Maple vs. Notion

Notion and Maple are both tools designed to help people stay organized, but they approach the problem from very different angles. Notion is a flexible productivity platform built for individuals and teams, while Maple is designed specifically to help families manage their lives together. Let’s take a look at how the two compare.

Notion: How much does it cost and what’s free versus paid?

Notion offers a free plan with unlimited pages and blocks, but with some limitations around collaboration and advanced features. The free tier is most often used by individuals looking to create notes, to-do lists, or personal project trackers.

For more robust use, Notion offers paid tiers:

• Plus plan: $8 per user per month (billed annually), with unlimited file uploads, more collaborative features, and version history.
• Business plan: $15 per user per month (billed annually), with advanced security, collaboration, and admin tools.
• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing for large organizations.

Notion is highly flexible, but it doesn’t come preloaded with family-focused workflows. Creating a “family hub” in Notion often requires significant setup and customization, and ongoing maintenance to keep it useful.

Maple: How much does it cost and what’s free versus paid?

Maple is free to download and use on iOS and Android, with a web version launching in August 2025 and has unlimited project folders and allows users to collaborate with as many people as they want.

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The free plan includes:

• Shared family calendar designed for multiple people
• To-do lists and shopping lists
• Project folders for organizing school, activities, and household tasks
• Meal planner, recipe box and grocery list
• Family email account

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The paid plan (Maple+), which costs $3–$5 per month depending on the plan you choose, unlocks advanced features, including:

• Syncing with Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, and TeamSnap
• Unlimited AI in the meal planner, to-do lists, and email organizer
• Group chat with family members or teams
• External email integration (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail) with AI-powered task and event creation

Maple also provides a free trial period for Maple+ including calendar sync and AI tools, so new users can test the premium features before subscribing.

Key Differences: Maple vs. Notion

• Purpose-built vs. customizable: Notion is a blank canvas that requires time and effort to set up. Maple is ready out of the box for families, with calendars, lists, and planners built in.
• Family-first design: Maple was built for households to operate as one. Maple is a family system. Notion is geared toward individuals, students, and businesses.
• Ease of use: Maple’s tools are simple, intuitive, and designed for everyday family life. Notion can be powerful but more complicated as it often requires templates, third-party guides, or custom setups to make it work for families.
• Cost: Notion’s most useful features require an $8+ per user monthly subscription, while nearly all of Maple’s features are free and family-wide premium features cost just $3–$5 per month total.
• AI support: Maple uses AI is included in Maple+ and it simplifies tasks like meal planning, organizing email, and creating to-dos. Notion has AI add-ons, but they cost an additional $8 per user per month on top of existing plans.

Conclusion

Notion is a flexible tool for individuals and teams, but it requires effort and customization to work for families. Maple was built from the ground up for households, combining calendars, lists, folders, meal planning, and communication in one easy-to-use app. For families who want a simpler, more affordable, and complete solution, Maple is the clear winner.

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