Obsidian comparison hub

What should you compare Obsidian against?

Most comparisons line up feature tables. The one thing that actually decides it is where — and in what form — your notes end up. Apps that answer that the same way can share a single folder; moving between apps that answer it differently is where conversion work appears. This page is the decision path, plus only the conclusions we reached by actually installing and running the apps.

By AI ATAKA · Published August 19, 2026 · Registry counted August 19, 2026

What should you look at first when comparing Obsidian?

Not the feature count and not the plugin count — where the canonical copy of a note lives, and in what format. Obsidian's canonical copy is a plain Markdown file on your own disk, so it can share a folder with apps that work the same way, and only a move to an app that keeps its notes in its own database costs you an export and a conversion.

Plugin count does not settle it. Counting the official registry directly, it went from 6,571 on August 11, 2026 to 6,739 on August 19 — 168 added in eight days. Whichever number is larger today will not be the same number in a few months.

Three questions narrow the field

Rather than picking rivals first, start from your own answers. Each question below carries one fact we established by running the software ourselves.

Do you need your notes to stay plain Markdown files on your own disk?
If yes, the field shrinks to apps whose source of truth is a file. Opening a freshly created Obsidian vault showed only a .obsidian folder and the starter note, with everything typed afterwards saved as bare .md files (screenshots).
Do you want two apps open on the same folder?
You cannot know this without trying it. With Obsidian and file-version Logseq pointed at one folder, each created its own management directory and coexisted, and a line written in one showed up in the other (full test).
Do you mostly capture on the move?
If so, the comparison shifts from editing features to how fast you can get in. Both Obsidian and Logseq are built for organising and connecting what is already written; neither optimises for one line typed mid-walk. Here, what you add matters more than which you pick.

Why "more plugins" is not a tiebreaker

Counted directly from Obsidian's official registry files on GitHub (community-plugins.json, community-css-themes.json). All three counts use the same method.

Counted on	Plugins	Themes
2026-08-11	6,571	680
2026-08-14	6,638	691
2026-08-19	6,739	698

Eight days added 168 plugins (about 21 a day) and 18 themes. Any number you compare on is already stale by the time someone reads it. Whether the source of truth is a file or a database, by contrast, is a design property that rarely moves — Logseq 2.0 being the rare case where it did. That is the criterion that keeps its value.

What we have actually run — and what we have not

Obsidian × Logseq — tested

We opened one folder in both apps to confirm coexistence and two-way writes, and verified on the desktop build that the DB version (2.0) produces no Markdown files. Read the Obsidian vs Logseq comparison

The Obsidian vault itself — tested

We walked from install to first note and confirmed on the filesystem that a vault is nothing more than a .obsidian folder plus plain Markdown files. Read the getting-started guide

Obsidian × Capacities — Mac onboarding checked

We checked daily-note input, Book properties and the graph in the Mac onboarding demo. Storage, sync and export specifications are identified separately. Read the Japanese comparison.

Obsidian × memos — local save tested

We ran Memos 0.30.0 locally and verified first-user setup, a Japanese memo, tags, a task and timeline persistence. Read the Japanese comparison.

Comparisons we have not run yet

Notion has not yet been run in this environment. We tested memos locally through saving a memo on September 8, 2026, and added it above. We keep observed behavior separate from untested specifications.

The gap they all leave open: split-second capture on iPhone

The third question above lands here. Whichever app you pick, capturing one line mid-walk is none of their core purpose. If that is most of your note-taking, add a lightweight way in that appends straight into the vault folder on iCloud Drive. Simple Memo emails each note to you and appends it to your Obsidian daily note, including from Siri and Apple Watch. It writes Obsidian-style files (YYYY-MM-DD.md) — it does not target Logseq's journals/ naming or block format.

If you chose Obsidian, shorten the way in

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FAQ

Which apps get compared with Obsidian most?

This hub includes our Logseq tests and a Japanese comparison based on the Capacities Mac onboarding demo. Capacities sync and migration remain untested; official specifications are identified separately. A hands-on memos 0.30.0 comparison is now included; Notion remains untested.

How hard is it to migrate off Obsidian?

It depends entirely on how the destination stores its source of truth. Between apps whose canonical copy is a plain Markdown file, you just open the folder — we confirmed this with file-version Logseq. Moving to an app that keeps notes in its own database means going through an export and a conversion. Almost all of the migration cost comes from that storage difference, not from features.

Can Obsidian share a folder with another app?

Yes, when both keep plain Markdown files. In our test each app created its own directories (.obsidian versus logseq/journals/pages), coexisted, and showed each other's writes. Keep one app as the primary writer. With an app whose source of truth is a database, folder-level coexistence is not possible.

Should plugin count decide it?

No. Counting Obsidian's official registry directly gives 6,571 on August 11, 2026, 6,638 on August 14 and 6,739 on August 19 — 168 added in eight days, about 21 a day — with themes going from 680 to 698. A choice made on today's larger number expires within months; a choice made on where the source of truth lives does not.

How do I try Obsidian before comparing?

Install to first note needs no account and no email address; the screen-by-screen walkthrough is in getting started with Obsidian. A newly created vault holds only a .obsidian folder and the starter note, and everything you write lands as a plain Markdown file. Seeing that a vault is just a folder is what makes the rest of the comparison legible.

TEST ENVIRONMENT & SCOPE

Registry counted August 19, 2026. Obsidian and Logseq were tested on Linux on August 11; Capacities 1.70.2 onboarding on Mac on September 6; and Memos 0.30.0 locally on Apple Silicon Mac through saving a Japanese memo on September 8. Public deployment, backup and migration for memos remain untested, as do Notion and iOS comparisons.

What is a vault (measured) Obsidian vs Logseq (hands-on) Obsidian vs memos (hands-on) Getting started with Obsidian Obsidian integration Appending to daily notes Simple Memo comparisons 6 ways to send to Obsidian Second brain FAQ

References & data sources

obsidianmd/obsidian-releases（GitHub） — Obsidian's official community plugin and theme registry; the 6,739/698 figures are counted from community-plugins.json and community-css-themes.json as of 2026-08-19 (6,571/680 on 2026-08-11, 6,638/691 on 2026-08-14)
Obsidian and Logseq comparison — Our same-folder experiment, the hands-on check of how DB-version 2.0 stores notes, and the Logseq-side registry count
Getting started with Obsidian — The install-to-first-note walkthrough and the filesystem check of what a vault actually contains
Obsidian Help — Official help on vault structure and daily-note date formats
Simple Memo - for Obsidian — App Store — App Store download page

Obsidian is a trademark of Dynalist Inc. Other product names belong to their respective projects and companies. This site is independent of all of them; Simple Memo - for Obsidian is an independent app by Yurica Inc.