Notion vs Obsidian

Notion: Docs and wikis used by engineering teams. Obsidian: Local-first notes app that stores Markdown files.

Pricing, free tier, and features on this page come from each tool's own site. Google autocomplete (suggestqueries.google.com, client=firefox, hl=en) for "<tool> vs", fetched 2026-10-14; a pair is kept when the suggestion appears from both sides (2+ hits). Sorted by how much you can use for free (free or open source first, then free plan with paid tiers, then paid only), then by the number of documented features, then alphabetically. No ratings or reviews are used. Read the comparison methodology. How benchmark evidence is labeled.

	Notion	Obsidian
What it is	Docs and wikis used by engineering teams.	Local-first notes app that stores Markdown files.
Category	Dev Tools	Dev Tools
Pricing	Freemium (free plan + paid tiers)	Freemium (free plan + paid tiers)
Free tier	Yes	Yes
Starting price	Paid plans from $10 per member/month	—
Who it's for	For individuals, small teams, growing businesses, and enterprises.	People who keep private notes, journals, knowledge bases, and projects.
Key features	Store notes, docs, and tasks in one workspace	Save notes on your device as Markdown files, including offline
	Search connected apps such as Slack and GitHub	Create links between notes and view them as a graph
	Agents complete multi-step tasks using workspace context	Research, brainstorm, and diagram ideas on a canvas
	Databases with subtasks, dependencies, and custom properties	Install plugins and themes and use the open API
	AI meeting notes and follow-ups without a bot	Publish notes as a website, wiki, or knowledge base
Website	www.notion.com	obsidian.md

Data comes from each tool's homepage and pricing page. Pair chosen from search suggestions (obsidian vs notion; notion vs obsidian).