Notion vs Obsidian: Price, Privacy and Offline Use Compared
Pick Notion if you work with other people, want databases, shared pages and a web app, and are happy to keep your notes in the cloud. Pick Obsidian if you write alone, want your notes as plain Markdown files on your own device, and want the app itself free with no account.
Both are good note apps, but they are built on opposite ideas. Notion is a shared online workspace. Obsidian is a private app that reads a folder of text files.
Notion vs Obsidian at a glance
| Notion | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Plus $10 and Business $20 per member a month (yearly billing saves up to 20%) | App free; Sync from $4 a month (billed yearly), Publish from $8 a site a month (billed yearly) |
| Free plan | Yes: unlimited blocks for one person, 5 MB file uploads, 7 days of page history | Yes: the full app, free for any use, including commercial |
| Platforms | Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android | Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Open source | No | No (closed source, but notes are open Markdown files) |
| Where notes live | Notion's cloud, with pages you can mark for offline use | Plain Markdown files on your device |
| Account needed | Yes | No, only for paid Sync or Publish |
| Best for | Teams, wikis, project tracking with databases | Personal notes, writing, linked thinking |
Which is cheaper, Notion or Obsidian?
For one person, Obsidian. The Obsidian app is free for everyone, and its license page says that includes personal, commercial and non-profit use. You only pay if you want Obsidian's own add-on services.
Obsidian Sync, which keeps your notes the same across devices, comes in two tiers. Sync Standard is $4 a user a month billed yearly ($5 monthly) and gives you 1 synced vault, 1 GB of storage and 1 month of version history. Sync Plus is $8 a month billed yearly ($10 monthly) for 10 vaults, 10 GB and 12 months of history. Obsidian Publish, for putting notes online as a website, is $8 a site a month billed yearly or $10 monthly.
Notion is free for one person too, but teams pay per member. Its pricing page lists Plus at $10 and Business at $20 per member a month, and says yearly billing saves up to 20%. Notion's FAQ also says the Plus plan, limited to one member, is free for students and educators.
Is Obsidian more private than Notion?
Yes, by design. Obsidian says it "stores notes privately on your device" and keeps them as plain text Markdown files. You do not need an account to download or use it. If you pay for Sync, Obsidian says your notes are end-to-end encrypted.
Notion keeps your workspace on its servers, which is what makes sharing and teamwork easy. You need an account to use it. Neither app is open source, but there is a practical difference: an Obsidian vault is just a folder of Markdown files, so any text editor can open your notes even if you stop using Obsidian.
Can Notion and Obsidian work offline?
Both can, in different ways. Obsidian works offline by default, because your notes are files on your device.
Notion says all users can view, edit and create pages offline in the desktop or mobile app, but you choose which pages. You open a page, use the "•••" menu and turn on "Available offline", and you do it on each device. On the Business and Enterprise plans, Notion also downloads your recent and favorited pages automatically.
Which is better for teams?
Notion. It is built around shared pages, databases with subtasks and dependencies, and guests from outside your company. Paid plans add longer page history: Notion's pricing page lists 7 days on Free, 30 days on Plus and 90 days on Business.
Obsidian is mainly a personal tool. Obsidian sells a Commercial license at $50 a user a year, but its license page says this license is optional and exists to support development, since the app is already free for work use.
What we checked on 6 November 2026
We read both pricing pages on 6 November 2026. Notion's Free plan allowed file uploads of up to 5 MB each and 7 days of page history. Its FAQ said a Free workspace used by one person can add as many pages and blocks as it likes, but a Free workspace with two or more members hits a block limit, after which you can still read and edit existing content but cannot add new blocks.
The same day, Obsidian's pricing page said the app was "Free without limits" with "No sign-up required", and the cheapest paid service was Sync Standard at $4 a month billed yearly.
Can I move from Notion to Obsidian?
Yes. Obsidian's help docs describe an official Importer plugin that turns a Notion workspace into Markdown files. You can connect it to your Notion account with an integration token, which keeps databases (they become Obsidian Bases), or import an HTML export as a .zip file, which does not keep databases.
If neither app feels right, our list of Notion alternatives covers other note and workspace apps.
Which should you choose?
- You work with a team or share pages with clients: Notion.
- You want databases, project boards and a shared wiki: Notion.
- You write alone and want your notes as local files: Obsidian.
- You want the most private option: Obsidian, with no account needed.
- You use Linux: Obsidian, which has Linux builds. Notion's desktop download page lists Mac and Windows only, so on Linux you would use Notion in the browser.
- You are a student working alone: either. Obsidian is free, and Notion offers Plus free to students and educators.
FAQ
Is Obsidian free?
Yes. The app is free for all purposes, including work use, and needs no account. Sync and Publish are optional paid services.
Is Notion free?
Yes, for one person there is no block limit on the Free plan. Free workspaces with more than one member have a block limit, 5 MB uploads and 7 days of page history.
Does Obsidian sync between devices for free?
Obsidian's own Sync service is paid, from $4 a month billed yearly.
Can I import Notion into Obsidian?
Yes, with Obsidian's official Importer plugin. It converts Notion pages to Markdown and can keep databases if you connect with a Notion integration token.