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Scratchpad vs Notion

Scratchpad is a notes app that's quick to open, encrypts the notes you lock, reads your PDFs, keeps every version, and includes its assistant and transcription at US$12. Notion is a workspace for teams, with databases, wikis, and projects, and its full AI on the Business plan.

Facts checked Sources All comparisons

Notion is where teams run projects. Scratchpad is where you put the things in your head and find them again. If you've been using Notion as a notebook, you've probably felt the difference: a workspace to design before you can write, pages that take a moment to open, and the AI you wanted sitting on a business plan. Scratchpad is built for exactly the job Notion is heavy at.

The short answer

Choose Scratchpad if

  • You mostly write notes, lists, and ideas, and want to open the app and start typing
  • You want some notes locked with a password that encrypts them, which Notion doesn't offer
  • You want to search inside attached PDFs and Word files, and mark up a PDF
  • You want an assistant and voice memo transcription on a personal plan, at US$12 a month or US$8 with your own AI key
  • You want a note's history kept for good, not for 7, 30, or 90 days

Choose Notion if

  • You want databases: task boards, trackers, CRMs, reading lists with properties and views
  • You're running a team, with shared wikis, permissions, and guests
  • You want a free plan, or published sites on your own domain

At a glance

Scratchpad Notion
Built for Personal notes, shared when you choose Team workspaces: docs, wikis, databases, and projects
Price a month US$12, or US$8 with your own AI key Plus US$10, Business US$20, per member, billed yearly
Price a year US$120, or US$80 with your own AI key Plus US$120, Business US$240, per member
Free plan With a 30-day money-back guarantee
Full AI features On both plans Business plan and up
Voice to text Voice memos, 20 hours a month AI Meeting Notes, on Business and up
Password-locked notes Encrypted with their own password
End-to-end encryption
Search inside attached PDFs Word, Excel, and PowerPoint too Not in Notion's search documentation
PDF markup Pen, highlighter, shapes, sticky notes, and forms
Version history Up to 200 versions per note, on every plan 7 days free, 30 on Plus, 90 on Business
Trash Kept until you empty it 30 days
Co-editing Guests need no account With guests and comments
Share links with a password or expiry No password on a page
Publishing In one click Notion Sites, with custom domains as a paid add-on
Reminders By email and notification, and they can repeat They don't repeat
Works offline Keeps going when the connection drops, and syncs after In the apps, for pages you've downloaded. Not in the browser
Databases With many views
Platforms Apps for Mac and Linux, plus any browser, installable on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Web, plus apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, and Android
Web clipper For Safari, Chrome, and Firefox For Chrome and Safari
API and AI connectors Plus an MCP server Plus an MCP server

For one person who wants AI, Scratchpad costs about half of Notion Business. For one person who doesn't, Notion's free plan costs nothing.

Where Scratchpad is better

Scratchpad on a computer: folders on the left, a list of notes, and a note called Lisbon in October with a checklist and a day-by-day plan in a table.

It's a notebook, not a workspace

There's nothing to design before you write. No workspace, no database, no template: the first line of a note becomes its title, and search finds it later whether or not you ever filed it. Notion's reviewers regularly mention its learning curve, and that big workspaces and large databases get slow.

The assistant is included, at a personal price

Notion's full AI comes with Business at US$20 per member a month, billed yearly, and Plus gets a limited trial of it. Scratchpad includes 500 assistant messages a month at US$12, or unlimited with your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or Gemini key at US$8. It reads the note you're in, and its edits arrive as a change you approve before anything moves.

Locked notes are actually encrypted

Notion encrypts data on its servers with keys it holds, has no end-to-end encryption, and can't put a password on a page. A locked Scratchpad note is encrypted with a key made from its own password, so the database and every backup hold only encrypted text, and without the password nobody can read what we store, us included. Face ID or Touch ID opens it once you set that up.

PDFs and recordings are first class

Scratchpad searches the text inside attached PDFs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, has a PDF reader with a pen, highlighter, shapes, sticky notes, and form filling, and turns voice memos into searchable text on either plan. Notion shows PDFs but doesn't mark them up, and its transcription comes with AI Meeting Notes on Business.

History that doesn't run out on a timer

Notion keeps page history for 7 days on Free, 30 on Plus, and 90 on Business, and empties its trash after 30 days. Scratchpad keeps up to 200 versions of every note on every plan, and a deleted note stays in the trash until you empty it.

Sharing without making anyone sign up

A Scratchpad share link can read or edit, carry a password, and expire after a day, a week, or a month, and the person opening it edits alongside you with no account. Publishing a note as a page is one click, with no add-on.

Reminders that repeat

/remind in a Scratchpad note sets a reminder in plain words, by email and notification, and it can repeat. Notion's reminders don't repeat yet.

And everything else Scratchpad does.

  • Reminders in a sentence

    Type /remind call the vet Friday at 9am, and get an email and a notification.

  • Voice memos, transcribed

    Record into a note and get the words back as text you can search. 20 hours a month.

  • Write on PDFs

    Pen, highlighter, shapes, sticky notes, and forms, and a copy to download with your marks on it.

  • Every version, kept

    Up to 200 versions of each note, compared side by side and brought back in a click.

  • Search inside your files

    The words in your PDFs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, your pictures and scans, and your transcripts, as you type.

  • Tabs, panels, and callouts

    Split a long note into tabs, fold a section away, or set a tip apart in a callout.

  • Code, maths, and footnotes

    Highlighting for about 35 languages, LaTeX that renders as you type, and footnotes that number themselves.

  • Locked notes

    Encrypted with a password of their own, and opened with Face ID or Touch ID once you set that up.

  • Share links you control

    Read or edit, with a password or an expiry date, and nobody needs an account. On paid plans.

  • Publish in one click

    Turn a note into a clean web page, and take it down just as fast. On paid plans.

  • An assistant that asks first

    It reads the note you are in, and its edits arrive as a change you approve.

  • Works with Claude and ChatGPT

    Any app that speaks MCP can search, read, and add to your notes. On paid plans.

  • Two-step sign-in and passkeys

    An authenticator code or an emailed one, backup codes, and passkeys for Touch ID and Face ID.

  • Folders, tags, and backlinks

    Three levels of folders, each with its own colour and icon, #tags as you type, and backlinks.

  • Bring your notes in

    Markdown, Word, HTML, RTF, or a whole zip, with its folders.

  • Markdown in and out

    Export a note, a folder, or everything as Markdown, plain text, or JSON.

Where Notion is better

Databases and project boards

Databases are Notion's heart: a table of anything, viewed as a board, a calendar, a timeline, or a gallery, with properties, relations, and formulas, plus forms and project templates. Scratchpad covers the writing side of Notion (headings, tables, checklists, callouts, toggles as collapsible panels, tabs, code, maths, and footnotes), but it has no databases, and if you track work in them, Notion is the tool.

It's built for teams

Teamspaces, page-level permissions, guests, comments, SSO on Business, and an admin who can see what's going on. Scratchpad is personal: it shares notes and folders, but has no team account.

A free plan, and AI that goes further on Business

Notion's free plan is generous for one person. On Business its agents work across the whole workspace, AI Meeting Notes record and summarise calls, and search reaches connected apps like Slack and Google Drive.

Custom domains, and offline in its apps

Notion Sites can publish on your own domain as a paid add-on, where Scratchpad publishes on scratchpad.to. And Notion's desktop and mobile apps can keep pages available offline, where Scratchpad is built to be online most of the time.

Moving from Notion to Scratchpad

In Notion, export your workspace (or a page with its sub-pages) as Markdown & CSV, then bring the zip into Scratchpad from Settings → Your data → Bring notes in. What to expect:

  • Pages arrive as notes, with headings, lists, checklists, tables, code, and links formatted. Nested pages become folders, up to three levels deep.
  • Notion adds a long ID to the end of each exported file name, so some titles may carry it until you rename them.
  • Databases come out as CSV files, which Scratchpad doesn't turn into notes. The pages inside a database do come across.
  • Pictures and files are exported beside the pages rather than inside them, so add the ones you need again.

See Bringing your old notes in.

Good questions.

Is Scratchpad a Notion alternative?

For personal notes, yes, and a quicker, simpler one with encrypted locked notes and an assistant included. For databases, project tracking, and team wikis, no: Scratchpad has no databases and no team workspace.

Does Notion have end-to-end encryption?

No. Notion encrypts data in transit and at rest with keys it holds, and there's no way to password-protect a page. Scratchpad isn't end-to-end encrypted either, but its locked notes are stored encrypted with a key made from their own password, so what Scratchpad keeps can't be read without it.

Which plan do I need for Notion AI?

The full set, including agents and AI Meeting Notes, comes with Notion Business at US$20 per member a month, billed yearly. Free and Plus get a limited trial. Scratchpad's assistant is on both of its plans, from US$8 a month.

Does Notion work offline?

Partly. Since August 2025 the desktop and mobile apps can keep pages available offline, one page at a time, with recent and favourite pages downloaded automatically on paid plans. It doesn't work offline in a browser, and databases keep only their first 50 rows.

Can I import my Notion workspace into Scratchpad?

Yes, as a Markdown & CSV export. Pages, their formatting, and their nesting come across. Databases don't, and attached files need adding again.

Sources

Checked on 24 September 2026, from Notion's own pages:

And for Scratchpad, the documentation and pricing.

The best way to decide is with your own notes.

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US$12 a month, or US$8 with your own AI key. 30-day money-back guarantee.