A comparison · checked October 30, 2026
Looking for a Notion alternative for project management? Here is an honest comparison
The best Notion alternative depends on what you use Notion for. If it is docs and a wiki, Notion is hard to beat, and this page says so. If it is running projects, the questions are different: Notion builds project tracking out of databases [2], has no native time tracker in its help centre and points to third-party connections for it [9], and puts Notion Agent on its Business plan, listed at $20 per member a month [1]. This page compares Kavanah, Notion, ClickUp and Asana for project work on what their own pages said today, says exactly what a Notion import brings across and what it leaves behind, and names the cases where you should stay on Notion.
#Why it is different
Why teams look for a Notion alternative for projects
Notion is a connected workspace for wiki, docs and projects [2], and teams usually start using it for the first two. Projects come later, built from databases: a timeline view, sprint workflows and dependencies that show when one task is blocking another [2][6]. That works, and for many teams it is enough. The friction arrives as the project database grows. Notion's own help centre says a database with a lot of pages might be slower to load, that more visible properties make it slower still, and that sorts and filters on text, formula or rollup properties add to the load [7]. A database can hold up to 250,000 rows [7], but the team running it day to day feels the slowdown long before that.
The second gap is the work around a task. Notion's help centre does not document native time tracking; its Connections gallery lists third-party trackers such as Everhour, and Notion says connections not marked Made by Notion are not supported or maintained by it [9]. AI is tiered. The Free and Plus plans include a trial of Notion AI, while Notion Agent, which completes multi-step tasks, is on Business [1]. Custom Agents, which run on schedules or triggers, draw on Notion credits, at $10 per 1,000 credits a month beyond what a plan includes [1][3]. SAML single sign-on is on Business, and SCIM provisioning and the audit log are on Enterprise [1].
Be fair to Notion, though, because the reasons to stay are real. Its pages and databases are flexible enough to model almost anything. Its Custom Agents each get their own permissions, admins can see and disable every agent, and Notion says every agent run is logged and all changes are reversible [3]. Notion says it will not use your data to train its models unless you opt in [4], and that it undergoes annual audits including SOC 2 and ISO 27001 [8]. Leaving is a good decision when the project side of Notion is held together by workarounds. It is a bad one when your knowledge base is the product and the projects are a small part of it. The checklist below is how to tell which.
#What to require
What to check in any Notion alternative before you move
Use this list on every tool you shortlist, including ours. The first two are where most Notion migrations go wrong, because they are only discovered after the import.
01
Decide what is moving: the docs, the projects, or both
Notion exports pages as Markdown or HTML and databases as CSV, and Notion says you cannot recreate a workspace by re-uploading an export [5]. Many teams keep the wiki in Notion and move only the project databases. Decide that first; it changes which tool fits.
02
What a database import really keeps
A Notion database exports only its current or default view [5], and pages a member cannot see, such as other users' private pages, are left out of their export [5]. Ask any importer which properties become real fields, which become text, and whether the page body under each row comes across.
03
Time tracking that is built in
If you plan or bill by the hour, check that time is logged against tasks natively. On Notion, time tracking comes through third-party connections [9]; on Asana, native time tracking is on Advanced [12]; on ClickUp, it is included from Core [10].
04
Dependencies and a plan that reads them
Notion links dependent tasks and can shift dates when one moves [6]. The next question is whether the tool uses those links for anything: a Gantt chart, a sprint forecast, a warning when work is late.
05
AI that acts, with an approval step
Notion's Custom Agents run on triggers and schedules with their own permissions [3]. Ask any vendor which of an agent's actions wait for a person before they happen, not just whether they can be reversed afterwards.
06
Clients and outside collaborators
Check how outside people are let in and what they cost. Notion's pricing page lists an external guest limit [1]; other tools use guest seats or a client portal. Count your clients before you compare.
07
The price at your real team size
Notion lists Plus at $10 and Business at $20 per member a month [1]. ClickUp's Core is $9 per user a month billed yearly [10], and Asana's Starter is $10.99 billed annually [12]. Price the plan that carries the features you need, plus any AI credits, before you compare.
#How Kavanah does it
How Kavanah covers what you use Notion for
Kavanah is an agentic project management platform: tasks, boards and planning, with documents beside them and AI employees that do coordination work inside limits a person sets. Each item below describes the product as it ships today, including where it falls short of Notion.
Import a Notion database as tasks
Connect Notion in Settings, Integrations, with OAuth or an internal integration token, then pick a database and a Kavanah project. Each row becomes a task: its title, a description built from the row's other properties with a link back to Notion, a status taken from its first status or select property, and a due date from its first date property. Up to 200 rows per run; run it again and rows already imported are skipped. Assignees are left unset, and the page body under each row is not imported.
Notion stays connected for the overlap
The agent can search Notion, read pages, query databases, create pages and append to them. Writes into Notion wait for your approval by default and are removed entirely in safe mode. A background sync keeps an index of recently edited pages and databases; it does not create anything in Kavanah.
Documents beside the work
Knowledge pages are block documents that nest under each other, link with double-bracket page links and show backlinks, start from templates, take comments on individual blocks, and can be shared across the workspace or kept inside one project. A page can be published read-only by link. There is no Markdown or HTML import: to move a Notion page, ask the agent to read it and save it as a Kavanah document, one page at a time.
Boards, timeline and dependencies
Custom columns per project, first-class sub-tasks, custom fields, several assignees per task, a Timeline view (tasks as bars on a calendar, by person), and task dependencies (blocked by / blocks) that refuse cycles, with a critical-path chart in Planning, on every plan.
Sprints planned at p50 and p90
Sprints with velocity, plus a planner that compares each person's estimates with the hours they actually logged over the last 90 days and says what fits at the median and at the 90th percentile. Committing the sprint stays a human action.
Time tracking and a client portal on every plan
Native time tracking on every plan, not a connection. Clients you invite through the client portal can follow and collaborate on their projects without being charged as a seat.
AI employees with controls
AI employees with a role, scoped tools and access only to the projects you choose; once you turn it on, a task assigned to one is worked by it. Safe mode removes risky actions, action policies make chosen categories wait for approval before they run, every action lands in a ledger, and actions can be undone. Anything that runs on its own or spends AI credits is off until you turn it on.
Learn moreIdentity and security, stated plainly
SAML 2.0 and OIDC single sign-on and SCIM on the Enterprise plan, TOTP and passkey sign-in, per-project and per-task access control, and an audit log. The SOC 2 Type II observation period is underway; there is no report yet.
Learn morePriced per seat, AI metered separately
The free Starter plan covers up to 5 members and 10 projects. Basic is $3 a seat a month ($2 billed yearly) with 100 AI credits per seat shared by the workspace, and Pro is $6 ($4 yearly) with 250. Pay as you go drops the seat fee entirely: seats and projects are unlimited and you buy credits in packs from $10 per 1,000.
Learn more#In practice
Moving project work from Notion to Kavanah, step by step
One team lead and a workspace admin
1. Decide what moves
- List the Notion databases that track projects, tasks or sprints. These are what move.
- Decide whether the wiki moves too. Many teams leave it in Notion and keep it connected, so the agent can still read and search it.
- Note the properties your team filters and reports on. Only status and the first date property become real task fields; everything else lands in the task description as text.
- Invite your team to Kavanah first. Notion imports leave tasks unassigned, so you will assign them after.
Workspace admin
2. Connect Notion and import each database
- In Settings, Integrations, connect Notion with OAuth, or paste an internal integration token.
- Create the Kavanah project the database should land in.
- On the Notion card, pick the database and the project, and import. Each run brings up to 200 rows.
- Run it again until the report shows no new rows; rows already imported are skipped, so nothing is duplicated.
Project owner
3. Move the documents you need
- For each Notion page you want beside the project, ask the agent to read it and save it as a Kavanah document in that project.
- Link related documents with double-bracket links so backlinks build up.
- Keep a Notion export as your archive [5]; it is the record of everything you chose not to move.
Team lead
4. Rebuild what an import does not carry
- Assign the imported tasks, and add several assignees where work is shared.
- Recreate the custom fields you report on, and set dependencies (blocked by / blocks) on the tasks.
- Rebuild Notion database automations as Kavanah automations, and start logging time against tasks.
- Run one planning cycle in Kavanah before you change anyone's Notion plan.
#Compared
Kavanah, Notion, ClickUp and Asana compared for project work
Each competitor cell describes only what that vendor's own public page said when we checked on October 30, 2026: Notion's pricing, projects, agents, AI, security and help pages and its Everhour connection page [1][2][3][4][5][6][8][9], ClickUp's pricing and import pages [10][11] and Asana's pricing page [12]. Notion's pricing page does not label its $10 and $20 figures by billing period in its visible text; the price data embedded in the page puts them at yearly billing, with $12 and $24 billed monthly. ClickUp's "Regular price" figure is not labelled as a monthly rate, so only its yearly figure is given. "Not described" means the page did not say, not that the product lacks it. Kavanah cells describe the product as it ships.
| Criterion | Kavanah | Notion | ClickUp | Asana |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry paid price | Basic $3 per seat a month, $2 billed yearly; or Pay as you go, no seat fee, credits from $10 per 1,000 | Plus $10 per member a month [1] | Core $9 per user a month billed yearly [10] | Starter $10.99 per user a month billed annually, $13.49 monthly [12] |
| Free option | Starter: up to 5 members and 10 projects, 2 GB | Free: blocks limited for 2+ members, 5 MB uploads, 7 days of page history [1] | Free Forever: unlimited free members, 60 MB storage [10] | Personal: 2 users, unlimited tasks and projects [12] |
| Bringing work over from Notion | Connector imports a database as tasks: title, status, first date, other properties as text; 200 rows per run; no page bodies | Exports pages as Markdown or HTML and databases as CSV; an export cannot recreate a workspace [5] | Lists Notion among the tools it imports [11] | Not described |
| Docs and wiki | Nested Knowledge pages with backlinks, templates, block comments and read-only public links | Wiki, docs and projects in one workspace [2] | Not described | Not described |
| Timeline, Gantt and dependencies | Timeline view and dependencies on every plan; no Gantt view | Timeline view; dependencies between tasks with date shifting [2][6] | Gantt charts on Core and up; trial on Free [10] | Timeline and Gantt views from Starter [12] |
| Native time tracking | Every plan | Through third-party connections such as Everhour [9] | Core and up; trial on Free [10] | Advanced; through integrations on Personal [12] |
| AI included | Credits, about a cent each: 100 or 250 per seat a month pooled on seat plans, or bought in packs | Trial on Free and Plus; Notion Agent on Business; Custom Agents use credits, $10 per 1,000 [1] | Pooled credits, 1K per user a month on Core [10] | 5 AI requests per user a month, up to 50 per account [12] |
| AI agents and their controls | AI employees with scoped tools; safe mode, approval policies before actions run, action ledger and undo | Custom Agents with their own permissions; runs logged and reversible; admins can disable any agent [3] | Super Agents, paid for with AI credits [10] | AI Teammates and AI Studio [12] |
| SSO and SCIM | SAML 2.0 / OIDC SSO and SCIM on Enterprise | SAML SSO on Business; SCIM and audit log on Enterprise [1] | SSO, SAML and SCIM on Enterprise [10] | SAML authentication and SCIM on Enterprise [12] |
| Security attestations named | SOC 2 Type II observation period underway; no report yet | Annual audits including SOC 2 and ISO 27001 [8] | SOC 2 and ISO 27001 [10] | SOC 2 Type II [12] |
#Questions
Questions buyers ask
- What is the best Notion alternative for project management?
- It depends on how much of Notion you use. If the wiki is the heart of it, keep Notion for docs and add a project tool beside it. ClickUp suits teams that want docs, goals and time tracking in one tool. Asana suits teams that want timelines, goals and portfolios. Kavanah fits teams that want tasks, time tracking, a client portal and AI employees under real controls, with documents beside the work, at $3 a seat a month.
- Is there a free Notion alternative?
- Yes, several, each with a different limit. Kavanah's free Starter plan covers up to 5 members and 10 projects with 2 GB of storage, and includes time tracking, a timeline and task dependencies. ClickUp's Free Forever plan allows unlimited members with 60 MB of storage, and Asana's Personal plan is free for 2 users. Notion's own Free plan limits blocks once a workspace has two or more members.
- Can I import my Notion databases into Kavanah?
- Yes. Connect Notion in Settings, Integrations, then import a database into a Kavanah project. Each row becomes a task with its title, a status from its first status or select property, a due date from its first date property, and its other properties written into the description with a link back to Notion. Up to 200 rows per run, and re-runs skip rows already imported. Assignees are not set and the page body under each row is not imported.
- Can Kavanah replace Notion as a wiki?
- For a project team's documents, often yes: Kavanah's Knowledge pages nest, link to each other with backlinks, start from templates, take comments and can be published by link. For a company-wide wiki with many databases and custom layouts, Notion is the more flexible tool, and many teams keep it for that while running projects in Kavanah. There is no bulk import of Notion pages; the agent can copy them one at a time.
- Does Kavanah sync with Notion both ways?
- Not as an automatic page-for-page sync. The Notion connector lets Kavanah's agent search, read and query Notion, and create or append to Notion pages, with every write waiting for your approval by default. A background sync indexes recently edited pages and databases without creating anything in Kavanah, and the database import is one-shot per row.
- How do Kavanah's AI agents compare with Notion's Custom Agents?
- Both run on their own and both scope what an agent can reach. Notion's Custom Agents run on schedules or triggers with their own permissions, and Notion says every run is logged and changes are reversible. Kavanah's AI employees act only inside the projects and tools you give them, chosen categories of action can be set to wait for a person's approval before they run, every action is recorded in a ledger, and actions can be undone.
- When should a team stay on Notion?
- When the knowledge base is the main job and the projects are small: a company wiki, docs with databases embedded in them, and a team that likes building its own system. Notion's flexibility is a real advantage there, and its Custom Agents and enterprise controls keep improving. In that case, moving the projects alone, or nothing at all, is likely to be the better call.
#Go deeper
One question at a time
- Notion vs Kavanah for Project Management: An Honest ComparisonNotion is a superb wiki that can be built into a project tracker. Kavanah is a project tool with documents beside the work. Here is where each one is stronger, and who should pick which.
- How to Migrate Project Work From Notion to KavanahA step-by-step migration from Notion to Kavanah: what Notion's export gives you, what the database import keeps, what it leaves behind, and what to rebuild by hand before you change anyone's plan.
- Notion Pricing Explained (2026): Plans, Seats and Agent CreditsNotion lists Plus at $10 and Business at $20 per member a month, billed yearly. Here is what each plan includes, how seats are counted, what Custom Agents cost in credits, and what a team really pays.
- Time Tracking in Notion: Connections, Workarounds and a Built-in TrackerNotion's plans do not list time tracking; teams add it through connections like Everhour or build it from databases. Here is what each route costs you, and when a tracker built into the task tool is the better choice.
Related reading
- ClickUp alternative: an honest comparisonTwo price line-ups, Brain credits, and a simpler setup.
- Asana alternative: an honest comparisonSeat steps, AI requests, and what an Asana import carries.
- AI employeesAn AI CFO, COO and chief of staff, with guardrails.
- PricingPer-seat plans, Pay as you go, and how AI credits work.
Sources
- [1] Notion Pricing Plans: Free, Plus, Business, & Enterprise — Notion, 2026, updated
- [2] Your connected workspace for wiki, docs & projects — Notion, 2026, updated
- [3] Meet your 24/7 AI team — Notion, 2026, updated
- [4] Meet your AI team — Notion, 2026, updated
- [5] Export your Notion content — Notion Help, 2026, updated
- [6] Sub-items & dependencies in Notion — Notion Help, 2026, updated
- [7] Optimize Notion database performance — Notion Help, 2026, updated
- [8] Notion Security & Compliance — Notion, 2026, updated
- [9] Everhour (Notion connection) — Notion, 2026, updated
- [10] ClickUp Pricing and Plans — ClickUp, 2026, updated
- [11] Import anything into ClickUp — ClickUp, 2026, updated
- [12] Asana pricing: Personal, Starter, Advanced, Enterprise — Asana, 2026, updated
Sources and the comparison were checked on October 30, 2026. Product details change; check each vendor's own pages before you decide.
Run it on your own work.
Free to start, priced per seat from $3 a month with AI usage metered in credits.