Now that you’ve tried the popular Notion alternative, you’re ready to make the move

Apps like Notion don’t really fit into any particular category of tools, but in my quest for the perfect productivity tool, I’ve spent years experimenting with OneNote, Evernote, and even Excel sheets. , I settled on this. It’s my to-do list, project management tool, and hub for important documents. I also use it to track supplements.

For a while, I bet on Obsidian. There’s certainly a lot about the latter that appeals to me, especially its offline-first and locally hosted nature. But despite its flexibility, Obsidian was slow to learn and difficult to sync across multiple platforms without paying for premium services.

Notion, on the other hand, serves as an outlet for all my organized and unorganized thoughts. It works. As long as you follow Notion’s approach, it will work fine. However, recently I have been looking for a successor. As you know, Notion was designed from the ground up as an internet-connected app. There aren’t even any native desktop apps, and the overall slowness is definitely noticeable.

Additionally, since I travel a lot, it’s especially disappointing that there’s no offline mode for jotting down impromptu thoughts. Similarly, mobile apps still have room for improvement in terms of usability. So for the past few days I’ve been trying out another Notion alternative, Anytype, and I might be ready to make the switch. Here’s why:

Like Notion, Anytype is difficult to categorize as a single tool. It can be something as simple as a note-taking app. However, if you try hard enough, it can double as a full-fledged database, task tracking system, or journaling app, to-do list, or even a project management solution. Perhaps the best way to describe it is as a second brain. When configured correctly, it’s the perfect all-encompassing solution for organizing all your data.

The last time I tried Anytype was a few years ago when it was still in beta and was rejected for being too crude. A lot has changed since then. I run Anytype on an M3 MacBook Air, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, iPad Air, and iPhone 16 Pro Max, and Anytype’s native apps circle around Notion.

Setup is super easy with auto-generated passphrases, no user accounts, and an offline-first approach. This means that all your data is stored locally using a vault-like concept borrowed from Obsidian. Enter your passphrase on any device and your vault will sync.

Coming from Notion, the basics are very easy to understand. Anytype pretty much mirrors Notion’s approach, with a few exceptions that I’ll explain later. However, if you’re new to productivity platforms, there’s a significant learning curve. We also found that Anytype’s tagging and folder structure can be very confusing, which can deter users who are new to such a platform.

Compared to Notion’s nested structure of folders and notes, Anytype offers some additional ways to organize your data, but the functionality can seem overlapping and difficult to understand. To better understand how Anytype works, I decided to clone some of the databases from Notion.

As mentioned above, I use Notion to track my daily supplements. This is a fairly static database, so I started there. Anytype follows Notion’s lead by using what can best be described as a command-based structure for adding elements. Tapping the plus button will bring up a blank canvas, and pressing the ‘/’ key will bring up a variety of options, including titles, tables, callouts, and even videos, audio files, and Instagram posts. The table type option made it easy to duplicate medicine stacks.

However, the advantage of productivity management tools like Anytype and Notion is that you can define any field or element type and use it to filter or perform actions. If that sounds confusing, hear me out. In our next experiment, we set about recreating the book library.

Anytype includes a variety of templates that you can download directly from the app and many more to help you get started. I decided to choose the built-in library template and further tweaked it using genre and author tags.

This is where things start to get a little complicated, but dare I say, fun. Anytype introduces the concept of collections and sets to organize data. Depending on the type of data you are working with, pages or objects called Anytype fall into one of these organizational structures. I’m still learning the nuances of working with both types, but a set is effectively a catch-all for a particular data type or object. For example, notes you create will appear in your note set, regardless of where you create them within Anytype.

Collections take the concept of sets to another level. Both effectively function as folders, but collections allow you to better organize your pages. In my case, I decided to compile all the book reviews I’ve written so far into a book review collection.

So far, everything we’ve done is very similar to Notion. However, Anytype has two tricks that might convert me. Similar to Obsidian, Anytype introduces a graph view that provides a top-down view of the world of all objects and how they are linked to each other. In my case, I’m linking specific book reviews to titles in my library, which in turn feed into my home page that displays recent book reviews.

Although my example is quite simplified, this graph view can be built over time to connect seemingly abstract concepts. For example, you can browse through projects you did years ago or highlight sections of YouTube videos. You no longer need to add everything to one copy. Instead, they can be referenced and linked from within the page, and a graph view shows how everything is connected. This is a fairly sophisticated solution for understanding data, and its benefits become even more apparent once the system has months or years of data stored.

Another feature that appeals to me is the ability to convert most data types into widgets. One of the most obvious use cases is the ability to place a persistent task widget next to the main screen. Virtually any type of object can be used as a widget, so you can place a list of books to read or an assignment here, or keep track of recently watched movies. The possibilities are endless.

Add to this a local-first approach to make your apps faster. Essentially, you’re looking at the perfect combination of Obsidian’s features and Notion’s relatively simple features. A local approach is equally important from a data ownership perspective. Given the current state of global cybersecurity, it is common for data to be leaked or sold, and services that rely on data stored on their servers cannot guarantee its security. The fact that Anytype stores everything on my computer and can sync directly between devices without using the cloud at all gives me great peace of mind.

Anytype is great, but not for beginners

Although there are many positives, switching to Anytype is not at all easy. I often ended up searching Anytype’s documentation to find out how to perform basic filters. The choice of terminology and somewhat esoteric approach mean that Anytype is not suitable for beginners.

For me, when purchasing a productivity suite, the ability to move outside of the ecosystem is equally important. That’s certainly one of the reasons I’ve been considering moving away from Notion. Obsidian uses markdown files for virtually everything, which makes it very simple. Anytype can be exported to markdown, but the export format tends to separate each object into its own separate file. This may complicate moving to another suite unless an import utility exists, so it might be worth keeping in mind.

Another feature that I really missed was the ability to publish pages to the web. I created a family homepage in Notion that I share with the whole family. This makes it easy to remember important dates and find important documents. Anytype doesn’t have such a feature, but it is on the roadmap.

As it stands, Anytype’s local-first approach, dedicated apps, graph support, and other feature additions are appealing enough for me to make the effort to switch from Notion. And I’ve only scratched the surface of the app. We’ve already explored other users’ productivity workflows, and Anytype can balance ease of use and security while offering the same depth of functionality as alternatives like Notion and Obsidian. If you’re looking for a new productivity app or are no longer bothered by Notion, you might want to consider Anytype as an alternative.