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Actto vs Notion

Actto started life as a Notion template. We ran it for two years before rebuilding it as an app. So this is not a competitor taking shots at Notion. It is what we learned trying to make Notion do this job.

Actto

Notion

Notion will do anything. That's the problem.

Notion can be built into almost anything. That is the problem here, not the recommendation. It hands you a blank page, and a blank page is the last thing you need when the day is already too full.

Ours worked for a while. But it was slow on a phone, and it broke whenever anyone touched a formula. Keeping it running became another task on the list it was supposed to manage. The system needed managing more than our days did.

Setup before it's useful

Notion

Hours, or someone else's template

Actto

None. Just capture something.

What it costs you to run

Actto compared with Notion
FeatureActtoNotion
Setup before it's usefulActtoNone. Just capture something.NotionHours, or someone else's template
Energy matchingActtoBuilt inNotionBuildable, with formulas
Reward economyActtoBuilt inNotionBuildable, and fragile
Capacity mathActtoAutomaticNotionRollups you maintain
On a phoneActtoFastNotionSlow, for a database this size
Notes, docs and wikisActtoNoneNotionBest in class
Keeping it runningActtoNothing to keep runningNotionOngoing, and it's on you

Stay in Notion if

  • Your notes, docs and tasks really do belong together
  • You enjoy building systems, and some people really do
  • You've got a setup that's survived a year and still works

Move to Actto if

  • You've rebuilt your task system more than twice
  • You maintain it more often than you use it
  • It's unusable on your phone, which is where you actually are
  • You want the energy and reward parts without the formulas

Questions

Notion is not built for ADHD, and it is the reason Actto exists. It hands you a blank page, and building a system from scratch takes the exact energy you are short of. It works best for people who enjoy building the system as much as using it.
The honest answer is whichever one you are still using in three months, which usually means the simplest. Ours paid us points for finishing and it held together for two years, but it never knew how much we had left in the tank, and keeping it running turned into its own task. Whichever you pick, that is the thing to watch for.
Use Notion if your notes, documents and tasks really do belong together and you enjoy building systems. Use a dedicated app if you have rebuilt your setup more than twice, or if you are mostly on your phone. That is where a large Notion database gets painful.
There's no importer. Most Notion task databases are mostly archaeology by the time you leave. Bring the ten things that still matter and start clean.

We're not going to give you the template.

Not to be precious about it. Because the honest lesson of those two years is that the template was the problem. Handing it over would just be signing you up for our old job: maintaining a system instead of using one.

This is that same idea, with the maintenance taken out.

Start clean.

Nothing to set up, nothing to maintain, and nothing that breaks when you touch a formula.