--- title: "tnotes vs Notion · tnotes" description: "Notion or tnotes for Markdown notes? Hosted workspace of pages and databases with real-time collaboration, a REST API and an official MCP server; content lives " canonical: https://tnotes.app/compare/tnotes-vs-notion --- [compare](/compare) / notion # tnotes vs Notion Hosted workspace of pages and databases with real-time collaboration, a REST API and an official MCP server; content lives on Notion's servers, not in files. tnotes terminal app · macOS, Linux · MIT · free · v1.3.0 [Notion](https://www.notion.com) web app · Web; desktop apps for macOS and Windows; iOS and Android · Proprietary · Free plan for individuals; Plus, Business and Enterprise per member per month Notion is a hosted document and database product. A page is a tree of blocks stored on Notion’s servers; a database is a table of pages with typed properties (Select, Multi-select, Date, Relation, Formula, up to 500 per database) that you can view as a table, board, calendar or timeline. Everything is collaborative by default: sharing, comments, permissions per page or teamspace, and audit logs on paid plans. For programmatic access there is a REST API at `api.notion.com` with cursor pagination and JSON bodies, and since 2025 a hosted MCP server so Claude Code, Cursor or Codex can search, read and write a workspace after an OAuth grant. Enterprise workspaces can trigger a full export from an admin API. What Notion does not have is a local file: the desktop app is a wrapper over the same cloud data, and export is a zip of Markdown, CSV, HTML or PDF that you request and download. tnotes sits on the other end. There is no server, no account and no collaboration; notes are `.md` files in a directory you own, and the CLI’s JSON is a view of those files. Choosing between them is mostly choosing between a shared workspace with a data model and a folder of text. ## Feature comparison | Feature | tnotes | Notion | | --- | --- | --- | | Storage format | ✓ plain .md files, folders are directories | ✗ cloud database; export to Markdown & CSV, HTML or PDF | | Runs in the terminal | ✓ TUI (ratatui) plus a headless CLI | ✗ | | \[\[Wikilinks\]\] | ✓ \[\[Title\]\] with completion; rewritten on rename | ~ typing \[\[ opens a page picker; the link is a page mention, not text | | Backlinks | ✓ overlay + `backlinks` in JSON | ✓ backlinks list above the page title, from @-mentions | | #tags | ✓ #tag and nested #work/project, parsed from text | ~ Select / Multi-select database properties; no inline #tags | | Headless CLI | ✓ ls, search, cat, new, append, write, trash, restore | ✗ REST API and hosted MCP server; no official CLI | | JSON output for scripts / agents | ✓ --json on every command | ~ REST API (api.notion.com) speaks JSON; nothing local | | Live reload on external edits | ✓ file watcher; dirty tabs keep their text | ✗ no files on disk; edits sync through the cloud | | Vim keys | ✓ vim or emacs keys (edtui) | ✗ | | Mouse support | ✓ click, double-click, right-click menus, drag | ✓ block handles, drag and drop, slash menus | | Sync | ~ any file sync: git, Syncthing, iCloud, Dropbox | ✓ built in; per-minute server backups | | Encryption | ~ encrypt the folder: FileVault, gocryptfs | ~ AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit; not end-to-end, staff can access for support | | Mobile app | ✗ files sync to any mobile Markdown editor | ✓ iOS and Android | | Plugins | ✗ | ~ integrations via the API and MCP; no in-app plugin system | | Open source | ✓ MIT, Rust | ✗ SDKs are open source, the product is not | ✓ yes · ~ partial or via the file system · ✗ no ## Choose Notion if - Several people edit the same pages at once and you need permissions, comments and mentions on top of the text. - Databases with typed properties, relations, rollups and formulas are the actual work; a folder of Markdown cannot express them. - You want an official, hosted integration surface (REST API, MCP, Slack/GitHub/Jira connections) maintained by the vendor. - Mobile and web access from any device without setting up file sync. ## Choose tnotes if - Your notes must be readable and writable without a network, an account, or Notion’s continued existence: plain `.md` files, `git` history, any editor. - Agents and scripts work on a local folder: `tnotes ls --json`, `search`, `append` and `write` return in milliseconds with no token, rate limit or OAuth grant. - You live in a terminal and want `[[links]]`, `#tags`, backlinks and search there, with vim or emacs keys. - Encryption is under your control: FileVault, gocryptfs or an encrypted volume, not a vendor promise of encryption at rest. ## Using Notion and tnotes together There is no live sync between Notion and tnotes. The workable path is a one-way export: Notion writes a zip of Markdown files, you unzip it into a tnotes root. In Notion: `Settings` → `General` → `Export all workspace content`, format `Markdown & CSV`, subpages included. Large workspaces arrive by email link, up to 30 hours later. Per page, the `•••` → `Export` menu does the same for one subtree. ``` mkdir -p ~/notes/notion && cd ~/notes/notion unzip ~/Downloads/Export-*.zip tnotes ~/notes/notion # add it as a root tnotes ls --json | jq 'length' # every exported page is a note tnotes search "onboarding" --dir ~/notes/notion ``` What to expect in the export: - Each file is named ` <32-hex page id>.md`, and each subpage folder carries the same suffix. tnotes takes a note’s title from its first line, so the list reads correctly as long as the exported file starts with the page title; the file names keep the suffix until renamed. Editing a title in tnotes renames the file to a slug of the new title and rewrites `[[links]]`, but the export’s links are not wikilinks (next point), so rename in bulk with a script if you want clean stems. - Links between pages are exported as Markdown links to the id-suffixed file names (`[Roadmap](Roadmap%20a1b2….md)`). tnotes indexes only `[[Title]]` links, so Notion’s page graph does not appear in `links`/`backlinks` until you convert them. - Databases become `.csv` files (one row per page) plus a Markdown file per row. tnotes ignores the CSV. - Callout blocks are exported as HTML, not Markdown. Select and Multi-select values are database properties, not `#tags` in the text, so tnotes does not see them as tags. - Attachments land in the same folders; tnotes only lists `.md`. Treat the folder as a snapshot. If Notion stays the source of truth, re-export and replace; if tnotes does, stop editing in Notion. ## FAQ ? Can I export Notion to Markdown? Yes. Any page: `•••` → `Export` → `Markdown & CSV`, optionally with subpages. Whole workspace: `Settings` → `General` → `Export all workspace content` (desktop or web only; the download link expires after 7 days). Full-page databases export as CSV with one Markdown file per row; callouts export as HTML. Form views cannot be exported. ? Is there a Notion CLI? Not an official one. Notion exposes a REST API (bearer token, JSON, cursor pagination, 100 items per page) and a hosted MCP server that clients such as Claude Code connect to over OAuth. Community CLIs wrap the API. For a local folder of Markdown, `tnotes` gives `ls`, `search`, `cat`, `new`, `append` and `write` with `--json`, no token required. ? Is Notion end-to-end encrypted? No. Notion’s security page states customer data is encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with TLS 1.2+, hosted on AWS, and that employees may access data for troubleshooting or content recovery. There is no client-side key. If that matters, keep notes in files on an encrypted disk. ## Sources Notion facts checked on 2026-09-22 against: - [Notion Help: Export your content](https://www.notion.com/help/export-your-content) - [Notion Help: Links & backlinks](https://www.notion.com/help/create-links-and-backlinks) - [Notion Help: Security practices](https://www.notion.com/help/security-and-privacy) - [Notion API reference: Introduction, and MCP overview](https://developers.notion.com/reference/intro) ## Other comparisons - [tnotes vs Apple Notes](/compare/tnotes-vs-apple-notes) - [tnotes vs Dendron](/compare/tnotes-vs-dendron) - [tnotes vs Joplin](/compare/tnotes-vs-joplin) - [tnotes vs jrnl](/compare/tnotes-vs-jrnl) - [tnotes vs Logseq](/compare/tnotes-vs-logseq) - [tnotes vs nb](/compare/tnotes-vs-nb)