a Go.
ES Let's talk

§ Comparison · honest · no "the best"

aGo vs Notion: when each one fits.

Notion is excellent for wiki, docs and team management. For real operational workflows and customer-facing product, it hits a ceiling. This comparison helps you know where the line is.

§ 10 objective dimensions

Where the differences show

Notion
Custom with aGo
01 Time-to-value
Notion: minutes. Templates, drag-and-drop, no curve.
Custom dev: 2 to 8 weeks. Research, design, dev, QA.
02 Cost team 10 people / year
Notion Business: USD 1,800-2,000 per year.
Custom: CLP 3-10M project + CLP 240k-600k/year hosting.
03 Permissions per person and per doc
Notion: granular but all inside the workspace.
Custom: per role, per workspace, per workflow, with audit trail.
04 Workflow with states and approvals
Notion: simulated with databases + status. Not a real workflow.
Custom: explicit state machine, validated transitions, hooks.
05 Integration with SII, Flow, Transbank, Mercado Publico
Notion: impossible direct. Via Zapier or n8n with limitations.
Custom: direct integration, handled errors, retries.
06 Law 21.719 Chile compliance (ARCO, RAT, audit)
Notion: not designed for this. Audit trail limited to workspace admin.
Custom: end-to-end ARCO+ workflow, cryptographic audit trail (SHA-256).
07 Sensitive data (health, financial)
Notion: SOC 2 yes, but US residency and data ownership debatable.
Custom: own or client VPS (Hetzner CH, AWS Santiago, GCP Santiago). Controlled residency.
08 AI search over your data
Notion AI: USD 8-10 extra per user/month. Over your workspace.
Custom RAG: over your data, with verifiable source citation, chosen model.
09 Reports with data from multiple systems
Notion: manual or via third-party sync (limited).
Custom: dashboards with consolidated data from DB, ERP, forms.
10 Exit migration if Notion doesn't fit
Notion: exports to Markdown or HTML, but you lose DB relations.
Custom: your Postgres DB, your code, your ownership. No lock-in.

When to choose Notion

  • Internal knowledge management (wiki, docs, runbooks, onboarding).
  • Project management and Kanban for 5-15 person team.
  • Lightweight CRM, simple form collection.
  • Distributed team that needs to document fast.
  • Workflow is 'document, read, update'.

When to choose custom dev with aGo

  • Workflows with strict states and automatic validations.
  • Integrations with SII, Flow, Transbank or Chilean ERPs.
  • Law 21.719 compliance with ARCO+, cryptographic audit trail.
  • Customer-facing product (portal, app, AI assistant).
  • Consolidated reports from multiple external systems.
§ FAQ

Frequently asked questions

If your question isn't here, email us at [email protected] or via WhatsApp.

01 When is Notion the right choice for a Chilean SMB?

Internal knowledge management (wiki, docs, runbooks, onboarding), basic project management with Kanban, lightweight CRM for a 5-15 person team, simple form collection, SOP library. When the flow is 'document, read, update', Notion is enough and more. Low monthly investment, zero infrastructure, team adopts it in an afternoon.

02 When does Notion fall short?

Workflows with strict states and automatic validations, real integrations with SII, Flow, Transbank or Chilean ERPs, Law 21.719 compliance with ARCO+, cryptographic audit trail and local data residency, sensitive data handling at scale (health, financial with banking secrecy), consolidated reports from multiple external systems, customer-facing products. In these cases Notion becomes an operational blocker disguised as productivity.

03 Is migrating from Notion to a custom platform difficult?

Depends on the data model. Flat documents: direct Markdown export. Databases with relations: each DB has to be mapped to Postgres tables, preserving IDs when possible. Views (Kanban, calendar, gallery): redesigned in the new platform. Typical time: 3-6 weeks for a medium workspace, including the new data model. You take the chance to solve the things Notion forced into workarounds.

04 How much does it cost to replace Notion with custom from aGo?

Notion Business 10 users: USD 1,800/year (CLP ~1.7M). Custom aGo: from 150 UF (CLP ~6M) one-time + CLP 240k-600k/year managed VPS hosting. Break-even: 3-4 years. If Notion will be your workspace for more than 4 years AND you need features Notion doesn't cover, custom pays. If you only need stable internal wiki, Notion still wins.

05 Can Notion and a custom system be integrated?

Yes. Typical pattern: Notion remains the team's internal wiki and knowledge base. The custom system covers operational workflows, external integrations and customer-facing product. Connection via Notion API when you need to sync specific content (e.g., a RAG AI assistant that indexes a public Notion section).

Has your case outgrown Notion?

Let's talk for 20 free minutes. If Notion is still enough, we'll tell you.

Start a conversation See reference pricing