n this Obsidian review, I will guide you through the key features, pricing, user interface, my thoughts, and the pros and cons of this note-taking app.

Let’s dive in!

Verdict

Here’s the quick verdict if you don’t want to read the full review:

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Short on time? Here’s a quick overview of Obsidian

What is Obsidian?

Obsidian is a powerful note-taking application that has grown fast over the last few years. It has a local first approach, meaning your files are stored locally, and only you can access your notes.

Besides using Obsidian on your PC (Mac, Windows, and Linux), you can access your notes from mobile devices, including IOS and Android. However, you need to have a paid plan to sync notes on multiple devices. But I will talk about this later.

When it comes to taking notes, Obsidian uses markdown language. So, when you create paragraphs, Obsidian uses a blank line to separate blocks of text. This way, all your blocks will be separated by a blank line and treated as a distinct paragraph.

Nevertheless, using markdown files has additional advantages. Essentially, markdown files are widely supported, and you can transfer these files to other note-taking apps if you want to switch from Obsidian in the future. This way, you can own your data and notes, no matter which note-taking app you use.

Also, one thing to consider is the regular updates. Obsidian’s team continuously develops this note-taking app, so it will just get better in the future. This is one of the reasons why many people have moved from Evernote to Obisidan in recent years.

What I learned using Obsidian for my notes over time

Obsidian is one of the most powerful note-taking apps on the market. Thanks to the plugins, it offers a comprehensive feature set compared to many note-taking apps.

As a notes app, I think it is definitely among the best. It helps you organize and visualize your notes in a way that other apps cannot. Also, you can access all the features with the free version, which is great.

While it has a learning curve, compared to Anytype, you can learn the functions of this note-taking app significantly faster, and it offers similar advanced features.

On the other hand, Obsidian is ideal for personal use only, as it lacks collaboration features. That said, compared to Notion, Obsidian is limited to note-taking and was not designed for teams.

Moreover, the front end of Obsidian needs some development. The UI of the Obsidian app seems old-fashioned in my opinion.

Why Obsidian didn’t score higher (and where it loses points)

Obsidian reached 4.1 thanks to its advanced note-taking & knowledge management capabilities. It also delivered impressive performance, and its free plan is impressive.

Since we take team features into account when establishing our final score for note-taking apps, we could not make an exception for Obisidan. That said, it received low scores for team features and task and workflow management.

When to choose Obsidian

When you should skip Obsidian

Obsidian’s key features

In this part of the Obsidian review, I will show you the key features of this note-taking app!

Obsidian Vault

The Obsidian Vault is a folder that contains your notes, attachments, and data. When creating a vault, you can choose end-to-end encryption that offers the strongest security. However, if you choose end-to-end encryption for your vault, safely store your encryption password, as you cannot enter your vault without it.

You can create more vaults and customize them with different themes. If you go to appearances, there are over 160 themes created by the community that you can install and use right away.

It is great that Obsidian offers these customization options so you can personalize your vaults.

Note-taking app

As mentioned before, Obsidian uses markdown language when writing your notes. To create paragraphs, just insert a blank line to separate your paragraphs. If you press Enter, it will create a new line in your note, and it will be treated as a continuation of the same paragraph in the rendered output.

Also, you can change the size of your fonts under the Appearance option in settings even if you use Obsidian on mobile devices.

You can create tags, which help you organize and find your notes more easily. Just enter a hash symbol (#), and you can choose from your tags.

When taking notes, Obsidian allows you to use attachments, such as images, audio files, or PDFs. You can access these files using your files system. Moreover, you can embed web pages as well. To embed a web page, you have to use the iframe.

Ultimately, you can create notes easily with Obsidian, and the way they work makes them ideal for creating your personal knowledge management center or second brain.

Bidirectional links

The internal links are one of the best features I discovered during my Obsidian review. Unlike tools like Evernote or Xtiles, which focus more on organizing notes into notebooks or boards, Obsidian is built around connecting ideas. Using this feature, you can link notes to each other and create a more connected system inside your vault.

To link notes, just type “[[” in Obsidian and then choose the file to which you want to create a link. Another way to add a link is to select the Command palette and then choose the option of “add an internal link.”

So, it is quite simple to connect your notes. And the real power of the internal links comes with the graph view.

Graph view

The graph view is perfect for visualizing the relations between your data. Using the graph view makes it easy to create your personal knowledge base, as you can see how your ideas are connected to each other.

You can easily zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on your mouse. What is especially valuable are the filter options. Obsidian’s graph view allows you to filter your notes based on search terms.

Overall, it works like a knowledge graph view, and you can see how your notes are connected.

Canvas view

One of the features I recommend you to try is the canvas view. It offers an excellent tool for visual note-taking.

This function lets you choose from visual aspects, such as size and position, to make sense of your notes. With the canvas, you can connect notes with lines and group multiple notes together to better understand their relationship.

Plugins

With the plugins, you can customize your vault and access many advanced features. There are two types of plugins.

The Obsidian core plugins switch on and off features you do and do not like. For instance, you can switch off the graph view if you do not use it.

When it comes to the community plugins, you can choose from more than 2,000 plugins. The community plugins allow you to access more features like creating Excel-like tables or even a language translator.

To access the community plugins, open settings, select the turn on community plugins, and install the ones you like.

Now, let’s see Obsidian’s integrations!

Obsidian’s integrations

Using the plugins, you can integrate Obsidian with other third-party apps like Todoist, Trello, or Toggl Track. The number of integrations is quite limited, but at least some popular tools are among them.

You can see the full list of integrations here.

Obsidian’s pricing

One of the best things I found during my Obsidian review is the pricing. If you use Obsidian for personal use, it is 100% free.

The free version for personal use includes all the features, themes, plugins, APIs, and community support. The free version is quite generous, as there are no limitations on which features you can use.

However, if you want Obsidian for commercial use, you need to buy the commercial use license, which is $50 per year. Commercial purposes mean using Obsidian for revenue-generating or work-related activities within a for‑profit organization with two or more employees. However, before deciding to purchase Obsidian, you have 14 days of free trial.

To upgrade your Obsidian experience and security, you can buy add-ons. You need to purchase the add-on services separately for commercial and free users.

The Obsidian Sync add-on allows you to synchronize your notes across multiple devices and offers end-to-end encryption, version history options, and priority email support. It is $4 per user per month.

The Obsidian Publish add-on is $8 per month per site. With this add-on, you can publish notes to the web, and it offers graph view and priority email support.

Finally, you can access the beta versions of Obsidian and VIP badges for a one-time payment of over $25. With this, you can support Obsidian and get early access to the beta versions.

Obsidian’s user interface

Let’s say that Obsidian’s user interface is not pretty. It is similar to Apple Notes’ user interface, but somehow, I feel like Obsidian’s UI is a little bit clunky. If you do not like its user interface, try the dark theme, as it seems better.

You can also choose different themes from the community plugins. Many users recommended the Minimal theme, so you can give it a try.

Obsidian’s pros and cons

Let’s see the pros and cons I discovered during my Obsidian review!

Obsidian’s pros

First, Obsidian is a safe note-taking app that allows you to store sensitive data thanks to its high-security standards. This is particularly true if you purchase the Obsidian sync add-on, so you can protect your data with end-to-end encryption.

Furthermore, Obsidian’s free version is excellent. It includes all the features you need to manage and organize your notes effectively.

In addition, there are regular updates, so I expect more features and plugins in the future.

Moreover, I enjoyed using the graph view and bidirectional links to visualize the relations between my notes.

Finally, utilizing markdown files is practical if you want to switch to other note-taking apps eventually.

Obsidian’s cons

When it comes to the cons of Obsidian, it is easy to see that it is quite a complex app with a huge learning curve. So, it will take time to learn how to use Obsidian.

Another problem for me is the lack of collaboration features. Basically, you can use this note-taking app only for personal knowledge management. Therefore, I do not see it as a best fit note-taking app for teams.

Lastly, while it is safer to store your data locally, some people just want to use a web version. However, you can not make such a decision in the case of Obsidian, as you are forced to download it to your devices.

Editor’s pick for the best Obsidian alternative

If you use MacOS and iOS, you definitely need to check out Elephas. It is an AI-powered assistant that helps you to create a smart knowledge base. Elephas supports 20+ file formats, from DocX, PDFs, Images, URLs, Audio files, and Web pages to YouTube videos. 

This way, you can store everything, including projects, clients, etc., and organize them into safe spaces. Thanks to its AI features, you can interact smoothly and effectively with this data, and it works like a personal ChatGPT that works from the uploaded files. 

With Elephas, you can ask questions about the uploaded files and gain insights from your data. Whenever it provides you with an answer, it uses references from your own data, so you can ensure it is 100% relevant to you.

Ultimately, Elephas helps you turn this fragmented information into actionable steps and offers a great knowledge management solution for MacOS and iOS users. 

Other Obsidian alternatives

Here are some of the best alternatives to Obsidian:

Compare Obsidian vs alternatives

Evernote VS Obsidian

Evernote vs Obsidian

Obsidian VS Anytype

Obsidian vs Anytype

Obsidian VS Xtiles

Obsidian vs Xtiles

Obsidian VS Coda

Obsidian vs Coda

Final thoughts: Obsidian review

Overall, it is safe to say that after my Obsidian review, this app is worth a try. It has a fantastic free plan, so you can just give it a try.

For personal use, it is a great note-taking app with a comprehensive feature set. While it is a complex app with a long learning curve, it offers many possibilities to organize and visualize your notes. And most importantly, you can do it safely.

Nonetheless, if you are looking for a note-taking app for your team, Obsidian is not an ideal choice due to the lack of collaboration features. Therefore, I do not recommend Obsidian for project management.

Related articles:

• Notion Vs Obsidian: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
• Obsidian vs Anytype: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
• Evernote vs Obsidian: A REAL Comparison With No Fluff (2026)
• Best 6 OneNote Alternatives In 2026 | 100+ Personally Tested Tools

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Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Discover how we stay transparent, read our review methodology, and let us know about any tools we missed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Obsidian actually useful?

Obsidian is a valuable note-taking app that helps you organize your notes and create a personal knowledge base. It offers a platform where you can safely store and organize your data.

Is Obsidian paid worth it?

I think both Obsidian Sync and Publish are worth it. The Obsidian sync is especially a useful add-on, as it allows you to access your vault on multiple devices and uses end-to-end encryption.

What are the negatives of Obsidian?

First, Obsidian is a little bit clunky, so do not expect a visually appealing experience. Secondly, Obsidian lacks collaboration features, so it is only ideal for personal use. Lastly, there is no web version for Obsidian.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. I have been testing productivity apps for almost three years now. I reach 25.000 -50.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel, newsletter, and social media to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!

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