Jira vs. Notion: Which Tool Is Right for My Team?

In a world of distributed teams and digital workplaces, it feels like every day a new tool is launched with the promise to help teams stay connected and accomplish more. But how do you know which platform is best for your business?

Whether you are a startup or a large enterprise, how your teams use technology will ultimately determine which platform is best for you. When evaluating different project management tools, having a deep understanding of how each platform works will guide you in making your decision. 

If you’ve been contemplating Notion or Jira for your business, then you’ve come to the right place. While both platforms help teams manage work, they support two entirely different types of organizations. In this article, we compare how Jira and Notion stack up against each other and explore different use cases where one tool is a better fit than the other. 

Notion vs. Jira: A Quick Overview 

Jira is a platform with a long-running history of success and is often the top choice for teams following Agile methodologies. According to Atlassian, Jira Software is “the #1 Agile project management tool used by teams to plan, track, release, and support world-class software.”

While Jira started as a tool for software development and issue tracking, it has since evolved into a robust team collaboration and project management solution for managing multiple projects across teams. 

Launched in 2016 as a note-taking app, Notion is a newcomer that is shaking up the work management space. As a multi-faceted project management tool, Notion describes itself as an “all-in-one workspace platform.” Notion offers a centralized space to collaborate on company content and projects, create internal wikis, and customize Kanban boards. 

While both Jira and Notion are solid project management solutions, they couldn’t be more different. Let’s break down the pros and cons of Jira vs. Notion.  

Jira: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Drive Business Agility - When it comes to a tool that can scale Agile practices across the organization, Jira reigns supreme when compared to Notion. Jira makes it easy for teams to set up epics and track sprints with Scrum and Kanban boards. These features enable teams to break up complex projects into smaller, more manageable tasks.  
• Seamless Integration - With over 3,000 apps and integrations, seamlessly integrate Jira Software with your go-to tools outside of the Atlassian ecosystem. Spend less time managing work and more time focusing on what matters most with Jira’s integrations that can be custom-tailored to fit any and every use case.  
• Community Support - Since Jira is so widely used by teams across the world, you have access to a large community where you can get expert support, crowdsource best practices, and network with other Atlassian users. You can also tap into the infinite resources from Atlassian and their Solution Partners that offer valuable insights on how to get the most out of the Atlassian platform. 
• In-depth Reporting – When it comes to reporting and insight from project management tools, it’s hard to beat Jira. Jira’s out-of-the-box reports and dashboards deliver actionable business insight that ensures your teams are up-to-date on performance metrics and have quality data at their fingertips to make well-informed decisions. 
• Flexible Workflows - With Jira, you make the software work for you, not the other way around. Create customizable workflows that map to any style of work and extend the power of Jira with Atlassian’s robust marketplace apps. 

Areas of Improvement:

Even though 250,000 teams across all industries use Jira, there are always areas where the tool can improve. For example, because Jira was originally designed for software development projects, it can feel confusing for teams outside of IT. So, if your teams aren’t familiar with Agile terminology like Kanban boards or sprints, there will be a learning curve when onboarding users with Jira.

Notably, though, Atlassian has recently released the cloud-based Jira Work Management, which has Jira’s core project management capabilities, but it’s built for all business teams–from HR to finance and marketing. If you’re already using Jira Software in the Cloud, Jira Work Management’s features are available free of charge.

Also, if you work with external vendors or clients regularly, Jira might not be the best fit. Jira has limitations regarding who can be added to your instance, which makes it difficult to invite external users to collaborate. Atlassian’s Jira Service Management, however,  fills in this gap by providing a customer-facing portal that allows customers to interact with tickets without needing a user license.

Notion: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Ease-of-use: Notion users have praised the tool’s user-friendly interface, which has allowed teams to easily organize their tasks, projects, and workflows.
• Integrated Workspace: There is a reason Notion’s tagline is 'the all-in-one workspace'. From project tracking to creating documents and workflows, Notion keeps teams connected on one platform. This means that teams only have to learn one tool instead of having to bounce between different tools to get their work done. 
• Content Management: Since it started as a note-taking tool, Notion makes it easy for users to create and manage content, from galleries, lists, images, graphs, whiteboards, videos, you name it. 
• Internal Wikis: Piggy-backing off Notion’s content management capabilities, one of Notion’s key features is the tool’s ability to create internal wikis. Build a digital library where your employees can easily access company documents like internal policies, SOPs, onboarding materials, and slide deck templates.
• External Collaboration: The web-based app makes it easy to collaborate and file-share between internal teams and external partners. 
• Customization: Another feature that users like about Notion is the tool’s endless customization options and flexibility. Because it’s a one-stop shop, you have all the building blocks you need to create your ideal workspace. 

Areas of Improvement:

Several users have noted that it takes time to get Notion set up and has a big learning curve since there are so many features to sort through and learn how to use. However, one of Notion’s biggest downfalls is the tool’s‍ lack of integration features, which means it will be hard to incorporate Notion into your existing digital ecosystem of must-have tools.

Lastly, when it comes to goal-tracking, reporting, and business insights, Notion lags behind other tools in this area. This makes it difficult for teams to have visibility into their performance and how their work contributes to organizational goals. 

Jira or Notion: Which Tool Is Best for My Organization?

So, how do you know which platform is best for your organization? It depends on what your organization needs. 

If you are a large or mid-sized organization, or you are looking to scale your business, Jira is a great choice. Jira is also the better option if your teams follow Agile methodologies and need integration capabilities with tools outside of the Atlassian platform. 

On the other hand, if you are a smaller business that doesn’t rely on a whole ecosystem of integrated tools, Notion may be the more suitable choice. Also, Notion is the more solid option if you need a tool that makes it easy to collaborate with external vendors or if your business is content-rich. In fact, Gartner Peer Insights compares Notion to Atlassian’s Confluence–not Jira. That’s because Notion excels when it comes to knowledge management. 

No business is created equally. Every organization has unique requirements based on size, budget, work management frameworks, and even company culture. All of these factors will come into play when deciding on the best platform for your business.  

Want to know more about how Jira stacks up against other project management tools? Read our articles on Jira vs. Redmine and Jira vs. VersionOne. 

If you need guidance on how to make the most out of your technology investment, Praecipio can support you through the process. Through our suite of enterprise solutions and global network of industry-leading partnerships, we help you create a seamless connection between your people, process, and technology.

Reach out to learn more about how we can help connect your teams and tools.