Microsoft’s new collaboration software Loop is off to a rocky start. Although Loop has received frequent updates since its first Public Preview in March 2023, the software still leaves much to be desired. If you want to create a personal wiki, organize a database, or manage a small team, Microsoft Loop may disappoint you due to several omissions like whiteboard, Gantt Charts, third-party app integrations, automation, reminders, mind maps, and more. You can try some of the top Microsoft Loop alternatives on your laptop and get the work done in style.

5 Notion

No surprise here! Microsoft Loop was designed to sway users away from Notion. However, the latter still remains the most feature-rich and robust productivity app out there. Notion offers the ‘/’ command to add different blocks, supports several AI features, and works well with third-party apps like Figma, Google Drive, Maps, Sketch, Loop, Trello, Slack, and more. Needless to say, it easily edges out Loop with a wide range of apps and service shortcuts.

Notion also offers dozens of built-in and third-party templates to choose from. Whether you want to manage tasks, habits, subscriptions, or create a design portfolio, you won’t have a hard time finding a relevant template.

The company recently integrated AI features that can summarize meetings, generate a blog post, change tone, improve writing, simplify language, and perform other actions. (This article was not written using AI.) Notion also supports Synced Blocks, which is similar to Loop Components in Microsoft Loop. Basically, you can create a synced block, and when you deploy it across Notion pages, upon editing a block those changes are reflected in all synced blocks across your pages.

Notion’s real-time collaboration features remain solid, too. You can invite your team members with different permission settings, share comments, assign tasks with due dates, and manage your projects efficiently. Notion is free to download and use. The paid plans start at $8 per user per month. Head to Notion’s official page to learn more about all the plans and their offerings.

4 Craft

Craft has the most beautiful and intuitive user interface among all the Microsoft Loop alternatives. You can use the ‘/’ command for your text editing features and other blocks, utilize the small sidebar to change style, color, and fonts, and also check your page info.

Craft has nailed the esthetics with different presets that add an eye-catching background to your page. It supports multi-tabs to switch between tabs easily at the top, something which Microsoft Loop lacks. The built-in Calendar, along with the daily notes function, can be a great companion to get you through a busy day without forgetting anything.

Craft’s AI assistant is as feature-rich as Notion AI and Copilot in Microsoft Loop. It can create an outline, write pros and cons, suggest a title, translate into different languages, and continue writing. As for collaboration, you can publish your Craft doc to the web with a secret link, control who can see it, and invite others with different permission settings.

Craft Plus plan is priced at $10 per month. There are also Family, Team, and Business plans to pick from. Head to the Craft pricing page to learn more.

3 ClickUp

ClickUp is another supercharged app for power users. Whether you want to write docs, manage projects, track goals, create forms, or use whiteboard to brainstorm ideas, ClickUp can be your one-stop solution. Unlike Notion and Craft, ClickUp does require a learning curve to get started.

You can connect over 1000+ tools, such as Slack, Outlook, Google Drive, Dropbox, GitHub, Figma, Zoom, and more. For example, you can use OneDrive integration to quickly attach any file, explore Outlook add-on to turn your Outlook email into a task, and even create a ClickUp task right from a Slack conversation. Neat, isn’t it?

It comes with a bunch of AI add-ons, and the collaboration features include ClickUp Chat, which allows users to glance over updates, requests, links, and comments. There are over 1000+ templates and 15+ board views to manage your workloads.

ClickUp is free for personal use. That being said, if you want to manage a small team, upgrade to a $7 monthly plan. Head to the ClickUp pricing page to learn more about paid plans.

2 Obsidian

While ClickUp is more suitable for a smooth collaboration among teams, Obsidian is geared towards personal use. It is a unique software to create a personal database of your own thoughts, ideas, and notes, then create connections by linking anything and everything.

You can visualize your connected notes from an engaging and interactive graph. Compared to other tools, Obsidian may feel basic at first glance. Here’s where the default and community plugins come into play. You can enable relevant plugins such as Calendar, Kanban, Dataview, Outliner, Table, and more, to drastically level up your notes.

It does have a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, there is no coming back to traditional apps. Another unique feature is Canvas, which gives you an infinite whiteboard to map out your thoughts. Obsidian is free for personal use. If you want to sync your notes across all platforms, get the Sync add-on for $5 per month. You can check other paid plans from the Obsidian pricing page.

1 Coda

Coda is another capable Loop alternative with a user-friendly interface, robust word processing, and database features. It is basically Google Docs on steroids. You can create a Coda page with all the relevant blocks, and even extend your preferred tools and services.

Coda supports Figma, Asana, Slack, Todoist, Gmail, and other popular third-party tools. The built-in AI writing assistant can be your ideal content creator partner to draft a sales email, press release, blog post, meeting agenda, and more.

The built-in templates section is nicely laid out in relevant categories, and they should be good enough to get you started without spending hours on document layout.

Coda offers a generous free plan with unlimited doc size for unshared docs, kanban board, automations, and more. The subscription plans start at $12 per month per Doc maker. We recommend checking Coda’s official page to learn about all plans and the differences between being a Doc Maker and an Editor.

Manage your workflow like a pro

Microsoft Loop has done a commendable job with features like Loop components and integration with company apps like OneDrive, Outlook, Teams, and more. However, users who aren’t invested in the Microsoft ecosystem may not find them appealing. The software solutions above should help you create an ideal workflow in no time.

Apart from these Microsoft Loop alternatives, the Windows ecosystem is packed with several other useful productivity tools too. Check our dedicated guide to find the top productivity apps for Windows.