Notion acquires Skiff, which raised $14.2M to offer end-to-end encrypted file storage, docs, calendar events, and email; Skiff will shut down after six months
Notion launched its new calendar based on Cron last month, but its productivity suit can soon have more privacy-focused offerings.
TechCrunchIvan Mehta
Context & Ripple Effects
Notion had already expanded beyond its core workspace through the launch of Notion Calendar, built on its earlier Cron acquisition. Skiff adds a privacy-oriented set of adjacent product categories—storage, documents, calendar and email—to that broader productivity-suite trajectory.
The later release of Notion Mail further shows Notion testing email alongside calendar and workspace tools, making Skiff’s shutdown a consequential transition point for users of a privacy-focused alternative.
First-order effects
Skiff users have a six-month migration window and must move their encrypted files, documents, calendars and email to another service or risk losing continuity.
Notion obtains an acquisition foothold in privacy-focused productivity services, while Skiff’s standalone products cease operating rather than remaining available as an independent suite.
Second-order effects
Encrypted productivity providers can compete for displaced Skiff users, particularly those that need replacements across more than one of Skiff’s product categories.
If Notion incorporates Skiff-derived privacy capabilities, its expanding suite could make standalone calendar, email and document tools less differentiated; that outcome remains dependent on what Notion ultimately ships.
Third-order effects
The combination of Cron and Skiff points to productivity-suite consolidation through acquisitions: buyers can add adjacent workflows faster than building each category from scratch.
For users, this model trades integrated tooling against vendor-continuity risk: an acquired privacy product can be absorbed, repositioned or shut down instead of persisting as a separate service.
The trend: Productivity platforms are broadening into multi-app work suites by acquiring specialized tools, while consolidation reshapes the choices available to privacy-conscious users.
If I ever recommend Skiff email, I retract my recommendation. They've been purchased by Notion and gave us 6 months to save our content, which is fine for the data, but they said nothing about refunding annual subscriptions. This is where subscriptions suck. It's like paying f…
Privacy-focused email service Skiff just got acquired by Notion, and the service will shutdown after 6 months. Announced on a Friday afternoon, and reddit sub is locked. — What a joke...
@milichab It would be great if there was a clearer migration path. I wouldn't even be opposed to moving to Notion, but it doesn't have email (yet), and while I'm confident that the Skiff team will build email for Notion, I don't have assurance that this will release within 6 mont…
Incredible outcome, and super excited to see how @milichab and @JasonBud's ideas live on from here at Notion. Glad to have been part of Skiff's story in some way from the early days! It was tremendous fun to see how fast the team executed.
@NotionHQ @skiffprivacy Why are you killing this product? Users loved it. We have six months to delete our email and then what? Find a new provider? If you kill Skiff I am seriously considering leaving Notion. You are going to have thousands of angry Skiff customers who may leave…
Skiff is joining @NotionHQ 🎉 We're excited to accelerate Skiff's mission by joining Notion. The world needs tools that empower people and put their interests first. We're in a better position than ever to deliver this change. Read more on👇 https://skiff.com/
SO EXCITED for the Skiff team. From designing the beta version of Skiff to helping it grow to 1mm users, being able to witness the team join one of my favorite companies out there is amazing. So hyped for everyone, congrats @milichab @JasonBud ❤️
@matt_pulsipher We understand and apologize for the inconvenience. But, you can migrate with the settings -> export tab in every app, including downloading an entire MBOX file of your whole inbox (even up to 6 figure emails) from the web.
@shrimpwtf ... Skiff Pages is very Notion-esque. I assume Notion saw Skiff as a potential competitor and decided to gobble them up before they got too big. I'd be very (pleasantly) surprised if Notion decided to offer a privacy-centred email service similar to Skiff
Notion bought skiff and will soon become a viable Gmail alternative. Skiff gives notion a proper email service and file storage. It's also sad; as Skiff was meant to be a privacy focused service. Notion is absolutely not that. https://proton.me/ is luckily still here.
Yes, it's sad to see @skiffprivacy go, but it might be good in the long run. Suddenly, @NotionHQ has the technology to make their services secure, which would affect many more users than Skiff ever had. Let's hope Notion makes good use of it.