Basically, the note is a short information of something written down to assist our memory or for future reference. With a copious amount of free tools available, in order to take note of meetings or doing multiple tasks. No doubt that you’ll utilize any possible application that’ll come your way to make a note, but that would be a huge miscalculation. Every human being is productive until we keep our work well-organized, do some proper strategies or planning to reach our desired goal. For that, we knowingly or unknowingly use tools around us to note down our thinking or perspective.

If your workspace revolves around desktops and smartphones, you can always use note-taking applications to keep up with your work. However, OneNote powered by Microsoft is free to use note-taking app that existed for a long time. For some reason, Microsoft OneNote is losing its spark to Notion.

According to one of the Spiceworks Community articles, poor reviews have been spotted about Microsoft OneNote. Keeping that part apart, this article is focused on What is Notion? and Is It Better Than OneNote To Use? If you’re looking for the same then you’ve probably landed on the right post. Go through the article to the end that we’ve managed to provide you. Without further delay, let’s get started.

Also read: Notion vs Trel­lo: Which Project Management Tool is Best For You?

What is Notion?

Notion is a simple application that is perfectly suited for teams and individuals. Notes, databases, kanban boards, wikis, calendars, and reminders, Notion provides a single space to organize everything that matters. Whether you want to manage your project or run an entire company, Notion is a single home for need-to-knows and need-to-dos.

You can customize almost everything according to your need to keep the work well organized. It is available on the Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. In the world of too much information scattered across too many tools, sending notifications, Notion offers clean open sources that will help us to focus on the things that we suppose need.

Is It Notion Better Than OneNote To Use?

Here, we’re going to compare both the platforms and will present the interface, so that you can understand each thing in detail from your point of view.

1. Taking Notes

OneNote: It will provide you all the basic features that need to be used while creating notes. Besides this, you can create quick notes, but these notes are able to create in paragraphs. You can also create a notebook for each subject and for each section and can cover each topic and present it the way you want along with the browser extensions for all devices.

Notion: Talking about the notion, in the pages, you can create blocks just like WordPress. These blocks can move freely and allow you to attach images, video clips, bars, and charts, etc. The note interface is simple consists of many features and functions, each block and pages are linkable. However, there will no limitations regarding representing the content to your team members or individuals.

2. Interface and Layout

OneNote: It comes with a common interface, if you’ve already used Microsoft office then the layout and interface are nearly similar to it. Besides this, you will get to see the page on the right side whereas tools on the upper and sidebar on the left side corner of the screen, you can zoom in and customize the pages. But the sidebar is absent on mobile devices.

Notion: It comes with a simple and well-organized interface. Talking about the layout you will get to see the page on the right-hand side with a tiny toolbar at the upper, allowing you to give full access to the page with a compact and compressed sidebar on the left-hand side on the screen. On the mobile device, Notion has a sidebar that makes the platform easy to access.

3. Odd Features

OneNote: Here, you will get to see local hosting. If you’re practicing mathematics, OneNote has the trump card of the built-in calculator to study maths easily. Also, OneNote has the feature of handwriting detection which help user to convert the content into the text. It has some limitations as you can only go intense till Notebooks > Sections > Notes. OneNote has a large number of themes available that leads to making content more enhanced.

Notion: It comes with limited theme options such as light and dark. Besides this, Notion has no limits, you can go intense as much as you want while creating pages. Also, Notion comes with the support of markdown including syntax along with Firefox extension.

4. Privacy and Security

OneNote: It comes with AES-128 bit encryption of protection, which means that if you lose the password, no one can access the content, not even the company. So it is advised to note down the password in a safe place. Additionally, you can lock each section with a password.

Notion: When it comes to privacy, it has poor security. The notion does not provide end-to-end or encryption. As a result, employees can analyze and access the data of the user. But Notion claims that an employee can only access the user data unless it’s allowed to do or kept private. Privacy and security are expected to be upgraded in the future.

5. Pricing and more

OneNote: Whether you’re a student, job employee, or a professor at college, OneNote is completely free to download on every platform. However, if you want OneNote with other programs such as Word and Excel, you can buy Microsft 365 that’ll cost you around $69.99/year where OneNote is already included.

Notion: Here, a personal plan is absolutely free for individual use, whereas if you sign up with a school email address no credit cards required. Personal Pro will cost up to $4/month. The team plan is to free up to 1,000 blocks, upgrading the workstation will charge up to $10/month for each individual team member. Discount available on yearly billing options, where you get an option to earn credits.

Conclusion

It’s nothing wrong to say that both the applications help us to keep our work well organized, and somehow comes under one of the best productivity apps. Mind you, in April 2018, Microsoft announced that OneNote 2016 will no longer get any features and updates but they will keep up with security problems and bugs until October 2020.

Keeping the fact in mind about the publicity of Notion doesn’t mean that OneNote is laying behind. I advise you to use both the application so because both the application have their own essence to enhance your workplace.

That’s it for now, hope this helps! You’re always free to express your thoughts in the comment section below.

Read next: 11 Best Notion Tips and Tricks For Beginners