All Obsidian Reviews
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Jason Edward
Verified reviewer
Marketing and Advertising, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2022
The best note taking app - hands down
Word's cannot express my gratitude to the Obsidian app and the amazing community built around it. I use this app daily on my desktop and mobile with cloud syncing. It has allowed me to take notes on anything at any time, and most importantly, made it easy to review my notes so I can learn from them.
CONSObsidian is unique in that there are new plugins being built all the time by the community. That help the app be more intuitive and feature rich. However I still feel their graph view has a lot of potential for improvement. I think the graph view right now is visually interesting to look at, but not nearly as effective as it could be. I'd like to be able to manipulate it more, and see more clearly the patterns between links, right now it becomes overwhelming as there is too many interlinked notes. It's difficult to gleam insights from them.
Harold
Research, 10,000+ employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed May 2023
The best knowledge management software
I have been looking for years for a good (not even great) note-taking / knowledge management system. I have tried many different apps (like Evernote, Simplenote, Gnome Notes, Google Keep, etc.), but I did not like anything. I started considering writing my own app and was taking some notes. Then, Obsidian arrived and blew my mind. I increased my efficiency 100-fold after starting to use it for basically everything (from my notes on string theory and machine learning to my cooking recipes). I would never go back to any other system.
PROSThe fact that it's very fast to take notes (simple markdown format, Latex included…) and to retrieve quickly something (through the fuzzy filename matching, full-text search or tags). That it's possible to sync across various devices (with an excellent mobile app) is outstanding. The extension system is very helpful to supplement features. Also having an open file format is reassuring in case the creators stop updating the app.
CONSThe single most annoying aspect is the lack of proper bibliography / citations management. There is a plugin, but I don't like too much how it works. Otherwise, there is no default.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
The other softwares were either too simple or too complex. Obsidian lies at the sweet spot between features and simplicity.
Ivy
Telecommunications, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed December 2023
You may need some tech knowledge to use it better
I think Obsidian is ideal for text-centric tasks and it excels in note-taking and daily task tracking.
CONSIt's missing the ability to create forms which might be a bummer for me. Setting up team collaboration isn't a walk in the park either – it lacks the seamless integration for smooth group work.
Aakash
Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2024
Aesthetic and modern
A very aesthetic and modern knowledge management software that is very easy to use. The ability to easily use markdown to format your content is amazing. The software makes it very easy to split content between folders and notes.
CONSSome great features are behind a paywall which is a bit annoying but understandable. It would be good to have a basic feature such as cloud sync available for free.
Oscar
Information Technology and Services, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2024
Obsidian best tool to keep knowledge
it is great, I use it in my work to keep all the knowledge i gather from the task I do, and also in my personal life to study, as you have this digital record to come back and review, for me is better tool than One note or Evernote, and if you dont have something you want, there are additional modules you can add for free.
PROSi loved the linkage of data using the brackets, this makes more easy to construct complex information articles, especially when you have abstract information that you need to deconstruct for understand.
CONSthat you have to pay for the multi--device link a subscription, I think it should be a one time payment.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
I like more how to track and organize the information in Obsidian.
Niklas
Information Technology and Services, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2023
A must have for anyone who wants to retain and structure their knowledge
As a computer science student, I've found Obsidian to be a really helpful tool for knowledge management. Its features are super versatile, so it's great for organizing all sorts of information.The note-linking feature is one of my favorite things about Obsidian. It lets me connect notes and create a web of knowledge that helps me understand how different concepts relate to each other. The backlinking feature is also helpful because it shows me which notes link to a particular note.Obsidian's graph view is another cool feature. It gives me a visual representation of the relationships between notes, which helps me identify key concepts and how they're connected. And I like that I can customize the graph view to fit my specific needs.Obsidian's support for Markdown is also great. It makes it easy to format my notes and include images, tables, and other media.Overall, Obsidian's knowledge management features are really useful for my studies as a computer science student. It's a powerful yet easy-to-use platform for organizing and managing information.
PROSNote-Linking: Obsidian's unique note-linking feature allows you to establish connections between notes, creating a web of knowledge that helps you better understand the relationships between different concepts. This can be especially useful for computer science, where there are often many interrelated concepts that need to be understood in order to fully grasp a topic.Backlinking: Obsidian's backlinking feature shows you which notes link to a particular note, further enhancing your understanding of the connections between different ideas. This can help you quickly identify related concepts and ensure that you have a comprehensive understanding of a topic.Markdown Support: Obsidian supports Markdown, which enables you to format your notes in a clear and concise manner, making it easy to read and understand them. This can be especially useful for computer science, where there are often complex concepts that need to be explained in a clear and concise manner.Customizability: Obsidian is highly customizable, allowing you to tailor it to your specific needs. This can be especially useful when integrating Obsidian with other services, or extending its capabilities.
CONSLearning Curve: Obsidian has a bit of a learning curve, especially if you're not familiar with Markdown or haven't used a similar note-taking app before. It can take some time to learn all the features and figure out the best way to use it for your specific needs. The onboarding process is one of the easiest compared to other similar solutions, but sometimes one is tempted to spend time on perfecting the obsidian enviroment instead of taking notes.Collaboration: While vaults can be accessed by multiple users, obsidian has no inherent support for collaboration, and therefore can be problematic in team settings.PDF ANnotation: Obsidian has no good solution to annotate, only link, to specific parts of a pdf. This can be frustrating, but is a technical limitation at the current time. However, there are workarounds using different services like readwise.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
Because i wanted to connect my recorded knowledge with my learned knowledge, and have it be accessible in the future. I was tired of faintly remembering concepts just to relearn them.
Anonymous
1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2023
Great tool, although not very attractive to use
The interface is quite unpleasant and takes getting used to. There is a lack of detailed tutorials from the company, if it weren't for its disinterested community that shares tips and videos on YouTube it would be very difficult to learn how to take advantage of this tool. But, on the other hand, it is getting better every time, since it is updated frequently. I hope you continue to invest in this tool as it is the best in its field in my opinion. I've tried Logseq, Notion, etc., and I'm sticking with Obsidian.
PROSI love that it allows markdown and hosting all your notes on your own computer. It has a large number of plugins and a community willing to help each other.
CONSIf you want synchronization between devices you will have to pay (there is a free option through Google Drive but it is not very effective). And the payment option is quite expensive per year.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
Notion does not allow you to host your data on your computer. They are always in the cloud and suffers quite frequent server crashes, so I was not confident.
Matt
Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2023
Amazingly customisable note-taking tool
Obsidian has many great features I love - the ability to customise it for your specific needs it fantastic. The search and linking functionality allow me to quickly and easily get whatever data I need. The extensive range of community add-ons mean that extra features are just a couple of clicks away.
CONSHard pressed to think of anything, it's an almost perfect tool!
Reason for choosing Obsidian
Wasn't interested in a browser based solution
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
Was looking for a more powerful alternative, and Obsidian popped up in my social feed
Anonymous
2-10 employees
Used weekly for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed January 2023
Great knowledge management tool, little pricey, a lot of manual work
I love how fast it is. Since everything lives locally, you don't have to worry about pages not loading or missing internet access. Pages are cached in the background and can load instantly when you want to, making context switching instant and producing content super fast.
CONSThe idea of knowledge graph is more or less a "marketing concept" (according to [sensitive content hidden] of Reflect, [sensitive content hidden]). Not sure about the usability of it. But also since everything is done locally, it's a lot of work to back things up or sync across devices -- something you'd expect the product to handle like Notion.
Reason for choosing Obsidian
It's fast, it's painless to use, and it requires minimal setup to start writing. It's best for personal knowledge management in my opinion, less that of a team knowledge base.
Abir
Computer & Network Security, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed April 2024
Tool for document management
The visualization makes the links looks really easier to understand, therefore it's better to explain the project to a new team member.
CONSI can't access it through a web browser, I need to connect from my device each time wanna use it,
Jesse
Management Consulting, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2022
Obsidian is phenomenal and Obsidian Sync is worth the cost.
Great
PROSI love that I can structure my notes however I'd like: I can put things in a traditional hierarchy with folders, I can relate notes together with embedded links and connections, and I can create notes associated with neither. For me, I get the benefits of OneNote (hierarchy), Roam Research (association), and Apple Notes (randomly throwing a note in that you can't associate with anything else). Obsidian Sync is by far the best way to sync your vaults. I used iCloud at first, which worked well on apple products, but worked terribly on windows. Sync made it all real-time with no note duplication.
CONSTo use the great functionality, you have to learn Markup and you have to understand how the software works (vaults, local storage, and sync). Having a normal text formatting tab (like OneNote) and improving the sync interface/wizard would make this app absolutely incredible.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
I wanted to be able to associate notes together without being confined to a hierachy.
Jim
Computer Software, 11-50 employees
Used weekly for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed January 2023
A full featured truly cross-platform knowledge management package
Obsidian has proven to be the OneNote alternative which treats Linux as a firstclass platform. Also, having seen hosted/proprietary services disappear over the year it is a great comfort knowing I own my own notes and will be able to access them without any special software.
PROSFor those working across PC, Mac, Linux and mobile Obsidian offers parity of functionality on each platform making switching effortless.A wide range of options for backend storage ensure that you can keep ownership of your notes whether on a public cloud, private cloud or local files. And the notes remain human readable and editable even without the package making them future proof.The active community provides a wide range of add-ons that enhance the functionality and customise it to your needs. You can also tailor the add-ons and settings for each collection of notes.
CONSOwning your own notes requires you to invest some time and effort in configuring the backend storage, and not all options are supported on all operating systems. However the developers offer foolproof cloud hosting as a paid alternative.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
No native Linux client. Notes held in a proprietary format.
Danny
Writing and Editing, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed May 2023
Obsidian keeps me sane
3+ years and I am still learning and exploring the options available enjoying my writing and research as I go.
PROSSimple, flexible, extensible, and just works.Offline, online, phone, desktop, laptop it doesn't matter.
CONSSyncing between devices requires a cloud service or payment of Obsidian sync.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
Notion was getting laggy, and bloated, and didn't link and show me my notes as cleanly as Obsidian.
Anonymous
1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2023
The App for Zettelkasten
Very good app for note taking and use with the Zettelkasten method.
PROSThis is the only app I found realy useful to use with the Zettlekasten note taking method. Even being an app that works on local files, its quite easy to setup a folder on a cloud based storage like Gdrive and have all your devices sync the files seamlessly. With the community plugins its very easy to customize Obisidian for any workflow you use for your writing.
CONSThe mobile app UX could be improved. It takes some time to get used to navigate and use it.
Anonymous
51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed November 2023
One of the first knowledge management tools I've tried and it has improved so much since
Obsidian in general is a nice user experience, particularly for a single person or a small team where you don't need real-time collaboration. However, I like to run meetings with live notes and Obsidian can't do this. It does have ObsidianSync and Git support, but those cannot support real-time editing. I understand this may be trade-off between local first storage and real-time collaborative support, but there are alternatives out there that are trying to make that work. Otherwise, Obisidian is very nice product for knowledge management.
PROSLocal first, offline use. Excellent graph and document organization. Multi-platform including mobile. LaTeX support for technical elements.
CONSLack of real-time collaboration -- very important for my use case. Education discounts are not that great.
Matthias
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed November 2022
More than just notetaking
Obsidian is a feature-rich and very customizable note-taking and knowledge-management software that stores files in a simple folder structure.
CONSIf you are not familiar with markdown, it can be quite confusing when special characters do special things.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
Specifically, I switched from taking notes in Notepad++ to making them in Obsidian. The main reasons are ease of keeping notes organized and the linking between notes which comes with a cool graph-view in Obsidian.
Ozone
Verified reviewer
E-Learning, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2023
Great Tool for Quick Note Taking
The application is very light and easy to use, and provides easy sync across many platforms. It also has amazing vim support, which is very convenient for vim enthusiasts.
CONSAs the application is made to be lightweight, it might not feel as organized as something like Notion, and the formatting options are not as easy to find and implement as Notion.
Reasons for switching to Obsidian
Notion does not have good support on Linux, and it has a very long boot time. The only option to get Notion on Linux is using it through snap or browser, which is inconvenient.
Anonymous
201-500 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed November 2023
My knowledge management software of choice
Learning curve might be off-putting for some (plugins, Markdown basics etc.)
PROSI settled on Obsidian after long research, and even though there was a learning curve, it was 100% a great choice. I love using it, it looks clean, it's super fast, it works offline, it's super customizable and you can make it exactly what you need it to be. Usually if there is a feature missing in the functionality, it's solved by community plugins.
CONS- search is terrible, if the search term is more than one word you can forget about it - tables are unusable even with community plugins - the mobile app could definitely use some work
Julie
Writing and Editing, 1 employee
Used weekly for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2023
Obsidian has been a game changer
I've started using Obsidian to brainstorm novels. Before I was trying to use file cards, but that just got too confusing. I always felt like I had to keep the entire story in my head at once, which is impossible. Now I can put all the pieces into Obsidian and focus on one part at a time without worrying about losing track of the rest.
PROSWhen I discovered Obsidian, my life changed. Not only is it a great way to keep track of all my research, but I can also use it for journaling, brainstorming, and even household management. It's a real pleasure to use, and has changed how I think about information management.
CONSThere are so many community plugins available that it can be overwhelming. The good news is, you don't have to use them if you don't want to. It's just so easy to go down that rabbit hole and try out new things.
Diane
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2022
Note "Vaults"
I did like Obsidian and how full it was. I stored notes and segments of legislation that I needed to reference frequently. I could find any note with the open display.
PROSNotes are stored in Obsidian "Vaults", this certainly makes me feel more secure! Obsidian asks if you'd prefer internal or external storage, notes can be read offline too. Notebooks aren't displayed in a grid pattern like apps on your phone, they're displayed as dots and can be moved as you'd like. I like this and it's really ideal for a large number of notes. Obsidian can actually function as a knowledge base too. When clicking on a dot, a text preview is displayed. The background is dark and text is white, if your eyes strain easily or you have a lot of screen time during your work day this is great. Obsidian has quick access to most format options and text tools, I like the quick access reference tool.
CONSI found it to be confusing, using it certainly wasn't effortless. The icons are very light grey and most of them don't connect to the action you'd expect. I spent a lot of time looking and I deleted notes without meaning to.
Lohith
Retail, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2023
Time to Build your second brain
Until I discovered obsidian I never knew the concept of second brain and why would we need one. After researching a lot on it, had many tools on hand that can be used to build one for my own.Finally settled on obsidian just for it's privacy and future proof. This tool just uses plain markdown text files to create your notes. This makes your notes future proof as the usability of files are not depending upon the software itself. The files can be opened by any notepad software.The main reason I chose obsidian over others is this helps you to create more rather than copy notes.Not to mention their linking feature which helps you to link various ideas which in turn results in creating a new idea.
CONSsync across devices is payable one. You can find a workaround for this but still I prefer to choose obsidian sync and am fine to pay for it as I feel that I support their development.
Vlad
Design, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed January 2023
Awesome product, with some solid design decisions, actively developed
- owning my data (stored locally as markdown files)- great set of note editing features. Not as fancy as, e.g. Notion, but right enough for me.
CONSNothing major really. Maybe the fact that Sync is a paid option, and quite expensive for small text-only vaults.
Anonymous
11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2023
Veramente un secondo cervello
obsidian mi permette di tenere un diario giornaliero delle mie attività, grazie alla funzionalità di creazione automatica e di templating. inoltre conservo vari appunti come indirizzi ip e nomi utente, al sicuro da possibili hacker.
PROSapprezzo molto la sua interfaccia semplice e intuitiva, nonché la sua capacità di creare collegamenti tra note, di utilizzare il formato Markdown per la formattazione del testo e la funzione di ricerca avanzata
CONSpeccato che ci sia la sincronizzazione delle note a pagamento, però il software è molto valido quindi credo che prima o poi pagherò per le feature pro
Nivedita
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 11-50 employees
Used weekly for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2023
One of the best productivity tool to organize work.
It was a wonderful application to connect my notes, data, and reports together. It has every data organised and easy to access. It increases productivity to huge aspects.
PROSThe best thing about Obsidian is Links. It helps connect notes and ideas. There are a lot of templets to choose from and it also has a ton of community plugins to customize and organise how we want it to look like.
CONSObsidian has a learning curve. If a person can learn and use it to it's full potential, then he/she can redeem it's full benefits.
Viktor
Computer Software, 1 employee
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed August 2023
Organizing information
- All your data is stored locally- Markdown- using CSS- user community creating various plugins
CONS- i do not know .