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Boardssey vs Notion, Canva and Google Sheets

Your rulebook is in Docs, your cards are in Canva, and your playtest feedback is in a Form you have never exported. Boardssey puts the whole game on one page.

The short answer

Notion, Canva and Sheets are excellent at what they do, and a lot of designers start there. If you have one game, no deadline and no publisher to convince, the free tiers are genuinely good enough. The cost shows up later: six months in, nobody remembers which rulebook matches which deck, and the playtest notes never made it into a single place. Boardssey is built for that part.

Side by side

Boardssey
Notion, Canva and Google Sheets
Head to head
Game record with versions
BoardsseyEvery game tracks its versions
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsBuild it yourself in a Notion database
Playtest sessions and feedback
BoardsseyLogged against the game and version
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsGoogle Forms plus manual copying
Component sheets built for games
Boardssey
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsA spreadsheet next to a Canva file
Sell sheets for publishers
BoardsseyFrom the game's own data (Pathfinder and up)
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsCanva templates, rebuilt by hand
Print-and-play and Tabletop Simulator export
Boardssey
Notion, Canva and Google Sheets
Online portfolio of your games
Boardssey
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNotion public pages
Unlimited teammates
BoardsseyOn every plan
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsPaid tiers are priced per person
General docs and design work
BoardsseyGame-focused
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsThey do everything
Designing the components
Card data from a spreadsheet
BoardsseyImport a CSV or paste rows from Google Sheets or Excel. Pathfinder and up.
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsCanva Bulk Create, set up by hand
Master pages that update every card
BoardsseyUnlink any element to edit it on one card. Pathfinder and up.
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Every kind of component
BoardsseyCards, tiles, tokens, boards, mats, rulebooks, boxes and sheets. Pathfinder and up.
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsBlank canvases, sized by hand
Import PDF, Illustrator and Photoshop files
BoardsseyPages become editable pages of the component. Pathfinder and up.
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsCanva imports PDF and Illustrator files
Testing and iterating
Built-in virtual table
BoardsseyTesters join with a code, no account needed. Pathfinder and up.
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Rules and notes kept with the game
Boardssey
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNotion pages
Designer toolkit
3D mockups
BoardsseyFlat artwork to 3D box, card and component renders
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsCanva mockups, not game-specific
Dieline templates
BoardsseyBoxes, boards, punchboards and more
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Probability calculator
BoardsseyOdds for any dice expression
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Variables distribution
BoardsseySplit elements into balanced groups
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Color-blindness simulator
BoardsseyCheck your palette for every type of color blindness
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Size and scale reference
BoardsseyShow your game next to a person for scale
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Component spec sheets
BoardsseyFor wooden, plastic and other non-paper parts
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Carton marks
BoardsseyLabels for your manufacturing shipping cartons
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
Invoices and purchase orders
BoardsseySaved and attached to your games
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsCanva invoice templates
Table helpers
BoardsseyCustom dice, score pad, timer, coin flip, starting player
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNot listed on their site
MCP connector for AI assistants
BoardsseyConnect Claude, ChatGPT and other AI assistants to your games, playtests and components
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNotion and Canva have their own connectors
Pitching and running the project
Publisher pitches and contacts
BoardsseyTrack who you pitched, when, and what happened next
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsBuild it yourself in a Notion database
Tasks and project boards
BoardsseyKanban, calendar and task tables across your games
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsNotion boards and calendars
Team chat and whiteboard
BoardsseyChannels per game, plus a shared whiteboard
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsComments, and Canva whiteboards
Plans
Price
BoardsseyFrom $5/month
Notion, Canva and Google SheetsFree tiers, then a subscription per tool

Verified September 2026

Where Notion, Canva and Google Sheets is the better pick

  • You already run your whole life in Notion and one game fits in fine.

  • You need general design work far beyond board games. Canva is the better design tool for social posts, flyers and everything else.

  • You are a hobbyist with no deadline, and $0 matters more than anything else.

Why designers pick Boardssey

  • One page per game. Rules, components, versions, playtests and pitch materials sit together instead of across seven tabs.

  • Playtests that remember the version. Session 14 can be compared with session 4, because each one is tied to what was actually on the table.

  • Publisher-ready without the rebuild. The sell sheet and the playtest record come from the same data publishers ask about.

  • Your whole team, one price. Co-designers and artists never add a seat.

  • Built by designers. Every screen assumes you are making a board game, not a generic project.

Switching

  1. Create a game in Boardssey and paste in your rules draft.

  2. Import your component spreadsheet as CSV, or paste the rows straight from Sheets.

  3. Log your next playtest in Boardssey instead of a Form. Keep Canva for everything that isn't the game.

Questions

Do I have to stop using Notion or Canva?

No. Keep them for everything that isn't your game. Boardssey replaces the part of the stack that keeps the game itself together.

Isn't Notion free?

Its free tier is generous for one person. The real cost is the time spent keeping four tools in sync, and paid tiers are priced per person once a team joins. Boardssey includes unlimited teammates on every plan.

Can I import my existing data?

Component data, yes: import a CSV or paste from a spreadsheet. Rules and notes can be pasted in.

Which plan do I need?

Adventurer ($5/month) covers games, versions and playtests. Sell sheets and the whiteboard start at Pathfinder ($15/month).

Is there a free trial?

Yes, 14 days.

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