Notion is a very popular central hub for daily to-dos, project management, journaling, and those huge knowledge bases we build. It has great flexibility and powerful databases, but it’s not unique. I moved to an open-source application called Anytype, and it is a much better alternative.

It uses a local-first structure combined with zero-knowledge, end-to-end encryption, and you don’t even have to worry about outages. You don’t have to make any tradeoffs when you move to open-source; you’ll likely appreciate how much more power you get.

Local is better than renting space

Anytype’s local-first design means you actually own your content. It’s a huge shift away from the standard software as a service model. With a service like Notion, you know you’re just renting space on its servers (even if you’re not paying), and that brings limits. You basically become a borrower of your own files, making you vulnerable to that company’s terms, fee hikes, or having your account locked for no good reason.

That seems fine until you hit a server crash or an internet problem. Cloud-reliant tools like Notion usually fail in those situations, forcing you to stare at loading screens instead of accessing important notes. Thankfully, with Anytype and most open-source, local-first software, this just isn’t a concern. Since Anytype keeps the main copy of your content right on your device instead of relying on a distant server, you can access and edit your work no matter what your internet connection or the company’s server status.

The app works offline, only syncing changes using peer-to-peer connections or local Wi-Fi when you are actually online. This guarantees your workflow is never held hostage by connectivity issues.

Also, its end-to-end encryption has a level of security and privacy that Notion just can’t match. While the platform encrypts data in transit and at rest, it keeps control of the decryption keys. This means its employees, or bad actors who break into its central servers, could potentially see your private content.

Anytype uses a zero-knowledge cloud storage standard where only you possess the encryption keys, which are often generated using a seed phrase right on your device. This decentralized setup makes sure that not even the internal team can read your files, so if you’re doing anything that involves sensitive content requiring serious privacy, like journals, medical information, or private business concepts, you are safe.

Anytype is better and faster

When you switch from Notion to Anytype, the first thing that hits you is how fast it is. We’ve all gotten used to those little hitches inherent in Notion’s design, that slight wait every time you open a page, click a toggle, or try to sort out a database. That slow response is the unavoidable cost of cloud-first infrastructure, where every single click essentially has to check in with a central server miles away just to show you your own notes.

This friction is dragging you down, and you might not even realize it until it vanishes. Since Notion was designed to be internet-connected from day one, it results in a noticeable slowness that surrounds the entire experience, especially when you need to move quickly between tasks. You can replace so many more subscriptions with Anytype than just Notion, but Notion is the most obvious.

I used Notion mostly to keep track of projects and to act as a codex for everything I needed to know. Anytype immediately destroyed Notion the second I installed it because the primary copy of the content lives right there on the device. I have yet to see any loading spinners, waiting around for a database to query the cloud, and I’ve had little to no delay when navigating through my network of objects.

I noticed that this made things feel a lot less administrative and significantly smoother. In my experience, the all-in-one promise of Notion falls apart when your workspace gets big. The search function gets incredibly slow, turning basic retrieval into a test of patience. On top of that, Notion’s user experience often involves finicky behaviors.

For example, I like emojis in my titles where it says to put one, but for some reason, that always breaks the link to the main article. So I had to relink every time I wanted to add an emoji, despite it being encouraged.

Objects vs Pages

The biggest difference between these two apps comes down to how they’re built. Notion uses the old-school hierarchy of pages and databases, which reminds me a lot of a wiki, but Anytype runs on a way more flexible system called objects.

When you use Notion, you’re pretty much forced to become a database architect before you even start doing real work. Everything has to live in a specific spot, whether it’s a single page, something nested deep inside another document, or an entry inside a particular collection. That setup might feel neat at first, but it quickly gets rigid and annoying once your workspace starts getting big.

I have tried organizing on the fly as I worked, and there is a noticeable difference in speed and how often you are stopping just to make sure it is all linked correctly. You always run into the friction of deciding exactly where content belongs before you create it.

If you want to handle projects on Notion correctly, you have to build complicated relations and rollups first. This hierarchy demands that you perfectly organize everything before you write a single word, turning productive time into unnecessary administrative work.

Anytype flips that whole setup by treating every piece of content, whether it’s just a task, a quick note, a person’s profile, or a whole project, as an object. This separation is what makes Anytype scale so much better because it disconnects the information from needing a set location. You don’t have to stress about the file hierarchy or the specific container.

You just create the object, and you can define its type later if you even need to. Since they exist independently of any folder structure, it’s significantly easier to view every piece of content as a connected node in a network, rather than just a file stuck inside a cabinet. This leads to a smoother workflow where you make connections between data points naturally using bidirectional linking and relations, instead of being forced into Notion’s rigid database architecture.

When your intellectual property lives on someone else’s server, you’re completely subject to that company’s changing policies, weird pricing, and eventual security problems. If you want true professional and personal resilience, you need an infrastructure that runs on your own terms.

Choosing a local-first, end-to-end encrypted solution like Anytype or even Obsidian instead of Notion is probably one of the best decisions you will make. Open-source tools help you maintain a strong grip on your privacy while retaining all the cool features and fast speed. If you use any knowledge management system, you should drop that renter’s mentality and become the owner of your projects.