Craft vs Obsidian

Craft

• People who want polished documents and personal notes in one app
• Individuals and families working mainly on Apple devices, with Windows, Android and web as well
• Small teams of up to 10 that prefer a fixed price over per-seat billing

Obsidian

• People who want their notes as plain Markdown files they control
• Building a linked personal knowledge base that works offline
• Users who like to customize an app with plugins and themes

Craft

• The free Starter plan stops at 1,500 content blocks, 1 GB of storage and 25 MB per file.
• Shared spaces come with the Family and Team bundles, which are capped at 6 and 10 accounts.
• Offline use covers documents opened earlier; creating documents, search and the AI assistant need a connection.
• Prices are set per country in local currency, so the amount shown on the pricing page varies by region.

Obsidian

• There is no web app; Obsidian runs as desktop and mobile apps only.
• Obsidian Sync is a paid add-on, from $4 per user / month billed annually.
• Sync Standard covers 1 vault with 1 GB of storage and a 5 MB file size limit; larger limits need Sync Plus.
• Publishing notes to the web is billed separately from Sync, at $8 per site / month on annual billing.

Craft

Block-based documents

Documents combine styled text, headings, lists and tables in blocks, and can be shared or published to the web.

Tasks, daily notes and calendar

Tasks sit inside documents and daily notes, with a calendar view. On Mac, iPhone and iPad, system calendar events appear alongside them.

Whiteboards and Collections

Whiteboards provide a visual canvas, and Collections add structured tracking with rich data to a document.

Craft Assistant

AI help for writing and editing, metered in credits: 15 on the Starter plan and 50 per month on Plus.

Offline editing

Documents opened earlier can be read and edited without a connection and sync on reconnect. Mac and iOS sync in the background; elsewhere it must be enabled in settings.

API, MCP and capture tools

A REST API and MCP server are included in all plans. A browser extension clips web pages, and emails can be forwarded into a space.

Obsidian

Local Markdown files

Notes are saved on your device as plain-text Markdown files, so they stay readable in other editors and available offline.

Links and graph view

Notes link to one another, and a graph view draws the relationships between them so related ideas are easier to find.

Canvas

An infinite board for laying out notes, diagrams and research side by side while brainstorming.

Plugins and themes

Thousands of community plugins and themes, built on an open API, change how the app looks and behaves.

Sync (paid add-on)

End-to-end encrypted sync across devices with version history and shared vaults that update in real time for a team.

Publish and Web Clipper

Publish turns notes into a hosted site, priced per site. The Web Clipper extension saves web pages from Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge.

Craft

• Starter$0

  One account with up to 1,500 content blocks, 1 GB of storage, 25 MB per file, 7-day version history and 15 AI credits.

• Plus$96

  per year ($10 if billed monthly)

  One account with unlimited documents, up to 5 spaces of 1 TB each, 5 GB per file, 30-day version history and 50 AI credits a month.

• Family$180

  per year ($18 if billed monthly)

  Fixed-price bundle of 2 to 6 Plus accounts with up to 5 shared family spaces.

• Team$600

  per year ($60 if billed monthly)

  Fixed price for up to 10 Plus accounts with up to 25 shared team spaces, member roles and centralized billing.

Obsidian

• Obsidian app$0

  The full app with local Markdown notes, links, graph, canvas, plugins and themes. No account needed.

• Sync Standard$4

  per user / month, billed annually ($5 billed monthly)

  Encrypted sync for 1 vault with 1 GB of storage, a 5 MB maximum file size and 1 month of version history.

• Sync Plus$8

  per user / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)

  Sync for 10 vaults with 10 GB of storage (upgradable to 100 GB), 200 MB maximum file size and 12 months of version history.

• Publish$8

  per site / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)

  Publishes selected notes as a website with a custom domain, password protection, graph view and full-text search.

• Catalyst$25

  one-time payment

  Optional supporter license with early access to beta versions, community badges and exclusive channels.

• Commercial$50

  per user / year

  Optional license for organizations that want to support development. It is not required to use Obsidian at work.

Craft

• Annual discount

  Save up to 20% with annual billing

  Plus is $96 a year versus $10 a month, a 20% saving. Family ($180 a year or $18 a month) and Team ($600 a year or $60 a month) save about 17%.

• Education

  Free Education plan for students and staff

  Enrolled students, faculty and staff with a school-issued email get free access to premium features, including unlimited documents and 250 GB of storage, re-verified every 12 months.

Obsidian

• Annual discount

  20% lower price with annual billing

  Sync is $4 per user / month billed annually versus $5 billed monthly, and Publish is $8 per site versus $10: a 20% saving on each.

• Education

  40% off Sync and Publish for students and faculty

  Students and faculty members of schools and universities can apply for 40% off Obsidian Sync and Publish from their account dashboard, using a school email.

• Nonprofit

  40% off Sync and Publish for nonprofits

  People who run or work at a nonprofit organization can apply for 40% off Obsidian Sync and Publish, using their organization email.