ClickUp vs Notion Compared: Is Notion Better Than ClickUp?

Are you on two minds about whether ClickUp vs Notion is the better productivity software for you and your team?

You've arrived at the right place.

Both ClickUp and Notion claim to be the best "all-in-one" productivity tool that replaces all other apps, but which of the two delivers on the promise better? 

The two cloud-based software solutions have significant differences you need to consider to make the right pick. In this ClickUp vs Notion review, we'll examine the two tools more closely and see how they compare in terms of ease of use, affordability, and features.

What is the difference between ClickUp and Notion?

ClickUp excels at tasks, and Notion at wikis and notes. ClickUp was primarily built as a project management tool and Notion as a note-taking system. The feature set of ClickUp is more extensive than Notion's and includes calendars, time tracking, automation, instant messaging, and more. 

Due to the vast number of features, ClickUp is more geared towards larger teams with more complex needs. At the same time, it can be slightly confusing for beginners. 

Notion is more limited in functionality and focuses on only a few features, making it a more intuitive system preferred by smaller teams. 

That’s why Notion can be simpler to onboard than ClickUp and requires less customization. ClickUp is fully customizable with functionalities like custom fields and custom permissions. 

If you want to learn the full complexity of ClickUp, read this exhaustive ClickUp review. We also have a complete Notion review that discusses this software’s perks and limitations.

ClickUp vs Notion comparison chart

Before we dive into a detailed comparison, let’s briefly see how the two apps weigh up in terms of plans, ease of use, and features.

ClickUp vs Notion pricing

Both ClickUp and Notion offer several pricing plans. The only difference is that ClickUp has four paid plans, and Notion has three. ClickUp's cheapest paid plan starts at $5 per user per month, billed annually or $9 monthly. 

The two other plans are the Business and the Business Plus, which cost $12 and $19 per user per month, billed annually, respectively. The Enterprise plan is geared toward large organizations, but public pricing is not available. 

Notion has a paid plan for personal use called Personal Pro that costs $4 per user per month, billed annually, or $5 per user per month if you pay monthly. For team collaboration, the best plan is the Team plan, which costs $8 per user per month billed annually or $10 billed monthly. The Enterprise plan doesn't feature public pricing. 

Which is best for you? 

We'll yield this round to Notion as it has an excellent plan for personal use and a monthly plan geared toward teams packed with more features that teams would need. 
 

Notion vs ClickUp free versions

Notion’s free plan is ideal for small companies with tight budgets and more lightweight needs. Although the plan is designed for personal use, you can invite up to five guests to collaborate with you privately on any page. 

With the free version, you’ll get features like 50+ templates, wikis, docs, an unlimited number of pages and blocks, and views, including kanban, list, and table. Some features you won’t find with the free version include collaborative workspaces, version history, team spaces, advanced permissions, and priority support. 

ClickUp’s free plan is also very generous and suitable for managing simpler projects. You’ll get access to features like unlimited users and tasks, 100MB of storage, Kanban boards, whiteboards, docs, real-time chat, time tracking, and more.

Which is best for you? 

This round is a tie as both tools come with limited free plans. ClickUp’s free plan offers unlimited users, while Notion’s is free for one user and five guests. 
 

Customer support

If you need to get in touch with a customer support representative at Notion, you can do so in several ways. You can reach out via live chat, email, or Tweet at Notion staff. There's Priority Support on all plans except for the Personal plan. You can also contact the sales team on the phone. 

You can contact ClickUp’s customer service 24 hours a day, every day of the week, including holidays. You can reach out via email, chat, or call support by phone if you have a billing question. 

Which is best for you? 

In terms of customer support, we found both apps to be quite responsive. Both Notion and ClickUp users have a few ways of getting in touch with support. 

ClickUp has the upper hand as you can submit a bug and request new features. Another advantage ClickUp has over Notion is the 24/7 email support. 
 

Knowledgebase & learning

Notion has a vibrant community forum where you can ask questions or help fellow users. You can even join a Notion group in your city and attend lunch gatherings, coffee meetups, and larger events. 

The knowledge base is another place where you can search for answers to your questions on your own. You’ll find hundreds of help articles and weekly webinars covering the Notion basics. 

ClickUp also has an active community where you can ask questions or help other users with their issues. The knowledge base contains all kinds of learning resources, like help articles, webinars, templates for different use cases, and more. 

What’s more, ClickUp has its own learning academy called ClickUp University, where you find a vast collection of courses and tutorials related to ClickUp and productivity. You can even earn ClickUp Certificates and share them via LinkedIn and social media.

Which is best for you? 

We call this round a tie as both platforms have extensive knowledge bases and community forums. Users can easily help themselves if they don’t have the time to wait to talk to a live agent. 
 

ClickUp or Notion for ease of use?

The heavy amount of features and customization means ClickUp comes with a learning curve. Onboarding can take a few days, even if you’ve used a project management app before. There are a good deal of help articles that can help you learn the basics of software and its main functionality. 

Another thing to note is that ClickUp tries to keep a clean-looking dashboard, so it hides many of its features on the user interface. It can be frustrating at times to find a specific functionality. 

Notion is also not the most intuitive platform. Absolute beginners might struggle to find their way around, as everything in Notion starts with an empty page. The good news is there's a vast knowledge base and a very active community forum.

Which is best for you? 

Notion has a slight lead here as it has a better user interface. Finding your way around the software's functionality and how to customize it is easier with Notion than with ClickUp. 
 

Product limitations

Although Notion has excellent document editing capabilities, it's still behind tools like Excel, Word, and PowerPoint that come with more robust capabilities. The app also lacks features like time tracking, custom reporting, and automation. 

Your team will also have to invest some time setting it up for task management and team collaboration. Although Notion has some task management features, larger businesses will quickly run into the app's limits.

ClickUp is more heavyweight than Notion and comes with a rich set of features. If you need a simpler tool, you may find ClickUp too confusing. And to enjoy the full functionality of the app, you must do plenty of customization. 

Which is best for you? 

This round is a tie. There's no winner, as both platforms come with some product limitations. Notion may be too lightweight for larger businesses, while ClickUp might easily overwhelm users with its complexity. 

Notion vs ClickUp features & functionality

Now that we’ve compared Notion vs ClickUp in terms of pricing, free plans, customer service, and ease of use, it’s time to see how they stack up against each other in features and functionality.  

Task management 

Notion comes with some basic task management features. If your needs are more lightweight, it can easily replace apps like Asana, Evernote, Jira, or Trello. The good thing is there's a Kanban board, which is pretty decent; you can even link directly to other pages, which is very handy. 

You can view your tasks in different ways to have another perspective, including list view, table view, calendar view, and timeline layout. Each item on a task list becomes its own page, and can be then assigned to one or more team members. You can add notes, due dates, tags, and priority levels. 

One downside is that Notion doesn't support recurring tasks and lacks workflow automation. 

ClickUp is a powerful task management tool. Tasks can have assignees, statuses, priority, comments, and attachments. You can break large tasks into smaller subtasks and even set dependencies between them. 

With automation, you can automate repetitive tasks and free up some time to focus on more important tasks. When it comes to views, ClickUp lets you view your tasks in 15+ different ways, including in a list, calendar, board, Gantt, and timeline view. There's even a feature called Mind Maps that lets you visualize the structure of all your tasks.

Which is best for you? 

ClickUp is the clear winner, as it was originally built for task management purposes. Unlike Notion, which offers the bare minimum, it comes with more robust task management functionality. 
 

Integrations

Notion integrates with 30+ third-party apps to help you work uninterruptedly. It integrates seamlessly with tools like GitHub, Figma, Slack, Dropbox, and Zoom. 

ClickUp has native integration with 50+ third-party apps like Google Drive, Webhooks, Microsoft Teams, Loom, and Zendesk. Via Zapier, it connects with additional 1,000 apps and more. 

Which is best for you? 

ClickUp wins this round as it has 50+ integrations, compared to Notion’s 30+ integrations with third-party apps. Both platforms let you build your own custom integrations using their public API.
 

Wiki & Docs

Notion's main features are the blocks and pages with which you can build wikis and docs. There are more than 500 different blocks you can add to pages, including text, bullet points, images, maps, tables, and more. These blocks that are put on pages, for example, a wiki database, become workspaces you can share with your team. You can add comments, mention team members, and more. 

ClickUp has a feature called ClickUp Docs that allows you to create docs, handbooks, knowledge bases, and more. You can then connect your Docs to tasks and workflows. You can even collaborate with your team in real time inside any document. You can tag other people with comments, assign them action items, and convert text into tasks.

Which is best for you? 

This round goes to Notion as its wiki and docs features are simply more robust. 
 

Notion or ClickUp for reporting

ClickUp comes with advanced reporting capabilities. The main reporting engine of the software is the dashboard. Using the dashboards, you can get a high-level view of everything that's going on in your Workspace. You can track projects, sprints, epics, campaigns, and more. 

Another powerful reporting feature is the Goals feature, which lets you measure your project goals by tying them to specific tasks, numbers, and monetary values. There’s also the Workload & Box view for visualizing your team's day-by-day work capacity so that you allocate resources effectively. 

On the other hand, Notion doesn't come with native reporting capabilities.

Which is best for you? 

ClickUp is the clear winner here as it has many powerful reporting capabilities, unlike Notion, which falls short in this regard. Because Notion lacks reporting features, it's best used for single users and small teams.
 

Automation and workflows 

ClickUp has plenty of built-in automation features to automate repetitive actions like assigning tasks, posting comments, and moving statuses. 

You can create your own automation or choose pre-designed automation from the Automations library. The library contains 50+ automation templates you can apply to Spaces, Folders, and Lists. 

Notion lacks built-in automation. If you want to automate your workflows, you must use a third-party tool like Zapier or IFTTT. 

Which is best for you? 

ClickUp wins again, as its automation features are simply more advanced. Notion lacks in-built automation, which makes it only suitable for projects that require minimal automation.
 

Collaboration and communication

ClickUp has many collaboration features like Whiteboard, Chat, Email, and Proofing. For example, you can add comments on tasks, mention other teammates, and even send and receive emails directly within ClickUp. 

Whiteboards are a neat feature that lets you brainstorm and share ideas on a visual canvas. The chat option lets you communicate with anyone in real-time; you can link tasks and documents, tag team members, share attachments, and more. You can even create a chat for specific teams or projects.

Notion also comes with a good deal of collaboration tools. You can edit the same page at the same time with an unlimited number of people. Their profile photos will show you where they're looking or working on the page. Edits and comments made by everyone will appear to you instantly. 

There are several ways to communicate with teammates inside Notion. You can mention them by typing @ followed by their name anywhere on a page, and the person will be notified of your mention with a link directly to it. You can also communicate by leaving comments on a page. You can add comments on a text, image, embed, or any type of block.

Which is best for you? 

We'll call this round a tie, as both platforms have a good deal of collaboration and communication features. ClickUp has whiteboards and live chat, while Notion lets users view and edit the same page or database at the same time. Both Notion and ClickUp have mobile apps for Android and iOS for work on the go. 

Is ClickUp better than Notion? Our conclusion

One thing is for certain:

Both Notion and ClickUp are good productivity software for teams. With that said, there's no clear winner in this side-by-side comparison. The best tool for you would depend on a range of factors, like your budget, team size, and preferences. 

Notion might be a better option if you're a smaller team that wants to organize its processes and knowledge base in one central place. It offers better features for creating wikis and docs and lets you organize tasks and collaborate with your team in a simpler and less confusing way.

ClickUp is more suitable for larger teams that need a powerful and flexible solution. Although the app can be overwhelming at first, that’s due to the sheer number of features and limitless flexibility. It also comes with more advanced integrations, automation features, and reporting capabilities. 

Consider trying the free plan of each app or taking advantage of the free trial to see which app is more fit to meet your needs and productivity goals.

Didn’t find what you were looking for in either one of the apps? Take a look at this in-depth review of the top project management software options, along with their pros and cons, and pricing plans.