Is Obsidian worth it? Our review

Best Features, Pros, Cons, Pricing & User Reviews

What is Obsidian?

Obsidian is a note-taking application designed to help you connect and organize your ideas effectively. It’s a local-first, markdown note-taking app, meaning your notes are stored securely on your device, prioritizing privacy.

Obsidian is accessible on Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android, and no account or sign-up is required unless you want to sync between devices. This makes it easy to use, and Obsidian is becoming a well-known Evernote alternative.

How does Obsidian work?

Obsidian works by allowing you to take notes, connect them & visualize them.

Many people use Obsidian to build relationships between notes, allowing you to enhance them and see how they interconnect. Obsidian uses local-first, which means you can view notes offline, but you can use it without storing data outside of your device. You can sync it with other devices (say you have iOS and Windows), but you would need the Obsidian sync pricing, which allows you to sync and have E2E notes. Obsidian also works with markdown, which means you can take easy notes and move between apps.

Obsidian also has more views for visualizing notes, like graph and canvas views.

Both are effective ways to take notes and see how they connect. Graph view acts like a brain and a visual representation of all the notes in your account. Many people also like Obsidian Canvas, which provides users with a Miro-like layout for organizing notes, images, and documents in a canvas-like layout.

Obsidian uses plugins to optimize your use; community plugins allow you to add experiences like Kanban, calendar, and task management to Obsidian in a (what feels like) hacky style for better workload management. There are also core plugins, which are the features available to Obsidian users as part of the core experience that you can choose to switch on and off, making Obsidian very customizable.

Feature Focus

Obsidian: Offline Mode

How does offline work in Obsidian?

Obsidian has a local-first focus, which allows you to build a vault. This helps store your files and documents on the device, allowing for a more secure setup. This will enable you to store your vault on the device you own.

Many people find Obsidian's offline local-first focus an attractive solution to companies owning your data. An optional "sync" mode allows you to sync between devices, but this comes as a monthly fee.

Feature Focus

Obsidian: Note Editor

What can I add to Obsidian notes?

Obsidian notes can contain the following formats: text, links, images, tags, tables, backlinks, and embeds like YouTube videos, PDFs, and code snippets. Obsidian's plugin community allows for more Kanban Boards and calendar views.

This comes in a minimal and easy-to-use layout.

Feature Focus

Obsidian: Canvas View

What is Obsidian Canvas?

Obsidian Canvas is a feature that allows you to connect notes, visualize images and notes in one place, and build a visual workspace that can help bring ideas to life. Many visual thinkers like this experience to bring their ideas together.

The feature is perfect if you have an idea and want to express it in a visual manner, allowing you to use diagrams and existing notes in your Obsidian vault. Other apps like Scrintal and Milanote have features like this.

Video Tutorial: Obsidian Review

Feature Focus

E2E notes in Obsidian Sync

Does Obsidian have E2E Notes?

Obsidian offers an optional upgrade for Obsidian Sync (see pricing) that will help you sync between devices and have E2E notes used to sync between devices. The application is excellent because upgrading to the premium syncing options allows you to use end-to-end encryption to store and securely manage your notes between devices.

There's also version history, which allows you to see the version history for every note for one year. Also, if you want to work on team notes, there is a shared file with private data.

Feature Focus

Obsidian: Graph View

What is Obsidian Graph View?

Obsidian graph view helps people visualize notes connected across their workspace. This is perfect for those who want to see relationships between notes created and the creativity of ideas formed in your account.

You can use the filtering of nodes to narrow your search better, but much like the human brain, the graph view shows the synapses between notes and thoughts you've had. This is a popular feature in the note-taking PKM space.

Obsidian Pros

• Comes with PKM abilities
• Powerful graph view for networked notes

Obsidian Cons

• Lacks project management
• Does not have database abilities

How much does Obsidian cost per month?

Obsidian is free, but it offers a $4 monthly sync option for syncing across devices and a $8 monthly publish option popular with digital gardening.

Is Obsidian free?

You can use Obsidian for free as a local-first note-taking application.

Should I get Obsidian?

Obsidian is best suited for advanced note-takers.

If you need to connect notes or see how notes are linked, or if you need something more customizable and accessible, with security as a focus, then Obsidian could be your note-taking app. If you're on a budget too, Obsidian will be very attractive with their local-first approach to notes.

Obsidian is one of the most customizable ways to take notes with plugins that can make your experience even more powerful while still using markdown notes.