Obsidianvs
Roam Research
Roam Research: Similar markdown-based networked note-taking with collaboration features
Obsidian
A powerful knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files
As of 30 August 2026, Obsidian is free to use. Obsidian is a private and flexible writing app that adapts to the way you think. Softwr lists it under Research. Obsidian is made by Dynalist Inc, launched in 2020, available on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
Overview
What Obsidian does
Obsidian is a private and flexible writing app that adapts to the way you think. It stores notes locally on your device, ensuring complete ownership and privacy of your data. With powerful linking, graph view, and extensibility through plugins, Obsidian is perfect for building a personal knowledge management system.
What people use it for
- Local-first markdown note taking with no account required
- Linking notes into a personal knowledge graph
- Syncing a vault across devices with end-to-end encryption on the paid add-on
- Publishing a public site from a vault
- Extending the editor with community plugins
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Obsidian
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- ObsidianvsLogseq
Logseq: Open-source outliner and note-taking app with local-first approach
- ObsidianvsNotion Web Clipper
Notion Web Clipper: Web clipper for Notion, which offers collaborative note-taking
Pricing
What Obsidian costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Obsidian Sync
$4 /mo
- Sync notes across devices
Obsidian Publish
$8 /mo
- Turn notes into a website
Capabilities
Features
Bidirectional linking
Graph view visualization
Markdown support
Local file storage
Plugin ecosystem
Custom CSS themes
Templates
Search and tags
Zotero
Integration with Zotero
Readwise
Integration with Readwise
Anki
Integration with Anki
Day One
Integration with Day One
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
SourceWhat 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.
SourceCan 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.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Obsidian
- Company
- Dynalist Inc
- Based in
- Toronto, Canada
Timeline
Obsidian over time
Keep looking
Where to go from Obsidian
- Obsidian alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Obsidian pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Obsidian badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Research softwareThe full category
- Best Research softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Research software for
Compare Obsidian with
- Roam Research
- Elicit
- Mendeley
- NVivo
- Paperpile
- Zotero
- Wolfram Mathematica
- SurveyMonkey
- Aurelius
- Benchling
- LabVantage
- Sapio Sciences
- Castor EDC
- Chemaxon
- Condens
- DNAnexus
- Dotmatics
- Aurelius
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Obsidian, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Obsidian
Obsidian alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Obsidian pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Obsidian
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Obsidian badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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