Obsidian

Free

Markdown knowledge base with graph view and plugins. Free for personal use.

Unlimited Free Tier

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About Obsidian

Obsidian is a knowledge management and note-taking app that stores everything as local Markdown files. It is free for personal use and has become the tool of choice for people who want to own their notes forever.

What You Get

Unlimited notes - No limits on the number of notes or vaults
Local storage - All files are plain Markdown on your device
Bidirectional linking - Link notes together and visualize connections
Graph view - See your knowledge as an interactive network
Community plugins - Hundreds of plugins for extending functionality
Custom themes - Change the look and feel of your workspace
Canvas - Visual note-taking with infinite canvas

What to Know

Obsidian is free for personal use. Commercial use requires a license ($50/user/year). Sync between devices requires Obsidian Sync ($4/month) or your own solution (iCloud, Dropbox, Git). The plugin ecosystem is massive but can create a complex setup if you are not careful.

Key Features

Markdown editing

Bidirectional linking

Graph view

Canvas

Plugins

Themes

Templates

Tags & folders

Pros & Cons

Local-first, your data stays yours

Incredible plugin ecosystem

Fast and lightweight

Works offline

Sync costs extra

Steep learning curve

No real-time collaboration on free

The free plan in practice

What you can actually do on Obsidian's free plan (Unlimited notes — personal use), where it stops, and when it's worth paying.

What you can do free

Unlimited notes
Local Markdown files
Graph view
Plugin ecosystem
Custom themes
Community plugins

Where it stops

Sync between devices costs $4/mo
Publish to web costs $8/mo
Commercial use requires paid license ($50/yr)
No real-time collaboration on free plan

When to upgrade to a paid plan

Stay on the free plan while you're comfortably under the free plan's limit (Unlimited notes — personal use). It's worth moving to a paid plan once you consistently bump into that ceiling, need to remove branding, or want features the free tier holds back.