According to XDA-Developers, Notion recently restructured its pricing again, bundling AI into Business plans at $20 per user monthly while limiting Free and Plus users to just AI feature trials. For solo users wanting the full experience, the Plus plan costs $10 monthly minimum, totaling $120+ annually before additional feature upgrades. The author switched to Logseq, a free open-source alternative that stores everything locally as plain Markdown files with no subscription costs. After a week using Logseq, they hadn’t opened Notion once, and after a month completely migrated their workspace. The switch eliminated recurring costs while maintaining core productivity functionality through Logseq’s task management, properties, and query systems.
The subscription math stops adding up
Here’s the thing about subscription services – they always seem to find ways to charge more. Notion’s pricing evolution has been particularly frustrating for individual users. What started as a straightforward notes app now has this tiered structure where advanced features keep migrating upward. And let’s be honest, how many of us actually need enterprise-level collaboration features? For personal knowledge management, task tracking, and project organization, the core functionality hasn’t changed that much. Yet the price keeps creeping up.
Logseq’s free model isn’t just about saving money though. It’s about predictability. You don’t have to wonder if next quarter’s pricing update will suddenly make your workflow unaffordable. The software either works for you or it doesn’t, but the financial relationship doesn’t keep changing. That stability matters when your productivity system is supposed to be, you know, reliable.
Your data belongs on your hard drive
This is where Logseq’s philosophy really diverges from Notion. Local-first means exactly that – your notes live on your device as plain text files. No cloud infrastructure, no wondering who’s reading your meeting notes or personal reflections. But is this actually better for most people?
Look, there are tradeoffs. With Notion, you get seamless sync across devices out of the box. With Logseq, you’re responsible for setting up Syncthing, Git, or whatever sync solution works for you. That’s fine for tech-savvy users, but what about everyone else? The convenience of cloud sync has real value, even if it comes with privacy compromises.
Still, there’s something fundamentally empowering about knowing your data exists independently of any company’s continued existence. If Logseq disappeared tomorrow, your notes would still be perfectly readable Markdown files. Try saying that about your Notion workspace.
Rebuilding without the complexity
The author claims Logseq handles 90% of their Notion workflows, and honestly, that tracks. For individual use cases – tasks, project tracking, basic databases – the outliner approach with properties and queries covers most needs. But let’s not pretend it’s exactly the same.
Notion’s databases are genuinely powerful for complex relationships and rollups. Logseq’s property system works well for flat data structures, but it’s not a relational database. For personal knowledge management though, how often do you really need that complexity? Most of us are just trying to organize our thoughts and track what needs doing.
The graph-based thinking does change how you work. Instead of forcing everything into hierarchical structures from the start, connections emerge naturally through linking. It’s less about perfect organization upfront and more about discovering relationships as you go. That feels more natural for how human brains actually work.
What you’re really giving up
Let’s be real – Logseq isn’t for teams. If you need real-time collaboration or client-facing workspaces, stick with Notion. The polished publishing features and mature database implementation still give Notion the edge for professional team use.
But for individual users? The tradeoffs start looking like features. No subscription costs, complete data ownership, and a thinking tool that rewards consistent use over time. The learning curve exists – queries take some experimentation – but the community has extensive guides to help.
Basically, if you’ve been feeling that subscription fatigue creeping in, Logseq deserves a serious look. It might not replace every Notion use case, but for personal productivity management, the zero-cost alternative is surprisingly capable. And in an era where everything wants to be a subscription, sometimes free really is better.
