Long-term power users are experiencing significant performance degradation and scalability issues when managing large, complex workspaces, leading to frustration and migration to other platforms. Notion needs fundamental improvements to its core architecture to handle extensive data and intricate systems efficiently.
It's hard to admit; Notion has betrayed us. I've come to the conclusion that they will not be able to deliver on the promise. We must migrate away before we sink with them and waste even more of our time... If you are new, don't make the same mistake many of us have made: pouring our hearts, hopes, and countless hours into a company that does not listen to us. After 5 years of trying, over 7000+ hours of building and learning their system in and out, I've become disenchanted with Notion, the company. The incompetence in their updates is inexcusable at this point. I need to do what's best for my future and take what I learned into a system or framework that will not fail me. At this point, I can build my dream system with open-source software and a few thousand dollars of compute. We all deserve better. They are not listening to us... **EDIT**: A short story, for those asking why this matters. Seven years ago, I fell in love with a tool. I moved my whole life into it — work, writing, clients, the operating system I use to think. I learned the formulas in and out. I learned the API, every call. I built custom tools on top of it. When people asked what I did for a living, I'd say "I'm a Notion expert" or "a Notion professional." I loved the app that much. I wanted to work for them — but something always kept me from actually applying. In 2023 — back when AI hadn't really taken off yet — I went out to visit them, just to see if it might be a fit. Something in the culture didn't sit right with me. But I was unwilling to see it. I wasn't ready to let the idea go. Trust me when I say this: there are probably less than 500 people who know Notion better than I do. The only ones who do are the engineers who work there and the other freaks like me — some of whom I know. And they are all telling me the same thing. The problem is deep. It goes deeper than anyone outside the building can see. Many of them don't want to touch it — not because they can't, but because leadership won't prioritize it. This is a top-down problem. I spent long enough inside Notion to feel the weight of its bones. What I mistook for a foundation was scaffolding — beautifully dressed, but scaffolding all the same. And the team keeps nailing new rooms on top of it. A tool is not a home. The hours you pour in are real; the company underneath them is not obligated to grow in the direction you're growing. I'm not leaving Notion with a light heart. My heart is heavy. But I'm truly outgrowing it — and if I want the business I dream of, I have to move on. It's going to be a process. This is a warning to anyone new starting on Notion who wants to build a business: it might not be it, not if that business needs performance at scale. There is a chance leadership pivots. But at the end of the day, I fear it is too late for them.