Although Loop is considered a Notion alternative, these platforms present important differences you should consider. In the upcoming comparison, we’ll delve into features, user experience, customization, flexibility, collaboration, AI, and pricing to determine which tool is perfect for your project. Notion emphasizes flexible, user-created templates and community-driven customization, whereas Loop focuses on structured collaborative canvases that can be embedded across Teams, Outlook, and other Office apps. Which is best for you? Let’s find out.
Table of contents
How did we review these tools?
We are experts in using collaborative tools.
Not only do we work with Notion on a daily basis and offer our own integrations for it, but we are also constantly reviewing project management and collaborative software to develop new automations and understand the evolution of this industry.
Our goal is to provide a review that reflects real-world usage and how you can benefit from these tools. Here’s what we compared:
- Feature set: We compared the overall feature sets of both tools, investigating core functions like note-taking, project management, and integration capabilities.
- User experience evaluation: We assessed each tool’s ease of use, examining interface design, navigation, and learning curve.
- Customization options: We explored the extent to which users can modify their workspaces to suit individual or team needs.
- Collaboration capabilities: We compared collaboration features such as shared workspaces, real-time editing, and communication tools.
- AI support: Since AI is becoming increasingly important, we have analyzed whether these tools offer advanced AI tools that can streamline your work and save you time.
- Pricing and scalability: Pricing is important in the first steps, but it’s essential when your team needs to escalate.
Microsoft Loop vs. Notion: Quick Look
| Aspect | Microsoft Loop | Notion |
|---|---|---|
| Core concept | Live canvases syncing across Office apps. | All-in-one workspace with blocks and databases. |
| Integrations | Built into Microsoft 365 (Teams, Outlook, OneNote). | Connects to 70+ apps (Slack, Google Drive, GitHub). |
| Customization | Predefined components; limited freeform layouts. | Flexible pages, multi-column layouts, custom schemas. |
| Collaboration | Real-time editing via Fluid Framework. | Real-time editing on pages with presence indicators. |
| Databases & PM | Simple tables, new Kanban boards. | Advanced databases with relations, rollups, views. |
| AI & automation | Requires Microsoft Copilot add-on for AI features. | Built-in AI for drafting, summaries, and search. |
| Mobile & offline | Mobile apps; mostly requires internet. | Mobile apps; offline access to opened pages. |
| Security | Enterprise security via Microsoft 365 policies. | SAML SSO, audit logs, private team spaces. |
| Templates & community | Microsoft-provided templates; small community library. | Large community marketplace of user templates. |
| New features (2024–2025) | UI redesign, Meeting Notes tab, Figma embeds, video. | Mail app, Forms, Layouts, Smart Notes, Research Mode. |
| Pricing | Included in Microsoft 365 Business Standard ($12.50/user/mo annual) and above. | Free tier; Plus $10user/mo annual; Business $20/user/mo annual with AI; Enterprise custom. |
Reasons to choose Microsoft Loop
- Live components sync instantly across Teams, Outlook, and Office apps.
- Integrated meeting notes tab connects agendas and calendar items in one place.
- Built-in templates let you start projects or notes in seconds.
- In-app video recording allows quick demos without switching tools.
- Figma embeds keep design updates live within your workspace.
- Guest sharing and shareable links simplify collaboration with external users.
- Clean and minimalist UI, prioritizing ease of use.
Reasons to choose Notion
- Highly flexible pages let you build custom layouts and databases.
- Built-in AI can draft content, summarize notes, and search across tools.
- Advanced databases support relations, rollups, and multiple views.
- Vast community template library accelerates setup for any workflow.
- Integrates with 70+ third-party apps, including Slack and Google Drive.
- Highly scalable for large teams and projects, accommodating growth.
Microsoft Loop vs. Notion: All the differences
Let’s now review all the differences in detail to know if Microsoft Loop is a worthy competitor and alternative to Notion.
Core features and updates
Microsoft Loop centers on fluid workspaces where components such as tables, task lists, and checklists remain in sync across Microsoft 365 applications.
These components can be embedded in Teams chats, Outlook emails, Word documents, OneNote pages, and Whiteboard sessions, ensuring that any changes made in one location are instantly reflected everywhere else.
It’s worth noting that, in late 2024, Loop introduced a revamped Meeting Details experience: a dedicated tab automatically aggregates agendas and past meeting notes from Teams, allowing users to jump from a calendar event directly into a relevant Loop workspace without manual copying.
Notion builds on a block-based model where every piece of content—text, heading, image, embed, or toggle—is a block that users can drag, nest, and style freely.
This approach lets users create complex layouts such as multi-column dashboards or wikis without coding.
Central to Notion are its databases, which support relations, rollups, and formula fields; each database can be displayed as a list, Kanban board, calendar, timeline, or gallery, with persistent filters that adapt to users’ workflows.
In April 2025, Notion introduced Notion Mail, an integrated email interface that syncs with Gmail, offering AI-driven sorting, label suggestions, and one-click snippets for composing emails.
Alongside Mail, came Notion Forms, allowing users to create dynamic surveys with conditional logic, funneling responses directly into Notion databases for streamlined analysis.
User interface and user experience
Microsoft Loop features a clean, minimalist interface with a left-hand navigation pane that surfaces recent workspaces and favorites.
The design emphasizes simplicity, making it easy for users familiar with Microsoft 365 to get started quickly.
Pages load smoothly, and live components update in real time, reinforcing a sense of fluid collaboration.
Canvas pages in Loop feel like digital whiteboards—sections can be collapsed or expanded, and in-app video recordings appear inline without cluttering the view.
Copying and pasting Office content (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) into Loop is (as you can imagine) easy, maintaining formatting and reducing context-switching.
The overall experience prioritizes quick access to key tools, with most actions reachable in two or three clicks.
Notion’s interface centers on a customizable sidebar and block-based pages that users can arrange freely.
Pages feel modular—text, images, toggles, and embeds all coexist in a drag-and-drop environment.
This flexibility empowers you to build dashboards, wikis, and databases with a consistent aesthetic, though the initial learning curve can be steeper for newcomers.
Navigating Notion is intuitive once familiar: the sidebar hierarchy lets you nest pages within pages, and inline toolbars appear contextually when hovering over blocks.
Notion’s responsive design ensures smooth performance on desktop and mobile, with swipe gestures and tap interactions on touch devices replicating much of the desktop functionality.
However, we miss a complete offline mode, which the team is currently developing.
Templates and customization
Microsoft Loop offers a curated set of built-in templates—such as meeting agendas, project plans, and task trackers—that you can add to any workspace in one click and adapt by adding or removing components as you need.
You can find these templates in the Loop gallery and can be accessed via the “Use a Loop template” option on any page; once inserted, you can customize section headers, tables, and embedded components to match your project’s needs.
Loop also allows you to save any existing page as a custom template for reuse—just select “Save page as template,” name it, and it will appear under “My workspace templates” for all members of that workspace.
Beyond page templates, Loop’s components (tables, checklists, voting tables, etc.) can be customized on the fly: you can sort, filter, and switch between table and board views or embed live content from GitHub, Figma, Trello, or Jira directly in a template.
Notion, on the other hand, provides a vast marketplace with over 30,000 community-created templates spanning project management templates, wikis, time-blocking templates, habit trackers, assignment trackers, weekly schedules, and more, all freely accessible via the template gallery.
Each template can be duplicated into your workspace, where you can immediately modify every block—text, headers, databases, and embeds—to suit your exact preferences.
Notion’s “Layouts” feature lets you lock multi-column page designs or verify content sections with badges, ensuring your custom templates maintain a polished, app-like look.
For database-centric templates—like product roadmaps, release trackers, or yearly planners—Notion supports relations, rollups, and formula fields; you can tailor each property, view, and filter to reflect your workflow and then save that setup as a template for future projects. This is where Notion shines.
Collaboration and communication
Microsoft Loop enables real-time collaboration by letting users co-edit components that stay synchronized across Teams, Outlook, Word, OneNote, and Whiteboard.
When a user updates a table or checklist in Loop, the change instantly reflects wherever that component is embedded, ensuring everyone sees the latest information without refreshing.
Also, Loop’s Meeting Details feature automatically gathers agendas, chat transcripts, and past notes from Teams meetings into a dedicated tab.
Loop supports secure guest sharing via shareable links, allowing external collaborators to view or contribute to specific workspaces without a paid Microsoft 365 license.
As for Notion, the app’s collaboration model revolves around shared pages and databases within a workspace.
When multiple users edit the same page, presence indicators appear next to the cursor to show who is working in each section, and real-time updates highlight additions in blue.
Comments and @mentions can be added anywhere in a page or database, enabling asynchronous discussions that notify the relevant team members.
Its sharing settings allow you to invite teammates or guests with varying permission levels—view, comment, edit, or full workspace access. Additionally, you can publish a Notion page as a website.
Both platforms offer version history to track edits. Loop’s history is tied to its Microsoft 365 change log, so admins can see who edited components and when.
Notion’s page history allows users to restore previous versions or compare changes side by side, which is especially useful for documents subject to frequent revision.
AI
Microsoft Loop leverages Microsoft 365 Copilot to embed AI directly into workspaces, enabling “Copilot Pages” that auto-generate project outlines and brainstorming templates based on natural-language prompts.
These AI-driven pages suggest headers, tasks, and relevant content blocks, streamlining the kickoff process for meetings and projects.
Copilot in Loop also extends to real-time chat and content suggestions within Teams and Outlook, allowing users to ask questions about embedded Loop components.
Recent Copilot Studio enhancements introduced multi-agent orchestration, enabling Loop’s AI agents to collaborate on complex workflows by sharing results and delegating tasks, letting it deliver more context-aware suggestions across Word, Excel, and Loop components.
Notion AI is built into the core platform.
In early 2025, Notion rolled out AI Meeting Notes, a feature that automatically transcribes spoken words during meetings and summarizes action items afterward, saving teams from manual note-taking.
Research Mode can analyze your workspace and connected tools—like Salesforce, Gmail, and Google Drive—to draft comprehensive reports from both internal and web sources.
Notion AI’s “AI Home” hub provides one-click access to GPT-4.1 and Claude models, enabling you to generate draft content, translate text, and autofill databases with minimal effort.
The assistant proactively suggests edits and can answer questions by pulling knowledge from connected third-party apps, delivering unified search results.
Pricing and plans
Microsoft Loop is bundled into Microsoft 365 subscriptions, while Notion provides both a free tier and paid plans that include AI and advanced collaboration features:
Microsoft Loop (via Microsoft 365)
- Microsoft Loop is included starting with the Business Standard plan at $12.50 per user/month (annual billing).
- The Business Premium plan costs $22.00 per user/month (annual billing) and adds advanced security, device management, and 1 TB of OneDrive storage per user.
- Copilot AI (advanced AI features) is available as an add-on for qualifying Microsoft 365 plans; pricing is available through Microsoft sales channels.
Notion
- Free: $0 per user, unlimited pages and blocks, up to 5 MB file uploads, 7-day version history, and up to 5 guest collaborators.
- Plus: $10 per user/month (annual billing) – includes everything in Free plus unlimited blocks, unlimited file uploads, 30-day version history, and up to 100 guest collaborators.
- Business: $20 per user/month (annual billing) – adds SAML SSO, private team spaces, audit logs, workspace analytics, bulk PDF export, and now includes Notion AI by default.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing – offers advanced security controls, user provisioning (SCIM), dedicated customer success manager, and unlimited version history; contact Notion sales for a quote.
Final thoughts
👉 Choose Microsoft Loop when you need seamless, real-time collaboration tightly integrated within Microsoft 365.
👉 Choose Notion when you want a highly customizable, all-in-one workspace that gives you flexibility across notes, databases, and templates.
In our opinion, Loop is not a worthy competitor to Notion because stitching together Microsoft 365 elements fails to provide the unified workspace feeling that Notion delivers, despite its steeper learning curve.
Regarding optimizing workflow and task management, Notion’s robust offering, complemented by its generous free plan, could be the smart choice for many users.
To enhance Notion’s functionality, consider using 2sync to connect it with popular tools like Google Calendar, Google Tasks, and Todoist.
This synergy creates a powerful, unified system for managing tasks and schedules, ensuring that you stay on top of your commitments without the need for constant app switching or fear of losing track of important deadlines and objectives.
