The Best Free Obsidian Alternative

What Is Obsidian?

Obsidian is a note-taking software that aims to organize information and function as a second brain application for knowledge management. Created by Erica Xu and Shida Li during the quarantine period of Covid-19 in 2020, the outliner tool has gained traction with over 50,000 members in their Discord community, all while still remaining as a two-man team.

The inspiration behind Obsidian is for it to be the ultimate personal knowledge base tool to help people better organize their information. Using Markdown language, you can create notes in Obsidian and use links to show relationships between your information. 

The Graph View lets you visualize relationships between your notes, helping you to connect related clusters of information together for a better note-taking experience.

Obsidian is often compared to RoamResearch and Whimsical app, and rightly so as it offers advanced features at a competitive price point. Files in Obsidian are stored locally on your computer by default. This makes it a useful and safe tool to use if data privacy is something that you care strongly about.

What Are Some Features of Obsidian Software?

If you’re familiar with personal knowledge management tools such as Whimsical and Roam Research, then Obsidian's features should be familiar to you. We’d like to think of it more as a cross between an outliner and a second-brain application.

Obsidian has a simple user interface and its best feature is arguably the Graph View which visually shows you the relationships between your notes. Obsidian helps you to establish these relationships via simple commands which you can use to link your thoughts together on the software. The idea is to help you visually see the links between your notes in a mind map style layout, with related pieces of information linking to each other. This makes it easier for you to navigate through linked pieces of data.

Your data is stored locally on your computer by default when using Obsidian. This helps keep your data safe plus allows you to use the app offline. If you were to fork out some additional cash, you can opt to have your data synced across devices with end-to-end encryption.

Obsidian encourages you to create your own workspace by allowing you to choose the plugins that you want to make the perfect second-brain application. Some of these plugins include the Graph View, Word Counter, Markdown Format Converter to help you import your data from other software, and more.

When it comes to note-taking, your notes on Obsidian are stored within folders in your vault. Use links, tags, and relations to further organize your data on the app. This is especially good if you have the luxury of working with a few display screens. This is because Obsidian allows you to resize its panes without restrictions, letting you view all of your information at a glance.

At the end of the day, the complexity of your Obsidian workspace depends on how many plugins you choose to use. The charm of Obsidian comes in its customizability.

What Is Obsidian MD Good For?

Obsidian is more than just another note-taking software as it does its job of linking ideas together well. By linking ideas together, you can create a personal knowledge base for yourself or your company on obsidian.

If you’re someone who takes notes and is interested in organizing your thoughts into a second-brain app, then Obsidian is the perfect personal knowledge management system for you.

Since files are hosted locally, Obsidian is a good tool to consider if you’re a person that needs to do offline work from time to time.

Overall, Obsidian is a pretty handy tool to have. However, people might be scared off at a first glance of the interface as it may seem pretty intimidating for beginners.

What Are Some Limitations of Obsidian?

Obsidian is a good personal knowledge base tool, but it lacks advanced features that can make it a more holistic software. For starters, it lacks any form of proper communication which means that you won't be able to collaborate on Obsidian. 

In contrast, this makes Taskade a better alternative as we offer free unlimited chat and built-in video conferencing to help you and your team communicate on projects together.

If you have a lot of relationships between items, we would imagine that it can get pretty messy the more links and notes that you have on Obsidian. Though you can put your organizational skills to the test and try to sort out your notes, it will require some effort if you want to keep things tidy in your workspace.

How Much Does Obsidian Cost?

Let’s get one thing out of the way - Obsidian's pricing is expensive. This is because by signing up for a paid plan, you’re actually supporting the development of the software.

While the free plan is good enough for you to get started with, you could consider upgrading to a Catalyst plan for a one-time payment of $25. Feature-wise, this just helps you be more with the community, with access to special badges and a developers channel.

For Commercial use, expect to pay about $50 per year.

When it comes to Pricing, Taskade would be a better Obsidian alternative as Taskade's free plan is loaded with features to help you get more work done.

Check out our list of the best outliner tools if you're trying to find an Obsidian alternative!

What Is Taskade?

Taskade is an online productivity and collaboration tool that was founded by John Xie, Dionis Loire, and Stan Chang in 2017. The Y Combinator-backed startup aims to help remote teams and individuals get work done faster and smarter.

Taskade is where remote teams get work done. With Taskade, you can organize projects and tasks, change between multiple project views, automate repetitive workflows, collaborate via built-in video chat with your team, and more, via an all-in-one unified workspace. 

Get a headstart on your projects and find a suitable structure for your notes via Taskade’s versatile collection of templates. Simply choose from a wide variety of templates and add them to your projects to get started instantly!

Taskade is a supercharged productivity app that both individuals and teams can use to collaborate on projects in real-time.

Taskade is the best free Obsidian alternative. Get started instantly for free today.

Key Features of Taskade

• Project Views. Visualize your projects in several different ways. Cycle between the List, Mind Map, Org Chart, and Board views to work the way you want. 

  • List View. This is the default view on Taskade. Create new lists here.
  • Mind Map View. This view lets you work in a horizontal tree-structured manner and map out what you have in mind.
  • Board View. This view lets you work horizontally like a Kanban board. Visualize your workflow and tasks in this full-width view.
  • Action View. Work in table view and stay organized with your task due dates, and more.
  • Org Chart View. Break down larger tasks into smaller ones to help you get things done.

• Zoom In, Zoom Out. Get a bird’s-eye view of the workflow by zooming out on all project views, or zoom in to focus on a specific area.
• Fold/Unfold. Fold (collapse) a parent task/bullet element to hide its subtasks. Indent outline elements with ⌨️ Tab and unfold lists with ⌨️ Shift+Tab.
• Real-time Communication. Chat and video conference with your team while collaborating in real-time on the same page. 
• 500+ Templates. Choose from 500+ templates across 26 categories to improve your productivity and workflows. Customize existing templates or create new ones across your workspaces.
• Multi-Select. Select and format multiple blocks or bulk assign them as tasks to other team members. You can also copy, paste, or indent selected blocks.

• Customize Sub-Tasks. Customize the format of your sub-tasks at individual levels. Choose from headings, numbered lists, shapes, and more.
• Recurring Tasks. Add due dates with start and end times to tasks within your project and set them to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly.
• Move Tasks. Move and copy selected tasks to other projects across any workspace. You’ll receive a pop-up notification on completion.
• User Roles & Permissions. Manage collaborators and assign user roles/editing privileges (Owner, Admin, Editor, Checker, Viewer).

• Sort Tasks. Sort sub-tasks/children elements by completed/uncompleted stats or the due date. Task sorting can be accessed from a convenient pop-up menu.
• Search. Search within projects or globally across workspaces and subspaces. Instantly browse and jump between projects anywhere in the Taskade.
• Keyboard Shortcuts. Navigate projects, create content blocks, reorder elements, and complete tasks using a set of handy keyboard shortcuts.

• Team Calendar. Aggregate all tasks and projects in a shared calendar. The Taskade calendar integrates with Google (two-way), Apple, and Outlook. 
• Reorder Tasks. Lists in Taskade aren’t set in stone. Reorder tasks and find them a new home with intuitive drag-and-drop mechanics.
• Project History. See all the changes made by you and other collaborators. Click on the entries to navigate to the edited items within the project.
• Version History. Taskade saves snapshots of your project so that you can restore a previous version of your project with a single click.

• Export and Print. You can export your projects as plain text or markdown files. Attach them to emails, presentations, or for print.

• Cloud File Upload. Share files directly from Google Drive, Dropbox, Instagram, and Box in your projects with our integrations.
• Breakdown Larger Tasks. Organize your thoughts with Taskade’s unlimited hierarchy to break down large projects into tasks.
• Quick Search. Use CMD / CTRL + K to jump between any projects within Taskade web and apps.

For an exhaustive list of Taskade’s features, click here.

Taskade Pros

• Free-forever plan is loaded with features
• Real-time collaboration within the same project 
• Free built-in video call and chat function in each project
• Customizable templates to give you a headstart
• Work and chat in the same window, in the same app
• Frequent updates based on user/your feedback and suggestions
• Tabbed workflow for working with multiple Projects

Taskade Cons

• No custom APIs (yet)

Taskade Pricing

Taskade Free Plan

• Unlimited Tasks & Projects
• Unlimited Members & Guests
• Unlimited Folders & Teams
• Templates, Calendar, Repeat Tasks
• Real-time Collaboration
• Built-in Free Chat and Video Call

Taskade Unlimited Plan - Starts from $5/month

• Everything in Free, plus:
• Version History
• Advanced Permission
• Cloud Upload Integration
• 2-Way Calendar Integration

Click here for more information.

Is Taskade Right for You?

Taskade can be used by individuals and teams working from anywhere. Use Taskade individually or collaborate with your team for weekly agendas, team meetings, note-taking, project management, product roadmaps, and more. 

Make use of customizable board views to visualize your projects into digestible smaller tasks. Multiple board views are available even on Taskade’s free plan, allowing you to get more work done the smarter way. 

Collaborate with your team in real-time with free and unlimited chat and video conferencing available on every project. Automatic syncing ensures that your data is always up to date across devices.

Our customizable templates are available even with our free plan. Find the perfect template to help you get started with your project, and customize it to fit your needs!

Taskade is the simplest way to create task lists, checklists, and workflows. Manage projects and documentation efficiently and get more work done the simple way with Taskade.

Taskade is the best free Obsidian alternative. Try Taskade for free today.