Obsidian vs VNote
We give Obsidian a 3.4 GPA and VNote a 3.6, out of 4.0. VNote 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.
Obsidian
Markdown note-taking app that keeps your files on your device
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAObsidianVery good | 3.6GPAVNoteExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AThe app is free and Sync is $4 a month if you want it. You only pay for the extras you'll really use. | AFree and open source under the GNU LGPLv3 licence, with no account to create and no paid edition. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole app, free, with no account and no limits. You're even allowed to use it at work without paying. | AThe full app is free on Windows, Linux and macOS, with nothing held back. There's even a separate reduced build for Windows 7. |
| Features | ALinked notes, a graph view, a canvas, and thousands of plugins and themes. It can become almost anything. | ALive preview in place or side by side, with MathJax for maths and PlantUML, Graphviz and Mermaid for diagrams. Mind maps are their own note type, and PDFs open in a built-in viewer with highlight and drawing tools. Vi mode looks after the keyboard crowd. Notes export to Markdown, HTML or PDF. |
| Ease of use | CThis is the hard part. You start with an empty folder, and even fans say it took them a while to get comfortable. | BNo rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. Notebooks are ordinary folders, so there's no database to look after. But VNote doesn't update itself: it only checks for a newer release, and you download and install each one by hand. |
| Platforms and integrations | BMac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, plus a web clipper. No web app though, and the phone app is weaker than the desktop one. | BWindows 10 or newer, Linux as an AppImage, and macOS 10.15 or newer. The docs list no iOS, Android or web version. Notebooks sync through the built-in Git client, or through any folder-sync service such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud or Google Drive. |
| Best for | notes you own as plain files | free Markdown notes in plain folders on a desktop |
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: Obsidian and VNote. How we grade
Where they differ
- Obsidian starts at $4 per user / month, billed annually (Sync Standard add-on). VNote is free.
- Only Obsidian lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only Obsidian lists a browser extension.
- Obsidian is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- VNote is open source, according to its own site.
- Obsidian also covers linked notes and whiteboard.
- VNote also covers templates and mind mapping.
At a glance
| Obsidian | VNote | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $4 per user / month, billed annually (Sync Standard add-on) | Free |
| Free plan | 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 and open source under the GNU LGPLv3 license, with no account to create and no paid edition. Packages for each platform are on the project's GitHub and Gitee release pages. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Dynalist Inc. | VNoteX Team |
| Price read from | obsidian.md | docs.vnote.fun |
| Checked | Oct 4, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
VNote
- People who want Markdown notes as plain files with no account
- Vi users and others who work mostly from the keyboard
- Keeping a notebook under Git version control
- Large, deeply nested personal knowledge bases
Worth knowing
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.
VNote
- Desktop only: packages exist for Windows, Linux and macOS, and the docs list no iOS, Android or web version.
- The docs say VNote is for single-user note-taking, with no real-time collaboration and no managed, account-based cloud service.
- VNote does not update itself. It only checks for a newer release, and each new version is downloaded and installed by hand.
- Tags, attachments, the recycle bin and Git sync work only in bundled notebooks, not in raw notebooks that browse an existing folder.
Key features
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.
VNote
- Notebooks as plain folders
- A notebook is one directory of plain text files, mostly Markdown, with folders nested to any depth. There is no database, so notes can be copied, backed up or edited with other tools.
- Markdown editor with live preview
- In-place and side-by-side live preview, syntax highlighting and an interactive outline, with math rendered by MathJax and diagrams by PlantUML, Graphviz and Mermaid.
- Built-in Git sync
- A bundled notebook can clone, commit, fetch and push to a Git remote from inside the app, on demand or at a set interval, with a dialog for resolving conflicts.
- Mind maps and PDF annotation
- Mind maps are their own note type, edited on a node canvas. PDFs open in a built-in viewer with highlight, drawing and text-box tools, and the comments are saved beside the file.
- Vi mode and keyboard control
- Vi mode gives modal editing, and tabs, window splits, configurable shortcuts and a fuzzy search-and-jump entry box cover the rest from the keyboard.
- Export to Markdown, HTML and PDF
- Notes, folders or whole notebooks export to Markdown, HTML or PDF, and a custom command such as Pandoc reaches formats like docx and epub.
Plans
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.
VNote
VNote$0
The full app for Windows 10 or newer, Linux (as an AppImage) and macOS 10.15 or newer, plus a separate reduced build for Windows 7.
Ways to pay less
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.
VNote
No public discounts listed.
