Notion alternatives? How suitable is to use a database instead? (feddit.it)

submitted 2 months ago by dontblink@feddit.it to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I like notion a lot, especially for its databases function, it's much more powerful than stuff like excel, but being proprietary I'm scared of the buyers lock in / notion disallowing exports in the future and all the cons that come from using a proprietary software. Also managing integrations is probably harder than with an app that you own I think..

Is database in notion just a normal database like mysql? How easy/intuitive would be making the switch? Is it worth it?

We would use it for a very small organization, mostly for registering invoices, documents, lists of contacts with several informations.

I need to query results and to sort / filter database as I want, there's also the idea of trying integrating it with a website in the future maybe..

I like how practical notion is, but I don't like that it's proprietary and notion could potentially modify its terms of use whenever it wants.

top 15 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] Tundra@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 months ago

https://anytype.io/

[-] kambusha@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I think Affine is the closest in terms of functionality to Notion. It's essentially a Notion/Miro hybrid. Open-source.

[-] bloubz@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 2 months ago

The "with AI" kinda breaks the charm unfortunately

[-] Eyck_of_denesle@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

I agree. I went with anytype even though it's only source available cause appflowy/affine were filled with AI stuff I didn't need.

[-] krcr@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago

If it's only the database part that you're looking for maybe you could look at https://nocodb.com/ Which is self-hostable.

[-] sem@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 months ago

OrgNote is a nice GPL-licensed alternative. It's still quire raw, but it is evolving very rapidly.

[-] tkw8@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

This looks neat. Thanks for sharing.

[-] trashboat@midwest.social 6 points 2 months ago

Obsidian has been working well for me though it may not have all the functionality you’re looking for

[-] RmDebArc_5@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 months ago

Obsidian is proprietary though

[-] Jaximus@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Yeah but it saves everything in your folder so even if it is closed your data remains

[-] trashboat@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago

Ah sorry didn’t know that. I’m still new to self hosting stuff

[-] PandaInSpace@kbin.earth 4 points 2 months ago

There isn't a 1:1 FOSS replacement for Notion. I've been also looking for one and haven't found any.

As others have said, Appflowy and Affine are the best options that don't require self hosting. Appflowy now has a web version too. There's also SiYuan.

If you're fine with self hosting there might be a few options mainly for database like functions, some provide a free trial/tier :