Coda vs Notion: Automations and buttons
How the two tools compare when it comes to taking repetitive tasks off your plate.
Jordan Milner
Solutions Architect at Coda
Tool consolidation · 6 min read
An overview of automations in Notion and Coda.
Notion and Coda take different approaches to automations. In Notion, automations are separate from buttons but, in Coda, automations are built on the same foundation as buttons. Coda’s automations also have full access to formula actions and Pack actions, and can also press buttons.Notion
- Automations exist at the database level.
- Each table can trigger multiple automations.
- Automations can:
- Edit rows/pages in databases.
- Add rows/pages to databases.
- Send Slack notifications.
- With the exception of Slack notifications, database automations cannot be created without a paid plan.
Coda
- Automations exist at the doc level.
- Automations live outside of any specific table.
- Automations can:
- Edit rows/pages in tables.
- Add rows/pages to tables.
- Send Slack and Teams notifications.
- Send emails via Gmail or Outlook.
- Be triggered via Webhooks.
- Be time-based (hourly/daily/monthly/etc.).
- Press buttons.
- Take action based on formulas.
- The free tier includes unlimited automations.
Automating Google Calendar events.
Creating events and sending out invites can be tedious, especially if your team has a lot of meetings. Automations can take those tasks off of your already full plate.Notion
- You can embed a view-only Google Calendar in Notion.
- You cannot build automations that interact with Google Calendar.
Coda
- With the Google Calendar Pack, you can build automations that trigger buttons to create, update, and delete events in Google Calendar.
- Everything is automatically synced with your Google Calendar.
Automating emails.
Tired of writing and sending dozens of emails a day? Automations can do both for you.Notion
- You can write email copy using AI in Notion.
- Notion offers no native functionality to send or receive emails. You must use middleware like Make.com or Zapier.
Automating reminders.
Keep your team—and yourself—on track by automating reminders about meetings, tasks, project deadlines, and company events.Notion
- Notion supports native reminders that can be set in-line on pages and within databases.
- Notion can automate reminders using Slack when using database automations.
Coda
- Coda includes native reminders that can be automated.
- Coda can push reminders through other apps like Slack, Teams, Gmail, and more.
Automating data.
Stay on top of changes to your data and create visualizations and charts instantly.Notion
- You can connect Notion to an outside data source and automatically sync your data into a raw database.
- Notion doesn’t include native charting or data visualizations.
- As data is added and modified in Notion, notifications can be automatically sent out to your teams via Slack.
Coda
- You can connect Coda to your data sources like Salesforce, Snowflake, and Google Analytics via Packs.
- Coda’s native charts and library of integrations let you create dashboards that automatically update.
- Coda users can automate the sharing of data (via email, Slack, etc.) to their teams and set up automations to notify them when data does something (i.e., increases by more than 10%).
An overview of buttons in Notion vs Coda.
Once pressed, buttons take specific actions for you. In Notion, they work well for simple tasks. In Coda, however, they’re more flexible and capable of additional procedures, like referencing table columns and canvas controls, and even connecting with external tools through Packs. The table below shows how the button capabilities of the two tools compare.Notion
- Buttons can be easily added to a page.
- Buttons can be easily added to a database.
- Button formatting options are limited.
- At the time of writing, buttons can only take 5 actions.
- The UI makes it easy to stack multiple actions under a button but you are limited as to what they can do.
- Formulas cannot be used within button actions.
- Notion buttons aren’t capable of sending data to other tools.
Coda
- Buttons can be easily added to a canvas.
- Buttons can be easily added to tables.
- Buttons are fully customizable.
- Buttons can take an unlimited number of actions.
- You can chain multiple actions together by creating multiple buttons and using the “push buttons” action or RunActions().
- Buttons can be formulaic so single buttons can do different things.
- You can connect Coda buttons to 600+ Pack integrations, allowing Coda to take action in hundreds of other applications.