Obsidian Review 2026: Deep Dive for Solo Devs & Small Teams
Free tier limits, real costs per team size, and honest "not for" warnings. Everything you need to decide if Obsidian fits your stack.
Quick Summary
💰 Monthly Cost by Team Size
🚫 Not Recommended For
- Teams needing real-time collaboration (use Notion)
- Users who want a polished out-of-box experience
- Project management (it's a note-taking tool)
Obsidian Pricing (2026)
| Plan | Price | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Forever |
| Sync | $4/mo | monthly |
| Publish | $8/mo | monthly |
| Commercial | $50/mo | yearly |
Pros & Cons
✅ What We Like
- Completely free for personal and commercial use
- Local-first — your data stays on your device
- Works offline, instantly fast, no loading spinners
- 1000+ community plugins for any workflow
- Plain Markdown files — no vendor lock-in ever
❌ What Could Be Better
- No real-time collaboration (not a team tool)
- Sync requires Obsidian Sync ($4/mo) or third-party setup
- No built-in task management or project tracking
- Mobile app is decent but not as polished as Notion
- Steep plugin setup curve for non-technical users
Feature Breakdown
🏆 Our Verdict
Obsidian scores 4.7/5 in our evaluation. Solo Dev Score: 9/10. It's best suited for Solo devs who want full ownership of their notes, Privacy-conscious users (all data stays local), PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) enthusiasts. We recommend it as a top choice in its category.
See how it compares: Notion
Try Obsidian Free →Frequently Asked Questions
Is Obsidian worth the price in 2026?
Obsidian starts at Free / $4/mo. Based on our evaluation, it scores 4.7/5 overall. Whether it's worth it depends on your team size and feature requirements — read our detailed breakdown above.
What are the main alternatives to Obsidian?
Several tools compete with Obsidian in its category. Check our comparison section above for head-to-head matchups with the top alternatives.
Does Obsidian offer a free plan?
Check our pricing section above for the most up-to-date information on Obsidian's free tier and paid plans.
Is Obsidian good for small businesses?
Obsidian can work for small businesses depending on your budget and requirements. Review our "Best For" section to see if it matches your use case.
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