I thought I’d built the perfect Notion workspace. Custom databases, linked views, toggles within toggles, templates for everything from article ideas to grocery lists. It was beautiful — and completely exhausting. Every time I opened Notion to jot down a thought, I’d get distracted tweaking a property or fixing a broken relation. The tool designed to organize my life had become a second job.

I tested Zettlr as an alternative, and it worked. This free, open-source markdown editor stripped away the complexity and gave me what I actually needed: a fast, offline system for managing notes, research, and content projects without the overhead. No databases to maintain, no syncing delays, no subscription fees — just plain text files that I control completely. Using Zettlr, I’ve written more, organized less, and finally stopped thinking about my note-taking system every single day.

Credit: Source: Zettlr

Zettlr

Zettlr is a writer’s best friend, whether that writing is for blogs, books, or school.

Notion promised flexibility but delivered friction

The customization trap is real

Notion’s strength is also its greatest weakness. You can build anything — a CRM, a content calendar, a personal wiki — but that means you’re constantly building instead of writing. I’d spend Saturday mornings restructuring my article database or adding new filtered views, convinced that the perfect setup was just one more template away.

The reality? Most of that customization was procrastination dressed up as productivity. Zettlr forced me to confront this. Without databases or elaborate page hierarchies, I had to focus on the actual content. Notes are just markdown files in folders. Links are made simple between files. Tags are hashtags. That’s it. The simplicity felt limiting at first, but it was liberating — like switching from a Swiss Army knife to a single, sharp blade.

Zettlr’s markdown approach cuts through the noise

Plain text is surprisingly powerful

Here’s what sold me: every note in Zettlr is a .md file sitting in a folder on my computer. No proprietary format, no cloud lock-in, no worrying about export limits or what happens if the company pivots. I can open these files in any text editor, version control them with Git, or grep through thousands of notes instantly from the terminal.

Zettlr layers just enough structure on top of plain text to make it useful. Internal links create a web of connected ideas without requiring a database. Tags aggregate related notes across projects. The global search is instant because it’s just scanning local files. And the built-in citation manager integrates with Zotero, so my research notes link directly to sources — something I was hacking together in Notion with messy URL properties.

The markdown preview pane means I can write with formatting without leaving the keyboard. Headings, lists, code blocks, images — it all renders cleanly. For content planning, I keep an articles folder where each piece gets its own file with front matter for status and target word count. It’s basic, but it works better than any Notion board I built.

Migration was easier than expected

Structure transfers without the database baggage

When I tested Zettlr as an alternative, I was dreading the move. So much Notion content — hundreds of notes, dozens of project pages, all those carefully linked databases. But Notion’s markdown export, while imperfect, gave me a starting point. I exported everything, cleaned up the formatting in a batch script, and dropped the files into Zettlr’s workspace.

The key insight: I didn’t need to recreate Notion’s structure. Most of those databases were overkill. My “Content Pipeline” database has six different views. Now it’s a folder with files tagged #draft, #editing, or #published. My “Research Hub” with related articles linked through relations? Just notes with links between them. Zettlr’s file tree navigation and tag sidebar give me all the filtering I need without maintaining schemas.

One workflow actually improved: linking notes. In Notion, I’d create a relation property, set up the database connection, then link items through a modal. In Zettlr, I type [[ and start typing the note name — instant link. The graph view shows connections without me having to define them in advance. It’s how linking should work: fast, visual, and automatic.

When simplicity becomes a strength

Constraints force better organization

Zettlr doesn’t have Notion’s flashy features — no Kanban boards, no timeline views, no embedded databases. But those limitations forced me to simplify my systems, and my productivity improved. Instead of color-coded status properties, I use filename prefixes: 00- for drafts, 10- for editing, 20- for published. It’s crude but instantly scannable in the file tree.

The offline-first design means I’m never waiting for pages to load or dealing with sync conflicts. Everything’s local and blazing fast. I can work on a plane, in a café with spotty Wi-Fi, or during an internet outage without breaking stride. My notes are mine — backed up to my own cloud storage, versioned in Git if I want, exportable to any format via Pandoc.

For research-heavy work, Zettlr’s integration with reference managers (I use Zotero) is seamless. I can cite sources inline, and they render properly in exported PDFs. This was a pain point in Notion, where I’d manually copy citations or link to Zotero entries through URL properties. Now it’s built into the writing workflow.

The verdict: freedom through simplicity

Zettlr won’t work for everyone. If you need collaborative workspaces, client portals, or complex project management, Notion’s still the better tool. But if you’re drowning in Notion’s complexity and just want to write, research, and organize without the overhead, Zettlr might be the reset button you need in a sea of alternatives. Two weeks in, my notes are cleaner, my writing is faster, and I’ve stopped treating my productivity system like a hobby. Sometimes the best tool is the one that gets out of your way.