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This feels like an incredibly strange versus to be writing about, but we completely understand how someone might be looking at Notion and Airtable for different things. So which is better? Well, they each excel in totally different categories.
Let's jump right in ⤵
Airtable and Notion are both Databases at a core. Though calling Notion a database feels a bit like referring to a dog as an animal—while true, it's not very descriptive, because all software at the end of the day is ultimately a database at the core (yes, even a CRM is just an opinionated relational database).
Notion was built from the ground up as a team knowledge base, and has evolved over time more into the all-in-one/no-code category, which you can't truly be in the no-code category if you don't have an accessible database.
Winner: Airtable
This one is quite obvious, as Airtable was built first-and-foremost as a database. And to that point, it does an exceptional job at being that. While more technical engineers would laugh at hearing Airtable be referred to as a database, it's the best no-code database on the market, hands-down.
The beautiful thing about having a powerful and user-friendly database, is you can use it as a building block, to build no-code functionality, by leveraging their interfaces functionality (essentially a UI and form functionality to display information from the database), or easily integrate it with different tools.
Where Airtable excels the most is honestly in its API and Airtable Zapier integration. It's one of the most powerful and flexible integrations available when used alongside the "updated record in view" functionality.
For just about every single customer of ours, we use Airtable as an intermediary database, to pass data to, manipulate, and pass to other tools—one of the main purposes for a database, and one that Airtable excels at.
When trying to use Notion as a proper database, you'll begin running into some of the same issues that we experienced with using Coda as a database, which is that it just feels like a note taking app, and having so much flexibility around the database/table functionality, to where you can add text blocks and images above and below, it just feels like you're not exactly using it for how it was intended. Unlike that of Airtable, where you go in, and you see it as a database—everything screams database (which is nice, when you're looking to have a database).
Start your free trial of Airtable here.
Winner: Notion
Motion is not trying to be a team knowledge base, they are clearly focused on the project management functionality more than anything. So while it has note taking and documentation functionality within projects and tasks (similar to that of Motion vs Asana), they aren't trying to be a team knowledge base, whereas Notion is (and we actually believe that this is where Notion specifically excels).
So if team notes is important to you, you're going to want to pick from the best knowledge base software. It's not uncommon to use that along with a proper project manager. Now if you're set on having your team knowledge base deeply intertwined with your project management tool, you're going to want to compare ClickUp vs Notion (although we don't recommend this path).
So point-blank, when comparing Motion and Notion for note taking functionality, you'd be better off using Notion.
Start your free trial of Notion here.
Winner: Neither
If you've somehow stumbled upon Airtable vs Notion as your team's project management solution, we're here to tell you to look elsewhere.
Airtable and Notion both get confused as a flexible task management solution because they are at a core, databases, and they both have template functionality, so you'll see no shortage of Airtable and Notion templates for project management.
What actually makes for the best project management tool is far more involved than just being able to add tasks to a database.
This gets into the area of time blocking, calendar integration, task prioritization, dependencies, and AI scheduling, all of which you're going to completely miss when using Airtable or Notion.
We'd recommend you check out Motion if you're looking for a proper task and project management tool though. As much as we especially love Airtable for database functionality, and Notion not team knowledge base management, neither should even be considered when exploring project management solutions.
Start your 7 day free trial of Motion here.
Winner: Draw
This is a tough one, because both tools actually have pretty solid underpinnings as a no-code builder. Though I will say, you're not going to fully accomplish what you'd need without also using top automation software like Zapier alongside them.
While we find ourselves running to Airtable more often than Notion when it comes to the building of no-code applications, we can also see where Notion can excel in this area.
Many companies have even taken to leveraging both Airtable and Notion as the underlying tool to spin up websites with Notion (Super), and even user-login gated content with Airtable (Softr).
So it really depends on what type of tool you're looking to build to determine which of the two excels in the no-code builder space. We believe the Airtable API is more powerful and flexible, making it the more obvious choice for us when using it alongside something like Zapier.
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For teams of all sizes looking for a flexible and user-friendly database (spreadsheet replacement) that can easily connect with other tools.
Airtable is an incredibly flexible tool that can be used from something as simple as a Google Sheets replacement, all the way up to a no-code builder.
At a core, it's really just a user-friendly database, similar to that of Coda and even Notion (although those 2 apps both started as more of knowledge base tools first, whereas Airtable has always been first-and-foremost a user-friendly database).
If your team is still using Google Sheets (for things outside of company finance reporting like balance sheets, etc.), then we fully encourage you to check out Airtable and to give it a try. In most cases, it will completely replace the need for Google Sheets, Google Forms, Typeform, Jotform, and other Form software.
Believe it or not, over the past 8+ years, we've actually entirely replaced every single internal Google Sheet with Airtable alternative. Sometimes the structure needs to change slightly, but doing so unlocks so much additional functionality.
We've done this because it provides way more structure (it being a proper database), while also having an incredibly powerful API (for integrating and automating).
And that's where it has some no-code builder functionality, which means with the right guidance, it can even replace more complicated apps lite Submittable (more of an application management software).
As much as we don't recommend using Airtable as your CRM, we do believe it serves a place in just about every business. For instance, Airtable can serve as a fantastic database extension of your lead and customer info.
That said, we actually named Airtable as one of our 5 Best Copper App Integrations of 2023, so it still serves a purpose even when you're seeing how it might fit alongside your CRM needs.
Airtable is also not a project manager—please stop trying to use it as one 😅
On that note, if you're super tempted to use Airtable as your CRM and don't want a more fully-fledged CRM like Copper, you might want to try out Folk instead.
We love working with the Airtable API. It just does most everything you could want it to do, and it incredibly flexible and easy to work with.
You can simply create a new view within an Airtable Base, add filtered logic to it, and set it up so when a new record enters that view, an automation can be triggered. This allows it to be incredibly flexible.
With it ultimately just being a database at the end of the day and having such a powerful API, it is the most core tool in our stack. I don't think there's one customer we've taken on that we haven't used Airtable with for at least some aspect to their business.
Even if it's just more in the background as an intermediary database, doing data manipulation, allowing for us to more easily pass data between software.
With all of that said, there's a fine line between what it is good for, and what it's not good for. So it brings with it the same issues we've seen arise with tools like Notion and Coda. Determining when you should and shouldn't be using it is probably the most important thing to nail down when determining if Airtable is the right fit for your needs.
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There is currently no promo code for this app but we are close partners, so if you use the link above to visit the site and then let their team know that Efficient App sent you, you may just get a little something... extra 😉
There is currently no promo code for this app—we'll update it here if that changes in the future!
Get $10 of free credit automatically added to your account when you use the link above.
A shared documentation and note taking tool that tip-toes the line of a flexible no-code platform (for teams of all sizes).
Notion is part of a category of apps often referred to as an "all-in-one", for which we aren't particularly fans of.
The main problem we have with this is it feels more like a cop-out when asked to define what you are—we do everything.
Notion started as a team knowledge base app, and that's what it should really be defined as. The problem is, as you're doing well in a single category, some apps decide to double-down, while others look to increase their TAM (Total Addressable Market). Notion is in the latter camp.
We've found that rolling out all-in-one solutions with customers is actually more difficult to get team adoption due to overwhelm.
Take Notion, it's not opinionated. In them deciding to make it super flexible, allowing it to "do anything", it by design becomes overwhelming with time. We know, it'll be incredibly exciting at first—all of the limitless potential! But then that "potential" turns to overwhelm in weeks and months.
What structure should I add these notes in? Should I add tasks here? Or over here? Do I message you on Slack, or @comment you here in Notion? Because it does "everything", it introduces micro-fatigue for doing anything.
Although, if you're looking for an incredibly flexible note taking tool that struts the lines of "no-code builder", where you actually see structure as a negative, then that's where an all-in-one app like Notion will actually shine.
Rating: B+
This is an area that Notion excels because at the end of the day, Notion is primarily just a database at the core. This means that the API is up there when comparing Airtable vs Notion on the database side of things.
Not to mention, the sheer number of tools built atop Notion, and the templates marketplace (all things that signify Notion is more of a database/no-code tool), add up to making Notion have a pretty solid and flexible API.
Start your free trial of Notion here.
When teams start having micro-success with Notion, they end up trying to use it for everything, and this is exactly where Notion's limitations and flaws are shown.
We're taking customer notes in Notion, what if we actually had our customer's information in Notion as well! Thus the mistake of trying to use Notion as a CRM is born. It will never be a proper CRM. Yes, Notion has relational databases at the core, and a CRM is really just a bunch of relational databases at the end of the day, but the difference here is opinionation and structure.
Versus getting into this point further here, that's where we've written a post explaining why Notion is not a CRM.
Your team is using Notion collaboratively with some of your clients now, eh? That's great! We have a collaborative shared knowledge base, what would make this even better? A project management tool—let's build that right into Notion as well, because tasks are really just line items in a database, right?
Wrong.
The same issue arises as before. What makes a good project management tool like Motion actually good, is the opinionation and structure. You can't just start connecting tasks to customers to notes to videos to XYZ. That's a surefire way to overwhelm absolutely everyone on your team.
The goal of a project manager is to actually get work done—with Notion as a project manager, you'll be spending more time building out a project manager, tip-toeing the line of product manager (instead of project manager).
Here's a more detailed post of our thoughts on how Notion stacks up as a project manager as compared to the leaders on the market.
Choosing to roll out something like Notion across your team requires immense thought, structure, documentation, and training.
So are you trying to build all of this out yourself? And if so, are you a product designer? Do you understand your team's specific needs even better than they do? Or are you just trying to build what you think is needed and then plan to have everyone use it in that way?
If the latter, adoption is more than likely to fail, and you might want to reconsider choosing an all-in-one tool like Notion, and instead opt for something more purpose-built as your team's internal knowledge base like an alternative like Slite.
There is currently no promo code for this app but we are close partners, so if you use the link above to visit the site and then let their team know that Efficient App sent you, you may just get a little something... extra 😉
There is currently no promo code for this app—we'll update it here if that changes in the future!
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