What is Notion?
Notion is built on blocks. Every paragraph, heading, checklist, image, embed or table is a block that can be dragged, nested or turned into another type, and pages can contain other pages to any depth. That lets the same tool hold a quick personal note, a company wiki with hundreds of articles or a product specification with embedded designs from Figma.
Databases give that flexibility structure. A Notion database is a collection of pages with properties such as status, owner, date or relations to other databases, and it can be displayed as a table, kanban board, calendar, timeline, gallery or chart. Teams build task trackers, content calendars, simple CRMs and hiring pipelines this way, often starting from templates made by other users, and forms, published sites and integrations with tools like Slack, GitHub and Jira extend it further.
AI is now central to the product. Notion 3.0, released in September 2025, rebuilt Notion AI as an agent that can create documents, build databases and run multi-step tasks for more than 20 minutes at a time, while AI Meeting Notes transcribes and summarizes calls and Enterprise Search answers questions across Notion and connected apps. Custom Agents, launched in February 2026, handle recurring work such as triaging requests and compiling status reports, and a developer platform added in May 2026 lets companies run their own code and outside agents inside Notion. Many teams weigh it against Confluence for documentation.
Key features of Notion
- 01
Blocks and nested pages
Content is assembled from movable blocks, including text, to-do lists, toggles, code, images and embeds, and pages nest inside other pages to form documents, wikis and knowledge bases.
- 02
Databases and views
Databases store pages with custom properties and relations and display them as tables, boards, calendars, timelines, galleries or charts that can be filtered and sorted for different teams.
- 03
Notion Agent
The built-in AI agent drafts and edits documents, builds and updates databases, answers questions from workspace content and completes multi-step tasks across many pages at once.
- 04
AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search
Meetings are transcribed and summarized automatically, and Enterprise Search finds answers across Notion and connected apps such as Slack, Google Drive and GitHub.
- 05
Custom Agents
Teams set up autonomous agents that answer repeated questions, route requests and compile reports on a schedule, with usage dashboards, permissions and logged runs to keep them under control.
- 06
Templates and Marketplace
Users start from templates for roadmaps, wikis, meeting notes, habit trackers and more, and independent creators sell their own templates through the Notion Marketplace.
- 07
Collaboration and permissions
Workspaces support real-time co-editing, comments, mentions and page-level sharing, while Business and Enterprise plans add private teamspaces, SAML single sign-on and advanced security controls.
- 08
Developer platform
A public API, Notion Workers for running hosted code, database sync from outside systems and an External Agents API let developers connect Notion to other software and AI tools.
Who uses Notion?
- Startups and small teams run their company wiki, product roadmap, meeting notes and hiring pipeline in a single workspace.
- Engineering and product teams write specifications and track projects in linked databases alongside design files and code references.
- Students and individuals organize class notes, reading lists, budgets and personal goals using free templates.
- Large companies use Notion AI and Enterprise Search to find information across internal documents and connected tools.
History of Notion
Notion Labs was founded in 2013, but its first product, an app-building tool for non-programmers, failed to find an audience, and in 2015 Ivan Zhao and Simon Last moved to Kyoto, Japan, to rebuild it from scratch. Notion 1.0 launched in 2016, and Notion 2.0, released in March 2018, combined notes, tasks, wikis and databases in the form that made the app popular with startups and productivity enthusiasts. On New Year’s Day 2021, a surge of users exhausted its database storage and took the service down, forcing a major rebuild of its infrastructure.
Notion tested AI writing features with an alpha in November 2022 and made Notion AI broadly available in February 2023. It launched the standalone Notion Calendar in 2024, the year it passed 100 million users, and Notion Mail in 2025. Notion 3.0 in September 2025 turned its AI into agents, followed by Custom Agents in February 2026 and a developer platform with hosted Workers in May 2026.
- 2016
Notion 1.0 is released after a rebuild in Kyoto, Japan.
- 2018
Notion 2.0 launches in March, combining notes, tasks, wikis and databases.
- 2023
Notion AI becomes available to all users in February.
- 2024
Notion passes 100 million users.
- 2025
Notion 3.0 introduces AI agents that can carry out multi-step work.
- 2026
Custom Agents and a developer platform with Notion Workers launch.
Notion pricing
Pricing modelFreemium
Free plan for individuals; Plus, Business and Enterprise plans are billed per member, with full Notion AI on Business and above and usage-based credits for Custom Agents.
Prices change often. Check the official Notion website for current plans.
Notion alternatives
Profiled on SoftwareLore:
Also considerCoda, Microsoft Loop, ClickUp, Obsidian and Evernote
Notion: frequently asked questions
Who makes Notion?
Notion is made by Notion Labs, Inc., a privately held software company based in San Francisco. It was founded in 2013 by Ivan Zhao, who is CEO, and Simon Last, and co-founder Akshay Kothari joined as chief operating officer in 2018. The company also makes Notion Calendar and Notion Mail.
What is Notion used for?
Notion is used for notes, documents, wikis, project management and databases. Individuals use it to organize personal notes and goals, while teams use it for company knowledge bases, meeting notes, product roadmaps, task tracking and hiring, increasingly with AI agents that draft content and automate routine work.
Is Notion free?
Notion has a free plan for individuals that includes unlimited pages and blocks, limited file uploads and page history, and a trial of Notion AI. Teams pay per member for Plus, Business or Enterprise plans, with full AI features included from the Business plan upward and Custom Agents billed through usage-based credits.
When was Notion released?
Notion 1.0 was released in 2016, three years after Notion Labs was founded and following a complete rebuild of the product in Kyoto, Japan. Notion 2.0, which established the app’s familiar combination of notes, tasks, wikis and databases, followed in March 2018.
What is Notion 3.0?
Notion 3.0 is a major update released on September 18, 2025, that rebuilt Notion AI as an agent. The agent can create pages, build and update databases, search across connected tools and carry out multi-step tasks lasting more than 20 minutes, using the content of a workspace as context.
What is the difference between Notion and Confluence?
Both are used for team documentation and wikis. Confluence, made by Atlassian, is closely tied to Jira and widely used by software and IT teams, while Notion combines documents with flexible databases, personal note-taking and AI agents in one product that many individuals and startups also use.
Sources
- Notion notion.com
- Notion pricing notion.com
- Notion 3.0: Agents, Notion release notes notion.com
- Introducing Custom Agents, Notion notion.com
- Notion (productivity software), Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
Last reviewed . Spotted an error? Send a correction.