No affiliate links or sponsorship. Prices, features, and security details come from Notion’s and Obsidian’s own pages and help docs, checked October 27, 2026. We didn’t run hands-on tests, and there are no screenshots.
Quick answer
Notion vs Obsidian is cloud teamwork versus local, private notes. Pick Notion if you want a shared online workspace with databases, team sharing, and built-in AI. Pick Obsidian if you want free, fast notes stored as Markdown files on your own device, with optional paid sync. Teams usually lean Notion; solo writers, researchers, and privacy-minded users usually lean Obsidian.
Key takeaways
- Price: Obsidian is free without limits, including commercial use; Sync starts at $4 per user per month billed annually. Notion has a Free plan, with Plus listed at $10 and Business at $20 per member per month.
- Where notes live: Obsidian keeps notes as plain-text Markdown files in a folder on your device; Notion stores your workspace in its cloud.
- Collaboration: Notion is built for teams; Obsidian shared vaults need Sync for every collaborator and have no live co-editing.
- Offline: Obsidian works fully offline; Notion’s desktop and mobile apps let you view, edit, and create pages offline, with pages you mark available offline.
- Security: Obsidian Sync uses AES-256 end-to-end encryption by default; Notion encrypts data in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256) and is SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audited.
Our verdict
Choose Notion for team wikis, project databases, shared docs, and anyone who wants everything in one online workspace with AI built in.
Choose Obsidian for personal knowledge bases, research and writing, and anyone who wants their notes as local files they fully control, at no cost.
How we compared
We compared both apps using their official pricing pages, product pages, security pages, and help documentation, re-checked October 27, 2026 (PKT). Obsidian’s help site loads with JavaScript, so we read the same pages from Obsidian’s official help repository. We didn’t test speed or sync reliability, so there are no performance claims.
Notion vs Obsidian at a glance
| Notion | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes (AI trial, 5 MB file uploads, 7-day page history) | Yes, free without limits, no sign-up |
| Paid plans | Plus $10, Business $20 per member/month; Enterprise custom | Optional: Sync from $4, Publish from $8 per month (billed annually) |
| Where data lives | Notion’s cloud | Markdown files on your device |
| Team sharing | Shared workspace with members and free guests | Shared vaults via Sync; no live co-editing |
| Offline | Desktop and mobile apps, pages marked for offline | Works fully offline |
| Platforms | Windows and macOS desktop apps, mobile apps | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Built-in AI | Yes (trial on Free; more on paid plans) | Not built in |
Pricing
Obsidian is free for everything, including work use. Obsidian says it’s “free without limits” with no sign-up, and its license is free for personal, commercial, and non-profit use (Obsidian pricing, Obsidian license). You only pay for optional services:
| Obsidian add-on | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sync Standard | $4 per user/month | $5 per user/month | 1 vault, 1 GB storage, 5 MB max file, 1 month of version history |
| Sync Plus | $8 per user/month | $10 per user/month | 10 vaults, 10 GB (upgradable to 100 GB), 200 MB max file, 12 months of history |
| Publish | $8 per site/month | $10 per site/month | Host notes as a website, custom domain, password protection |
| Commercial license (optional) | $50 per user/year | Supports development; not required for work use | |
| Catalyst (optional) | $25 one-time | Early access to beta versions, community badge |
Notion’s Free plan suits individuals; teams usually pay. Notion lists Free at $0, Plus at $10 per member per month, Business at $20 per member per month, and Enterprise at a custom price, and says yearly billing saves up to 20%, so check the monthly/yearly toggle before you compare (Notion pricing). On the Free plan, uploads are limited to 5 MB per file (paid plans allow up to 5 GB), page history lasts 7 days (30 days on Plus, 90 on Business), and blocks are limited once a workspace has 2 or more members. Guests are free.
How your notes are stored
This is the biggest difference. Obsidian stores notes as Markdown-formatted plain-text files in a vault, which is just a folder on your device (Obsidian Help). Its license overview says your data is saved locally and not sent to Obsidian’s servers unless you use Sync or Publish (Obsidian). You can open those files in any text editor, back them up however you like, or sync them yourself with a service such as Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, or Git (Obsidian Help).
Notion keeps your workspace in its cloud, which is what makes instant sharing, databases, and team permissions work. The trade-off is that you rely on Notion’s service and export tools to take your data elsewhere.
If you store an Obsidian vault in a cloud folder, our OneDrive guide and Google Drive guide explain how those services sync files.
Collaboration and sharing
Notion is the team tool. Paid plans are charged per member, guests (external collaborators) are free and can access only the pages they’re invited to, and the Business plan adds SAML SSO (Notion pricing).
Obsidian can share a vault with Obsidian Sync, but every collaborator needs an active Sync subscription, a shared vault allows up to 20 collaborators, fine-grained permissions aren’t supported yet, and there’s no live co-editing of the same file: other people’s edits appear once they sync, and simultaneous edits are merged (Obsidian Help).
If your team mainly needs tasks and boards rather than notes, see our project management tools guide.
Offline use and apps
Obsidian is offline-first. Because notes are local files, everything works without internet, and Sync merges changes when you’re back online (Obsidian Sync). It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux (AppImage, Snap, Deb, and Flatpak), iOS, and Android (Obsidian download).
Notion says all users can view, edit, and create pages offline in the desktop and mobile apps, and anyone can mark pages as Available offline; recent and favorite pages can also download automatically on eligible paid plans (Notion Help, Notion pricing). Notion’s desktop app is available for Windows and macOS (Notion).
Privacy and security
Obsidian: Obsidian says it doesn’t collect your personal information to download the app (Obsidian), and Sync encrypts data with AES-256. Remote vaults use end-to-end encryption by default, or you can choose standard encryption. With end-to-end encryption, if you lose the encryption password, your synced data can’t be recovered, and Obsidian notes that your local vault files aren’t encrypted by Obsidian itself (Obsidian Help). Obsidian lists independent security audits on its security page (Obsidian security).
Notion: Notion encrypts data in transit with TLS 1.2 or higher and at rest with AES-256, and it undergoes annual audits including SOC 2 and ISO 27001 (Notion security). Enterprise customers get zero data retention with Notion’s AI model providers (Notion pricing).
Be careful with plugins
Obsidian community plugins can access files on your computer, connect to the internet, and install additional programs. Obsidian runs in Restricted mode by default, automatically scans plugin versions and shows a safety scorecard, but you should only install plugins from authors you trust (Obsidian Help).
Keeping notes in either app is no substitute for strong passwords and 2-step sign-in. Our password manager guide for small teams covers that side.
AI, plugins, and publishing
- Notion AI: the Free plan includes a trial of AI features such as generating docs and autofilling databases; Business adds Notion Agent and AI Meeting Notes, and Custom Agents are priced at $10 per 1,000 monthly credits (Notion pricing).
- Obsidian plugins: Obsidian has no built-in AI; features are extended with community plugins, which carry the risks described above (Obsidian Help).
- Publishing: Notion’s Free plan lets you publish a page to the web and build basic sites (Notion pricing); Obsidian Publish turns notes into a website for $8 per site per month billed annually, with a custom domain and password protection (Obsidian Publish).
Moving your notes out
Obsidian needs no export because the files are already yours. A vault is a folder of Markdown files, so you can copy it anywhere (Obsidian Help).
Notion lets you export a page, a database, or an entire workspace at any time as PDF, HTML, or Markdown and CSV, with databases exported as CSV and subpages as Markdown files (Notion Help). It’s worth running a test export early so you know what comes out cleanly.
Which should you choose?
- Small team sharing docs, wikis, and project databases: Notion.
- Solo writer, student, or researcher: Obsidian, free, with your notes as local files.
- Privacy first: Obsidian, with local storage and end-to-end encrypted Sync.
- Want AI built in: Notion.
- Mostly offline or on Linux: Obsidian.
- Both: many people keep personal notes in Obsidian and team documents in Notion.
Still deciding? Our Evernote alternatives roundup and productivity software guide cover more note-taking options.
FAQ
Is Obsidian really free?
Yes. Obsidian is free for personal, commercial, and non-profit use with no sign-up. You pay only for optional Sync (from $4 per user per month, billed annually) or Publish (from $8 per site per month, billed annually).
Is Notion free?
Notion has a Free plan for individuals, with a 5 MB file upload limit, 7 days of page history, and an AI trial. Teams usually move to Plus ($10) or Business ($20) per member per month.
Can Obsidian be used by a team?
Yes, through shared vaults in Obsidian Sync, but every collaborator needs a Sync subscription, a vault allows up to 20 collaborators, and there’s no live co-editing or fine-grained permissions.
Does Notion work offline?
Partly. In the desktop and mobile apps you can view, edit, and create pages offline, and you can mark pages as Available offline. Changes sync when you reconnect.
Which is more private, Notion or Obsidian?
Obsidian keeps notes on your device by default and encrypts Sync end to end. Notion stores data in its cloud with encryption in transit and at rest and independent audits such as SOC 2.
Can I move from Notion to Obsidian?
Yes. Export your Notion pages as Markdown and CSV, then open the files in an Obsidian vault. Check links, databases, and attachments afterwards, since not everything converts one-to-one.
Sources
Official Notion and Obsidian pages only. All checked October 27, 2026 (PKT). Obsidian help pages were read from Obsidian’s official help repository on GitHub.
Show all 15 sources
- Notion: Pricing
- Notion Help: Working offline in Notion
- Notion: Security and compliance
- Notion Help: Export your content
- Notion: Desktop app
- Obsidian: Pricing
- Obsidian: License overview
- Obsidian: Sync
- Obsidian: Publish
- Obsidian: Download
- Obsidian: Security
- Obsidian Help: How Obsidian stores data
- Obsidian Help: Plugin security
- Obsidian Help: Sync security and privacy
- Obsidian Help: Collaborate on a shared vault
Changelog
- October 28, 2026: First published. Notion and Obsidian pricing, plan limits, offline support, storage model, shared-vault rules, plugin security, encryption, and export options checked against official pages on October 27, 2026. No hands-on testing or screenshots.
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