notion

Notion is a general term for an idea, concept, belief, or understanding about something. In everyday language, it refers to a person’s mental grasp or impression of a topic, as in a notion of fairness. In philosophy and cognitive science, notions or concepts are studied as mental representations that categorize experiences and guide reasoning. The word derives from Old French notion, ultimately from Latin notio, meaning knowledge or understanding.

Notion is also the name of a cloud-based productivity platform designed as an all-in-one workspace for notes, tasks, databases, and collaboration. The product combines notes, wikis, and database functionality, organized into pages and blocks that can be rearranged and linked. Its key features include rich text editing, relational databases, templates, cross-page linking, and embeds. Users can create different views such as lists, kanban boards, calendars, or galleries, and collaborate in real time. Notion is available on web and major desktop and mobile platforms, offering a free tier and several paid plans. Notion Labs, the company behind the product, was founded in 2013 by Ivan Zhao and Simon Last; the product reached public release in 2016 and has since grown as a widely used tool for personal knowledge management, team documentation, and project planning. The platform also supports an API and template marketplace, enabling integrations and automation, and has introduced AI-assisted features in recent updates. Notion’s design emphasizes flexible composition with blocks and nested documents, allowing users to build customized workspaces without rigid templates.