Notion charges $12/month per seat and keeps your notes in their cloud, in their format. Obsidian is free but charges monthly for sync. Quillpad is a fast, beautiful desktop notes app where every note is a real markdown file in a folder you picked — wikilinks, backlinks, tags, daily notes, global quick capture — and your entire "knowledge base" outlives every notes startup.
This is the full pricing breakdown: what Notion actually costs over one, two and three years, what Quillpad gives you for $29 paid once, and the honest cases where the subscription is still the right call.
What Notion actually costs you
Notion prices per seat — $12/mo per seat — so the subscription grows with every seat you add. The comparison below uses the catalog's annual figure of $144; the per-seat table underneath shows how the bill scales either way.
| Quillpad | Notion | |
|---|---|---|
| Sticker price | $29 once | $12/mo per seat |
| Cost after 1 year | $29 | $144 |
| Cost after 2 years | $29 | $288 |
| Cost after 3 years | $29 | $432 |
Notion bills per seat, so the total scales with headcount:
| Notion seats | Per year | Over 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 seat | $144 | $432 |
| 5 seats | $720 | $2,160 |
| 10 seats | $1,440 | $4,320 |
Three years in, the gap is $403 — and every year after that adds another $144 to the subscription side of the ledger.
Quillpad vs Notion, feature by feature
Price is only half the story — here's how the two line up on the things that decide day-to-day use:
| Quillpad | Notion | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $12/mo per seat |
| Cost after 3 years | $29 | $432 |
| Your data | Plain .md files in your folder | Their cloud, their format |
| Works offline | Always | Partially |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Export needed to leave | Never — it's already files | Yes |
| Wikilinks + backlinks | Yes | Linked mentions |
| Telemetry | None | Yes |
What you get for $29, once
Fast desktop notes with wikilinks, backlinks, tags, daily notes and global quick capture. The highlights:
- 📁 Your vault is just a folder — Notes are real .md files, folders are folders. Edit them in any other app — Quillpad watches the disk and refreshes live.
- ✍️ Live-styled markdown editor — CodeMirror 6 with inline preview styling — sized headings, rendered bold/italic, highlighted code. Ctrl+E toggles full preview.
- 🔗 [[Wikilinks]] + backlinks — Type [[ for fuzzy autocomplete over every note; aliases supported; missing notes are created on click. Every note shows who links to it, with context.
- #️⃣ Tags — #hashtags anywhere appear in the sidebar — click to filter.
Two and a half months of one Notion seat pays for Quillpad — and your notes stop being hostages.
Switching is 3 steps
- Buy once on Whop. One-time $29 for the signed one-click Windows installer with auto-updates.
- Point it at a folder. Use the starter vault under Documents or pick any existing folder of markdown — it just works, live.
- Write, link, capture. Wikilinks with autocomplete, backlinks with context, daily notes on Ctrl+D, and quick capture from anywhere in Windows.
When paying Notion is still the right call
Being straight about it: the subscription earns its keep in three situations. If your team is large enough that Notion's collaboration features, permissions and admin controls are genuinely load-bearing; if your workflow is built on its integrations and leaving means rebuilding that plumbing; or if you have enterprise requirements — SSO, audit logs, SLAs, a vendor to call — that a pay-once app doesn't come with. Everyone else is paying $12/mo per seat for a job that runs fine on hardware they already own.
If that's you, Quillpad is $29, once. For the deeper dive, read the Quillpad vs Notion head-to-head or the full Notion comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/quillpad-notes-mvp, always. $29 buys the signed installer with auto-updates.
How do I sync between machines?
Your vault is a plain folder, so any file sync works: Dropbox, Google Drive, Syncthing, git. There's no built-in sync service — that's a feature, not a gap: it's why there's no account and no monthly fee. If you want turnkey encrypted mobile sync, Obsidian Sync is good at that.
Can it replace Notion databases?
No — Quillpad is notes, links and tags, not tables, kanbans and formulas. If your workspace is really a database app, Notion earns its seat fee. If it's actually a pile of documents, files are better.
What happens if Quillpad disappears?
Nothing — your notes are already plain markdown files in your own folder. Open them in anything. That's the whole point.
Is there a mobile app?
No — Quillpad is a desktop app (Windows installer; MIT source builds on macOS/Linux). On your phone, any markdown editor pointed at your synced folder works with the same files.
More on Notion pricing
Quillpad — product page, demo & full feature list · All OneTimeSuite pricing breakdowns
Try Quillpad — $29, once
Fast desktop notes with wikilinks, backlinks, tags, daily notes and global quick capture.