Why is Notion often not enough for project management?

Because sprints, burndown and time tracking are not built-in features. Sprints can be rebuilt from databases and templates, but there is no sprint engine, and native time tracking is absent entirely.

What does Notion cost right now?

Plus $10 and Business $20 per member per month billed annually; the EU page served €9.50 for Plus (as of 3 August 2026). The free tier caps file uploads at 5 MB and page history at 7 days.

Can I run Notion and a project tool side by side?

Yes, and for many teams that is the best answer: Notion stays the knowledge tool while the project tool takes board, sprints and time. Moving is not compulsory.

Which alternative handles both documents and projects?

ClickUp and Zuuna both have documents built in — on Zuuna that is the Business Pro tier. Neither matches Notion's depth with nested databases, though.

When does Notion remain the right choice?

When the real work is knowledge — specs, research, handbooks — and the board is a supporting act. Then Notion is hard to replace.

Notion alternatives 2026: 5 tools compared

Notion is an excellent tool for knowledge and a mediocre one for projects. That is not an accusation but a design decision: Notion is a database with pages, not a project tool with a sprint engine. When documentation turns into a project, three things are missing — and that is when alternatives are worth a look.

Where Notion runs out

No sprint engine. Sprints and burndown can be rebuilt from databases; the rebuild then has to be maintained by hand.
No native time tracking. Anyone billing hours needs a second tool.
Reminders stay inside. Deadlines do not surface in the team's calendar on their own.

The alternatives at a glance

Tool	Price	Free tier	Data location
Zuuna	Free €0 · Plus €4 · Business Standard €8 · Business Pro €16 · Developer €24 (per seat/month, incl. VAT)	2 members, 2 boards, 100 cards	Germany
ClickUp	Unlimited $7 · Business $12 (per user/month, billed annually)	unlimited tasks, but 60 MB storage	US vendor
Asana	Starter $10.99 · Advanced $24.99 (per user/month, billed annually) — 2-seat minimum	Personal: maximum 2 users	US vendor
Trello	Standard $5 · Premium $10 · Enterprise $17.50 (per user/month, billed annually)	10 collaborators per workspace, 10 boards, 250 automation runs/month	Atlassian Cloud
monday.com	Basic €9 · Standard €12 · Pro €19 (per seat/month, billed annually, excl. VAT) — 3-seat minimum	maximum 2 seats, 3 boards	US vendor
Notion	Plus $10 · Business $20 (per member/month, billed annually; the EU page served €9.50 for Plus)	5 MB file uploads, 7-day page history	US vendor

All prices taken from each vendor's own pricing page, accessed 3 August 2026. Currencies are not converted — each figure carries the symbol the vendor publishes it in. Prices change; check before deciding.

ClickUp — documents plus a project tool

Fits: teams who want to keep Notion's dual role: documents and projects in one tool, with native time tracking from $7. Where it is weaker: the documents are plainer than Notion's and the interface is busier.

Zuuna — when notes become billable work

Fits: teams moving from concept into delivery: sprints, backlog, planning poker and burndown are built in, as are time tracking and reporting, and git events land on the card. Hosted in Germany.

Where it is weaker: as a knowledge base Zuuna is clearly behind Notion — nested databases, linked views and free-form page structures do not exist at that depth. Many teams therefore keep both. Direct comparison: Zuuna vs Notion

Asana — when process matters more than pages

Fits: cross-department work with dependencies. Where it is weaker: documents are not its strength, and entry carries a seat minimum.

Trello — when only the board is missing

Fits: teams who keep Notion and want a simple board beside it. Where it is weaker: no sprints, no time tracking.

monday.com — when it should be guided

Fits: teams who want structure handed to them rather than building it. Where it is weaker: a 3-seat minimum and prices excluding VAT.

When to stay on Notion

If the real work is knowledge and the board is incidental, none of these tools replaces Notion sensibly. The most common good outcome is therefore not a move but a division of labour.

Migrating: the honest route

Jira connects directly: create an API token in your Atlassian account, paste the site address, the email and the token, and Zuuna reads the project itself — no app registration, no OAuth, no administrator involved. If you would rather upload a file, use the Jira CSV export. Trello exports as JSON and you upload that. Every other tool goes through the spreadsheet: CSV or Excel. The import runs once — it does not watch the source, and nothing flows back.

During the import you map each column — title, status, priority, due date, assignee or a custom field. The values in the status column become the board's columns. Limits: 15 MB per file, 50 columns, 10,000 rows, 30 status columns. The delimiter is detected automatically, so a German Excel export with semicolons works unchanged.

What does not come along: attachments, comment threads and history. If you need those, export them separately or keep the old system as an archive. The full guide walks through it step by step.