Synap vs Notion

When to choose Synap over Notion (and vice versa)

Both are powerful knowledge management platforms, but they solve different problems and make different trade-offs.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Notion	Synap
Hosting	Notion's servers	Your infrastructure
Privacy	They can access data	Your data never leaves
History	Limited version history	Infinite (event sourcing)
Undo	Limited to recent changes	Any change, anytime
AI Chat	Linear conversations	Git-like branching
Knowledge Graph	Manual relations	Automatic (AI-powered)
Multi-Agent AI	One AI assistant	Specialist team
Real-Time Collab	✅ Excellent	✅ Built-in
API Access	Limited, paid tiers	Full API, all features
Offline	Limited	Full (event sync)
Setup	30 seconds	5 minutes
Pricing	$10+/user/month	Self-hosted (infrastructure cost)

Data Ownership \u0026 Privacy

Notion:

Your Data
    ↓
Notion's Servers (AWS)
    ↓
They can:
- Access your content
- Train AI on it (opt-out available)
- Change pricing anytime
- Shut down (unlikely but possible)
- Subject to their terms

Pros:

✅ No hosting hassle
✅ Automatic backups
✅ Global CDN

Cons:

❌ They technically can access your data
❌ Vendor lock-in
❌ Subject to price changes
❌ Can't customize infrastructure

Synap:

Your Data
    ↓
Your Server/Laptop/Cloud
    ↓
You control:
- Who accesses it (only you)
- Where it's stored (US, EU, home)
- How it's backed up
- Infrastructure cost
- Complete sovereignty

Pros:

✅ Complete data ownership
✅ No vendor lock-in
✅ Can run air-gapped for sensitive data
✅ Customize infrastructure
✅ Export everything anytime

Cons:

❌ You manage infrastructure
❌ You handle backups
❌ Initial setup required

When Synap Wins:

Medical records, legal documents, proprietary research
Teams in regulated industries (HIPAA, GDPR)
High-security requirements
Want air-gapped deployment

Version History \u0026 Undo

Notion:

Version History:
- Last 30 days (free)
- 90 days (paid)
- Versions are snapshots at save points

Undo:
- Ctrl+Z for recent changes
- Can't undo old changes
- Can't undo deletions after 30/90 days

Example Problem:

Day 1: Create important note
Day 45: Accidentally delete it
Result: GONE FOREVER (past Notion's history limit)

Synap:

Event History:
- INFINITE (every change recorded)
- Every edit is an immutable event
- Can rebuild any past state

Undo:
- Any change, from any time
- Time-travel to any point
- Deleted? Restore it from events

Example Solution:

Day 1: Create note
Day 365: Accidentally delete it
Result: View events, restore from Day 1, or any day in between

Code Example:

// View note as it was 6 months ago
const pastState = await synap.timeline.getState({
  entityId: 'note_123',
  timestamp: sixMonthsAgo
});

// Restore it
await synap.history.restore({
  entityId: 'note_123',
  toTimestamp: sixMonthsAgo
});

When Synap Wins:

Need compliance audit trails
Long-term projects (years)
Collaborative work (who changed what?)
Legal/regulatory requirements
Time-travel debugging

AI Capabilities

Notion AI:

Capabilities:
- Summarize notes
- Generate content
- Q\u0026A on your data
- Brainstorming
- Translation

Limitations:
- One AI assistant
- Linear conversations
- Can't branch for deep dives
- No AI reasoning transparency
- Limited context (current page/database)

Example Flow:

You: "Write a blog post about AI trends"
Notion AI: [Writes post]
You: "Actually, first research competitors"
Notion AI: [Researchescompetitors]
  [Conversation now has both blog writing AND research mixed]
You: "Back to the blog post"
Notion AI: [Has to re-read whole context]

Synap AI:

Capabilities:
- Multi-agent system (Research, Technical, Creative specialists)
- Branching conversations (Git-like)
- Parallel AI execution
- Full reasoning transparency
- Knowledge graph context (everything connected)

Workflow:
- Orchestrator coordinates specialists
- Each specialist has deep domain expertise
- Work happens in parallel branches
- Merge insights when ready

Example Flow:

You: "Write a blog post about AI trends"

Orchestrator: "I'll coordinate research and writing"

[BRANCH 1: Research Specialist]
  Deep dives into AI trends (20 messages)
  Returns: 10 key trends

[BRANCH 2: Creative Specialist]
  Drafts blog post structure
  Returns: Outline

Main thread: "Based on research + outline, here's the post..."
  [Main thread stayed clean]

Code Example:

// Automatic branching
await synap.chat.send({
  threadId: main.id,
  message: 'Write comprehensive blog post about AI'
});

// Orchestrator automatically:
// 1. Creates research branch (research specialist)
// 2. Creates outline branch (creative specialist)
// 3. Synthesizes results in main thread

// Check branches
const branches = await synap.threads.getBranches(main.id);
// [
//   { purpose: 'Research AI trends', agent: 'research' },
//   { purpose: 'Create blog outline', agent: 'creative' }
// ]

When Synap Wins:

Complex multi-step workflows
Need parallel AI exploration
Want to understand AI reasoning
Require specialist expertise per domain
Building AI-powered products

Knowledge Graph

Notion:

Relations:
- Manual database relations
- Must create relation properties
- Two-way sync available
- Static (doesn't discover new connections)

Example:
1. Create "People" database
2. Create "Projects" database
3. Manually create relation property
4. Manually link people to projects
5. Keep updated manually

Limitations:

❌ All manual
❌ Doesn't suggest connections
❌ Can't query transitive relations easily
❌ No weighted/typed relations

Synap:

Knowledge Graph:
- Automatic entity extraction (AI)
- Auto-discovered connections
- Typed relations (mentions, assigned_to, related_to)
- Bi-directional navigation
- Graph queries (shortest path, etc.)
- AI suggests new connections

Example:
1. Type: "Call Marie tomorrow about Project X budget"
2. AI automatically:
   - Extracts entity: Marie (person)
   - Extracts entity: Project X
   - Creates relation: note → mentions → Marie
   - Creates relation: note → mentions → Project X
   - Suggests task: "Call Marie tomorrow"
   - Links task → assigned_to → Marie
   - Links task → belongs_to → Project X

Code Example:

// Find everything connected to "Marie"
const connected = await synap.graph.findRelated({
  entityId: 'person_marie',
  depth: 2,  // Two degrees of separation
  relationTypes: ['mentions', 'assigned_to', 'related_to']
});

// Returns:
// [Note: Call Marie] --mentions--> [Marie]
//                                     |
//                                 assigned_to
//                                     |
//                                 [Task: Design mockups]
//                                     |
//                                 belongs_to
//                                     |
//                                 [Project X]

When Synap Wins:

Want automatic knowledge organization
Need graph visualizations (Obsidian-style)
Complex relationship queries
Discovering hidden patterns
Building knowledge apps

API Access

Notion:

API:
- Limited endpoints
- Rate limits (3 requests/second)
- Some features not available via API
- Requires paid plan for higher limits
- Can't access full version history

Typical use:
- Read databases
- Create/update pages
- Limited search

Synap:

API:
- Full tRPC API (type-safe)
- All features available
- Event stream access
- Knowledge graph queries
- Real-time WebSocket
- No rate limits (you control it)

Typical use:
- Build custom UIs
- Create specialized agents
- Workflow automation
- Data sync services
- Analytics dashboards

Code Example:

import { SynapClient } from '@synap/client';

const client = new SynapClient({
  url: 'http://your-synap-instance.com'
});

// Full type safety
const notes = await client.notes.list();
//    ^? Note[]

// Query knowledge graph
const graph = await client.graph.query({ ... });

// Subscribe to events
const events = await client.events.subscribe({
  types: ['note.created', 'task.completed']
});

// Real-time updates
const ws = client.realtime.connect();
ws.onMessage(data => console.log(data));

When Synap Wins:

Building products on top
Need full programmatic control
Creating custom agents/workflows
Data sync with other systems
Advanced automation

Real-World Use Cases

When to Choose Notion:

✅ Team Wiki \u0026 Documentation

Quick setup for non-technical teams
Beautiful database views
Great templates
Easy onboarding

✅ Project Management

Kanban boards, calendars, timelines
Comment and @mention workflows
Proven for team collaboration

✅ Marketing/Sales

Content calendars
CRM-lite use cases
Campaign planning

Ideal User: Non-technical teams needing quick, beautiful collaboration

When to Choose Synap:

✅ Personal Knowledge Management

Second brain with AI
Research repository
Professional development tracking
Time-travel to past learnings

✅ Regulated Industries

Healthcare (HIPAA compliance)
Legal (client confidentiality)
Finance (SOX compliance)
Self-hosted, air-gapped deployment

✅ Developer Tools

API documentation with graph
Technical research
Code knowledge base
Full programmatic control

✅ AI-Powered Products

Build on top of Synap
Custom AI workflows
Knowledge graph apps
Multi-agent automation

Ideal User: Developers, researchers, regulated industries, AI builders

Migration Path

From Notion to Synap:

# 1. Export from Notion
Settings → Export all workspace content
Format: Markdown \u0026 CSV

# 2. Import to Synap
npx synap-import --from notion --path ./notion-export

# 3. Verify
✓ Notes imported
✓ Databases → Projects/Entities
✓ Relations preserved
✓ Files migrated

What Transfers:

✅ All notes (as markdown)
✅ Databases → Synap entities
✅ Relations → Knowledge graph
✅ Files/images

What Doesn't:

❌ Comments (becomes notes)
❌ Page history (starts fresh)
❌ Database views/formulas (manual recreation)

Cost Comparison

Notion Cost:

Team: $10/user/month
- 10 users = $100/month = $1,200/year
- 50 users = $500/month = $6,000/year
- Plus: Enterprise features are $$$$

Synap Cost (Self-Hosted):

Infrastructure:
- Small team (1-10): $20-50/month (VPS)
- Medium team (10-50): $100-200/month (managed DB)
- Large team (50+): $500+/month (scaled infra)

Plus:
- Your time (setup, maintenance)
- BUT: No per-user fees
- Scale hardware, not user count

Break-Even Analysis:

For 10 users:
- Notion: $1,200/year
- Synap: ~$600/year (infrastructure) + setup time

For 50 users:
- Notion: $6,000/year
- Synap: ~$2,400/year + setup time

Synap ROI increases with team size

Final Recommendation

Choose Notion if:

✅ Want zero setup time
✅ Non-technical team
✅ Need proven templates
✅ Want Notion's beautiful UI
✅ Don't need full data sovereignty
✅ Okay with vendor lock-in
✅ Team <10 people

Choose Synap if:

✅ Need data sovereignty
✅ Want infinite version history
✅ Need multi-agent AI
✅ Want knowledge graph automation
✅ Building products on top
✅ Regulated industry (HIPAA, etc.)
✅ Developers/technical team
✅ Want full API control
✅ Team scales (per-user fees add up)

Try Both?

You can:

Start with Notion for quick team setup
Migrate to Synap when you need:
- Data sovereignty
- Advanced AI
- Full API access
- Cost optimization (large teams)

Migration is supported: Export from Notion → Import to Synap

Next: Synap vs Obsidian | Migration Guide

Quick Comparison​

Data Ownership \u0026 Privacy​

Notion:​

Synap:​

Version History \u0026 Undo​

Notion:​

Synap:​

AI Capabilities​

Notion AI:​

Synap AI:​

Knowledge Graph​

Notion:​

Synap:​

API Access​

Notion:​

Synap:​

Real-World Use Cases​

When to Choose Notion:​

When to Choose Synap:​

Migration Path​

From Notion to Synap:​

Cost Comparison​

Notion Cost:​

Synap Cost (Self-Hosted):​

Final Recommendation​

Choose Notion if:​

Choose Synap if:​

Try Both?​

Quick Comparison

Data Ownership \u0026 Privacy

Notion:

Synap:

Version History \u0026 Undo

Notion:

Synap:

AI Capabilities

Notion AI:

Synap AI:

Knowledge Graph

Notion:

Synap:

API Access

Notion:

Synap:

Real-World Use Cases

When to Choose Notion:

When to Choose Synap:

Migration Path

From Notion to Synap:

Cost Comparison

Notion Cost:

Synap Cost (Self-Hosted):

Final Recommendation

Choose Notion if:

Choose Synap if:

Try Both?