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Obsidian is simply a note-taking app designed for productivity and organization. Learn much astir its features, pricing and much successful this in-depth review.
Obsidian review
Rating: 4.7/5
Starting price: $50 per idiosyncratic per year
Key features:
- Links
- Graph view
- Work bid management
- Canvas feature
- Plugins
Obsidian merges the flexibility of note-taking with the powerfulness of a idiosyncratic cognition basal to blur the boundaries of however we signifier and link ideas. And its unsocial markdown attack and graph presumption diagnostic cater to a wide audience, including writers and researchers.
In this Obsidian review, we dissect its capabilities, pricing and alternatives to connection a caller position against accepted tools similar Microsoft Office and newer platforms similar Notion.
What is Obsidian?
Obsidian is simply a markdown-based note-taking exertion that excels successful gathering a networked cognition base. It allows users to create, nexus and signifier notes successful a highly customizable environment, which makes accusation retrieval intuitive and efficient.
Hands-on Obsidian reappraisal results
| Features | 4/5 |
| Pricing | 4.9/5 |
| User experience | 5/5 |
Obsidian pricing
Score: 4.9/5
| Personal use | $0 | $0 |
| Commercial use | _ | $50 yearly fee |
| Sync add-on | $5 | $4 |
| Publish add-on | $10 per site | $8 per site |
Personal use
For idiosyncratic use, Obsidian is free, including each app features specified arsenic themes, plugins and API access. There’s nary request for an relationship oregon sign-up, and users tin bask assemblage support.
Commercial use
Priced astatine $50 per idiosyncratic per year, this program is tailored for commercialized users, offering a commercialized usage licence with a 14-day escaped proceedings and precedence support.
Add-ons
Obsidian besides provides add-on services to heighten the idiosyncratic experience:
- Sync: At $5 per idiosyncratic per month, billed monthly, this work includes syncing notes crossed devices with end-to-end encryption, mentation past and precedence email support.
- Publish: For $10 per tract per month, billed monthly, users tin people notes to the web easily, featuring graph presumption and outline, with nary method cognition required and precedence email support.
- Catalyst program: It’s a$25+ one-time outgo for the Catalyst program, which is for users who privation to enactment Obsidian’s improvement further. It offers aboriginal entree to beta versions, peculiar assemblage badges and entree to a VIP channel.
Core Obsidian features
Score: 4/5
Links
Obsidian’s linking diagnostic allows for the instauration of nonstop connections betwixt notes, enabling users to easy notation and navigate related content. You tin support way of substance passages by linking them together. Teams volition beryllium capable to revisit ideas and spot different needed information. They volition besides beryllium capable to spell backmost and link ideas they recognize acceptable unneurotic aboriginal on. It’s similar notation links successful a probe paper, but connected a larger scale.
Learning to make links. Image: Collins Ayuya/TechRepublicGraph
The Graph presumption successful Obsidian provides a ocular representation of your notes and their interconnections, offering a unsocial position connected your cognition base. It’s a web of connected notes linked together. This is large for seeing relationships, organizing and mapping ideas for brainstorming. The maps are interactive and item relationships for each enactment erstwhile you hover with your mouse.
Connection of each my notes successful graph view. Image: Collins Ayuya/TechRepublicCanvas
Canvas successful Obsidian is simply a flexible abstraction wherever users tin visually signifier their thoughts and notes. The interface is akin to Figma, wherever you tin put substance boxes and images immoderate mode you conceive. You tin visually signifier and link your notes successful immoderate layout. Teams tin manipulate audio, video, images and PDFs successful Canvas and usage the workspace arsenic enactment views for notes, arsenic good arsenic nest canvas views wrong canvas views.
Setting up a canvas successful Obsidian. Image: Collins Ayuya/TechRepublicPlugins
Obsidian supports a wide scope of community-developed plugins that widen the functionality of the app. Currently, determination are implicit 1,000 plugins to take from, and there’s rather a variety. They person plugins for each sorts of exporting, moving with HTML, bundle integrations, AI assistants, annotating and galore more.
Some of the halfway plugins disposable to Obsidian. Image: Collins Ayuya/TechRepublic.Sync
Obsidian Sync is simply a premium work that offers end-to-end encrypted synchronization of your notes crossed devices. It ensures that your information is securely updated and accessible, whether you’re moving from your desktop, laptop oregon mobile device.
For an further $4 a month, you get end-to-end encryption, enactment offline features, mentation past for each enactment and cross-platform functionality. If you’re looking to support a accordant workflow crossed devices, past you should see Sync.
Sync successful action. Image: ObsidianPublish
With Obsidian Publish, users tin stock their notes and cognition bases with the world. This work transforms your Obsidian vault into a publically accessible website wherever you tin stock ideas and accusation connected a idiosyncratic oregon nonrecreational platform.
It starts astatine $8 per period per site, and with it, you get hosting for up to 4 GB, customizable taxable and domain, precedence email enactment and SEO and mobile performance. These are alongside features similar hover previews, graph views, stacked pages and backlinks, and a assortment of authoring and collaboration options.
A publishing illustration successful Obsidian. Image: ObsidianObsidian idiosyncratic experience
Score: 5/5
Obsidian’s visually appealing idiosyncratic interface is casual to prime up and usage without overmuch guidance. It besides has autochthonal mobile and tablet apps for iOS and Android, truthful users tin entree and edit their notes seamlessly crossed devices. While its halfway functionality focuses connected markdown-based note-taking, its expansive plugin ecosystem allows for important customization, including the summation of automations to streamline workflows.
Obsidian pros and cons
| Easy, intuitive and clutter-free interface. | Too elemental for data-heavy projects oregon teams that request much features. |
| Ability to usage it locally, by subscription and connected mobile devices. | Security is personally maintained speech from the sync add-on. |
| Extensive assortment of plugins. | The plugin assemblage comes with risks and nary support. |
| Multiple, flexible pricing options. | Customization tin beryllium time-consuming. |
Best uses for Obsidian
Obsidian’s versatility makes it large for a wide scope of applications, from idiosyncratic note-taking to analyzable task management. Here are immoderate of the champion uses for Obsidian.
Writing and research
Obsidian shines arsenic a penning tool, particularly for those who similar Markdown for formatting, with the quality to nexus notes and sources and simplify the enactment of probe materials. Its seamless integration of penning and enactment absorption makes it cleanable for authors, journalists and researchers.
Project tracking
With features similar the Kanban committee plugin, Obsidian tin beryllium transformed into a almighty task absorption tool. Users tin way the advancement of assorted tasks and projects, moving items done antithetic stages of completion, opening it up to freelancers, task managers and anyone needing to support tabs connected aggregate projects.
Personal cognition management
Obsidian’s linking and backlinking marque it rather utile for gathering a idiosyncratic cognition base. Users tin make a web of interconnected notes, making it easier to store, retrieve and link information. This comes successful useful for students, academics and lifelong learners.
Digital gardening
For those funny successful integer gardening, Obsidian offers a canvas wherever ideas tin turn and germinate implicit time. The graph presumption and customizable links empower users to spot however their thoughts intersect, cultivating originative exploration and thought development.
Obsidian alternatives and competitors
| Markdown support | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Graph View for enactment connections | Yes | No | No | Yes (with limitations) |
| Plugin support | Extensive | Limited | Limited | Moderate |
| Starting price | Free oregon $50 per twelvemonth for paid plan | Free oregon $7.99 per mo. for paid plan | Free | Free oregon $4 per mo. for paid plan |
| Ease of use | Moderate learning curve | User-friendly | User-friendly | Intuitive and user-friendly |
| Real-time collaboration | Via plugins | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Evernote
Image: EvernoteEvernote is an effectual instrumentality for web clipping and cross-platform enactment access. Its straightforward UI and organizational features cater to some idiosyncratic and nonrecreational note-taking needs, making it a coagulated prime for capturing and organizing accusation from assorted sources.
For much information, work our Evernote review.
OneNote
Image: Microsoft OneNoteMicrosoft OneNote offers a flexible integer notebook experience, which is large for users embedded successful the Microsoft ecosystem. Its freeform canvas and heavy integration with Office tools marque it suitable for elaborate note-taking, task readying and collaboration, particularly for students and professionals.
For much information, work our OneNote review.
Notion
Image: NotionNotion shines arsenic an all-in-one workspace capability, combining notes, tasks, databases and wikis. If you’re looking for a highly customizable level to negociate enactment and idiosyncratic beingness with beardown enactment for collaboration and organization, you should shortlist Notion.
For much information, work our Notion review.
Obsidian reappraisal methodology
Our reappraisal of Obsidian was focused connected 3 cardinal categories: halfway features, idiosyncratic acquisition and pricing. Each class had a maximum people of five, of which Obsidian scored precise high.
We tested the instrumentality to recognize however Obsidian approaches features similar links, note-taking and more. From the archetypal moment, it was straightforward, aesthetically pleasing and casual to use. From our hands-on experience, we got to recognize the usage cases of Obsidian — its strengths, weaknesses and, ultimately, its alternatives successful lawsuit a idiosyncratic isn’t impressed by Obsidian.
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