liveplanner vs Notion
A free alternative to Notion for planning
Notion is a flexible workspace of pages and databases, loved for wikis, notes and docs, and its databases can be shown as boards, tables and timelines. liveplanner focuses on the planning side: boards of cards, real spreadsheets, dashboards and forms, live for everyone and free to use.
At a glance
| Feature | liveplanner | Notion |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, every feature | Free plan, then paid plans |
| Start without an account | Yes, create and edit as a guest | An account to create pages |
| Boards | Board tabs with WIP limits, swimlanes and header widgets | Board views of a database |
| Spreadsheets | Sheet tabs with over 150 functions and charts | Database tables with formula properties |
| Docs and wikis | Rich-text card descriptions and notes on dashboards | Its core strength |
Which to pick
Why pick liveplanner
- Boards built for moving work: WIP limits, swimlanes, Due Soon and Stale Cards widgets, and hidden writing with a reveal for retros.
- A real spreadsheet on its own tab, with cell references, over 150 functions, conditional formatting and charts over the cells.
- Gantt and calendar charts you can drag cards across, drawn live from the cards.
- Forms on a public link whose answers land as cards on a board or rows in a sheet.
- Real-time editing with live cursors and each person’s selection in their colour, cell by cell in a Sheet.
- Free, with no ads, no trackers and no sign-up to start.
Where Notion is the better pick
- You want one home for docs, wikis and notes as well as plans, with databases woven through the pages.
- Your team writes a lot, and long-form pages matter more than boards and sheets.
- You rely on Notion’s templates, integrations and AI features inside the workspace.
A planner rather than a workspace
Notion’s strength is breadth: pages, docs and databases in one flexible tree. liveplanner is narrower on purpose. A plan is a set of tabs for the work itself, Board, Sheet, Dashboard and Form tabs, and each one is built for its job. A board has WIP limits and swimlanes; a sheet is a real spreadsheet with A1 references and fill-down; a dashboard lays live slots out in rows; a form collects answers from anyone with the link.
Spreadsheets that are spreadsheets
A Notion database table gives each row properties and lets a formula work within a row. A liveplanner Sheet is a grid of cells: write =SUM(B2:D2), fill it down, name a cell TaxRate and use it anywhere, and chart a range as bars, lines or a pie. Copy and paste works with Google Sheets and Excel, and CSV files come in and go out. A sheet can also list the board’s cards as rows that stay linked both ways.
Free, private, and yours to keep
Anyone can create a plan without signing up: a guest’s new plan is kept in their browser until they press Share, which syncs it in one step. A share link is an Editor, Participant or view-only link (a Participant can work on cards and cells, comment and vote without changing how the plan is set up), and it can carry a password or an expiry date.
liveplanner is free for everyone, with no paid tier, no ads and no third-party trackers. A board exports as CSV, an image, a PDF or a Markdown outline and a sheet as CSV, so your work is never locked in.
Notion alternative FAQ
Can liveplanner replace Notion?
Can I import a Notion database?
Can I embed a liveplanner board in Notion?
Is it free?
See how it feels
No sign-up, nothing to install, free forever. Start a plan and judge for yourself.
Comparisons reflect each product’s general positioning and may change. Check Notion’s own site for current details. Last reviewed .