From Notion to Google Drive: A Version Control Decision

Source: Dev.to

Background

I started using Notion in February 2021 for my coding notes and as a digital jotter, after moving away from a local Microsoft Excel setup. In December 2023, I was introduced to Google Drive (Google Docs and Google Sheets) while executing a small gig with Dave Partner (David Chimezie Ozoalor). Since then, I’ve been using both tools consistently to organize my notes and occasionally share documents.

Why Switch to Google Drive

As of January 2026, it’s time for the next installment: completely abandoning Notion and migrating everything to Google Drive. The reason is simple, and it comes down to one killer feature: Google Drive’s Version History. It’s essentially a Git‑like version control system for documents, giving you the ability to revisit and recover previous work at any point. As a software developer, version control is non‑negotiable—an absolute necessity.

While Notion tries to approximate this with its Trash functionality, it falls short. Google Drive’s Version History does this properly and reliably.

Google Docs and Google Sheets also cover the template workflows I enjoyed in Notion. Since I never used Notion as a website builder, there’s nothing I’ll miss on that front.

Version History Comparison

• Notion: Offers Version History, but free accounts are limited to 7 days of page history. Access to older versions requires a paid plan.
• Google Drive: Provides unlimited access to version history for free, allowing you to view and restore versions beyond 7 days without any additional cost.

Conclusion

So yeah, it’s time to migrate.

P/S: Correction—Notion does have Version History, but free accounts are allowed only 7 days of page history. You need to upgrade to a paid plan to access older versions, whereas Google allows access beyond 7 days for free! Go figure!