HCL Notes vs. Notion

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HCL Notes
Score 3.5 out of 10
N/A
Notes from HCL (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in late 2018) is a collaboration platform based on the Lotus platform.N/A
Notion
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Notion aims to present users with an all-in-one workspace — for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases, from Notion Labs in San Francisco.
$0
Pricing
HCL NotesNotion
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
Plus
$12
per month per user
Business
$24
per month per user
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HCL NotesNotion
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HCL NotesNotion
Considered Both Products
HCL Notes
Chose HCL Notes
It helps in organizing work by just speaking to it, and you don't have to specifically type in the data and use it. It has a better UI and also is faster.
Chose HCL Notes
Outlook has been considered for years as a replacement platform. Pricing and support staff made it prohibitive. Our long-time use of Microsoft Office productivity suite naturally led us to consider the adoption of Office365. A recent investigation told us that Azure Cloud …
Chose HCL Notes
It had a simple user interface. It can be altered and modified to any database.
Chose HCL Notes
Our organization used IBM Notes before I started working there and is a legacy system that some teams still use. Many others in our company have switched to Slack and Google Hangouts as well as Google calendar. Slack and Google Hangouts offer a much better chat experience that …
Chose HCL Notes
As I stated previously, mail is mail. Notes is a fantastic option as a frontend for mail. On top of that, a business can be built from the custom applications that can be developed in it. We do have gmail as an option, but the vast majority of users are on Notes. We also choose …
Chose HCL Notes
I've already answered this question in the previous questions however to sum it up IBM Notes stacks up VERY WELL! It has a LOT of really good business/enterprise features like enterprise-grade Dropbox-like storage, synced email/calendar/contacts, it supports a LOT of …
Chose HCL Notes
Exchange is too resource hungry and cumbersome to restore granular. It requires several other Microsoft Servers to integrate just to meet IBM Notes in terms of features. As someone once described, doing an apple to apple [comparison] is difficult. If Exchange were taken as an …
Chose HCL Notes
We've looked at Exchange a few times. However, for more costly licensing and about the same amount of administrative support required, Exchange only does mail, calendar and contacts.

We do all that with Notes already, plus dozens of custom applications, and for less costly …
Chose HCL Notes
We originally selected Notes for it's ease of use, and ability to be customized. As the industry has progressed we have had to move on to a more progressive path.
Chose HCL Notes
I selected IBM Notes, because of its security features.
Chose HCL Notes
We are a small IT team and always had to deal with very high expectation, faster turn around time from users. Every application we've developed has very short turn around time and less resources. In the past 15 years, we can provide more application and doing it faster than …
Chose HCL Notes
Database development capabilities. Document management orientation.
Notion
Chose Notion
Notion is far superior to OneNote.
OneNote is unnecessarily complex and quite constrained by 'old ways' of doing things.
Notion is a more simplistic interface and just 'works'.
Chose Notion
Needed something outside of Microsoft Office for overall deal and project tracking and collating our collective knowledge and learnings from different deals.
We have not evaluated against anything else.
Chose Notion
I listed only the other tools we use. These are not necessarily competitors to Notion, nor we use them for the same things. For organising tasks and collaborative work we only use Notion. Slack is good for communication, Figma for design and development, while Miro for …
Chose Notion
I like the Notion interface and possibilities.
Chose Notion
Notion brought the two together with features from each that we liked being put into one place.
Chose Notion
I like Notion more than Trello and Google Sheets because it has the best parts of both. Trello is good for making lists of tasks, but it can’t do much else. Google Sheets is great for organizing data, but it can get messy. I chose Notion because I can make lists, tables, and …
Chose Notion
The first major difference is the ability to create formulas using other columns and even using other formulas. This increases the possibility of customization to another level. I couldn't do the same things using these other tools. The second is the infinite number of things …
Chose Notion
I think Miro also has it's downsides but in general there is more options to illustrate one's creative ideas and workflows etc. Notion is slightly more limiting in that sense. And due to two facor authentification I also tend to work more in google sheets and google docs and …
Chose Notion
Notion pretty much combines all the capabilities each one of these platforms have and just takes the most important ideas and concentrates on making them stand out. I can create a "Trello" type of timeline, and use a more traditional "Jira" or "Asana" type of waterfall view. …
Chose Notion
Notion goes beyond file storage, which are what the two selected above primarily offer. Also I have used Notion for personal use cases and projects and have found it to have a really amazing user experience and UI. Microsoft products tend to fail at having a good UX. Also, …
Chose Notion
The company uses both Notion and Trello within the company. Notion is more for North America employees while Trello is used between Operation team overseas and in North America. Sometimes it's a preference of how the tools look like for project management. I would say both …
Chose Notion
Jira is a great tool, that is probably more robust than Notion and more scalable. But for a small company (under 50 people) the investment is hard to swallow without a significant revenue stream justifying it. Notion is a perfect low cost option that meets 80% of the …
Chose Notion
We found Notion to be a lot easier to use than ClickUp. They offer a similar feature set, but ClickUp was a lot less user-friendly in my opinion. We also tried Trello and Todoist, but found they were just lacking the features we needed. We still use Trello for some internal …
Chose Notion
Notion's flexibility and extensive customization options make it the perfect tool for my personal organization. I appreciate not being confined to a single format, and I find that the process of personalizing my workspace sparks creativity, which is a great asset for managing …
Chose Notion
Notion is the most in depth of all of the above applications. You can make a simple to-do list and share it with other people, or dive deep into formulas and page linking. I appreciate that it does not take a large time to set up like Monday.com, but it still offers a huge …
Chose Notion
Notion has a powerful feature, and it is their templates within databases. They allow our operation to flow seamlessly and create new tasks with defined subtasks in seconds.
Chose Notion
not nearly as useful, it is just a file organiser tool but Notion has the functionality of creating many thing in one page, allowing to include more pages and link with other spaces. such as Miro, google drive, calendar, etc
Integration is part of what makes Notion the best …
Chose Notion
A lot more features for collaboration and sharing information.
Chose Notion
I think that Notion adds a better user experience which is more customisable. Some of these apps are really rigid and dont give youthe flexability that Notion does.
Chose Notion
I found that Notion offered the most versatility. In particular it allowed me to super easily format and reformat information depending on how I was using it. This has proven incredibly useful. And has allowed me to store various types of information all in the same place.
Chose Notion
Notion is less complicated than ClickUp and more user friendly, especially for those who prefer simplicity. I am aware that ClickUp does offer simple template and let us scale it but Notion is one step ahead because of the UI design is easier to use.
I like Confluence at work …
Chose Notion
I've used Evernote in the past and currently use Asana alongside Notion, so I can compare them based on my experience.

Notion is much more flexible than Evernote. While Evernote is great for basic note-taking, Notion allows me to structure my notes with nested pages, databases, …
Chose Notion
We were using Nation for the whole company and it's amazing, however, for the CS team with the tech/ops we are using Trello. As a CS & Operation manager, the reminders/alarms/notifications are the most important for handling time and minimizing the SLAs, so I created automation …
Features
HCL NotesNotion
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
6.9
Ratings
11% below category average
Notion
9.9
Ratings
25% above category average
Task Management7.00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Gantt Charts6.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Scheduling8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Workflow Automation5.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile Access8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Search6.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Visual planning tools8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
9.2
Ratings
15% above category average
Notion
9.6
Ratings
19% above category average
Chat6.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Notifications9.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Discussions9.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Surveys9.10 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase10.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook10.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
7.6
Ratings
4% below category average
Notion
9.9
Ratings
23% above category average
Versioning9.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Video files6.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Audio files6.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Document collaboration8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Access control6.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Advanced security features8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive10.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Device sync8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HCL NotesNotion
Small Businesses
Stackby
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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Score 9.8 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
HCL NotesNotion
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
HCL NotesNotion
Likelihood to Recommend
I often work with teams from other country and regions, hence HCL Notes is a very useful platform for internal company management operations. It standardized organisational work standards in most of the offices worldwide. HCL Notes also enables chat with other team around the world that I find very helpful when initiating conversation or just want to have a quick update rather than sending emails and waiting for replies. However, HCL Notes is not very efficient in web browsing and user still need to use other internet service providers.
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At the company I work for, we use Notion as an organizational base for all sectors and projects. For example, we use it for the marketing team, customer support team, among others. And for each one, we can create pipelines, tasks, due dates, execution time, tags with different colors. It's something very versatile that helps with everything around here. We've even created a sales funnel in Notion.
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Pros
  • Data sharing via small database format is valuable as they are quickly deployed, easily managed and distributed on backend email servers.
  • Integrated messaging allows quick communications between geographical sites reducing long distance costs.
  • Policy documents for registering new users, setting initial security levels, assigning default database access is managed easily with the admin client.
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  • I love that you can create nested pages, allowing for separate sections to organize information as needed.
  • I appreciate the convenience of effortlessly uploading images to any section.
  • I appreciate that when adding links, you can embed them so the website displays directly on the page.
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Cons
  • The simple user experience can be touted as a positive, but it is also a negative in some ways. Compared to other calendars, email and chat tools, IBM Notes looks like it is from the 90s.
  • We have constant issues with chat crashing. This is the main reason so many people in our organization chose to switch away from Notes.
  • There aren't a lot of integrations with IBM Notes and other applications we regularly use. Notes seems to have been left behind by many.
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  • I use Notion on my personal tablet, and unlike on the computer, I have a lot of difficulty editing backgrounds, GIFs, and page dividers. It's not as user-friendly, and often the elements end up cut off or misaligned, which is frustrating.
  • While the current calendar feature is helpful, I'd love to see more customization options. The Google Calendar style isn't always ideal, especially for tasks without specific times or for ongoing projects that require daily maintenance.
  • It would be fantastic to have more flexibility in customizing Notion pages. For example, I'd love to create planners with the freedom to add illustration boxes, stickers, or GIFs without being restricted to a fixed layout.
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Likelihood to Renew
Since companies started to moved their email systems to the Exchange platform and the cloud, we are unable to find any new projects with IBM Notes, the marketing share and software price is another issue, so we have to move to another platform.
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We're too settled in the ecosystem and we have no major complaints with it. No reason to move unless you have a burning pain point
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Usability
Easy to use for the user, most of the apps we developed, there is not much need for user training. Most of the times, we just do a demo to the users group and they can pick up from there.
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Notion addresses most of our needs and help teams to organize their tasks, track their progresses and then archive for future reference. The company uses Notion to share announcement, holiday schedules, employee contact information and organizational structures. Everyone finds it useful and helpful. The notifications are instant. Reminders are on time.
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Support Rating
I've been using the production for a very long time and very happy with it. Also, all the online resources and forums for notes is very friendly and easy/quick for getting help. I found out that compared to Microsoft or Oracle or any other platforms, IBM Notes online forum is the best I have seen.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Implementation is easy and smooth if the requirement is well gathered/documented. Notes is a RAD platform, all projects in Notes is simple in the implementation step.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
I've already answered this question in the previous questions however to sum it up IBM Notes stacks up VERY WELL! It has a LOT of really good business/enterprise features like enterprise-grade Dropbox-like storage, synced email/calendar/contacts, it supports a LOT of third-party add-ins, easy-to-use and friendly, very strong and robust, and most importantly it's a LOT more secure in my opinion than the competition.
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Notion is much more robust than Google Tasks, which I find very limited. Notion is far more customizable and affordable than Asana, which is more of a turnkey solution for teams that want to work within a pre-defined structure. Notion and ClickUp are comparable, in my opinion, in terms of task management and affordability, however Notion is the more customizable and expansive option whereas ClickUp is mostly just for task management.
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Return on Investment
  • ROI for us has been extreme. In the late 1990's we automated dozens and dozens of paper-based processes and created workflows for activities that had never been formalized before. Additionally all those forms with their comments, etc. have been captured in a central place to serve as audit trails.
  • Whenever we need faster access to data (mail or otherwise), it's quick and easy to deploy a new Domino server somewhere, setup replication of appropriate databases, and get the local Notes clients pointed to those resources. So that to me is positive ROI because it represents time savings based on user need.
  • Tech. Support would claim a negative ROI in terms of supporting the Notes client, Notes updates, peculiar Notes issues, and users who complain about Notes. That is certainly true to a point. The Notes client is a much more complex piece of software than, say, Outlook. But we have to remember that Notes deployments are not just for Mail but many, many applications as well. In the end I'd say we might have 1 or 2 user complaints per month, typically around Calendar issues more than anything else.
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  • It has streamlined our processes across various teams to all work from a signle source of truth
  • Maintaining this source of truth is a full time job
  • It has reduced our overall tool set by completely eliminating two other softwares we were paying for
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ScreenShots