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It's a split decision.
Choose Joplin for personal notes if end-to-end encryption, Markdown or Rich Text editing, plugins, and syncing through services such as Dropbox matter; Basic includes 2 GB storage and a 10 MB per-note or attachment limit. Choose Notion if you need a shared team workspace, cited answers, or work agents, and want a free individual plan. Its Plus plan is €9.50 per member monthly, though the pricing page does not state the billing term.
01Side by side
| Joplin | Notion | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | €2.40/month, billed annually | Free; Plus is €9.50/member/month |
| Free plan | No; 14-day free trial | Yes; limited AI trial |
| Best for | Personal notes, to-dos, and syncing | Shared team information and workflows |
| Core strength | Customizable notes with end-to-end encryption | Shared workspace with cited answers and agents |
| Learning curve | Review ease-of-use score: 7.5/10 | Review ease-of-use score: 6/10 |
| Integrations/data | Dropbox, OneDrive sync; end-to-end encryption | Cited answers; Slack support-ticket workflow |
| Team/seat costs | Basic is personal; seat pricing not published | Plus: €9.50 per member monthly |
| Support | Review support score: 5/10 | Review support score: 4/10 |
Joplin Choose Joplin if
- Choose Joplin if you want end-to-end encryption for notes.
- Choose Joplin if you want plugins, themes, and custom scripts.
- Choose Joplin if Dropbox or OneDrive syncing fits your setup.
Notion Choose Notion if
- Choose Notion if you need a shared team workspace.
- Choose Notion if a free individual plan matters.
- Choose Notion if cited answers and work agents fit your workflow.
02Pricing compared
Joplin Basic costs €2.99 per month, or €28.69 per year—equivalent to €2.40 per month when billed annually, according to the published pricing information. It includes 2 GB of storage, a 10 MB limit per note or attachment, and syncing across as many devices as you want. A 14-day trial is listed; Pro pricing is not published. The pricing data lists no free plan.
Notion has a free individual plan with 5 MB maximum file uploads, 7-day page history, 10 external guests, and a limited AI trial. Plus is €9.50 per member per month, and Business is €19.50; the pricing page does not say whether those rates require monthly or annual billing. Custom Agents cost $10 per 1,000 monthly Notion credits after the free tryout. Compare storage limits and per-member costs before moving a team archive.
03Features and depth
Joplin is centered on notes and to-do lists. It supports Markdown and Rich Text editors, multimedia notes with images, video, PDFs and audio, plus math expressions and diagrams. Its web clipper saves pages or screenshots through Chrome or Firefox extensions. You can customize the app with plugins, themes and scripts. Sync options include Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive and other services; notes can be end-to-end encrypted. Joplin Cloud also supports sharing, collaboration and publishing notes online.
Notion is positioned as a shared system of record for team information. Its listed features include answers with citations and agents for automating work, with examples such as product-feedback triage, support-ticket resolution in Slack and weekly reporting. Plus adds custom forms and charts; Business lists SAML SSO and granular database permissions. Those plans also raise page-history limits. The choice is less about matching feature lists than whether you want a customizable notes app or a shared workspace with AI features. The published information does not detail how those AI features compare with Joplin plugins or scripts.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Joplin’s customization is a trade-off: Markdown or Rich Text editing, plugins, themes and scripts give you options, but the published review rates ease of use at 7.5/10. Check its storage caps before importing a large archive; Basic allows 2 GB total and 10 MB per note or attachment.
Notion can put team information, answers and workflows in one workspace, but its flexibility may create extra setup work. The published review rates ease of use at 6/10 and says teams need to keep that flexibility from becoming more work. The pricing page lists different file-upload and page-history limits by plan, so check those before choosing a tier.
Questions people ask
Can Joplin replace Notion?
It can cover personal notes, to-do lists, web clipping, multimedia notes and syncing. Joplin also supports shared notes through Joplin Cloud. Notion is the closer fit if you need a shared team workspace, answers with citations or agents for workflows such as feedback triage and reporting.
Does Joplin have a free plan?
The published Joplin pricing information lists no free plan and a 14-day trial. Basic is €2.99 monthly or €28.69 annually, equivalent to €2.40 per month when billed annually. The Basic plan includes 2 GB of storage and a 10 MB per-note or attachment limit.
Does Notion have a free plan?
Yes. Notion’s Free plan is listed at €0 per member per month for individuals. It includes 5 MB maximum file uploads, 7-day page history, 10 external guests and a limited AI trial. The pricing page lists Plus at €9.50 per member monthly, but does not state the billing term.
Can I sync Joplin without Joplin Cloud?
Yes. Joplin lists Dropbox, OneDrive and other services as sync options in addition to Joplin Cloud. Basic includes syncing across as many devices as you want. If you want to share or collaborate on notes through Joplin Cloud, check the plan details; Pro pricing is not published on the vendor's site.