When to Use Notion Sites vs. Notion Website Builders

This guide breaks down the differences between Notion sites and Notion website builders, features, and find the best fit for you.

Nagarathinammal

Sep 19, 2025

When to Use Notion Sites vs. Notion Website Builders

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What are Notion Website Builders

Features of Notion Website Builders

Pros and Cons of Notion Website Builders

When to Use Notion Website Builders

What Are Notion Sites?

Features of Notion Sites

Pros and Cons of Notion Sites

When to Use Notion Sites

Notion Sites vs Notion Website Builders

Which is Better (And Why)

Wrapping Up

Frequently Asked Questions

For a long time, building websites with Notion felt like a hidden trick. Only a handful of creators knew how to turn a Notion page into something that looked like a real site. Most of the time, this was possible only with third-party tools that added design, speed, and polish on top of Notion’s simple structure.

But with the release of Notion Sites, the process has become official and easier than ever. Now anyone can take a page and publish it as a site in minutes.

In discussions across Notion community forums, many creators share that “Notion Sites work well as a “low barrier to entry” solution for personal pages. But once you want your site to look unique, carry your brand, or function as a business tool, a builder becomes the better choice.”

This aligns with the bigger picture: Notion Sites are ideal for speed and simplicity, while third-party builders like Bullet and Super offer more power when you need custom domains, stronger SEO, or a polished design.

And there comes an important question: when should you use Notion Sites, and when is a website builder the smarter choice?

This article breaks down the differences, the strengths, and the best use cases for each, so you can decide which path makes the most sense for your work.

What are Notion Website Builders

Notion website builders are third-party tools like Bullet.so, Super, Simple ink - that turn your Notion pages into full websites. Think of them as an upgrade to Notion Sites. While Notion Sites keeps things simple, these builders give you a lot more control over how your website looks and works.

They connect to your Notion workspace through a shared Notion link. You keep writing and updating content inside Notion, and the builder handles all the extra parts, such as design, SEO, and custom features.

Customization in notion website builder (Bullet.so)

If you want your site to feel polished, match your brand, and go beyond the basics, a Notion website builder is the smarter choice.

Features of Notion Website Builders

Custom Domains: Use your own domain name so your site looks professional and branded.

Design Freedom: Change colors, fonts, layouts, and themes—way more than the default Notion style.

Better SEO Tools: Add meta tags, edit URLs, and create sitemaps to improve your search ranking.

Analytics Ready: Track visitors, page views, and conversions with Google Analytics or other tools.

Private or Members-Only Pages: Lock pages with a password for clients, teams, or online courses.

Custom Code Support: Add CSS, JavaScript, or tracking pixels for more flexibility.

Faster Loading: Many builders boost speed and performance so your site feels smooth on any device.

Pros and Cons of Notion Website Builders

Pros :

Real design freedom: your site doesn’t have to look like a plain Notion page. You can change colors, fonts, layouts, and build your own brand style.

Custom domains included: most builders let you connect your domain without limits, unlike Notion Sites.

Stronger SEO tools: you get meta tags, custom URLs, and sitemaps, which help your site show up higher on Google.

Private pages: lock parts of your site with a password, useful for clients, teams, or memberships.

Custom code: Add CSS, JavaScript, or tracking pixels for advanced control.

Membership sites: You can build membership sites where users can log in and access exclusive content.

Better analytics: track visitors and conversions with tools like Google Analytics, not just basic stats.

Faster and smoother: builders add speed boosts, caching, and make your site look great on mobile.

Business-ready: perfect if you need e-commerce, membership features, or other pro tools.

Cons:

Takes more time to set up compared to the simple one-click Notion Sites.

Costs extra for advanced features like domains or deep customization.

Has a bit of a learning curve, especially if you’re new to building websites.

Sometimes syncing your content from Notion to the site can be a little slow.

When to Use Notion Website Builders

Go with a Notion website builder when:

You’re building a business website, portfolio, or agency site that needs professional branding.

You want landing pages or marketing sites with SEO, analytics, and conversion tracking.

You need a membership site or client portal with password protection.

You’re running a blog or knowledge base that should look polished and be easy to discover.

You want custom design freedom that makes your site stand out.

If all you need is a quick personal page or a link-in-bio, Notion Sites might be enough. But for businesses, creators, and anyone who needs branding, flexibility, and growth features, a Notion website builder is the smarter choice.

What Are Notion Sites?

Notion Sites is Notion’s built-in tool that turns your pages into simple websites. You don’t need coding, design, or extra setup. If you can build a Notion page, you can publish it online with a click.

It works best for personal projects or lightweight websites; things like portfolios, resumes, event pages, or blogs. But since it’s basic, it may not fit if you want a professional-looking site with branding or advanced features.

Features of Notion Sites

One-Click Publish: With a single click, you can turn any Notion page into a live website. There’s no need for setup, extra tools, or technical knowledge.

Custom Domain (Paid): If you’re on a paid Notion plan, you can connect your own domain to replace the default Notion link.

Basic Design Options: You can make small tweaks like enabling dark mode, uploading a favicon, and setting up simple navigation.

SEO Support: Notion Sites includes basic SEO essentials such as page titles and descriptions.

Google Analytics Ready: You can connect Google Analytics to track how many people visit your site and where they come from.

Simple & Minimal: The site looks almost exactly like your Notion page, preserving its clean and minimal style.

Pros and Cons of Notion Sites

Pros:

Super easy: Publishing a Notion page as a site is effortless; no setup, no coding, no extra platform to learn.

Perfect for quick sites: Ideal for personal projects like portfolios, resumes, event pages, or link-in-bio pages.

Fast updates: Since your site is directly tied to your Notion workspace, any edits you make update automatically.

SEO-friendly basics: Notion Sites includes built-in essentials like page titles and descriptions, giving your site enough visibility for simple projects without extra effort.

Cons:

No real design freedom: you’re locked into Notion’s look. Fonts, layouts, and themes can’t be customized.

Limited branding: your site will always feel like “just another Notion page,” not a unique brand presence.

Custom domains are gated: you must pay for a Notion plan just to connect your own domain.

Weak SEO support: only the basics are covered; you can’t optimize meta tags, URLs, or sitemaps.

No privacy or memberships: you can’t create password-protected areas, client portals, or member-only pages.

No integrations or custom code: you can’t add widgets, analytics tools beyond GA, or custom scripts.

Performance issues: sites can load slowly since Notion wasn’t built as a website host.

Not business-ready: no e-commerce, forms, or advanced functionality for professional sites.

Scaling problems: fine for one page or a small site, but managing a bigger website inside Notion quickly becomes clunky.

When to Use Notion Sites

Notion Sites is best if you need something fast and simple, such as a portfolio, resume, event page, or personal blog. It’s the easiest way to put your work online without touching a single line of code.

But if you want a professional website with branding, advanced features, or a custom design, you’ll quickly outgrow it. In that case, moving to a dedicated Notion website builder is the smarter move.

Notion Sites vs Notion Website Builders

If you’ve spent time in Notion, you’ve probably noticed that little “Publish” button. With one click, your page is live on the internet. That’s Notion Sites.

It’s clean, simple, and fast. You don’t have to learn a new tool or mess with design settings. Whatever your page looks like in Notion, that’s exactly how it shows up online. For personal use, it’s great. Maybe you want to share your resume, publish a reading list, or create a simple project page for a class. Done.

But here’s the catch: what you see is what you get. You can’t customize fonts, change layouts, or add your own domain name. Your page will always look like, well, a Notion page. And if you’re hoping to build a brand, attract clients, or optimize for SEO? Notion Sites just isn’t built for that.

That’s where Notion Website Builders come in. They plug into your Notion workspace and transform your page into a polished website. You still write and edit inside Notion (so your workflow stays simple), but the builder adds everything Notion doesn’t:

Custom domains so your site looks professional.

Design control: fonts, colors, layouts, even animations.

SEO tools so people can actually find your site on Google.

Privacy options like password-protected pages or memberships.

Advanced features like analytics, e-commerce, or integrations.

Think of it like this:

Notion Sites → like showing someone your Notion notebook. Personal, quick, and raw.

Notion Website Builders → like turning that notebook into a published book. Branded, polished, and ready for the world.

Which is Better (And Why)

It really comes down to your goal.

If you just need to publish something fast, like a resume, a simple blog, or a one-page project update, Notion Sites does the job beautifully. Zero setup, zero cost, zero stress.

But if your website is meant to represent you or your business in a serious way, you’ll outgrow Notion Sites very quickly. That’s when a Notion Website Builder makes all the difference. You’ll get the custom domain, SEO power, and design freedom that can make your site feel like a real part of your brand, not just another Notion link.

The rule of thumb is simple:

Use Notion Sites for personal projects.

Use a Notion Website Builder when your site needs to look and feel professional.

Wrapping Up

Notion makes publishing incredibly easy, but whether you stick with Notion Sites or upgrade to a website builder depends on what you’re building. If it’s just for you, keep it simple. If it’s for your brand, clients, or long-term growth, go with a builder.

And if you want something that balances simplicity with power, check out Bullet.so. It’s built to turn your Notion pages into beautiful, fast, and SEO-ready websites, without complicating your workflow.

👉 In other words: keep creating in Notion, let Bullet.so handle the website part.