When to Use Notion Sites vs. Notion Website Builders: Comprehensive Review 2024
When to Use Notion Sites vs. Notion Website Builders: Comprehensive Review 2024
While tools like Super, Bullet, and NotionApps have been popular for creating websites and apps, Notion Sites offers a quick solution for simpler needs. This comprehensive review compares Notion Sites with Notion Website Builders, Blog Builders, and Web App Builders to help you pick the right tool. Whether you need a personal site, professional page, company blog, or client portal, we’ve got you covered.
Building websites has always been one of the most overlooked features of Notion. Well, not anymore! Notion just launched its new product - Sites.
Notion has always provided the ability to build websites and web apps from it, thanks to its markdown support and APIs. While these features were never part of the product, they were available through 3rd-party tools.
For example, Super and Bullet are two popular Notion website builders, designed to build landing pages and blogs from Notion without coding. NotionApps is a growing web app builder, designed to build responsive apps from Notion without coding.
Now that Notion launched Sites, does this mean we don’t need these tools anymore? I don’t think so. Ivan Zhao, the founder of Notion, doesn’t think so either.
In his tweet about the launch of Notion Sites, he says,
“..sometimes you need power & features but sometimes you just need a quick website, we want Notion sites to help you with the latter..”.
And I believe the above 3rd-party tools are for the former.
I am writing this to compare these options, so I can get clarity on how to use them and for what use cases. Hope this helps you as well.
Let’s divide our options into 4 categories - Notion Sites, Notion Website Builders, Notion Blog Builders, Notion Web App Builders.
Notion Sites
Use cases best suitable for
Portfolios
Personal Websites
Personal Blogs
Guides/Documentation
Event Websites
Link in Bio
Feature rundown
Custom domain is paid
Limited theme options like Dark Mode, Favicon, Navigation
UI customization is not available
Websites will look like Notion pages
Optimized for SEO
Can be linked to Google Analytics
No private/password-protected sites
No custom code
Summary
This is a good option for personal websites and simple CMS-like use cases like portfolios and how-to guides, for which a Notion-page-like experience is good enough, but might not work for use cases that need custom branding and business logic.
Notion Website Builders (like Super, Simple Ink)
Use cases best suitable for
Business Websites
Landing Pages
Online Stores
Portfolios
Feature rundown
Custom domain is paid
More theme options than Notion Sites like colors, typography, etc
Component-based UI customization is available
Websites will look more professional and not like Notion pages
Optimized for SEO
Analytics is integrated into the tool
Websites can be password-protected
Custom code is available
Summary:
This is a better option for more professional websites and landing pages, where not just a custom domain you need the website and its branding to look exactly like you wanted.
Notion Blog Builders (like Bullet, Feather)
Use cases best suitable for
Company Blogs
Knowledge Base
Help Desk
Documentation Blogs
Startup Blogs
Feature rundown
Custom domain is paid
More theme options than Notion Sites like colors, typography, etc
Component-based UI customization is available
Websites will look more like blogs and less like Notion pages
Optimized for SEO
Analytics is integrated in the tool
Custom code is available
Summary
This is a better option for blogs and help centers, where not just a custom domain you need the website and its branding to look exactly like you wanted.
Notion Web App Builders (like NotionApps)
Use cases best suitable for
Client Portals
Directories & Catalogues
Community Hubs
Partner Apps
Internal Tools
Job Portals
Feature rundown
Custom domain is paid
Component-based UI customization is available
Websites will look more like Apps and less like Notion pages
Apps can have more complex business logic like forms, data restriction, screen hierarchy, etc
Apps can be private/login-enabled
Summary
This is a better option for building responsive apps, where not just a custom domain you need app-like functionalities and flows that fit your business needs.
Conclusion
Choosing between Notion Sites and third-party builders depends on your specific needs. Notion Sites is great for quick, simple websites like personal portfolios or event pages. It offers basic customization and SEO optimization.
For more advanced needs, like professional websites, blogs, or web apps with custom branding and complex functionalities, third-party builders like Super, Bullet, and NotionApps are more suitable. Evaluate your project’s requirements carefully to select the best tool for your website-building journey in 2024.
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