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OneNotevsNotionvsNote Cargo

OneNote vs Notion vs Note Cargo: Which is better? (2026)

OneNote is a free digital notebook by Microsoft. Notion is an all-in-one cloud workspace with databases and real-time collaboration.

TL;DROneNote is a freeform digital notebook with rich media and Microsoft 365 integration. Notion is an all-in-one workspace with databases and team collaboration.

Note Cargo is self-hosted, stores plain Markdown in your own S3/R2 bucket, and runs on ~30 MB RAM.

OneNote wins on freeform layouts. Notion wins on databases and collaboration. Note Cargo wins on data ownership and self-hosting.

18
Note Cargo wins
12
OneNote wins
14
Notion wins
Feature
OneNote OneNote
Notion Notion
Note Cargo Note Cargo
Pricing
Starting price
Free
$12/mo
$4
Pricing model
Free
Subscription
One-Time
Demo/Trial
✓
✓
✓
Data & Privacy
You own your storage
✗
✗
✓
Doesn't train on your notes
✗
✗
✓
Open source
✗
✗
✓
Sync All Devices
✓
✓
✓
Device Theft Resistant
✓
✓
✓
Unlimited Storage
✗
✗
✓
Platform
Web app
✓
✓
✓
Mobile app
✓
✓
✗
Desktop app
✓
✓
✗
Offline access
✓
✗
✗
Bloated Features
✓
✓
✗
MCP Support
✗
✓
✓
Markdown & Portability
Markdown support
✗
✗
✓
Export Data
✓
✓
✓
Notes Linking
✓
✓
✓
Codeblock
✗
✓
✓
Collaboration
Real-time collaboration
✓
✓
✗
Note sharing
✓
✓
✗
Self-Hosting
Self-hostable
✗
✗
✓
Low RAM usage
✗
✓
✓
Modifiable code
✗
✗
✓
No Database
✗
✗
✓
Zero Dependency
✗
✗
✓

Ready to switch to Note Cargo?

Self-hosted, Markdown-native, stored in your own S3/R2. One-time payment, no subscriptions.

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