MindForger vs Obsidian
We give MindForger a 3.6 GPA and Obsidian a 3.4, out of 4.0. MindForger grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
MindForger
Open-source Markdown notebook that links related notes for you
Obsidian
Markdown note-taking app that keeps your files on your device
How we grade them
| 3.6GPAMindForgerExcellent | 3.4GPAObsidianVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source under the GNU GPL. The site says it costs nothing to download and use, with no account and no subscription, against a typical $5.99 a month in this category. | AThe app is free and Sync is $4 a month if you want it. You only pay for the extras you'll really use. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe full desktop app is free, Wingman assistant included, and Wingman can run a model on your own machine through Ollama. There's no paid tier to bump into. | AThe whole app, free, with no account and no limits. You're even allowed to use it at work without paying. |
| Features | ARelated notes listed as you read or write, links made automatically from note names, a knowledge graph, Kanban and Eisenhower views, math, Mermaid diagrams, and keyboard commands to clone, promote, move and extract notes. That's deep. Sync is the one thing it leaves to Git or a cloud drive. | ALinked notes, a graph view, a canvas, and thousands of plugins and themes. It can become almost anything. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating to go on, so a B is our ceiling. On Linux and Windows it's a normal install. On a Mac the app isn't signed, so Gatekeeper blocks it after each install until you allow it by hand, and Wingman needs a language model set up first. | CThis is the hard part. You start with an empty folder, and even fans say it took them a while to get comfortable. |
| Platforms and integrations | BLinux, macOS and Windows, with packages for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and more. It hooks up to Ollama, OpenRouter and OpenAI. No phone or web app, and the Mac build is Intel only, running on Apple Silicon through Rosetta 2. | BMac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, plus a web clipper. No web app though, and the phone app is weaker than the desktop one. |
| Best for | Markdown notes that link themselves, on a desktop | notes you own as plain files |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: MindForger and Obsidian. How we grade
Where they differ
- MindForger is free. Obsidian starts at $4 per user / month, billed annually (Sync Standard add-on).
- Only Obsidian lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only Obsidian lists a browser extension.
- MindForger is open source, according to its own site.
- Obsidian is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Obsidian also covers whiteboard.
At a glance
| MindForger | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $4 per user / month, billed annually (Sync Standard add-on) |
| Free plan | Free, open-source software under the GNU GPL (version 2 on GitHub). The site says it costs nothing to download and use, with no account and no subscription. | The app is free without limits on desktop and mobile, with no sign-up, and a commercial license is not required for work use. Sync and Publish are optional paid add-ons. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Martin Dvorak | Dynalist Inc. |
| Price read from | mindforger.com | obsidian.md |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Who each one suits
MindForger
- People who keep private notes as Markdown files on their own disk
- Keyboard-driven users who want IDE-style restructuring of notes
- Running an AI assistant over notes with a local Ollama model
- Linux users: packages cover Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and more
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
Worth knowing
MindForger
- Desktop only: the site lists Linux, macOS and Windows with no mobile or web app, and leaves syncing to Git or a cloud drive of your choice.
- The macOS app is not signed or notarized by Apple: after each .dmg install Gatekeeper blocks it until it is allowed by hand, and it has left the official Homebrew cask repository.
- The macOS .dmg is built for Intel and runs on Apple Silicon through Rosetta 2; the Windows installer is for 64-bit x64 only.
- Wingman needs a language model set up first: Ollama installed locally, or a remote provider, which the docs warn sends your text to a third party.
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.
Key features
MindForger
- Associations
- While a note is being read or written, MindForger lists related notes from the whole workspace. Associations are computed locally, with no cloud service or language model needed.
- Autolinking
- Names of notebooks and notes mentioned in the text become links in the preview automatically. Generated links are shown in green and hand-written ones in blue.
- Wingman assistant
- An optional assistant that summarizes, explains, translates, rewrites and fixes grammar. It runs open-weight models locally through Ollama, or sends text to OpenRouter or OpenAI.
- Organizers and knowledge graph
- Kanban boards and Eisenhower matrix views sort notebooks and notes by their tags, and a force-directed graph shows notebooks, notes and tags with their relationships.
- Markdown editor with refactoring
- The editor has live preview, syntax highlighting, offline KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams and spell check. Notes can be cloned, promoted, demoted, moved and extracted from the keyboard.
- Plain Markdown workspaces
- Notes are GitHub Flavored Markdown files on disk. MindForger opens its own workspace, any Markdown directory or a single file, and exports notebooks to HTML or Markdown.
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.
Plans
MindForger
MindForger$0
The full desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows, including the Wingman assistant, which uses a local Ollama model or a remote OpenRouter or OpenAI model.
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.
Ways to pay less
MindForger
No public discounts listed.
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.
