Obsidian

Overview

Obsidian is a local-first note-taking and knowledge management application developed by Shida Li and Erica Xu, officially launched in March 2020. What sets Obsidian apart from cloud-based alternatives like Notion or Roam Research is its fundamental philosophy: your notes are stored as plain Markdown files on your local machine, giving you complete ownership and control over your data.

As of 2026, Obsidian has grown to over 1.5 million monthly active users with 22% year-on-year growth. Users spend an average of 43 minutes daily in the app, and the community has created over 1,000 plugins to extend its functionality. The platform won a Runner-up Golden Kitty Award for Productivity in 2020 and has since become the darling of the Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) community.

Obsidian's core value proposition centers on future-proofing your knowledge. Because everything is stored as simple Markdown text files, your notes remain accessible even if Obsidian ceases to exist. This "100-year perspective" on note-taking resonates strongly with researchers, writers, developers, and lifelong learners who view their notes as long-term intellectual assets rather than disposable scratchpads.

The app's signature feature is its graph view, which visualizes the web of connections between your notes, revealing patterns and relationships you might not consciously recognize. Combined with powerful bidirectional linking, Canvas for visual brainstorming, and near-infinite customization through community plugins, Obsidian has evolved from a simple note-taking app into a comprehensive thinking environment.

Core Features and Advantages

Local-First Architecture

Unlike Notion, Evernote, or Roam Research, Obsidian stores all your notes locally on your device. This means you work offline by default, have complete data ownership, and can sync notes using any method you prefer (iCloud, Dropbox, Git, or Obsidian's own Sync service). Privacy-conscious users appreciate that their notes never touch a third-party server unless they explicitly choose to use Obsidian Sync or Publish.

Why It Matters: You can open your vault in any text editor, grep through files with command-line tools, version control with Git, or migrate to any other Markdown-based system without vendor lock-in. Your knowledge base truly belongs to you.

Bidirectional Linking and Graph View

Obsidian pioneered the mainstream adoption of [[wikilink]]-style bidirectional links in note-taking. When you link Note A to Note B, both notes become aware of the connection. The graph view transforms these connections into an interactive web that reveals clusters, orphaned notes, and emergent structures in your thinking.

Real-World Use Case: Researchers use the graph view to discover unexpected connections between concepts across different research papers. Writers find plot holes by visualizing relationships between characters, locations, and storylines. Students identify knowledge gaps by spotting orphaned notes that lack connections to their broader understanding.

Canvas: Infinite Visual Workspace

Introduced in 2022, Canvas provides an infinite spatial canvas where you can arrange notes, images, PDFs, and web content in any layout. It's like a digital whiteboard that preserves the connections between ideas while giving you the freedom to organize spatially rather than hierarchically.

Community Feedback: Users describe Canvas as "mind-mapping on steroids" and "the missing link between outlining and brainstorming." It's particularly popular for project planning, visual storytelling, and research synthesis.

Plugin Ecosystem: 1,000+ Community Extensions

Obsidian's open API has spawned a thriving plugin marketplace with over 1,000 community-developed extensions. Popular plugins include:

• Dataview: Query your notes like a database using SQL-like syntax
• Templater: Advanced templating with JavaScript support
• Kanban: Project management boards within Obsidian
• Excalidraw: Hand-drawn diagrams and sketches
• Calendar: Visualize daily notes in a calendar view

Developer-Friendly: The plugin API is well-documented, and many developers have open-sourced their plugins on GitHub. If a feature doesn't exist, you can build it yourself or request it from the community.

Markdown-Native with Extended Syntax

Obsidian uses Markdown as its native format but extends it with features like:

• Callouts for highlighted content
• Embedded notes and queries
• Math notation with LaTeX support
• Mermaid diagrams
• Custom CSS for styling

Future-Proofing: Because files are plain text Markdown, they remain readable in any text editor even decades from now. No proprietary formats, no lock-in.

Use Cases

Obsidian excels in scenarios where:

• Researchers and Academics: Building literature review vaults, connecting concepts across papers, maintaining research journals with 50,000+ notes and still experiencing smooth performance
• Writers and Content Creators: Managing character profiles, worldbuilding databases, plot outlines, and drafts in a connected knowledge system
• Developers: Documenting code snippets, maintaining technical wikis, building personal API reference libraries
• Students: Creating interconnected study notes, using spaced repetition plugins for exam prep, organizing coursework across multiple semesters
• Knowledge Workers: Building personal wikis, maintaining project documentation, creating a "second brain" for long-term career knowledge

Less Ideal For:

• Real-time team collaboration (no live co-editing)
• Users who need a cloud-first mobile experience
• Those seeking a plug-and-play solution without customization
• Teams requiring built-in project management and databases (Notion is better for this)

Pricing and Value

Personal Use (FREE)

Obsidian is completely free for personal use with no feature limitations. All core functionality—including themes, plugins, and the API—is accessible without payment or even creating an account.

Add-On Services

• Obsidian Sync: $4/month - End-to-end encrypted sync across devices with version history
• Obsidian Publish: $8/month per site - Publish notes as a public website (like a personal wiki)
• Catalyst: $25 one-time - Supporter tier with insider builds and early access

Commercial Use

$50 per user per year for business use (previously $50 one-time, changed in 2024). However, Obsidian announced in late 2025 that the commercial license is now optional, meaning anyone can use Obsidian for work for free unless their company wants to support development.

Value Analysis: The free tier is genuinely unlimited for personal use. If you value data ownership and offline access, the $4/month Sync service is far more affordable than Notion Team ($10/user/month) or Roam Research ($15/month). Many users opt for free alternatives like iCloud or Dropbox sync instead.

User Reviews and Community Feedback

Based on feedback from Reddit, Hacker News, Product Hunt, and Obsidian forums:

Positive Sentiment:

• "Obsidian made me fall in love with note-taking again" - recurring theme across reviews
• "After 50,000 files and 40+ plugins, desktop Obsidian still performs flawlessly"
• "My productivity increased 100-fold after switching from scattered notes to Obsidian"
• "The graph view helps me discover connections I didn't consciously make"
• "Local-first architecture means I trust Obsidian with my most private thoughts"

Critical Feedback:

• Learning Curve: "Intimidating at first with all the options" and "Markdown basics took time to learn"
• Mobile Experience: "UI is awkward on smartphones, feels like a desktop port" and "initial loading is quite slow"
• Collaboration: "No real-time co-editing makes it unsuitable for team projects"
• Sync Costs: "Frustrating that syncing requires an extra $4/month when notes are already local"
• Plain Aesthetics: "Interface is ugly out of the box, though themes help"

Potential Drawbacks

1. Steep Learning Curve

New users often feel overwhelmed by the combination of Markdown syntax, plugin options, and PKM concepts like Zettelkasten. It takes weeks to months to develop an effective workflow.

2. Lack of Native Collaboration

The free version has no real-time collaboration. While Obsidian Sync supports multi-device access, it's not designed for simultaneous editing by multiple users like Google Docs or Notion.

3. Mobile App Limitations

While functional, the mobile app feels like a desktop UI squeezed onto a smaller screen. Tasks like linking notes or navigating large vaults are more cumbersome on mobile than on desktop.

4. Sync Friction

Free users must configure third-party sync (iCloud, Dropbox, Syncthing, Git) which can lead to sync conflicts. Obsidian Sync solves this but adds $48/year to the cost.

5. Not Ideal for Structured Databases

While plugins like Dataview add database-like features, Obsidian doesn't match Notion's native databases, Airtable views, or structured project management tools. It's optimized for networked thought, not task/project management.

Conclusion

Obsidian represents a philosophy as much as a tool: that your knowledge deserves to be owned, portable, and future-proof. For individuals who view note-taking as an investment in long-term intellectual capital, Obsidian's local-first, Markdown-based approach is compelling.

Recommended For:

• Researchers, academics, and PhD students managing extensive literature reviews
• Writers building interconnected worldbuilding systems
• Developers maintaining personal knowledge bases and code documentation
• Lifelong learners committed to building a "second brain" over decades
• Privacy-conscious users who want complete data control

Not Recommended For:

• Teams needing real-time collaboration and project management
• Users seeking an out-of-the-box solution with zero configuration
• Those who primarily work on mobile devices
• People who prefer cloud-first convenience over data ownership

If you value intellectual autonomy, long-term data ownership, and the ability to customize your thinking environment to perfection, Obsidian's free tier alone offers more than most paid alternatives. Start simple with basic notes and links—the power features can wait until you need them.