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Obsidian

The free and flexible app for your private thoughts.

freemium Windows macOS Linux iOS Android Web Productivity

Obsidian is a productivity tool built by Obsidian. It's best for Students and Researchers. Pricing is freemium. Main alternatives include Notion, Roam Research, Mem.

Pricing

freemium

Audience

Students

Platforms

+2

Community

0%

About Obsidian

Obsidian is a powerful note-taking and knowledge management app that allows users to create and connect notes in a personalized way. It stores notes privately on your device and offers extensive customization through plugins and themes.

Obsidian is a free and flexible note-taking app designed for users who want to sharpen their thinking and organize their ideas effectively. It distinguishes itself by storing notes privately on the user's device, ensuring data ownership and accessibility even offline. This focus on privacy and local storage sets it apart from many cloud-based note-taking solutions.

Key features of Obsidian include the ability to create connections between notes, visualize relationships through a graph view, and customize the app with thousands of plugins and themes. Users can link ideas, people, places, and books to build their own personal Wikipedia. The graph view helps uncover hidden patterns and connections in their thinking.

Obsidian uses open file formats, ensuring long-term data ownership and preventing vendor lock-in. This commitment to open standards means users can access their notes with other tools if they choose. The app is designed to adapt to the user's way of thinking, offering a malleable environment for knowledge management.

Obsidian is best suited for individuals who value privacy, customization, and long-term data ownership. It caters to a wide range of use cases, from personal notes and journaling to knowledge bases and project management. The app's flexibility makes it suitable for students, researchers, writers, and anyone who wants to organize their thoughts and ideas in a connected and meaningful way.

While Obsidian offers optional paid services for syncing and publishing notes, the core app is free to use without limits. This makes it accessible to a broad audience, while also providing options for users who want to support the development of the app and access additional features.

Key Features

Local storage of notes for privacy
Graph view for visualizing note relationships
Extensive plugin ecosystem for customization
Customizable themes
Open file formats for long-term data ownership
Linking between notes to create connections
End-to-end encryption for online services
Cross-platform availability (Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android)
Optional Sync service for note synchronization across devices
Optional Publish service for sharing notes on the web
Community support and resources
Support for Markdown formatting
Backlinking to show connections to other notes
Daily notes feature for journaling

Pricing

freemium

Sync (Annual)

$4/Per user, per month, billed annually
  • Sync notes across devices
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Version history
  • Collaborate on shared vaults
  • Priority support

Sync (Monthly)

$5/Per user, per month, billed monthly
  • Sync notes across devices
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Version history
  • Collaborate on shared vaults
  • Priority support

Publish (Annual)

$8/Per site, per month, billed annually
  • Publish notes to the web
  • Customizable theme
  • Graph and full text search
  • Priority support

Publish (Monthly)

$10/Per site, per month, billed monthly
  • Publish notes to the web
  • Customizable theme
  • Graph and full text search
  • Priority support

Catalyst

$25/One-time payment
  • Early access to beta versions
  • Community badges
  • VIP channel

Commercial

$50/Per user, per year
  • Support development
  • Become a featured organization

Who is it for?

Best for

  • Personal knowledge management
  • Note-taking for students and researchers
  • Building a personal wiki
  • Project management
  • Journaling
  • Creating connected thought networks

Not ideal for

  • Teams requiring real-time collaborative editing within the app (collaboration is supported via shared vaults with the Sync add-on)
  • Users who prefer cloud-based note storage without local access
  • Simple note-taking needs where advanced linking and customization are not required

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