Milanote vs Notion: Which Modular Productivity App Is Better for You

Note-taking space is witnessing a change. People used to rely on true and trusted methods such as Evernote and OneNote, which let you capture the ideas by writing them down in the app. But, that’s not sufficient now. Today, modular productivity apps are taking over the old ways of capturing/designing notes.

What is modular productivity? How does it work? What difference does it make compared to others? Let’s understand that.

Apps such Notion, Coda, Milanote, and a few others let you organize the note exactly how you imagine it to be. Also, they aren’t just limited to note-taking. It can help you manage projects, to-dos, be your wiki, bookmark manager, and more.

The note-taking software treats each piece of content as a module/block. So you can easily move it around with drag and drop. In a nutshell, a single app can act as a Swiss Army knife packing functions such as note application, to-do app, project management software (Trello) and reading web content offline (Pockets, Instapaper).

In this post, we will compare Notion and Milanote based on their interface, cross-platform support, Note organization, sharing, price, and more. Let’s jump in.

Cross-Platform Support

This is one of the most important parameters in choosing one solution over the other. After all, what’s the point of making all notes if you can’t access it on multiple devices.

Notion ticks all the boxes with its availability on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Web. It also has a Chrome extension to capture information from the web.

Get Notion for Android

Get Notion for iOS

Get Notion for Desktop

Milanote is only available on iOS, macOS and web.

Get Milanote for iOS

Get Milanote for macOS

User Interface

Both Milanote and Notion have adopted a simple route to navigate users. Similar to a Notebook in OneNote, Notion terms the default section as workspace. You can create and add pages, sub-pages into it.

The search button is at the top, and the pages list is at the left. The real confusion starts with note-taking features and functions.

Like any other app, Notion won’t display all the customization options at the top. The editing functions are hidden in shortcuts. You will need to master commands and shortcuts to get the maximum out of it.

Overall, Notion’s a clean minimal looking interface is quite impressive with almost zero distraction.

Milanote is more like a giant canvas. Everything is customizable here. The major functions, such as creating a new project, adding notes, images, links, arrows, and others are at the left. The inteface is straightforward and easy to understand.

Note Taking and Organization

Both apps differ when it comes to taking notes and organizing them. Notion lets you collate a simple note, web links, bookmarks, and even project management tools with the help of templates.

Speaking of templates, they are the heart of Notion experience. The company has added various templates by default. Whether you are a designer or project manager or a trip planner, you will find at least one relevant template to get started.

Notion commands are the centerpiece in editing experience. Just type ‘/‘ and add relevant keywords such as H1 (Headings 1), H2, Date, Color, and more to customize a note. You can also integrate tweets and YouTube videos.

The app lets you create a project folder. Give it a relevant name, icon, color, and you are good to go.

The Notion’s add-ons include the ability to integrate images, notes, web links, templates, and more. Use drag and drop to adjust it anywhere in the project.

One of the advantages of Milanote is project flow. With the help of arrows, you can chalk out a project exactly the way how you would plan one on a physical board.

The company has included a way to view the project in a vertical list too which is useful while accessing them on an iPhone.

Milanote’s templates section looks bleak and isn’t as rich as Notion’s, though. But it gets the job done for most beginners.

Sharing and Price

Notion lets you share the entire workspace with others. You can collaborate with colleagues in real-time and organize the information in one place. To top that, Notion also allows you to export a note in PDF or HTML format.

The free version of the app will allow you to add 1000 blocks for free. After that, the personal plan starts at $4/month while the team plan costs $8/month per member. That paid plans will unlock unlimited block storage and no file upload limits.

Similar to Notion, you can share the project in Milanote. The free version is limited to just one project and you can add only up to 100 items. You will need to pay $10/month for extra functionalities.

Mobile Apps

Let’s have a word on the mobile experience. Notion’s iOS and Android apps are web-wrapper. They look and feel outdated. The features are present, but the overall user experience leaves a lot to be desired.

Milanote has a native iOS app. Then again, considering how the software works, the note-taking/project formation experience is best served on desktop. And Android users are out of luck here.

Which One Is Better for You?

As you can see from the above comparison, both apps share the same fundamentals but serve a different audience. If you are a project or trip planner, and you want the canvas like digital experience, then go with Milanote. In short, Milanote is more creativity focused and suits large teams.

Notion is more geared towards those looking for an all-in-one solution. So if you are a small team looking to organize different snippets of information and collaborate, then Notion should fit your requirements.

Next up: Notion is turning out to be an excellent alternative for Evernote users. Read the post below to see how Notion fares against Evernote in our in-depth comparison.