Notion Review 2026: Deep Dive for Solo Devs & Small Teams
Free tier limits, real costs per team size, and honest "not for" warnings. Everything you need to decide if Notion fits your stack.
Quick Summary
💰 Monthly Cost by Team Size
🚫 Not Recommended For
- Teams needing real-time task tracking (Gantt, Sprints)
- Users who need robust offline support
- Large-scale project management (100+ members)
Notion Pricing (2026)
| Plan | Price | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Forever |
| Plus | $10/mo | monthly |
| Business | $18/mo | monthly |
| Enterprise | Custom | yearly |
Pros & Cons
✅ What We Like
- Extremely flexible all-in-one workspace
- Powerful database and template system
- Generous free tier for solo users (unlimited pages)
- Strong API for automations and integrations
- Active community with thousands of templates
❌ What Could Be Better
- Steep learning curve for advanced features
- Limited offline access — requires internet for most tasks
- Can feel slow with very large databases (1000+ rows)
- No native time tracking — need third-party integration
- AI features cost $10/mo extra per member
Feature Breakdown
🏆 Our Verdict
Notion scores 4.7/5 in our evaluation. Solo Dev Score: 9/10. It's best suited for Solo creators and note-takers, Documentation-heavy teams, Startups needing a flexible workspace, Knowledge base and wiki management. We recommend it as a top choice in its category.
📝 Editor's Note
Notion recently raised AI add-on pricing from $8 to $10/member/month, making the total cost for AI-powered teams significantly higher. However, Notion remains the only tool that truly unifies docs, databases, and project management in one workspace. For solo devs, the free tier is unbeatable — unlimited pages with no time limit.
💡 Pricing Verdict: Best value for documentation-heavy solo devs and small teams under 10. The free plan is genuinely usable (not a trial). But once you add AI and scale beyond 10 members, costs escalate quickly — consider ClickUp or Linear at that point.
🔄 Switching Tips: If leaving Notion, export databases as CSV first (not Markdown — you lose relations). Allow 2–4 weeks for migration. The biggest hidden cost is rebuilding your linked database architecture in another tool.
See how it compares: ClickUp, Obsidian, Coda, Monday.com, Airtable
Try Notion Free →Frequently Asked Questions
Is Notion worth the price in 2026?
Notion starts at Free / $10/mo. Based on our evaluation, it scores 4.7/5 overall. Whether it's worth it depends on your team size and feature requirements — read our detailed breakdown above.
What are the main alternatives to Notion?
Several tools compete with Notion in its category. Check our comparison section above for head-to-head matchups with the top alternatives.
Does Notion offer a free plan?
Check our pricing section above for the most up-to-date information on Notion's free tier and paid plans.
Is Notion good for small businesses?
Notion can work for small businesses depending on your budget and requirements. Review our "Best For" section to see if it matches your use case.
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