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Most buyers should pick Obsidian.
Choose Obsidian if you want free personal notes stored as local Markdown files and can manage sync separately. Choose Joplin if you prefer an app with cross-device sync, encryption, and sharing options; its Basic plan starts at €2.40 per month when billed annually, with a 2 GB storage cap and 10 MB per note or attachment. Obsidian Sync costs extra, starting at $4 per user monthly with annual billing.
01Side by side
| Joplin | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | €2.40/month annually; €2.99 monthly | Free notes; Sync from $4/user/month annually |
| Free plan | No free plan; 14-day trial | Free personal notes, without limits |
| Best for | Synced notes, to-dos, and multimedia | Local Markdown notes and connected thinking |
| Core strength | Web clipping, customization, and sync options | Note links, graph view, and Canvas |
| Learning curve | Ease-of-use review score: 7.5/10 | Ease-of-use review score: 7/10 |
| Integrations and data | Sync via Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, and others | Local Markdown files; plugins and open API |
| Team and seat costs | Basic is personal; Pro pricing not published | Sync $4/user/month annually; Commercial $50/user/year |
| Support | Review support score: 5/10 | Review score: 6/10; paid plans include priority support |
Joplin Choose Joplin if
- Choose Joplin if you want sync through several supported services.
- Choose Joplin if you need web clipping and multimedia notes.
- Choose Joplin if €2.40 monthly annual billing fits your budget.
Obsidian Choose Obsidian if
- Choose Obsidian if you want free personal notes stored locally.
- Choose Obsidian if plain-text Markdown files matter to you.
- Choose Obsidian if you want links, graph view, and Canvas.
02Pricing compared
Obsidian is free for personal note-taking, with no sign-up required. Its paid extras are optional: Sync starts at $4 per user per month with annual billing or $5 monthly, while Publish starts at $8 per site per month annually or $10 monthly. Joplin Basic costs €2.40 per month when billed annually (€28.69 per year), or €2.99 month to month. That plan includes syncing across as many devices as you want, but caps storage at 2 GB and each note or attachment at 10 MB. Joplin’s Pro price is not published on the vendor's site. These prices use different currencies, so compare them against your own billing currency. The practical split: Obsidian’s notes are free, but syncing costs extra; Joplin’s listed Basic plan bundles sync for a published euro price.
03Features and depth
The core difference is where your notes live. Obsidian stores notes on your device as plain-text Markdown files, which remain accessible offline. Links between notes, Graph view and Canvas support connected thinking and visual organization. Plugins, themes and an open API let you customize the workspace. Sync is optional and adds end-to-end encryption, version history and shared-vault collaboration.
Joplin is also open-source and supports Markdown and Rich Text editors, plugins, themes and custom scripts. It handles multimedia notes, including images, video, PDFs and audio, and supports math expressions and diagrams. Its web clipper saves web pages or screenshots as notes. Sync can use Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive and other services; Joplin Cloud also supports sharing, collaboration and publishing notes online. Joplin supports end-to-end encryption. So Obsidian emphasizes local Markdown files and linked knowledge, while Joplin puts clipping, multimedia and multiple sync routes alongside note-taking.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Obsidian’s free personal setup avoids a required sign-up and keeps notes in Markdown files on your device. That makes the basic arrangement straightforward, but syncing is a separate choice: Obsidian Sync is paid, or you can decide how to handle files across devices yourself. Links, Graph view, Canvas and plugins add options to learn as your system grows.
Joplin offers a more direct route to cross-device syncing through its Basic plan, alongside a web clipper and multimedia notes. But check the 2 GB storage and 10 MB per-note or attachment limits before importing a large archive. Both apps offer customization; the better fit depends on whether you prefer managing local files or paying for a bundled sync plan.
Questions people ask
Is Obsidian free?
Obsidian’s personal note-taking plan is free, with no sign-up required, according to its pricing information. Sync and Publish are separate paid services: annual billing starts at $4 per user per month for Sync and $8 per site per month for Publish.
Is Joplin free?
Joplin is described as open-source, but the published pricing information lists no free plan. Joplin Basic costs €2.99 monthly or €28.69 per year, equivalent to €2.40 per month when billed annually. Its Pro price is not published on the vendor's site.
Which app is better for syncing notes across devices?
Joplin Basic includes sync across as many devices as you want, with 2 GB of storage and a 10 MB limit per note or attachment. Obsidian Sync is optional and paid, starting at $4 per user per month with annual billing.
Can I use Joplin or Obsidian offline?
Obsidian stores notes locally as plain-text Markdown files, and its product information says they remain accessible offline. Joplin’s published information describes cross-device sync and end-to-end encryption but does not specify offline access, so we can’t make the same claim for it here.