Obsidian Evaluate (2024): Options, Pricing and Alternate options

Obsidian merges the pliability of note-taking with the ability of a private data base to blur the boundaries of how we manage and join concepts. And its distinctive markdown method and graph view characteristic cater to a large viewers, together with writers and researchers.

On this Obsidian assessment, we dissect its capabilities, pricing and alternate options to supply a recent perspective towards conventional instruments like Microsoft Workplace and newer platforms like Notion.

What’s Obsidian?

Obsidian is a markdown-based note-taking utility that excels in constructing a networked data base. It permits customers to create, hyperlink and manage notes in a extremely customizable surroundings, which makes data retrieval intuitive and environment friendly.

Fingers-on Obsidian assessment outcomes

Obsidian pricing

Rating: 4.9/5

Private use

For private use, Obsidian is free, together with all app options resembling themes, plugins and API entry. There’s no want for an account or sign-up, and customers can get pleasure from neighborhood help.

Industrial use

Priced at $50 per person per yr, this plan is tailor-made for business customers, providing a business use license with a 14-day free trial and precedence help.

Add-ons

Obsidian additionally offers add-on companies to reinforce the person expertise:

• Sync: At $5 per person per 30 days, billed month-to-month, this service contains syncing notes throughout gadgets with end-to-end encryption, model historical past and precedence e-mail help.
• Publish: For $10 per website per 30 days, billed month-to-month, customers can publish notes to the net simply, that includes graph view and description, with no technical data required and precedence e-mail help.
• Catalyst program: It’s a$25+ one-time fee for the Catalyst program, which is for customers who want to help Obsidian’s improvement additional. It provides early entry to beta variations, particular neighborhood badges and entry to a VIP channel.

Core Obsidian options

Rating: 4/5

Hyperlinks

Obsidian’s linking characteristic permits for the creation of direct connections between notes, enabling customers to simply reference and navigate associated content material. You possibly can hold observe of textual content passages by linking them collectively. Groups will be capable of revisit concepts and see different wanted data. They may also be capable of return and join concepts they understand match collectively afterward. It’s like reference hyperlinks in a analysis paper, however on a bigger scale.

Graph

The Graph view in Obsidian offers a visible map of your notes and their interconnections, providing a novel perspective in your data base. It’s an online of related notes linked collectively. That is nice for seeing relationships, organizing and mapping concepts for brainstorming. The maps are interactive and spotlight relationships for every notice whenever you hover together with your mouse.

Canvas

Canvas in Obsidian is a versatile house the place customers can visually manage their ideas and notes. The interface is much like Figma, the place you’ll be able to organize textual content bins and pictures any approach you conceive. You possibly can visually manage and join your notes in any structure. Groups can manipulate audio, video, photos and PDFs in Canvas and use the workspace as work views for notes, in addition to nest canvas views inside canvas views.

Plugins

Obsidian helps a variety of community-developed plugins that stretch the performance of the app. Presently, there are over 1,000 plugins to select from, and there’s fairly a spread. They’ve plugins for all types of exporting, working with HTML, software program integrations, AI assistants, annotating and plenty of extra.

Sync

Obsidian Sync is a premium service that gives end-to-end encrypted synchronization of your notes throughout gadgets. It ensures that your information is securely up to date and accessible, whether or not you’re working out of your desktop, laptop computer or cell system.

For an extra $4 a month, you get end-to-end encryption, work offline options, model historical past for every notice and cross-platform performance. Should you’re seeking to keep a constant workflow throughout gadgets, then it’s best to contemplate Sync.

Publish

With Obsidian Publish, customers can share their notes and data bases with the world. This service transforms your Obsidian vault right into a publicly accessible web site the place you’ll be able to share concepts and data on a private or skilled platform.

It begins at $8 per 30 days per website, and with it, you get internet hosting for as much as 4 GB, customizable theme and area, precedence e-mail help and search engine marketing and cell efficiency. These are alongside options like hover previews, graph views, stacked pages and backlinks, and a wide range of authoring and collaboration choices.

Obsidian person expertise

Rating: 5/5

Obsidian’s visually interesting person interface is simple to select up and use with out a lot steerage. It additionally has native cell and pill apps for iOS and Android, so customers can entry and edit their notes seamlessly throughout gadgets. Whereas its core performance focuses on markdown-based note-taking, its expansive plugin ecosystem permits for important customization, together with the addition of automations to streamline workflows.

Obsidian professionals and cons

Finest makes use of for Obsidian

Obsidian’s versatility makes it nice for a variety of functions, from private note-taking to complicated venture administration. Listed below are among the finest makes use of for Obsidian.

Writing and analysis

Obsidian shines as a writing instrument, particularly for many who want Markdown for formatting, with the power to hyperlink notes and sources and simplify the group of analysis supplies. Its seamless integration of writing and notice administration makes it good for authors, journalists and researchers.

Mission monitoring

With options just like the Kanban board plugin, Obsidian may be remodeled into a robust venture administration instrument. Customers can observe the progress of assorted duties and initiatives, shifting gadgets by way of completely different phases of completion, opening it as much as freelancers, venture managers and anybody needing to maintain tabs on a number of initiatives.

Private data administration

Obsidian’s linking and backlinking make it fairly helpful for constructing a private data base. Customers can create an online of interconnected notes, making it simpler to retailer, retrieve and join data. This turns out to be useful for college kids, lecturers and lifelong learners.

Digital gardening

For these curious about digital gardening, Obsidian provides a canvas the place concepts can develop and evolve over time. The graph view and customizable hyperlinks empower customers to see how their ideas intersect, cultivating inventive exploration and thought improvement.

Obsidian alternate options and rivals

Evernote

Evernote is an efficient instrument for internet clipping and cross-platform notice entry. Its easy UI and organizational options cater to each private {and professional} note-taking wants, making it a strong alternative for capturing and organizing data from numerous sources.

For extra data, learn our Evernote assessment.

OneNote

Microsoft OneNote provides a versatile digital pocket book expertise, which is nice for customers embedded within the Microsoft ecosystem. Its freeform canvas and deep integration with Workplace instruments make it appropriate for detailed note-taking, venture planning and collaboration, particularly for college kids and professionals.

For extra data, learn our OneNote assessment.

Notion

Notion shines as an all-in-one workspace functionality, combining notes, duties, databases and wikis. Should you’re on the lookout for a extremely customizable platform to handle work and private life with robust help for collaboration and group, it’s best to shortlist Notion.

For extra data, learn our Notion assessment.

Obsidian assessment methodology

Our assessment of Obsidian was targeted on three key classes: core options, person expertise and pricing. Every class had a most rating of 5, of which Obsidian scored very excessive.

We examined the instrument to know how Obsidian approaches options like hyperlinks, note-taking and extra. From the primary second, it was easy, aesthetically pleasing and straightforward to make use of. From our hands-on expertise, we obtained to know the use circumstances of Obsidian — its strengths, weaknesses and, in the end, its alternate options in case a person isn’t impressed by Obsidian.