Obsidian review: the notes app you can never get locked out of

Obsidian is a free note-taking app that stores your notes as plain Markdown files in a folder on your own device, which Obsidian calls a vault. There’s no account to create and no server in the middle unless you pay for Sync or Publish. Since February 2025 it has also been free for work use, and the $50-a-year commercial licence is now optional (Obsidian blog).

On the Cybernock research rubric Obsidian scores 8.3/10 and ranks first in our best note-taking apps list. It leads on ownership, privacy and price, the three things that decide whether a notes app is still a good home in ten years. It loses heavily on team collaboration. That’s why Notion is the better pick for shared docs and wikis.

How does Obsidian work?

Obsidian works on files, not a database. Every note is a .md file you can open in any text editor, back up with any tool and move with a file manager. Links between notes use a simple double-bracket syntax. From those links Obsidian builds backlinks and a graph view, so related ideas surface without folders doing all the work.

Because the vault is just a folder, you can sync it any way you like: Obsidian Sync, iCloud Drive, Git or a file-sync service. The app works fully offline on every platform.

That design is the core argument for Obsidian over cloud tools. Your notes never depend on a company’s servers staying up or a pricing page staying the same. If the company vanished tomorrow, you’d still have a folder of readable text files.

Which Obsidian features matter most?

• Backlinks and graph view: every link is two-way, and the graph shows clusters of connected notes.
• Bases: a core plugin added in version 1.9 (May 2025) that turns notes and their properties into table and card views, with filters and formulas. The data stays in your Markdown files (Obsidian Help: Bases).
• Canvas: an infinite board for laying out notes, images and links visually.
• Web Clipper: a free, open-source browser extension maintained by the Obsidian team that saves pages straight into your vault as Markdown.
• Community plugins and themes: thousands of add-ons, from task managers to AI assistants that call a model you choose.

In practice, Bases narrows the gap with Notion: table and card views of your notes now ship in the core app.

There’s no built-in AI. Obsidian hasn’t shipped its own assistant, so AI features come from community plugins that connect to a provider such as OpenAI or a local model. Your notes stay away from any AI service by default. The cost is setup effort, which runs higher than in Notion or Evernote.

Is Obsidian private and secure?

Yes, and better evidenced than most rivals. Without Sync, notes never leave your device. With Sync, notes are encrypted end to end with AES-256 before upload, so Obsidian can’t read them (Obsidian pricing).

Two independent firms have reviewed Sync. Cure53 audited the Sync API, server and cryptography in October 2024 and found one medium and four low-priority issues, which Obsidian fixed. Trail of Bits audited the same scope after an August 2025 encryption upgrade and reported eleven issues. Three were documented as known limits rather than fixed, including deterministic hashes that could let an attacker who controls the server confirm whether a known file is present (Obsidian audit summary). Disclosure at that level is rare in this category.

Community plugins are the weak spot. They run with broad access to your vault and the files on your computer. Don’t trust an abandoned or little-known plugin with a vault that holds sensitive notes; stick to well-known, actively maintained ones. When you install one, check when it was last updated.

How much does Obsidian cost?

The app is free on every platform. You pay only for optional cloud services. These are US prices as listed on Obsidian’s pricing and Sync pages in October 2026.

Start with the free app and a sync method you already have. If you’ve got iCloud Drive or Git working, Sync is a convenience, not a requirement. Pay for Sync Standard when you want end-to-end encrypted sync across phone and computer without fiddling with iCloud or Git. Move to Plus only if you attach large PDFs or images, need several vaults, or want a year of version history. Skip the commercial licence unless you simply want to fund development. It unlocks nothing.

Watch the file-size cap. Standard stops at 5 MB per file, so large scanned PDFs need Plus even when the vault is small.

Where does Obsidian fall short?

• Team work: Sync can share a vault with other paying users, but there is no live co-editing, no comments and no per-page permissions.
• Learning curve: a blank vault and a plugin directory ask more of you than Notion’s templates or Apple Notes.
• No web app: you cannot open your vault from a borrowed computer’s browser.
• Closed source: the app itself is not open source, although your data is in an open format.

How does Obsidian compare with Notion, Bear and Standard Notes?

Notion wins when several people edit the same pages. Bear is simpler and prettier if you only use Apple devices. Standard Notes suits people who want encrypted cloud notes without managing files.

Who should not use Obsidian?

Four kinds of user will be happier elsewhere.

• Teams that write together. With no live co-editing or comments, shared docs belong in Notion or Google Workspace.
• Anyone who wants zero setup on Apple devices. Bear or Apple Notes work the moment you open them.
• Stylus and handwriting users. OneNote is built for ink; Obsidian is a text editor.
• People who need their notes from any browser. Without a web app, a borrowed laptop can’t reach your vault; Notion and Standard Notes both run on the web.

Should you use Obsidian?

Yes, if the notes are yours alone and you want them to outlast any app. You get a fast editor, linked notes and database views for free, everything stays in Markdown, and the only bill is $4 a month if you want encrypted sync. Choose Notion for team wikis, OneNote if you write with a stylus, and Bear if you want a polished Apple-only app with less setup. See all options in our note-taking apps ranking.