Notion alternative
Notion is a cloud workspace built for teams: databases, wikis and real-time collaboration. Koru is a free, open-source, native desktop app for your own notes and documents: everything lives on your own devices, works fully offline and syncs directly between them. If your Notion is mostly your own pages, Koru imports them in one step. If your team runs on Notion databases, Notion is the better fit for now, and we want to hear what would bring you over.
Notion added offline mode in August 2025, but only in the desktop and mobile apps, not the browser. You choose pages to download one by one on each device, sub-pages are marked separately, and only the first 50 rows of a database download automatically.
Notion loads your workspace from its servers, and a common complaint from heavy users is that large workspaces feel sluggish. For quick personal notes, waiting on a network round trip is friction you feel every day.
Notion encrypts data in transit and at rest, and does not list end-to-end encryption on its security page. For journals, research and anything personal, some people would rather the only copy lived on their own devices.
Notion's power, with databases, relations, views and team permissions, is also its weight. If you mostly write pages for yourself, you are carrying a team platform to do it, and Notion AI is included only from the Business plan up.
| Feature | Koru | Notion |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. No account and no trial. | Free for individuals. Plus: $10/seat/month billed yearly. Business, which includes Notion AI: $20/seat/month billed yearly. |
| Where your notes live | In a local database on your device. Works fully offline, with no account required. | On Notion's servers. |
| Offline | Everything, always. There is nothing to download first. | Pages you mark for offline, in the desktop and mobile apps only. Databases download their first 50 rows automatically. |
| Sync | Directly between your own devices, peer to peer and end-to-end encrypted, built on iroh. No Koru server required. | Through Notion's cloud. |
| Platforms | Windows and macOS. No phone app yet. | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and the web. |
| Open source | Open source under MPL-2.0, on GitHub. | No. Proprietary. |
| Databases | No databases. Imported Notion databases become tables, with the original CSV attached. | Databases with multiple views. |
| Collaboration | No. Koru is for your own notes, not shared workspaces. | Built for it: sharing, guests and editing together. |
| AI | No built-in AI. The built-in MCP server lets any MCP client, such as Claude, read and edit your workspace, and coding agents run in terminal tabs. | Notion AI on Business and Enterprise, with a trial on other plans. A hosted MCP server. |
| Web clipper | On the roadmap. | Yes. |
| Version history | Saved, named versions you can compare. | Page history; 7 days on the Free plan. |
| Export | Markdown and TextBundle. | PDF, HTML, Markdown and CSV, per page or for the whole workspace. |
Notion is a cloud service that can keep copies of selected pages for when you lose your connection. Koru is the other way round: your workspace is in a local database on your computer, every page is always available, and the network is only for syncing between your devices.
That difference shows in daily use. Opening a page, searching and switching workspaces in Koru never wait on a server.
Notion shines when a team shares a wiki, a roadmap or a database. Koru does not try to do that. It has no databases and no shared workspaces.
What Koru does well is the personal side: documents with headings, tables, checklists and code, nested pages, #tags, profiles that keep work and personal workspaces apart, saved versions, and on-device dictation with Koru Voice.
Notion protects your data on its servers. Koru keeps it off servers altogether: no account, no upload, and device-to-device sync that is end-to-end encrypted and does not need a Koru server. The app is open source under MPL-2.0, so anyone can verify what it does.
Notion AI is part of the Business plan, and Notion offers a hosted MCP server for tools such as Claude Code. Koru has no built-in AI. Its MCP server runs locally on your computer, so any MCP client, such as Claude, can read and edit your workspace, and you can run coding agents such as Claude Code in a terminal tab.
Missing something you rely on? Tell us at hello@koru.do. What people ask for shapes the roadmap.
Koru imports Notion offline from a standard Notion export. Nothing is fetched from Notion and you do not connect your account.
Partly. Since August 2025 the Notion desktop and mobile apps can keep pages you choose available offline, one page at a time on each device, and only the first 50 rows of a database download automatically. The browser version does not work offline. In Koru every page is on your device, always, so there is nothing to choose or download.
For personal notes and documents, yes. For team wikis and shared databases, no: Koru is for your own notes. If databases are what keep you on Notion, tell us at hello@koru.do so we know what to build next.
Completely. Your workspace lives in a local database on your computer, so every page is available with no connection and no account. Devices sync with each other directly, peer to peer and end-to-end encrypted, when they can reach each other.
Full-page databases become tables in Koru, and the original CSV is attached so no data is lost. Database views, filters and formulas do not carry over.
Yes. Koru is free and open source under MPL-2.0, with no account and no trial. Your notes and device-to-device sync never depend on a paid service.
Koru runs on Windows and macOS. There's no phone app yet, so if you need Notion on your phone every day, keep it there for now.
Koru has no built-in AI, but its built-in MCP server lets any MCP client, such as Claude, read and edit your workspace. You can also run coding agents such as Claude Code in a terminal tab.
