Building a local Notion backup tool -- would you use this?
I manage my entire business out of Notion. Projects, content pipeline, documentation, everything. And it hit me recently that if Notion had a bad day, I'd be in serious trouble.
I looked at every backup option out there. They are all subscription SaaS tools that route your data through third-party servers. Most only export JSON files. Several cannot actually restore anything (they acknowledge this in their own FAQs). And Notion's built-in export process is manual and lossy.
- So I'm building something different. Working title is NotionVault. Here's the idea:
- Native desktop app (Windows + macOS), runs locally on your machine
- Full backup of your workspace every run -- pages, databases, attachments, the works
- Exports in three formats: Markdown (readable), CSV (databases), and JSON (structural), plus all your files
- You pick a local folder as the destination. Want it in the cloud? Point it at your OneDrive/Dropbox/iCloud sync folder. Done.
- App handles scheduling and retention (keep last N backups, delete older than X days)
- One-time purchase, probably around $20. No subscription.
The main point: this is a DR/BC tool, not a restore tool. I'm not going to pretend the Notion API supports a clean restore because it doesn't, and no one else can either. This is your escape plan. If Notion disappears tomorrow, you’ll have your content in formats you can actually open and use.
I'm building this for myself first. But before I spend a lot of time refining it for others, I want to ask: is this something you'd pay $20 for? What would make it a must-have for you?