Compared
Graphite vs Notion: your own notes, as plain files.
Notion is a workspace of pages and databases, shared with a team or kept to yourself, with Notion AI on its Business and Enterprise plans. Graphite is a notebook for your own notes, kept as plain markdown files on your Mac or in your browser: with the AI you choose, it can file your Inbox once you turn that on, and find what's missing or arrange a first draft from your own sentences when you ask. It has no databases, no shared workspace and no sync. If you'd rather no AI came near your notes at all, Obsidian is the better choice.
Facts checked on by Graphite.
The facts
Notion, from the pages that describe it.
Read on 28 October 2026. Each line links to the page that says it, and things change: check there before you rely on one.
Notion calls itself “The AI workspace that works for you.” and says it has “100M users in over 50 countries”.
Its Free plan is “for individuals to organize personal projects and life”, and by yourself on it “you'll be able to add as many pages and blocks as you like”. Plus, Business and Enterprise are paid plans, charged per member.
“Notion AI is available on Business and Enterprise Plans”, where you can “switch between the latest AI models”. Free and Plus get “a limited number of complimentary AI responses” to try it.
“Databases in Notion are collections of pages”, with properties you add and views “as a list, calendar, chart, and more”, and its Marketplace says “Choose from 30,000+ Notion templates”.
“Notion is built for collaboration, so there are many ways to share your work with other people.” A workspace's teamspaces can be open for anyone in it to join, or closed to those invited.
Notion Help, Sharing & permissions; Notion Help, Intro to teamspaces
It runs on macOS and Windows, in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge, and on iOS and Android, and “All Notion users can view, edit, and create pages offline on the desktop or mobile app.”
Notion Help, System requirements; Notion Help, Working offline
A page exports as a Markdown file, and a full-page database as a CSV file with a Markdown file for each of its pages; callout blocks come out as HTML, “as there is no Markdown equivalent”. Every plan exports a whole workspace “as HTML, Markdown, & CSV”, and Notion imports Markdown files too.
Notion Help, Export your content; notion.com/pricing; Notion Help, Import data
Side by side
How is Graphite different from Notion?
Your notes
- Notion
- Pages made of blocks, in your Notion workspace. A page exports as Markdown, and a database as CSV.
- Graphite
- Plain markdown files: in a folder on your Mac, or kept in your browser and exported as a .zip. Open them in any editor.
Organizing
- Notion
- Pages inside pages, and databases with properties, filters and views, as you set them up or as a template does.
- Graphite
- Your own folders and projects, and an Inbox of every note in no project or folder. With File my Inbox on in Settings → AI, Graphite files the Inbox into the project or folder each note clearly belongs to, with one line of frontmatter, and writes each act in the Logbook, with Undo.
Working together
- Notion
- Shared pages and teamspaces, with permission levels and guests.
- Graphite
- None: a notebook is yours alone. Publish a page makes any note one web page, as an HTML file you own, for you to put on any website. Graphite doesn't host it.
AI
- Notion
- Notion AI, part of your Notion workspace, with a choice of the latest models.
- Graphite
- Built in, on your own key from any major provider or your OpenRouter account: it files, answers about the note you're in, finds what's missing and arranges a draft from your own sentences when you ask, reads receipts, and asks you to teach it back. Graphite never charges for the AI on your own key.
Who you pay, and what's sent
- Notion
- Notion: Notion AI is part of its Business and Enterprise plans, Free and Plus get a limited number of responses to try it, and some models spend Notion credits.
- Graphite
- Your key goes only to the provider you chose, and you pay that provider for what you use, at their prices. Asking Graphite about a note — or for what's missing, an outline, a draft, a summary, an edit or research — sends that note, the notes it links to and what you typed to your AI provider, only when you ask; asked about words you selected, it sends those words too, and asked in the Guide about notes you selected together, it sends those notes. On a project's or a folder's page it sends that page and the notes in it, up to twelve, and the Guide says how many under its box.
Where it runs
- Notion
- macOS, Windows, the web, iOS and Android, and offline in its apps.
- Graphite
- A Mac (macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon), and a browser on a computer or phone. No native phone, Windows or Linux app yet.
Sync
- Notion
- Changes you make offline in its apps sync the next time your device connects.
- Graphite
- None of its own. On the Mac your notebook is a folder you choose; in a browser it stays in that browser, and exports as a .zip.
Choosing
Which should you use?
When Notion is the better choice
- You work with a team: shared pages, teamspaces and permissions. A Graphite notebook is yours alone.
- You want databases, with properties, filters and views, or a template to start from. Graphite has neither.
- You want a native app on your phone or on Windows.
- You want the same pages on every device you use. Graphite has no sync: notes in a browser stay in that browser.
- You'd rather not get an AI key: Notion AI comes with its Business and Enterprise plans.
When Graphite fits
- Your notes are your own, and you want them as plain markdown files that open in any editor.
- You want to choose the AI, use your own key, and change provider when you like.
- You'd rather not build a system: write it down, and once you turn on File my Inbox, Graphite files each note into the project or folder it clearly belongs to, each move in the Logbook with Undo.
- You want to make something of what you learn: an outline or a draft from your own sentences, a script for a video, or a page you publish.
Using both
Keep a team's pages in Notion and your own notes in Graphite. Notion exports a page as Markdown and imports Markdown files, and on the Mac a Graphite notebook is a folder of them that picks up files you add in Finder, so a note can go from one to the other by hand. Nothing keeps the two in step.
Obsidian keeps plain markdown files too, and the Obsidian comparison says when it's the better choice.