· · Daniel A
Why I Switched from Notion to SimplyBoard
After years of using Notion, I found myself spending more time organizing than actually finding things.
I was a Notion power user. Seriously. I had databases linked to databases. Templates for my templates. A perfectly organized workspace that took me months to build. My friends were impressed. My colleagues asked for tours.
And yet, every time I needed to find that one Docker command I'd saved six months ago, I'd spend 10 minutes clicking through pages. Sometimes I'd give up and just Google it again.
That's when I realized something uncomfortable: I'd built a beautiful library, but I couldn't find any of the books.
The "Second Brain" Problem
Notion sells itself as a "second brain." And in theory, that's compelling. Who wouldn't want an organized repository of everything they know?
But here's the thing about brains: they don't organize information into neat hierarchies. You don't remember things by navigating folders. You remember by association, by context, by recency. You think "that thing about Redis caching" and your brain surfaces it.
Notion asks you to think like a filing cabinet. SimplyBoard lets you think like a human.
The Search Difference
In Notion, search is a feature. In SimplyBoard, search IS the app. You open it, you type, you find. No loading, no navigation, no "which workspace was that in again?"
Speed Is Everything
Let me tell you about my breaking point.
I was on a client call, sharing my screen, and needed to pull up an API endpoint I'd documented. I opened Notion. It loaded. Then it loaded some more. I clicked into my "Work" page. Waited. Found my "APIs" database. Scrolled. The client was watching. I was sweating.
45 seconds later, I found it. But by then, the moment was gone. The flow was broken. I looked disorganized·ironic, given how much time I'd spent organizing.
SimplyBoard loads instantly because it caches everything locally. Search results appear as you type. I've timed it: under 100 milliseconds. That's not a feature·that's respect for my time.
The Privacy Elephant
Here's something Notion users don't talk about enough: Notion can read all your data.
That's not a conspiracy theory·it's how the product works. Your notes sit on their servers in readable form. Their employees have access. Their AI features train on your content (unless you opt out, if you even knew that was a thing).
For shopping lists and meeting notes, maybe that's fine. But I store API keys. Database credentials. Client information. Snippets with sensitive data.
SimplyBoard encrypts everything on my device before it ever touches a server. They literally can't read my data·even if they wanted to, even if a government asked nicely. That's not marketing speak; that's how client-side encryption works.
What I Miss (And What I Don't)
I'll be honest: Notion does things SimplyBoard doesn't. Databases with relations. Kanban views. Team wikis. Beautiful templates.
But here's what I realized: I wasn't using most of that. I'd built elaborate systems because Notion made them possible, not because I needed them. I was organizing for the sake of organizing.
What I actually needed was simple: store text, find it fast. SimplyBoard does exactly that.
I don't miss the loading times. I don't miss wondering which page something was in. I don't miss the cognitive overhead of maintaining my "system."
Who Should Stay with Notion
Look, SimplyBoard isn't for everyone. If you genuinely need linked databases and collaborative workspaces and project management features·Notion is great for that.
But if you're like me·someone who just needs to dump snippets, commands, notes, and references and find them instantly·you're overcomplicating things.
Sometimes the best tool is the simplest one that solves your actual problem.
· A recovering Notion power user
