Last updated on November 5th, 2025 at 04:40 am
Notion has always marketed itself as a place where teams can write, plan and get organized. In recent years it embedded generative AI to handle notes, tasks and research without leaving your workspace. In 2025 the company re‑launched its AI stack with a focus on “agents”. Rather than a simple writing tool, Notion AI now promises to search your documents, join meetings, generate content, connect external apps and even build mini workflows. This review offers a frank, hands‑on look at how those promises play out in practice and how they compare with a rapidly growing field of competitors.
Getting started and pricing
Notion’s AI features are tied to the core Notion subscription rather than a separate app. Plans break down like this:
| Plan | Price per user (annual billing) | AI availability | Best suited for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free/Plus | Free to $10/month | 20 responses on the free plan and limited trial in Plus. You can test document generation and database autofill. | Students, personal users, small teams who want to try AI without paying. |
| Business | ~$20/month | Full access to Notion AI, including agents, Enterprise search, Meeting Notes and Research mode. | Growing teams who need collaboration features and advanced AI tasks. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Same AI features as Business, plus extra security (SCIM user provisioning, audit logs, granular permissions and zero data retention). | Large organizations and regulated industries that need compliance and control. |
Notion moved AI out of the à‑la‑carte model. The old $10 add‑on that any user could purchase is gone. That’s good news for Business and Enterprise customers who now get AI bundled into their plan. It’s less appealing for Plus or Free users who only get a trial and must upgrade to access the full suite. There’s no middle tier for freelancers who need more than 20 AI responses but cannot justify a business subscription.
Core features and hands‑on experience
Ask Notion and Enterprise search
Ask Notion acts as a personalized search engine that queries everything in your workspace—pages, wikis, databases and even external apps like Google Drive or Slack.
When you ask “Summarize last week’s design meeting” or “What is the customer feedback on our latest release?” you get an answer with citations back to the original pages. During testing the responses were accurate as long as the data existed in Notion. It cannot search the open web, so you will still need other tools for external research.
Enterprise search extends Ask Notion to third‑party apps.
Integration with services such as GitHub or Google Drive pulls in tickets, commits or documents. Access is governed by the same permissions set for each user.
The feature works but requires configuration and careful permissioning to avoid oversharing sensitive data.
AI writing and document editing
Inside any Notion page the AI assistant can brainstorm ideas, expand a bullet point into a paragraph, rewrite for tone or translate into another language. It also summarizes long notes and extracts action items. In real use, the assistant excels at first drafts, meeting summaries and turning messy thoughts into a structured outline. It struggles with highly creative or specialized writing—for example poetic prose or code documentation. However, the inline suggestions help maintain flow because you never leave the document.
Meeting Notes and Research mode
A standout upgrade is the AI Meeting Notes tool. When integrated with Notion Calendar or an external calendar, the assistant automatically transcribes meetings, highlights decisions and assigns tasks. You can ask it to generate social media posts from the transcript or create follow‑up emails. In trials the summaries were clear, though occasionally generic. Providing context and correcting names improves accuracy.
Research mode is a new agent that pulls information from your docs and the web, synthesizing multiple sources into a report with citations. It shines for internal knowledge bases—collating existing content and adding high‑level summaries. It does not perform deep web research yet; you can’t, for example, ask it to compile competitive market data from external sites.
Workflow automation with agents
Notion is pitching agents as the next step: AI bots that perform multi‑step tasks. Currently you can pick from pre‑built agents like Ask Notion, Meeting Notes and Research, but a custom agent builder is promised. In the Business plan you can connect your Slack, Gmail or Google Drive and instruct the agent to “create a task when someone mentions me in Slack and assign a due date.” This is similar to Zapier but within Notion. The feature is still in beta; the underlying logic works, but triggers and actions are limited. Most tasks still need a human in the loop.
Strengths and limitations
Pros
- Seamless integration: You can draft, edit and organize content without leaving Notion. This saves context switching and speeds up documentation workflows.
- Solid summarization: Meeting Notes and Ask Notion quickly extract key points from long documents.
- Multi‑modal tasks: The upcoming agents promise to tie together notes, tasks, calendar events and external apps, hinting at a unified productivity hub.
- Security and compliance: The Business and Enterprise plans offer TLS encryption, granular permissions, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications and contractual clauses that prevent training on your data.
Cons
- Locked behind higher tiers: Only Business and Enterprise users get full AI access. Freelancers and small teams must pay more or settle for a limited trial.
- Limited creativity: Notion’s AI is tuned for summarizing and organizing; it cannot match dedicated creative writers like Jasper, Rytr or ChatGPT for narrative or marketing copy.
- Learning curve: Notion’s block‑based interface and database concepts can feel overwhelming, especially when layering AI features on top.
- Still maturing: Custom agents and deeper integrations are “coming soon,” so today’s automation capabilities are basic.
How Notion AI compares to competitors
The generative productivity space has exploded. Here’s how Notion AI stacks up against some of the notable alternatives:
| Tool | Unique strengths | Pricing (entry level) |
|---|---|---|
| Saner AI | Unifies notes, email, tasks and calendar into a searchable workspace. Features natural language search, smart task extraction and daily planning. Ideal for individuals seeking clarity without complex databases. | Free tier available; premium plans around $10–15/month for additional AI features. |
| NotebookLM | Built by Google. Provides long‑form Q&A over your documents with audio overviews. Useful for students and researchers who need to query and listen to their notes. | Free for a limited preview; pricing yet to be finalized. |
| Obsidian + AI plugins | Local‑first note‑taking with graph view and full privacy. AI plugins summarize and link notes without sending your data to the cloud. Perfect for knowledge workers concerned about data ownership. | Core app is free; AI plug‑ins cost roughly $5–8/month. |
| Coda AI | Combines docs, spreadsheets and automations. AI can generate tables, drafts and formulas inside documents. | Basic plan from around $10/month with AI included in higher tiers. |
| Mem.ai | Focuses on auto‑organization and fast retrieval. AI captures information, assigns tags and resurfaces relevant notes when needed. | Free plan with limits; paid plans start around $9/month. |
| Taskade AI | Integrates task/project management with AI writing. Offers real‑time collaboration and visual outlines. | Free plan; paid tiers from $8/month. |
| Tana | Uses “Supertags” and graph‑based thinking. AI helps structure information and connect ideas. Great for researchers and knowledge base builders. | Free personal plan; paid plans in beta. |
Relative to these tools, Notion AI’s greatest advantage is its breadth. It combines notes, databases, wiki management and tasks under one roof. Competitors often excel in a single area—for instance, Obsidian for local knowledge graphs or Saner AI for unified email and scheduling. Notion’s weakness is cost: full AI features require a Business subscription, while many competitors offer generous free tiers or cheaper add‑ons.
Who should (and shouldn’t) use Notion AI?
Notion AI is best for teams already invested in the Notion ecosystem. Product and engineering teams can use it to document specifications, manage projects and ask Q&A across their wiki. Sales or marketing departments benefit from meeting summaries and auto‑generated follow‑ups. Writers who need quick drafts or translations will appreciate the inline tools.
If you are a solo creator, student or small business that only needs an AI writing assistant, Notion’s cost and complexity may outweigh the benefits. Dedicated AI writers like ChatGPT, Jasper or Rytr offer richer language models at lower price points. Similarly, note‑takers who prefer local storage and privacy should consider Obsidian with AI plug‑ins. Users seeking unified task and email organization might look at Saner AI.
Final thoughts
Notion AI is evolving from a simple writing helper into a broader productivity agent. The new focus on agents and integrations suggests a future where your notes, tasks, calendar and external tools work together automatically. In our hands‑on tests, the current features already save time by summarizing meetings, generating outlines and answering internal questions. Yet the product remains best for those who live in Notion every day. Its pricing model and still‑limited automations make it less compelling as a standalone AI assistant. As competition intensifies, Notion will need to deliver on its agent roadmap and perhaps offer a more flexible pricing tier to win over individual users. For now, it is a powerful but premium option in an increasingly crowded field.
