Choose ClickUp if you want tasks, docs and time tracking in one workspace and a free plan with unlimited members. Choose Airtable if the problem is that your client data needs enforced structure. Choose Todoist if what you really used Notion for was a to-do list. Choose Trello if you want a board your whole team understands without training.
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Notion is flexible enough to be anything, which is exactly why teams leave it. The workspace grows without structure, databases carry a learning curve, AI costs extra on top of Plus at €11.50 a member a month, and there is no Gantt timeline for work that has dependencies.
The four tools below each replace one part of what Notion was doing for you. None of them replaces all of it, if your team genuinely uses Notion as docs, wiki and tracker at once, the honest answer may be to add structure rather than to move.
The picks that stand out
ClickUp
Free Forever includes unlimited tasks and members, and the Core plan at $12 a user a month billed monthly adds storage, integrations and time tracking. It can replace several tools for a team willing to configure it, and that is the warning too: the feature set creates more choices than simpler tools, and the free plan's storage is small.
Airtable
Airtable structures client work in a way a page of databases does not: the same records become a grid, a calendar or a kanban depending on who is looking. Its free plan is usable for one person. Per-seat pricing gets expensive fast, Team is $24 a user a month billed monthly, and record limits bite before feature limits do.
Todoist
Natural-language entry makes capture fast, it works offline on mobile, and Pro at €7 a user a month billed monthly is the cheapest credible paid tier of the task tools reviewed here. It stops short of project management: no Gantt or workload view, and the free plan caps active projects.
Trello
The free plan covers up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per workspace, with unlimited Power-Ups, and the board needs no training. Standard is $6 a user a month billed monthly. Cross-project views and admin controls need Premium, so it suits a pipeline better than a portfolio.
At a glance
| Criterion |  Notion | ClickUp | Airtable | Todoist | Trello |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Used mainly for | Notes, wikis | Project and task management, team docs and goals | Client and project tracking, content calendars | Task capture, client to-do lists | Kanban task management, content and client pipelines |
| Entry price | €11.50/mo · Plus | $12.00/mo · Core | $24.00/mo · Team | €7.00/mo · Pro | $6.00/mo · Standard |
| Free plan | ✓Yes | ✓Yes | ✓Yes | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Free trial | Not stated | ✕No | ✕No | Not stated | ✕No |
| Works on | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Apple Watch, Browser extension | Web, iOS, Android | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, API | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android |
| Documented integrations | Slack, Google Drive, Zapier | Slack, HubSpot, Google Drive, GitHub, Zoom | Slack, Zapier, Make, Google Workspace | Google Calendar, Slack, Zapier, Make, API | Slack, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Miro, Confluence |
| Setup | Moderate: 30 min | Moderate: 1-2 hr | Moderate: 1 hr | Easy: minutes | Easy: minutes |
| Main limitation | Learning curve for databases | The pricing page displays 60MB storage on Free Forever, while a separate official upgrade article references a 100MB threshold; verify the current enforced limit before relying on it | Per-seat pricing gets expensive fast for a small team | No Gantt or workload view, so it stops short of project management | Free plan caps each Workspace at 10 boards |
| Our evidence level | Vendor documented | Vendor documented | Vendor documented | Vendor documented | Vendor documented |
| Try it | Try Notion ↗ | Try ClickUp ↗Partner link | Try Airtable ↗ | Try Todoist ↗Partner link | Try Trello ↗ |
Every cell comes from the tool's record, built from its official documentation and pricing page. The integrations listed are the ones the vendor documents, not tested by us.
Name what Notion was doing for you
Most teams use Notion for three jobs at once: documents, a wiki and a tracker. Leaving is rarely about all three. If the tracker is the part that failed, a task or project tool replaces it and the documents can stay. If it is the documents that sprawled, moving the tracker will not fix it. Decide which job you are moving before comparing anything.
Structure against flexibility
Notion lets anyone build anything, which is why its workspaces drift. Airtable and ClickUp push back: fields have types, views have rules, and a record looks the same to everyone who opens it. That friction is the product. If your team kept breaking Notion's databases, a stricter tool is the fix; if your team needs to write, a stricter tool will get in the way.
Count the seats before the features
Every paid plan here is priced per user. A five-person team on Airtable Team pays five times $24 a month on monthly billing; the same team on Todoist pays five times €10 on Business, the team plan (Pro, at €7, is for one person). Feature tables hide that difference; the invoice does not.
Which replacement for which Notion habit
Notion does several jobs at once; most teams leave because of one of them.
- Notion as a personal task list: Todoist Pro covers the task half for 60 € a year on yearly billing, with reminders and calendar sync. It has no wiki, so notes stay where they are.
- A team of five running client projects in databases: ClickUp Core is $540 a year for five on yearly billing, priced in dollars; Notion Plus for the same five is 570 € a year, priced in euros.
- Large tables with many records and views: Airtable Team is $1,200 a year for five on yearly billing, and read-only collaborators are not charged. Its free plan works for one person.
When to stay on Notion
If your team writes more than it tracks, uses the free or Plus plan comfortably and the only complaint is clutter, the cheaper fix is an afternoon of structure: one database per job, archived pages, a template for new clients. A migration costs more than that afternoon.
Pricing side by side
Notion Plus · in euros
ClickUp Core · in dollars
Airtable Team · in dollars
Trello Standard · in dollars
Each tool's paid entry plan multiplied by the number of seats, free plan and tax excluded. Each tool stays in its own currency and on its own scale: we do not convert dollars into euros, so bar lengths do not compare from one tool to the other. Prices read on the official pages (25.10.2026 to 03.11.2026).
| Tool | Verified price | Billing condition | Free | Checked | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion | €11.50/mo · Plus | €11.50 per member/month billed monthly; €9.50 per member/month billed annually | Yes | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗ |
| ClickUp | $12.00/mo · Core | $9 per user/month billed yearly; $12 per user/month billed monthly | Yes | 03.11.2026 | Visit ↗Partner link |
| Airtable | $24.00/mo · Team | $24 per seat/month billed monthly; $20 per seat/month billed annually | Yes | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗ |
| Todoist | €7.00/mo · Pro | 7 € a month for one person, billed monthly; 5 € a month billed annually (60 € a year); teams use Business at 10 € per user a month plus local taxes | Yes | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗Partner link |
| Trello | $6.00/mo · Standard | $5 per user/month billed annually; $6 per user/month billed monthly | Yes | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗ |
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to Notion?
For a team, ClickUp: Free Forever includes unlimited tasks and members, though its storage is small. For a simple shared board, Trello's free plan covers 10 collaborators and 10 boards per workspace. For one person tracking client work, Airtable's free plan is usable.
Is ClickUp better than Notion?
For tasks, time tracking and project views, ClickUp does more out of the box. For writing, wikis and client portals, Notion is the better tool. The right answer depends on whether your team mostly tracks work or mostly writes it down.
Which Notion alternative has Gantt charts?
Of the tools here, ClickUp is the one built for project views; Todoist has no Gantt or workload view, and Trello needs Premium for cross-project views. Check the exact view on the plan you would buy before committing.
Can I import my Notion workspace?
We have not tested imports between these tools, so we make no claim about what transfers intact. Export a representative project from Notion and open it in the new tool before you move the rest.
Recently at these tools
Notion: Notion Agents are rebuilt with their own computer and browser and can run tasks for up to 24 hours; an "Auto" model router, bring-your-own-key AI, and a new credit system for all Notion AI usage arrive. Check how the credits apply to your plan before relying on AI features. Source ↗
Notion: Notion 3.8 focuses on context for agents: connected data, tools and skills kept in Notion whichever agent or model you use. Source ↗
ClickUp: Release 4.09: automations can create lists from templates, personal time off now feeds planning and workload, and parent task dates sync from their subtasks. Source ↗
Airtable: Automations can trigger when a field changes from one specific value to another; list and Kanban views show totals and summaries; long formulas open in a full-screen editor; all files in an attachment cell download at once. Source ↗
Todoist: Task Capture Assist leaves beta, and tasks can be reordered in Today while a filter is on. Source ↗
Read on each vendor's official changelog, not tested by us.