For whom is Obsidian the best choice?
If you like tinkering and want to fine-tune your system to your exact way of working, then Obsidian is still a top choice. You have complete control over your data (local markdown files), and with the huge plugin library you can build exactly what you need. Think developers, academics and PKM nerds who consider their system a hobby.
Also for people who value privacy and data ownership, Obsidian is unbeatable. Your files stay on your device, you can solve your own sync via Git or other tools, and you’re not dependent on a company that could pull the plug tomorrow. Plus: the free version is fully functional. You only pay for Sync ($1/month) or Publish ($1/month) if you want that, but those are optional.
Finally: if you mainly work on one device and don’t need collaboration, then Obsidian’s disadvantages are less relevant. You can fully focus on writing and thinking without worrying about sync issues or mobile performance.
Why would you look for an Obsidian alternative?
The mobile experience is often the breaking point. Obsidian mobile works, but is slow with large vaults and doesn’t feel native. Sync via iCloud regularly gives conflicts, and Obsidian Sync for $1 per month does solve that but feels expensive for what it is. If you work a lot on the go and your notes need to be just as fast on your phone as on desktop, you’ll run into frustration.
Real-time collaboration is practically impossible in Obsidian. You can share files via Git or Dropbox, but as soon as two people modify something at the same time it becomes a mess. For teams or people who want to share notes with colleagues, Obsidian just isn’t built for that. Notion or Capacities are much more logical choices there.
And then there’s the learning curve. Markdown is fine if you’re used to it, but building databases with the Dataview plugin requires you to learn to write queries. Setting up templates works via Templater syntax. Want a nice dashboard? Then you’re spending hours on CSS snippets. If you just want to write and organize without becoming a programmer, you quickly feel overwhelmed by the amount of configuration needed to make Obsidian truly productive.
Finally
Want something that works immediately and looks good? Look at Craft or Capacities. Need to collaborate? Notion is the obvious choice. Are you Apple-only and love simplicity? Bear is faster and prettier. For power users who outline and build systems: Tana offers more structure than Obsidian without having to program everything yourself.
Personally I would keep Obsidian for long-term knowledge building where ownership is important, and use one of the alternatives for daily work and collaboration. You don’t have to do everything in one tool.
