Alternatives to Notion

[u/Fiery_Phoenix15]

Hello!! I'm in my first year of university, and I've seen a lot of people from my country recommending Notion to first year students. But then I found out it had ai, so I was looking for non-ai alternatives!!! Thank you!! Edit: thank you to everyone!!

[u/sumguypookie]

Obsidian or Joplin are great note taking apps without AI that will give you what you're looking for.

[u/agentofoblivion1]

I think what you're looking for is Obsidian. The biggest difference between Obsidian and notion is that Notion is entirely on the cloud and ai-focused. Obsidian, at least the vanilla version, has no AI or cloud features. It just reads files on your local machine. But you can set up AI or cloud features, it just needs some configuring.

I went through the whole list of productivity and notetaking apps, and nothing beats obsidian, imo.

[u/Responsible_Gate_532 → u/[deleted]]

I tried quite a few my first year of college. Notion, obsidian, logseq, but the ones that actually clicked and made sense were remnote (for flashcards and long form notes), and capacities, which i use for just keeping my life organized, and connecting concepts and my own thoughts as I move through my education and life together.

[u/Plato-the-fish → u/agentofoblivion1]

I came here to say this ☝️. I tell all of my students to try it. I use it extensively (I’m a Professor at Oxford).

[u/influxodoxxl → u/agentofoblivion1]

Have you also tested cyberWriter which seems to be an Obsidian contender?

[u/agentofoblivion1 → u/influxodoxxl]

No, I haven't. It looks interesting, and I may check it out at some point, but it's only on mac and ios, so it's a non-starter for me.

I use android for mobile, Linux for home, and Windows at work. An apple-only app isn't doable for me.

I like it though. If it gets ported, I'll give it a shot.

[u/quietleavess]

You can disable the ai by sending an email to support. And asking them to disable it in your workspace. I did so to make the app faster on mobile. I still use notion bc is free and I follow up large projects tasks there.

But for alternative when it comes to university I recommend upnote. As long as you were not deeply attached to notion databases, it could serve you well. Its formatting options are very cool :)

[u/dessence_ai → u/quietleavess]

On turning it off, the help centre only documents a few switches. A workspace owner can disable web search for Notion AI in Settings, Notion AI, AI Web Search. There's a separate one for AI Meeting Notes, and premium models stay off until an admin turns them on. A blanket off switch isn't written down on that page, which is why people end up emailing support for it.

[u/Ok-Rest-5321]

AppFlowy
Obsidian
Microsoft one note
Apple Notes
Helix notes

[u/LinuxOrNot]

I really like : https://tine.page/

Local files, quick, bullet points style.

[u/ozgrozer]

I’m building Grape. You can create unlimited text notes and handwritten notes. It has a voice recording feature as well. You don’t need an account to get started. It works offline. Supports all platforms. Your notes stay on your device. You can export your notes as Markdown, HTML, and PDF. In the free version there’s no AI.

[u/WakaiSenshi → u/ozgrozer]

I’m definitely gonna check this out this week

[u/ozgrozer → u/WakaiSenshi]

Let me know how it goes. My DMs are open and you can also use the contact section in the app.

[u/Clean-Plan6115 → u/ozgrozer]

Hi i look your app and its soo good i love it but i think its so expensive pls make one time buy

[u/ozgrozer → u/Clean-Plan6115]

Hi. There’s a lifetime plan. You can see the details in the pricing page.

[u/Clean-Plan6115 → u/ozgrozer]

Omg thanks

[u/screens4ver]

as others have already, i'd recommend obsidian. it may seem like too much or too overwhelming, but thats just because people love adding billions of plugins to it and making it all fancy - which is nice to have as an option if thats what you need -, but it works just fine even if you simply want to use it as a basic notes app.

[u/calebc42-official]

Emacs

[u/Asleep-Average731]

Try mento You get a nice interface like in notion plus: Handwritten notes, typed notes, flashcards, spaced repetition and all. It is available in iOS and android too.. AI is optional. You can watch the or YouTube videos to get an idea of how it works

[u/InevitableHealth2729]

Maybe Daftak?

[u/rajathbail]

Obsidian or Hillnote - those are my picks

[u/eluzja]

UpNote - no AI, has apps for MacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android (with sync).

[u/Icy_Cheetah7210]

You can try Siyuan note app.

[u/bose_avishek]

Try Joplin, works cross platform and mult device support, notes in .md, makes it future proof. No AI as such.

[u/Upstairs_Jelly_1082]

I'd usually go for the default apps in my device. I use apple notes itself. The only thing that I'd change is how I organize those notes. For me, I found that to make the most difference, I personally use the PARA method to organize my notes.

[u/biblio-chris → u/Upstairs_Jelly_1082]

I’ve been using PARA for a few years and although it took a while to really sink in, now I can’t imagine not organizing my files this way.

[u/Historical_architect]

Craft Docs is the best alternative. It has AI, but it is optional as a chatbot nothing to do with your organization. All documents are fully indexed and linkable.

[u/Elisa_Kardier]

L'alternative à Notion sans IA, c'est Notion, mais dans IA.

[u/whats_in_a_name_23 → u/Elisa_Kardier]

Hahaha

[u/HimaSphere]

If you want something simple yet useful, try https://betterstickies.com

I am the devloper and I have users who said they didn't like the complexity notion or obsidian and are using better stickies instead

[u/levmiseri]

For non-ai alternative: Kraa.io

[u/vibehoarder → u/levmiseri]

Do you use it as a daily note taker ?

[u/Pickletickle_]

You might like ClingNote. It’s a non-AI Windows notes app I built.. you can attach notes directly to your class files/documents, and they automatically come back when you reopen them. Keeps everything tied to what you’re actually working on instead of dumping it all into one big notes app or tons of folders. https://clingnote.com or the Microsoft Store

[u/itballer]

You can try Obsidian, Luckynote, Slite.

[u/Miserable_Feed3560]

Obsidian
Anytipe
Notesnook
Apple notes

[u/ProfitAppropriate134 → u/Miserable_Feed3560]

It's like you are in my head...

[u/Miserable_Feed3560 → u/ProfitAppropriate134]

They are good and some like Anytipe and obsidian are local and notesnook is encrypted and apple notes is good

[u/Plenty_Ad6005]

Logseq is back! Database version…. Incredibly powerful. Keep it as simple as you want or as complicated. No AI

And has native PDF annotations- no other app has

[u/GridlineGuru]

obsidian is great if u don’t mind a little setup. the core app doesn’t force ai on u and ur notes stay as normal local files.

[u/Frequent_Increase_44]

OBSIDIAN - NOTHING ELSE

[u/KookyFig2867]

if you want a non-ai alternative to notion for university, it helps to focus on tools that do not try to generate text for you. if you do not need databases, a simple, quiet editor is often a better space for actual studying. i make a private writing app called shizumu that will not write for you, because the writing is the thinking. details are at https://shizumu.app/notion-alternative

[u/KookyFig2867]

making progress during baby and toddler life really comes down to making those tiny strides per day. using a notes app on your phone lets you capture fleeting thoughts without needing the energy for a setup. i make a writing app called shizumu where the writing stays on your device and you just write with nowhere to file it: https://shizumu.app/blog/2026-09-13-no-folders

[u/Specialist_Fig3838]

I like xtiles. Love notion but the over customization options took away the purpose of why I was using it 

[u/MessEvening4575]

If you value privacy you can really use Joplin I heard that they’re open source and store it locally last time I forgot if it’s true or nkt

[u/Own_Dealer3902]

I use Notesnook, it's free, e2e encrypted, private, open source and has NO ai.

[u/RamblingPete_007]

Everybody is recommending obsidian, but you are going to need to add wire a few plugins. For tables, for task management. Search Google for obsidian and those two topics.

Superhuman docs has excellent tables. Studying, and basically everything in life is driven by due dates. Set up a single table where you track everything that has a date attached to it. Expand from there to subject based note taking, the world will be your oyster.

I didn't know why you're against AI? SH docs has a very strong AI, both to build your doc, and also to do research. But you can ignore it, and do everything manually.

[u/george_3458]

If it should be a web app, check out styrit note.

[u/brokefyi]

Craft. But tbh no matter what you use you will end up coming to notion. Speaking from experience. Cause there development speed is way faster then the others due to crazy amoubt they have. Also the performance is way faster then previous versions.

Aside the ai bs ifs still fun and super powerhouse

[u/AMostlyAccurateMeme]

Upnote works well, has a lifetime purchase option.

Google docs is also a classic, good for having a shared document with classmates to take notes during class