Research · head to head
Aurelius vs Obsidian
Aurelius
Research
UX research repository for tagging notes, building insights and finding them again years later
- From
- $49/month
- Rated
- -
Obsidian
Research
A powerful knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Obsidian has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Aurelius aurelius does not recruit participants or run unmoderated studies, so it is always a second tool alongside a testing or recruitment platform and never the whole research budget.; Obsidian sync is a paid add-on at $4 per month billed annually rather than part of the app
- They diverge on capability: Aurelius covers Research repository, Obsidian covers Bidirectional linking.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Aurelius and Obsidian actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Research).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Aurelius
- Research repository
- Analysis board
- Tagging
- Insights and recommendations
- Transcription
- AI assist
- Automatic report builder
- Universal search
Only in Obsidian
- Bidirectional linking
- Graph view visualization
- Markdown support
- Local file storage
- Plugin ecosystem
- Custom CSS themes
- Templates
- Search and tags
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Aurelius
- A research team of three whose findings currently live in individual Miro boards and Google Docs that nobody outside the team can find six months laternot Obsidian
- A product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seatsnot Obsidian
- A consultancy running discovery for multiple clients that needs tagged evidence kept separate per client but searchable internallynot Obsidian
- A team preparing a repeat study who need to know what was already learned about the same problem two years ago before they recruit anyonenot Obsidian
Obsidian
- Local-first markdown note taking with no account requirednot Aurelius
- Linking notes into a personal knowledge graphnot Aurelius
- Syncing a vault across devices with end-to-end encryption on the paid add-onnot Aurelius
- Publishing a public site from a vaultnot Aurelius
- Extending the editor with community pluginsnot Aurelius
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Aurelius
- Aurelius does not recruit participants or run unmoderated studies, so it is always a second tool alongside a testing or recruitment platform and never the whole research budget.
- Integrations are thin, with Zapier, Jira and Slack rather than direct connections to the call recording and testing tools most teams already run, so getting material in often means manual upload.
- The tag vocabulary is only as good as the discipline applied to it, and repositories where several researchers invent overlapping tags become unsearchable within a year with no built-in governance to prevent it.
- Unlimited users is genuinely unlimited but permissions are basic below Enterprise, so a team that needs client-safe or stakeholder-only views has to buy the quoted tier for something that reads as a table-stakes control.
- It is a small independent vendor competing with much better funded repositories, which is a real procurement risk for an organisation storing years of research in it, and enterprise assurance material such as penetration test reports sits behind the top tier.
Obsidian
- Sync is a paid add-on at $4 per month billed annually rather than part of the app
- Publishing to the web is a further $8 per month per site
- Commercial use asks for a $50 per user per year licence, though the vendor states it is not required
- Collaboration is limited compared with a hosted notes tool, since the vault is local files first
Pricing, plan by plan
Aurelius
$49/month- Professional$49/month
- Unlimited users
- Unlimited projects and storage
- Notes, tags and documents
- Premium$199/month
- Everything in Professional
- Recommendations
- Universal search across projects
- Enterprise$undefined/year
- Everything in Premium
- SSO with SAML 2.0
- IP allowlisting
Obsidian
Free- Obsidian Sync$4/month
- Sync notes across devices
- Obsidian Publish$8/month
- Turn notes into a website
Which should you pick?
Choose Obsidian if
- You need bidirectional linking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
- You also want graph view visualization.
Questions people ask
- Is Aurelius or Obsidian better?
- Neither clearly leads. Aurelius starts at $49/month and Obsidian at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Aurelius or Obsidian?
- Obsidian has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $49/month for Aurelius and Free for Obsidian.
- Does Aurelius or Obsidian run on more platforms?
- Aurelius runs on Web. Obsidian runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android.
- Can I use Obsidian for free?
- Yes. Obsidian has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Aurelius starts at $49/month.
- What is Aurelius best used for?
- Aurelius is most often used for a research team of three whose findings currently live in individual miro boards and google docs that nobody outside the team can find six months later, a product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seats, a consultancy running discovery for multiple clients that needs tagged evidence kept separate per client but searchable internally, a team preparing a repeat study who need to know what was already learned about the same problem two years ago before they recruit anyone. Of those, a research team of three whose findings currently live in individual miro boards and google docs that nobody outside the team can find six months later and a product organisation that wants every designer and product manager to search past research without paying forty repository seats are not what Obsidian is typically brought in for.
- What can Aurelius do that Obsidian cannot?
- Aurelius covers Research repository, Analysis board, Tagging, Insights and recommendations. Obsidian covers Bidirectional linking, Graph view visualization, Markdown support, Local file storage.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Aurelius: Does the price really include unlimited users?
Yes. Professional at 49 US dollars a month and Premium at 199, both billed yearly, both with unlimited users, projects and storage.
Obsidian: Is Obsidian free?
Yes. The core Obsidian application is 100% free for personal and commercial use with no limitations. You can use unlimited vaults and every core feature without payment.
SourceAurelius: Can I run usability tests in it?
No. Aurelius stores and analyses research; it does not recruit participants or host sessions. Pair it with a testing tool.
Obsidian: What file format does Obsidian use?
Obsidian stores every note as a plain Markdown file. Because it uses standard Markdown instead of a proprietary format, your notes remain portable and can be edited with many other Markdown editors.
SourceAurelius: What is the difference between Professional and Premium?
Premium adds universal cross-project search, collections, recommendations and Zapier. If your value comes from finding old research, Premium is the tier that delivers it.
Obsidian: Can I collaborate with others in Obsidian?
The core application does not include built-in team collaboration features. However, Obsidian offers optional add-ons and can be used with version control systems or cloud storage for collaboration.
SourceAurelius: Is there single sign-on?
Only on Enterprise, along with IP allowlisting, Jira and advanced permissions. Everything below is quoted separately.
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