It includes a Directory Sync to help you 'build a frictionless user provisioning and deprovisioning workflow for your organization.'. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Why SMBs Don't Deploy SSO
    Full disclosure: I work at WorkOS (https://workos.com/), we provide SSO (among other things) as a service. I glanced through the report and it comes to the normal conclusion that SSO is hard and expensive to get right. Do SMBs focus on providing value to their customers in the problem space that they are experts at or do they spend months just getting sign-in working? Yeah I get the concern about the "SSO tax" but... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Migrating from Radix to React Aria: Enhancing Accessibility and UX at Argos
    React Aria underpins React Spectrum, Adobe's design system used for web applications like Photoshop. Adobe's significant investment in this technology ensures long-term support and reliability. While Ariakit is excellent and Diego Haz is a talented developer, the lack of corporate backing poses sustainability risks. The project could halt if the developer decides to stop, and there's a higher risk of breaking... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Show HN: Auth0 OSS alternative Ory Kratos now with passwordless and SMS support
    Have you tried WorkOS? It’s built for exactly this, with native support for SAML and SCIM. https://workos.com/ I’m the founder. Would love to hear your feedback and happy to answer questions. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • How Open ID Connect Works
    Have you tried WorkOS? (I work there.) Makes it super easy to add SAML/SCIM to your app. https://workos.com/ We also recently launched https://www.authkit.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

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 / 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 WorkOS and Notion, you can also consider the following products

Auth0 - Auth0 is a program for people to get authentication and authorization services for their own business use.

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.

Frontegg - Elegant user management, tailor-made for B2B SaaS

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.

Descope - Drag-and-drop authentication for your app

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.