Coda is failing down

[SALEM_MALIBARY]

I have been for several months roght now in coda and im still stuck in creating and this come because of the way of the platform works its so content dense and at the same time it lack many user friendly features…

I have been using notion for a while before moving to coda , and i moved to coda for 2 mains reasons that no other platform have , one is inline functions where you can write functions that retreive data from table which will be amazing for creating dashboards… 2nd is the buttons and function in general they are superior to any other platform but… nowadays notion is moving at very higher pace than coda. I know their team is bigger and so on but their moves are quite high they got mails, calendar, forms now and website and layout…
I know all many people will say those already in coda somehow but those are native thats the different… maybe coda’s form is more functional …

Just one feature more from notion and ill quit coda for good and that is the inline functionality which i think they are not far from it …

To be honest coda community are amazing and see all posts are very intersting, this community is valuable however i dont see any update or roadmap for the platform even though the suggestion box is full of usefull majkr and minor adjustment to make the platform perfect but now body is hearing us …

2024 has very few unusable features idk if someone use them, the whole youtube situation is now dead… and the only one left are the community

So, my question to you all…why you are sticking with coda.io beside other platform whoch feature you can think of it that is worth staying beside the inline function… i hope to hear from you guys, i might decide to move back to notion if thats the only feature and for sure notion will do it soon… they are hearing all influencers… you can see Thomas frank he made full functional chrome extension for the platform … in his old videos he ask for a feature … and next month its deployed to the platform … they dont have community but their influencers are much much valuable which they are really taking care of …

So lets share your most unbeatable features i want to know what you guys looking for??

[Pablo_DV]

I think Coda was always much more versatile and powerful than Notion, but they took a few decissions that allowed them to win the consumer market in my opinion:

• Simpler product with a softer learning curve
• More aesthetically pleasing
• Generous free plan from the beginning

The last one for me is the key, which allowed them to grow so fast and become so popular. I don’t know if it was possible there but not in Coda due to Notion being better financed or maybe because of it being simpler, the operating costs are also lower. In any case the strategy apparently paid off.

Coda seems to focus more on Enterprise features lately, but so does Notion, trying to become a full replacement for Microsoft Office. And of course they have the huge fanbase using Notion personally acting as evangelizers in the companies they work for.

I have the feeling medium/advanced users churn from Notion to Coda when they get frustrated with the former and experience how joyful it is to build with Coda. But as you said, they seem to have a bigger team and ship new features very quickly, so over time it’s possible that they will close the gap enough that not even the advanced users will feel the need to move out of Notion. That said, even if I am following Notion’s updates only superficially, the Coda Formula Language is still so superior to Notion’s and closely integrated with all the actions and packs, that I don’t think Notion is really catching up with the core product any time soon.

Pablo

[Piet_Strydom]

@SALEM_MALIBARY

suggestion box is full of usefull majkr and minor adjustment to make the platform perfect but now body is hearing us …

I don’t think tis comment is accurate. we have recently seen several user requested features added: Grids, Milestones in the timeline view, the 3rd delivery in the road to fully fledged sync functionality, improvements to cross doc…

For more details, please see the channel:

News from Coda

The biggest announcement was the integration with SnowPack and their AI, resulting in Coda Brain, which is currently being implemented at enterprise customers.

@SALEM_MALIBARY

So, my question to you all…why you are sticking with coda.io beside other platform whoch feature you can think of it that is worth staying beside the inline function…

My absolute best feature is the pack functionality. Want integration to gmail - use the gmail pack. There are more than 500 packs that allows you to extend the basic Coda functionality, either through syncing with other websites, or developing new formulas, or both.

[Baran_Gulmez]

After the latest announcement I also felt like moving to notion. But everythime I give notion a try it fails me. Everytime I give a chance to notion i move a page with its database to notion and then try to use it only on notion for 2-3 days. But notion is slow and laggy. Even though I think coda is missing some important features I stick to it for its responsiveness.

I think if coda adds this feature I will never think about leaving it:

Add "Equation Block" for Easier LaTeX Copy-Pasting

As far as I understand coda needs to add KaTeX support for this. I hope it comes soon.

[Nurlan_A]

Looks neglected, low marketing efforts

[Tamerlan_PRO]

I completely understand your concerns as a Coda user with experience on other platforms like Notion. Recently, it indeed feels as though Coda is stagnating in its efforts to become more attractive to the consumer market. Having worked extensively with various platforms, I’ve studied this issue and realized that Coda is fundamentally not focused on the consumer market; it seems to be solely oriented toward the enterprise segment.

Coda was founded by enthusiasts with a bold and daring vision of what a document builder could be. The idea is incredibly ambitious, but it seems to be stalling in its execution. Although this platform remains a powerful tool with tremendous functional potential, its main problem is that the path to that potential is challenging for the average user.

These obstacles are composed of numerous nuances, such as a somewhat unfriendly interface, the lack of many familiar features and mechanics that have become industry standards across other platforms. This results in an experience that may not be entirely comfortable for typical users who have a clear understanding of what convenience looks like on similar platforms. I emphasize that these concerns apply to regular users, not to passionate enthusiasts and explorers who may overlook these drawbacks for the sake of functionality. For many long-time Coda users, these issues either don’t exist or may not be obvious. Not because they’re bad. The Coda community is very responsive and always willing to help with any solution. Perhaps it’s because their love for Coda has isolated them from the wider world of similar platforms, which have continued to evolve and improve over time. As a result, Coda feels isolated and unbalanced for the broader consumer market.

Notion is a great example of a balanced application. Yes, Notion significantly lags behind Coda as a functional constructor, and it cannot replicate the complex mechanics that can be built in Coda. But in every other aspect, Notion surpasses Coda because every element is well-developed to create a pleasant user experience, especially after recent powerful updates. Every aspect is BALANCED: a pleasant and friendly interface, intuitive user interaction, rich functionality to cover a wide range of tasks, a fully functional mobile app, and a massive, active community, which wouldn’t exist if the platform weren’t focused on the consumer market. The consumer market, in turn, inevitably fuels the business segment. And that’s not even mentioning platforms like ClickUp, Monday.com, and others. For now, it’s encouraging that Coda remains among Notion’s competitors, though not direct ones. But this situation could change significantly, and not in Coda’s favor.

Despite certain nuances, I still believe in the future of the platform and hope that Coda will become closer to the consumer segment.

[SALEM_MALIBARY]

Your comment really resonate with me… i have written this post before trying notion for 3rd time… but once i saw their mobile app i was shocked to be honest. I can genuinely work using my mobile without the need to use my laptop everytime. I understand that coda is more functional but less convenient. Now notion launched mail, calendar, and form which extend their product beyond documents.

Also because the avarage users are out of the picture i realky struggled to make it working using coda api. I tried for example to connect frontend with the coda.io api but i really struggled and had to stop trying, in other hand webflow, framer which are avarage user web design apps promoting notion as backend … idk what coda is doing and do they really care about their compition or not … even a drag and drop does not exist that really a shame…

Like 2 years ago till now, i dont feel any major improvement from the platform and im really concern if this will fit me anymore.

Just to mention, once i was moving to coda i was sleep and wake on coda tutorials now i have feeling i saw everything existing about coda … after that phase i struggled very hard because with all existing knowledge its difficult to build something for the avarage user…also i want to mention @Micah_Lucero this youtube channel is by far the best coda tutorials for the avarage user… i wished he didnt stop there but it seems everyone is stopping since the platform does not encourage their effort…

Anyway, in term of packs i think zapiar, make or even n8n are replacing all of these packs and im using n8n right now.

One of the feature i think its good the idea of embedding full site inside the doc thats is great…

Lets see your unbeatable features.

[Piet_Strydom]

@Nurlan_A

Looks neglected, low marketing efforts

This is a community forum, if you look at channels that are infrequently used, then you will see infrequent posts.

Other areas are MUCH more active:

OR

@SALEM_MALIBARY

I have been for several months roght now in coda and im still stuck in creating

@SALEM_MALIBARY
If you are stuck, just ask a question on the forum. There are many people that would be willing to assist with queries that you may have.

In general, Coda is what you make of it. It is a tool, and a very good, flexible tool. There are hundreds of positive posts on this forum for every negative one like this.

But it’s just a FINAL ramble,
Rambling Pete

[Coda_Solutions]

Hi,
So you are asking why stay with Coda instead of other platforms. For me the biggest reason is the freedom to build your own custom software (~lite version). Here are some screenshots of the Document Management System I am building in Coda.

I am using Google Drive pack to pull in physical documents that I scan to the cloud with my EPSON scanner. On the right is a picture of a receipt document in which I want to extract key details (which can vary based on doc type) that will be used to say rename file automatically or tag automatically, and so forth.

In this shot I have a process that each document will go through before finalizing filename, location, tagging, etc. Also, I am using PDF Extract pack to help extract those doc specific details into JSON format. The user can then go through verifying extractions, making corrections, etc. before submitting.

On a similar note, here is how the desktop version looks on a phone (can even zoom in on the document:

Overall, after going through the gauntlet of software and realizing that I can build a lot of those software functionality/features in Coda with a combination of packs, in-house, and API integrations, I can’t go back to them (no matter the shiny bells and whistles).

Another big pain point is that other software charge per seat per month. With Coda, just one seat under the Team Plan is enough and worth it. Some software you have to buy a minimum number of seats or in order to use just one function/feature you have to upgrade your plan (ahem ClickUp and its Custom Fields).

The caveat with Coda is that you have to build it - the User Interface, User Experience, Database Management, etc. I do wish we had more custom tools to make it “shiny”. With that being said, if you need something that already has the functionality/features built in then definitely use other software but if you need more customization and freedom then Coda would be it, at least for me.

You can also hire someone to build it. However, keep in mind that you will probably be paying per functionality/feature rather than a whole functioning software as it can get pricey (~$100+/hr). Personally, learn and build what you can and hire what you can’t do.

Hope this helps.

[Daragh_O_Shea1]

@Coda_Solutions

Overall, after going through the gauntlet of software and realizing that I can build a lot of those software functionality/features in Coda with a combination of packs, in-house, and API integrations, I can’t go back to them (no matter the shiny bells and whistles).

This is the biggest benefit for me also. Lots of annoyances still that require workarounds.

But the ability to build, and iterate quickly, means you can truly can build excellent applications that are on a robust platform (so no worrying about maintenance).

It’s obviously possible to outgrow it, and it’s not suitable for everything, but there’s not much it can’t do for 90%+ of use cases.

[SALEM_MALIBARY]

Thats really amazing, good for you.

I know maybe notion is higher price for teams but if you count down all your packs usages that maybe can exceed the notion price. For me i use educational user which coda gives AI functionality and notion does not but both looks similar and i dont use AI often so i dont need it for now.

In my opinion coda is more functional but less usable especially for avarage user which they should really aim. If we look for it enterprise are mostly using google, or microsoft which already has all those clunky apps and also can integrate with anything but not user friendly. So even thought coda is functional that does not mean will survive the competition.

In fact, one of the most powerful functionality in coda is (this row) in the formula which now has been added to notion with veriable function.

The problem is coda is not being good at frontend or backend and hard to define what its really doing. However, in term of notion you can do all those functionality with integrated automation app like make.com or n8n, have you seen them?

Those apps extend notion functionality beyond even coda. And i think coda should work on that too… i even struggled to make my coda my backend for my website (as avarage user) while notion has offical frontend with framer and webflow.

So jusy to recap:

1. Build small app
2. Functionality
3. Formula
4. Price

What else do you guys think coda worth investing?

[Coda_Solutions]

Thanks!

So, it’s been a while since I’ve used Notion but I did a little digging, particularly into their integrations which I guess would be equivalent to Coda packs and I wanted to bring up an example when dealing with say 2 way sync with Google Sheets:

So with Google Sheets, this is what is being offered in Notion:

Pricing to use this integration, which is based around 1) number of databases/sync tables and how often it updates (15 min. max)

In Coda, you can simply embed a google sheet link, interact and update live, or for a more formal control - use Google Sheet packs along with formulas and button actions (which by the way you can build your own packs)

Pricing wise to use Coda packs are either free, included in your plan, or per doc maker/per month (all you really need is 1 seat)

The Google packs available in Coda are quite extensive and most are already part of the team plan or are free:

I’d be curious to see what it would cost on Notion side to have these packs/integrations.

[SALEM_MALIBARY]

Thats a good point, but do you really need it?? In term of have 2 copies of notion and google sheet which i never needed before i would use more reliable system something like make.com or n8n.io or zapiar.com which their main purpose is to connect apps together.

In term of coda they have alot of packs i can’t deny that but reliability issues occurs especially in free packs… i have used youtube integration which has been failed to do the job 1 day after implemnting it…and its very difficult to rely my work on someone’s current state of interest. I usually will go to the paid version to be honest which is more reliable.

Embedding also works in notion but also i have no expirence how important is this to be honest…also i dont want to rely on systems like this. And i dont see difference to click a link and open the other site in another browser…maybe this could be something in school where you want to strict the users from certain areas but that not realistic work flow i can imagine for even school students.

I guess, a question like does notion with n8n will be superior to coda with n8n? To be honest i would say yes … coda is functional but lack of very basic UI/UX… while i opened the discussion , i restarted using notion… for real using the mobile app is far more important for me than any other functionality and i wish coda do that…

Coda does not work even in my firefox mobile thats a shame

[Sean_Olivas1]

Our server sys admin had installed n8n open-sourced community edition and it has completely blown us away. While we don’t always create all the steps, we understand what’s happening since it’s gui is like a mind map. We’ve been moving more and more to google sheets and n8n the last few months. We still have a lot of Coda Apps, but we use mostly it’s basic database features as we have seen it not automate the way we wanted.

We used to use Zapier and Make, but we loved them so much we woke up to daily charges and it was one of the reasons why we came to coda. N8N is really the future if you have ever worked with automation tools and love the idea of owning your own data and automating with almost no costs other than server (unless you do paid plans) then you know what I’m talking about. With reporting on issues and seeing where things fail. (though as my sys admin and also our python coder has said, “Thanks for telling me to learn and set up your n8n, it’s like python but with guardrails and a gui”

I am here at the community hoping to see some progress as well as I feel that the coda apps I see are just plain sad. The filtering of showing the best of the best what you could do in coda is no way in any of the docs. My first doc was way more complex and better than any doc I’ve seen so far.

Alas, I digress, I see coda as a great tool and we will still use it daily for multiple work apps, it’s definitely not our first front facing option.

[SALEM_MALIBARY]

Thats the real problem coda does not consider as backend or frontend which makes it more niche and does not service anyone…as notion i feel its toward backend even though the usability of the app is solid, its basically backend without databases its loses all its values. Their main competitor not supabase or xano but something similar to airtable which is database for really avarage user which already hard thing to do as avarage. I remember moving from excel to database that was a hussle for me.

Anyway thanks for sharing, btw consider using n8n selfhosted in a hosted server its really cheap as 5$

[Daragh_O_Shea1]

I’m also starting to use n8n and it’s incredible. Particularly for incorporating AI and LLMs into workflows.

However, if still see something like Coda needed as an interface for a lot of tools, a way to report and interact with data, that would act as a trigger for some of the n8n-like workflows.

A lot of my clients need an interface, and most of my work with Cora is building mini-tools for clients, and myself.

The mobile is awful for sure, and the AI is weak from what I’ve tried, in comparison to other AI options.

I would like to understand better where Coda is focusing its efforts. If it’s not on SMB use cases long term, the product will become less and less useful as a “micro tool” builder, which is my primary use case, and my clients.

[Coda_Solutions]

Hi Salem,
I should have mentioned what I’m using Coda for as our needs are indifferent areas. I gather yours is in education while mine is for millwright construction. The small company I work for has around 5-15 people (some employees, some subcontractors - most of whom are from another country so there is a language barrier).

To give you a specific example, one of our jobs was to inspect and service the equipment at a factory that had been closed for several years. An inspection checklist per equipment type was generated and set up in Coda (English and Spanish) and shared to the foreman who was doing the inspection in the form of Coda app (not UI pretty as I was just learning Coda)

Once submitted from Coda side, a template report form, that I created in Google Sheets, was copied and filled out based on the inspection results from the foreman. In addition, folders were created in Google Drive - one for before/after photos, resource material, equipment specific invoicing, etc.

The Google Sheet/Report is what the customer wanted to see in our weekly updates as well as our vendors for ordering parts or service work.

What I didn’t mention was there were 180 pieces of equipment with different part specifications to keep track of from ordering, when it would get here, and when the equipment could be work on, and when the equipment would be ready to test. I had to handle folder and file management in a systematic way, which Coda allows in house as part of the team plan.

I could also do this in Make, or I’m sure n8n (I’ll check it out), but that can eat up the monthly operations cap based on my plan really quick.

What I found is that Coda has helped me either eliminate some software or reduce the tiered services/price planning of the software I will keep.

Coda shouldn’t really be compared to Notion or others per say because, in my opinion, it’s more of a hub software or middleman software that can give you a birds eye view of all the software you may use (in table/database form) as well as provide the tools to build workflows in-house via packs or third-party API.

If you use Notion, Make, or n8n, you would have to sign in to each software and manage them separately. In Coda, you would be able to pull and manage them in ONE location.

Notion

Make

n8n

Hope this helps.

[Piet_Strydom]

@Daragh_O_Shea1

If it’s not on SMB use cases long term,

What do you understand SMB use cases to be?

• Small volumes of data?
• Lesser functionality?
• Cheaper rates?

[SALEM_MALIBARY]

Thats really intersting … after this disucssion i feel coda in order to win to keep working on being a hub… they have been working really hard in the functionality but they need more focus toward being usable hub for everyone.

Also i want to disgree that coda being a middle man is good idea, its very bad idea to be honest. N8n and make are much more powerful and capable to be middle man.

…

But lets dive deeper in the idea of being hub. I think coda original idea is the new form of documents which their main target is businesses and nowadays they are evolving and documents arent…

Coda was a hub to connect their backend with a front end and integrating everything within it… the main issue that the focus of the coda is shifting between multiple things… i think by focusing to be the hub that would solve all issues people facing especially they have powerful tool already. By hub i feel connecting all my processes and tools and procetures into onw central place that place can be anywhere anytime that includes mobile, tablet, watches, tv, laptop … thats long list lets say laptop and mobile for now…

to be honest aftef the whole discussion i feel my main issue thinking to leave is just not being a user-friendly hub , its clunky especially in phone which is my main work device.

Anyway guys i enjoyed the discussion thanks

[Daragh_O_Shea1]

In bigger companies, they can afford to hire an expert who knows the workarounds to get Coda working to match their business processes.

A lot of iterations is typically required to get data, views, formula logic, etc working correctly.

A lot of time, there’s confusion on the best way to do things as Coda can get in the way.

Reporting or aggregating data is particularly painful, especially how grouping can work with cells that have more than 1 item.

Coda is very powerful, but it’s not feasible for most SMB companies to use it unless they happen to have a technical person.

This is a challenge for other similar tools too, but there are quite a lot of “papercuts” that are heavily requested in this forum.