Note-Taking Apps

Notion vs Obsidian

Compare Notion and Obsidian side-by-side. See feature differences and pricing in the Note-Taking Apps category.

Most Features

by Notion

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Pricing: Free plan at $0 a member; Plus $12 and Business $24 a member a month billed monthly, or $10 and $20 billed yearly; Enterprise quoted. Checked September 2026.

Notion is a note-taking and workspace app from Notion Labs that turns notes into docs, wikis and databases. The free plan caps file uploads at 5 MB.

12 /18 features Full profile

Obsidian

by Obsidian

No reviews yet

Pricing: Free for personal use; Sync $5 per user a month or $4 billed annually; Publish $10 per site a month or $8 billed annually; Commercial license $50 per user a year. Checked September 2026.

Obsidian is a note-taking app that keeps notes as Markdown files on your own device, with linking, a graph view and thousands of community plugins.

10 /18 features Full profile

Feature Comparison

Note-Taking Apps features side-by-side

Feature	Notion 12/18 features	Obsidian 10/18 features
Sync across unlimited devices Notes sync to every device signed in to the account, with no device cap on the paid plan.	Yes	Yes
Offline access to notes Notes can be read and edited without a connection and sync when it returns.	Yes	Yes
Search inside attached PDFs and images Search finds text inside attached PDFs, scanned images and photos.	No	No
Web clipper browser extension A browser extension saves a page, article or selection into a note.	Yes	Yes
Handwritten notes with stylus Notes can be handwritten with a stylus on a tablet and searched or converted to text.	No	No
Bidirectional links between notes Linking one note to another creates a backlink shown on the target note.	Yes	Yes
Export to Markdown, HTML or PDF All notes can be exported in an open format that other apps can read.	Yes	Yes
Local plain-text file storage Notes are stored as Markdown or text files on the user's own device.	No	Yes
End-to-end encrypted note sync Notes are encrypted on the device before syncing so the vendor cannot read them.	No	Yes
Tasks and reminders inside notes Checkboxes in a note become tasks with due dates and reminders.	Yes	No
Note templates New notes can start from saved templates for meetings, journals or projects.	No	No
Shared notes with real-time editing A note or notebook can be shared and edited by several people at once.	Yes	No
Voice recording with transcription Audio recorded in a note is transcribed to searchable text.	Yes	No
AI note summaries and semantic search An assistant summarizes notes and answers questions across the whole notebook.	Yes	No
Community plugin ecosystem Third-party plugins or extensions add features to the app.	No	Yes
Calendar linking of notes to events Notes can be attached to calendar events and created from them.	Yes	No
Publish notes as public web pages Selected notes can be published as a public website or page.	Yes	Yes
Free plan for note-taking A free tier exists, usually with device, note or upload limits.	Yes	Yes
Overall Rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet

Notion 12/18 features

Sync across unlimited devices: Yes
Offline access to notes: Yes
Search inside attached PDFs and images: No
Web clipper browser extension: Yes
Handwritten notes with stylus: No
Bidirectional links between notes: Yes
Export to Markdown, HTML or PDF: Yes
Local plain-text file storage: No
End-to-end encrypted note sync: No
Tasks and reminders inside notes: Yes
Note templates: No
Shared notes with real-time editing: Yes
Voice recording with transcription: Yes
AI note summaries and semantic search: Yes
Community plugin ecosystem: No
Calendar linking of notes to events: Yes
Publish notes as public web pages: Yes
Free plan for note-taking: Yes

No reviews yet

Obsidian 10/18 features

Sync across unlimited devices: Yes
Offline access to notes: Yes
Search inside attached PDFs and images: No
Web clipper browser extension: Yes
Handwritten notes with stylus: No
Bidirectional links between notes: Yes
Export to Markdown, HTML or PDF: Yes
Local plain-text file storage: Yes
End-to-end encrypted note sync: Yes
Tasks and reminders inside notes: No
Note templates: No
Shared notes with real-time editing: No
Voice recording with transcription: No
AI note summaries and semantic search: No
Community plugin ecosystem: Yes
Calendar linking of notes to events: No
Publish notes as public web pages: Yes
Free plan for note-taking: Yes

No reviews yet

Pricing

Notion

Free plan at $0 a member; Plus $12 and Business $24 a member a month billed monthly, or $10 and $20 billed yearly; Enterprise quoted. Checked September 2026.

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Obsidian

Free for personal use; Sync $5 per user a month or $4 billed annually; Publish $10 per site a month or $8 billed annually; Commercial license $50 per user a year. Checked September 2026.

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