Craft

This is best used for beautiful, fast document creation and collaboration without Notion's database complexity. Craft targets writers, educators, creators, and knowledge workers who need elegant note-taking that handles tasks, collections, and real-time collaboration—syncing seamlessly across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and web.

The platform's award-winning design (Mac App of the Year, 3x Webby Awards, German Design Award) makes productivity genuinely enjoyable. Unlike Notion's overwhelming customization, Craft presents a clean folder structure with rich media support that works instantly. Embedded Collections bring lightweight database functionality directly within documents—track reading lists or project timelines without leaving your writing context.

Built-in task management captures to-dos as ideas emerge, with unified inbox, due dates, and AI Assistant access. Daily Notes creates dedicated planning/journaling space with calendar view. AI Assistant (GPT-4 + Apple on-device) handles research, editing, and knowledge base search—included in paid plans, not expensive add-ons like Notion.

Key features: Real-time collaboration with comments/mentions, Markdown support with live preview, publish documents as beautiful web pages, offline-first with automatic sync, whiteboards for visual brainstorming, templates for common workflows.

Craft vs Notion: Craft wins on speed, design, ease of use, and offline performance. Notion wins on database power and extensive third-party integrations. Many users choose Craft for personal work and Notion for complex team systems—or migrate fully to Craft for simpler, faster workflows.

Pricing: Free (full-featured for occasional use). Plus at $4.80/month annually or $8/month ($57.60/year). Business at $250/month annually for teams. Students/educators get Plus free with .edu email.

Team fit: Individuals to mid-size teams. Excellent for students, educators, writers, creators, and professionals wanting beautiful documents without engineering complexity. Less suitable for teams needing advanced project management or complex relational databases.

G2 rating: High user satisfaction for interface design (9.7/10), grammar check (9.2/10), and link sharing (9.5/10). Higher than Notion for content editor quality and ease of use.