Notion bundles AI into a $20 cloud workspace for teams. Obsidian is free, keeps notes as files on your device and leaves AI to plugins.
Notion and Obsidian are both called note-taking apps, but they disagree about where your notes should live. Notion keeps everything in its cloud, where a team can edit the same page and its AI can work across the whole workspace. Obsidian keeps your notes as plain files on your own computer and leaves almost every other decision to you.
That difference matters more than any feature list. Settle it first, and the choice usually makes itself.
| Notion AI | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free plan with a short AI trial | The full app, free for personal and work use |
| Cheapest paid option | Plus: $10 a member a month yearly, $12 monthly, AI trial only | Sync Standard: $4 a month yearly, $5 monthly |
| Full AI | Business: $20 a member a month yearly, $24 monthly | Not built in; community plugins with your own model |
| Heavier use | Custom Agents at $10 per 1,000 credits; premium models at provider rates | Sync Plus: $8 a month yearly, for 10 vaults and 10 GB |
| Publishing | Public pages included | Publish: $8 a site a month yearly |
Notion prices from our Notion AI review; Obsidian prices from its pricing page on October 3, 2026.
Notion used to sell AI as a $10 add-on. Now it's part of the Business plan, so getting the agent, AI meeting notes and enterprise search means paying $20 a member a month, even for one person. Obsidian costs nothing unless you want its own sync or publishing service, and you can sync for free with iCloud or Dropbox if you're willing to fiddle a bit.
Notion's AI is the more complete product. Its agent can create and edit pages and databases, and its search reaches into connected apps like Slack and Google Drive. It also records meetings and writes up the notes. Because it knows your whole workspace, it can answer questions about projects nobody remembers documenting.
Obsidian has none of that built in. What it has is a plugin ecosystem with thousands of community plugins, some of which connect your vault to the AI model you choose. It's more setup and less polish. The upside is control: you decide which notes any AI can read, and nothing leaves your device unless a plugin sends it.
This is where Obsidian is strongest. Your notes are Markdown files in a folder. If Obsidian disappeared tomorrow, every file would still open in any text editor. If you use Obsidian Sync, notes are encrypted end to end with AES-256, so the company can't read them.
Notion stores your workspace on its servers. It says its AI subprocessors are contractually barred from training on customer data, but on plans below Enterprise, model providers may keep data for up to 30 days. Enterprise gets zero data retention. For most teams that's acceptable. For a journal, a novel in progress or a therapist's notes, Obsidian's model is easier to trust.
Notion wins clearly here. Several people can edit the same page at once, leave comments and set permissions, and databases turn notes into project trackers. It's built for teams.
Obsidian Sync does offer shared vaults that update in real time across a team's devices. That's fine for a small group sharing reference notes. It isn't a replacement for a shared workspace, and anyone who needs comments, page permissions or a client-facing portal will be happier in Notion.
Pick Obsidian if you work mostly alone, care about owning your files, or like building your own system. It's also the obvious choice on a tight budget, since the app itself is free. Pick Notion if your notes are shared with a team, if you want AI that already knows your workspace, or if your notes turn into projects with owners and deadlines.
Plenty of people use both: Obsidian for private thinking and long-term notes, Notion for the team's shared work. If AI over your documents is the main attraction, Google's free NotebookLM works from files you upload.
Get Obsidian free Try Notion freeYes. The app is free on every platform with no account, and since 2025 work use is free too; the $50 commercial license is optional. You only pay for Obsidian's own Sync, from $4 a month billed yearly, or Publish, at $8 a site.
Not built in. Notion's AI comes with its Business plan and can edit pages, search connected apps and take meeting notes. Obsidian has no assistant of its own, so people add AI through community plugins and choose the model themselves.
In a limited way. Obsidian Sync supports shared vaults where a team's notes update in real time, but there are no comments, page permissions or databases built for teamwork. For a team that writes and plans together every day, Notion is the better tool.
With Obsidian, nothing: your notes are plain Markdown files on your own device and open in any text editor. With Notion, your data lives on Notion's servers, so you'd rely on its export tools, which is why regular exports are a good habit.
Obsidian, by a wide margin. It costs nothing unless you want Sync at $4 a month billed yearly. Notion's Plus plan costs $10 a month billed yearly but includes only a short AI trial; full Notion AI needs Business at $20.