Obsidian

Obsidian is a Research & Education tool that helps you sharpen your thinking by organizing your private thoughts and knowledge. It stores notes locally as plain text Markdown files, ensuring data ownership and offline access.

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At a glance

Pricing

Freemium · Paid

Free tier

Yes

API

Yes

Skill level

Mixed

About

What is Obsidian?

Obsidian is a flexible and private application designed for personal knowledge management and note-taking. It allows users to create interconnected notes, building a personal wiki or knowledge base. Notes are stored locally as plain text Markdown files, ensuring data ownership, longevity, and offline accessibility. The tool emphasizes linking ideas, visualizing relationships through a graph view, and brainstorming on an infinite canvas. With thousands of plugins and an open API, Obsidian is highly customizable to fit individual workflows, supporting use cases from journaling to project management. Optional add-on services like Sync offer end-to-end encrypted cross-device synchronization and version history, while Publish allows users to turn their notes into online wikis or documentation.

Best used for

Ideal for writers, students, and developers who need to organize personal notes, connect disparate ideas into a cohesive knowledge base, and customize their workflow with plugins. Especially valuable for those who prioritize data ownership, offline access, and a highly flexible, privacy-focused note-taking environment.

Common actions

organize notes

connect ideas

manage knowledge

brainstorm concepts

publish content

Capabilities

Key features

Local Markdown storage
Bidirectional linking
Graph visualization
Infinite canvas
Extensive plugin ecosystem
End-to-end encrypted sync
Publish notes online

Target Audience

writerstudentdevelopercontent creator

Integrations

Not yet documented

Pricing & Plans

Freemium · Paid

Free for personal use; commercial licenses available. Check obsidian.md for current pricing.

FAQs

Is Obsidian completely free to use?

The core Obsidian application is free for personal use, offering full functionality for note-taking and knowledge management. Optional add-on services like Obsidian Sync for cross-device synchronization and Obsidian Publish for web publishing are paid subscriptions, enhancing the core experience with additional features.

How does Obsidian ensure my data privacy and ownership?

Obsidian stores all your notes locally on your device as plain text Markdown files, giving you full ownership and control over your data. It does not collect telemetry data, and if you use Obsidian Sync, your notes are secured with AES-256 end-to-end encryption, meaning even Obsidian cannot read them.

What is the Catalyst license and what benefits does it offer?

The Catalyst license is an optional one-time payment that supports Obsidian's independent development. It grants early access to beta versions of the application, community badges, and access to a VIP channel, allowing users to contribute to the tool's evolution and show their support.

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Subcategories trending in Research & Education

Academic Research Study Assistants Course Creation Scientific Computing Summarization Language Learning

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