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What do creators use to run their projects?

Notion is the most-adopted tool for this among creators we track, used by 23 creators (90% of its mentions organic). This ranking counts real, receipt-backed creator usage — no editorial opinion, no paid placement.

Spans: 2 categories · ranked by active tracked creators

Affiliate links · Werbung

Affiliate disclosure: links marked with ↗ on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never influences rankings, trending scores or organic/sponsored labels — those are computed exclusively from creator-mention data.

Werbehinweis gemäß §5a UWG: Mit ↗ markierte Links auf dieser Seite sind Affiliate-Links (Werbung). Bei einem Kauf über diese Links erhalten wir eine Provision; für Sie entstehen keine Mehrkosten. Dies hat niemals Einfluss auf Rankings, Trend-Scores oder Organisch/Gesponsert-Kennzeichnungen — diese werden ausschließlich aus Creator-Erwähnungsdaten berechnet.

  1. 1
    NotionNote-taking & PKM

    Connected workspace combining notes, documents, wikis and databases. Pages are built from blocks and can embed tables, boards and calendars; teams and solo creators use it for planning, documentation and content pipelines. Includes the Notion AI add-on.

    23 active creators · 40 mentions · 90% organic · Free plan; paid plans from ~$10/user/month

    Based on my quarterly goals doc in Notion, tell me what meetings I shouldn't be in Dan Martellsource ↗

  2. 2
    NotebookLMNote-taking & PKM

    Research notebook that answers only from the documents you upload, and cites the passage behind every answer.

    11 active creators · 20 mentions · 90% organic

    NotebookLM just added a brand new feature called short video overviews Futurepediasource ↗

  3. 3
    ObsidianNote-taking & PKM

    Local-first Markdown note app built around bidirectional links and a graph view. Notes are plain files on disk, extended by thousands of community plugins. Optional paid services add end-to-end-encrypted sync and web publishing.

    10 active creators · 11 mentions · 100% organic · Free for personal use; Sync ~$5/month, Publish ~$10/site/month

    Learn how to use Obsidian step by step in this beginner-friendly tutorial. Kevin Stratvertsource ↗

  4. 4
    Google CalendarProject Management

    Calendar with shared events, invitations and suggested meeting times.

    10 active creators · 12 mentions · 100% organic

  5. 5
    Google SheetsNote-taking & PKM

    Browser spreadsheet with shared editing, formulas and links into the rest of Google Workspace.

    7 active creators · 8 mentions · 100% organic

    I created a functional CRM and business toolkit with Google Sheets called Sheetify CRM that connects to Google Workspace Stewart Gauldsource ↗

  6. 6
    GranolaNote-taking & PKM

    Meeting notepad that listens along, fills in around your own bullet points and summarises afterwards.

    6 active creators · 10 mentions · 70% organic

    Granola is my go-to tool Tool Findersource ↗

  7. 7
    ClickUpProject Management

    Work management with tasks, documents, goals and time tracking in one place.

    4 active creators · 11 mentions · 91% organic

    How I plan and organize an entire filming day using ClickUp Vanessa Lausource ↗

  8. 8
    ExcelNote-taking & PKM

    Microsoft's spreadsheet, with formulas, pivot tables and charts.

    4 active creators · 10 mentions · 100% organic

  9. 9
    HubSpotProject Management

    CRM with marketing, sales and service in one system.

    4 active creators · 5 mentions · 100% organic

  10. 10
    Microsoft WordNote-taking & PKM

    Microsoft's word processor, with styles, tracked changes and comments.

    3 active creators · 3 mentions · 100% organic

    In this APA 7th edition tutorial I set up a complete student paper in Microsoft Word from scratch Andy Stapletonsource ↗

  11. 11
    AirtableProject Management

    Spreadsheet-database hybrid for structured data: tables with rich field types, linked records, multiple views (grid, kanban, calendar) and automations. Creators use it for content calendars, sponsorship trackers and lightweight internal tools.

    3 active creators · 5 mentions · 100% organic · Free plan; Team from ~$20/user/month

  12. 12
    Google DocsNote-taking & PKM

    Browser word processor where several people write in the same document at once, with comments and version history.

    3 active creators · 2 mentions · 100% organic

    We use Gmail, Google Docs, Zoom, Stripe, Calendly, and a basic CRM. The AI Advantagesource ↗

  13. 13
    OdooProject Management

    Open-source business suite of modules for ERP, CRM, accounting and ecommerce.

    3 active creators · 7 mentions · 43% organic

  14. 14
    AsanaProject Management

    Work management platform for teams: tasks, projects, timelines, goals and workload views. Strong templates and reporting make it common in marketing and operations teams; integrates with Slack, Google Workspace and hundreds of other apps.

    3 active creators · 3 mentions · 100% organic · Free plan; Starter from ~$11/user/month

  15. 15
    TodoistProject Management

    Task manager with projects, natural-language due dates and recurring tasks.

    2 active creators · 19 mentions · 100% organic

    Back by popular demand, here is my complete Todoist setup for 2026. Carl Pulleinsource ↗

  16. 16
    LinearProject Management

    Fast, keyboard-driven issue tracker and project management tool for software teams. Covers issues, cycles, roadmaps and triage with opinionated defaults and deep Git integrations; widely adopted by startups and indie product teams.

    2 active creators · 5 mentions · 80% organic · Free plan; paid from ~$8/user/month

    I have now organized us an amazing linear board ThePrimeTimesource ↗

  17. 17
    AkiflowProject Management

    Pulls tasks in from many tools and blocks time for them directly in the calendar.

    2 active creators · 2 mentions · 100% organic

  18. 18
    MiroProject Management

    Infinite whiteboard for planning, sorting and sketching together.

    2 active creators · 2 mentions · 100% organic

  19. 19
    MomentumProject Management

    Browser new-tab dashboard with a daily focus, to-do list, weather and a photo backdrop.

    1 active creators · 5 mentions · 100% organic · Free; Plus from ~$3/month

  20. 20
    ShortformNote-taking & PKM

    Book summaries with commentary and cross-references to related titles.

    1 active creators · 3 mentions · 0% organic

  21. 21
    TrelloProject Management

    Kanban-board project tool from Atlassian. Cards move across lists to track work, extended by Power-Ups, automation rules and templates. Its simplicity keeps it popular with solo creators, small teams and personal planning.

    0 active creators · 0 mentions · organic · Free plan; paid from ~$5/user/month

  22. 22
    TeuxDeuxProject Management

    Minimalist to-do list app laid out as a rolling, day-by-day calendar.

    0 active creators · 0 mentions · organic · ~$3/month after a free trial

    Stuff that I use & love: TeuxDeux Matt D'Avellasource ↗

  23. 23
    Roam ResearchNote-taking & PKM

    Outliner-based networked note tool that popularized daily notes and bidirectional block references. Every bullet is an addressable block that can be embedded and linked across pages, aimed at researchers and writers building long-term knowledge graphs.

    0 active creators · 0 mentions · organic · ~$15/month or ~$165/year; long-term 'Believer' plan available

FAQ

What tool do most creators use to run projects?
Notion is the most-adopted tool for this job among the creators we track: 23 tracked creators have an active usage record for it. 90% of its classified mentions are organic, meaning no sponsorship signal was found in them (mentions we cannot classify are excluded from that ratio). Adoption counts, not editorial opinion, order this list, and the receipts behind it are linked above.
What is the runner-up to Notion, and when is it the better choice?
NotebookLM is the runner-up with 11 active creators, against 23 for Notion, in the same category. We do not editorialize the gap. What the data offers: 90% of NotebookLM's classified mentions are organic, versus 90% for Notion. Read the receipts on both tool pages and weigh the quotes yourself; that is what they are there for.
How is this ranking decided?
By counting creators, not opinions. Every mention we ingest carries a receipt: a source link, a timestamp or position, a verbatim quote of at most 120 characters, and a sponsorship classification (organic, sponsored or ambiguous). The list orders tools by how many tracked creators actively use each one; organic mentions weigh four times more than sponsored ones in scoring. Affiliate links on this page have no path into that computation. Full detail is on the methodology page.
How fresh is this data?
The scores behind this ranking are snapshotted weekly, and the data behind the current list was computed on 31 Jul 2026, the same date the stamp at the bottom of this page shows. After a recompute, the page refreshes within roughly ten to twenty minutes (two stacked 600-second caches). Recency also shapes the ranking itself: mention weight decays with a 14-day half-life, so current usage counts more than last year's.
Are these affiliate recommendations?
No. Some links on this page, marked with an arrow, are affiliate links, and if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That revenue has no path into the ranking: positions, trending scores and sponsorship labels are computed exclusively from creator-mention data. The full disclosure, in FTC wording and the German paragraph 5a UWG wording, sits on this page above the list.
Where do these creator mentions come from?
From public content by the creators we track: YouTube videos, podcast episodes, X posts and newsletters. When a tracked creator mentions a tool there, we ingest the mention together with its receipt: a source link, a timestamp or position, a quote of at most 120 characters, and a sponsorship classification. Rankings are computed exclusively from that mention data; money never changes them.
data updated