Why do many people still choose Excel over Notion?

Notion is one of the most popular and easy-to-use productivity apps on the planet, but it's far from perfect. Many people have tried integrating Notion into their workflows, and while it has a lot of great features, Excel turns out to be the better choice.

Why Does Notion Frustrate So Many People?

First of all, it's important to emphasize that Notion isn't a bad program. It's really great at what it can do, and many people still use it every day to track tasks and take notes.

However, the way Notion handles data, especially when it comes to tables and databases, is not as flexible as Microsoft Excel or even Google Sheets . Yes, you can use formulas in Notion, but you don't have the freedom to select data from any cell or range of cells you want.

This leads to a problem: You can't track your work efficiently. It also means you can't automatically update data across an entire table by simply editing the value of a single cell—something you can easily do with Excel formulas.

Notion formulas work with columns. That means you can't have row-specific formulas to track individual items or tasks. There are workarounds you can use, such as using a unique ID for each row and changing the formula based on that ID. However, this is more time-consuming than writing an Excel formula, where you can simply reference the cell or range of cells you want to work with in any cell on the entire worksheet.

Excel can track accurately

Excel (or Sheets) gives you more freedom when working with individual cells. Want to reference another cell from another sheet? Just enter the cell address. Want to sum two values from two different tables? No problem, as long as you can enter the cell location into the formula.

Excel formulas are also more powerful and flexible than Notion, at least for common use cases. You don't even need to be an Excel expert to type good formulas. Just use an AI tool like ChatGPT , Gemini , or even Microsoft's built-in Copilot , describe the problem you want to solve, and it will spit out a ready-to-use formula right away.

Of course, this is best when you're tracking numbers. But if you're tracking something else, like crunching a number. And if you're not, you can use data validation rules to create drop-down lists of easy-to-track milestones, like "in progress" or "completed," and swap out the numbers in the formula with the specific string you're using.

The best productivity apps should combine the best of both tools.

Excel gives you the flexibility of tables and cells, while Notions gives you everything else. If you're tracking your life, you'll likely need to write text, insert images, and do more than just track numbers, so the best productivity app is one that meets both needs.

In our opinion, Notion comes close. The only problem is that all tracking sheets have to be created in Excel and then linked to Notion – a task that can be challenging in itself. So the best productivity app that can track everything easily and gives you the flexibility to add all kinds of files and media to a single page is the way to go.

Until then, many people's tracking will be split between Excel and Notion. Notion is an incredibly powerful tool that allows you to keep everything important in your personal and professional lives in one place, whether it's a picture you want to reference later or a to-do list. Excel, on the other hand, allows you to track and work with data in a way that databases and spreadsheets like Notion can't offer.

Lesley Montoya

Update 17 July 2025