Obsidian Pricing 2026
Complete pricing guide with plans, hidden costs, and cost analysis
Obsidian pricing: free plan, Publish $10/site/mo, Catalyst $25 one-time, Commercial $50/user/yr.
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Is Obsidian a fit?
Derived from this product's own pricing and contract record — not a review.
Best for
- Personal use and knowledge management
- Organizations supporting Obsidian's development
- Users wanting to publish digital gardens or wikis
- Early adopters wanting to support development
All Obsidian Plans & Pricing
Some prices not re-verified — only plans marked “checked” were confirmed on the vendor’s pricing page
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free checked Nov 4, 2026 | Free | Free | Personal use and knowledge management |
| Verified on Obsidian's pricing page · checked Nov 4, 2026 Free: “Free without limits.”
Get this price at Obsidian →
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| What's included at Free Best for: Personal use and knowledge management
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| Commercial checked Nov 4, 2026 | Annual billing only | $50 /user/year | Organizations supporting Obsidian's development |
| Verified on Obsidian's pricing page · checked Nov 4, 2026 $50/user/yr: “$50 USD”
Get this price at Obsidian →
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| What's included at Commercial Best for: Organizations supporting Obsidian's development
| |||
| Publish not re-verified | $10 per site/month | $8 per site/monthbilled annuallySave 20% | Users wanting to publish digital gardens or wikis |
| Not re-verified · catalog record from October 2026
Get this price at Obsidian →
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| What's included at Publish Best for: Users wanting to publish digital gardens or wikis
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| Catalyst checked Nov 4, 2026 | $25 once | Not published | Early adopters wanting to support development |
| Verified on Obsidian's pricing page · checked Nov 4, 2026 $25 once: “$25 USD”
Get this price at Obsidian →
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| What's included at Catalyst Best for: Early adopters wanting to support development
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View all features by plan (compare side-by-side)
Free
- Free without limits
- No sign-up required
- No strings attached
- Full core app (local Markdown notes)
Commercial
- Optional: $50 per user per year
- Support independent development
- Become a featured organization
- Optional (not required for commercial use)
- Bulk purchase options available
Publish
- Publish notes to the web
- No technical knowledge required
- Customizable theme
- Graph and full text search
- Priority support
Catalyst
- $25 one-time supporter license (early access to insider builds)
- Early access to beta versions
- Community badges
- VIP channel
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What does Obsidian actually cost you?
Drag the slider. Pick a tier. Your projected spend updates as you go.
List price by tier (annualized, per seat)
Per-seat list price across Obsidian's plans, annualized. Custom-priced tiers show a hatched bar.
Buyers actually pay a median of $330/yr for Obsidian contracts (Vendr deal flow, n=213). That's a contract total — the more seats, the more leverage to negotiate down.
Obsidian pricing: free plan, Publish $10/site/mo, Catalyst $25 one-time, Commercial $50/user/yr. Plans: Free (free), Commercial at $50/user/year, Publish at $10 per site/month, and Catalyst at $25/one-time. The median contract is $330/year based on 213 community cost mentions.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: Yes
Obsidian offers 4 pricing tiers: Free, Commercial, Publish, Catalyst. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Commercial at $50/user/year, Publish at $10 per site/month, Catalyst at $25/one-time. The Commercial plan is organizations supporting obsidian's development.
Compared to other note-taking & pkm software, Obsidian is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.
- Median contract: $330/yr from 213 purchases Thin data
- 2 documented hidden costs beyond list price
How much does Obsidian cost?
Obsidian Pricing Overview
Obsidian pricing: free plan, Publish $10/site/mo, Catalyst $25 one-time, Commercial $50/user/yr. The Free plan is free and is best for personal use and knowledge management. The Commercial plan costs $50/user/year, best for organizations supporting obsidian's development. The Publish plan costs $10 per site/month, best for users wanting to publish digital gardens or wikis. The Catalyst plan costs $25/one-time, best for early adopters wanting to support development.
The median Obsidian customer pays $330/year based on 213 community cost mentions.
There are at least 2 documented hidden costs beyond Obsidian's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.
This pricing was last verified in October 11, 2026 from 2 independent sources.
Obsidian's Personal plan is free, at $0/month billed monthly or $0/month billed annually, and the core app includes plugins and themes. Commercial use is a separate plan at $50/user/year, billed annually. To publish notes as a website, Publish costs $10/month billed monthly or $8/month billed annually. Cloud synchronization is available through the separate paid Sync service, and free alternatives such as iCloud or Git also work.
How Obsidian Pricing Compares
Compare Obsidian pricing against top alternatives in Note-Taking & PKM.
Compare Obsidian vs Alternatives
Before committing to Obsidian, compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.
What Companies Actually Pay for Obsidian
The median Obsidian buyer pays $330/year based on 213 community cost mentions.
Obsidian Cost by Company Size
Example costs for teams of different sizes. Each figure is labelled with the period it covers.
$48/year for Sync when paid annually ($4/month)
Solo user who wants cloud sync across devices but doesn't need publishing
$0 for Obsidian + cost of chosen sync service (often free tier available)
User who uses free Obsidian with their own sync solution like iCloud, OneDrive, or git
$0/year
Individual using Obsidian on a single device for personal note-taking with no need for cloud sync or web publishing.
$48/year ($4/month × 12)
Individual syncing notes across devices (e.g., laptop and phone) using Obsidian Sync on annual billing.
Individual using both Obsidian Sync and Obsidian Publish on annual billing to sync across devices and maintain a public notes website.
$250/year (5 × $50/year)
Five-person team using Obsidian professionally with individual Commercial licenses, no add-ons.
Current tier data and Reddit discussions
How Obsidian Pricing Compares
| Software | Starting Price | Top Price |
|---|---|---|
| Obsidian | Free | $10/user/month |
| Amplenote | $6.99/month | $29.99/month |
| Bear | $2.5/month | $2.99/month |
| Capacities | Free | $14.99/month |
| Craft | Free | $60/month |
| Evernote | Free | $24.99/month |
Detailed pricing comparisons:
Obsidian Contract Terms
Obsidian contracts do not auto-renew. Changes require advance notice. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.
How to Negotiate Obsidian Pricing
Obsidian contracts are negotiable. These 2 tactics are sourced from real buyer experiences and procurement specialists.
Obsidian's free Personal plan works fully locally. Sync costs can be avoided entirely by syncing the vault folder via iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, or git. Multiple community members confirm these are viable, free alternatives. The tradeoff versus Obsidian Sync is the loss of end-to-end encryption and version history.
HN community discussions (2022, 2025)Obsidian Sync costs $4/month on annual billing versus $5/month monthly — a 20% saving. Obsidian Publish costs $8/month annually versus $10/month monthly — also 20% off. Users intending to keep either add-on should always choose annual billing at checkout.
Obsidian pricing page, confirmed via HN discussion 2025Obsidian Pricing FAQ
01 Is Obsidian completely free?
The Personal plan is free, at $0/month billed monthly or $0/month billed annually. Commercial use is a separate plan at $50/user/year, billed annually. Optional paid services sit on top of that: Obsidian Publish costs $10/month billed monthly or $8/month billed annually, and Obsidian Sync is a separate paid add-on.
02 Do I need Obsidian Sync to use Obsidian on multiple devices?
No, Obsidian Sync is optional. You can sync for free using iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Git. These methods require some technical setup but work well. Obsidian Sync is a paid option that offers convenience, end-to-end encryption, and version history.
03 Can I collaborate with others in Obsidian?
Obsidian doesn't have built-in real-time collaboration like Google Docs. It's designed for individual use. You can share vaults via Git or cloud storage, but multiple people can't edit the same note simultaneously without merge conflicts.
04 What's the difference between Obsidian and Notion?
Obsidian is local-first with Markdown files you own, focused on personal knowledge management with graph-based linking. Notion is cloud-based with a database-centric approach, better for team collaboration. Obsidian is free and private; Notion has better collaboration but requires paid plans for teams.
05 Are my notes stored in the cloud?
No, Obsidian stores all notes locally on your device as plain Markdown files. You have complete control and ownership. Only if you choose to use the paid Obsidian Sync service will encrypted copies be stored on Obsidian's servers for syncing across devices.
06 Can I export my data from Obsidian?
Yes, and it's easy. Since Obsidian uses plain Markdown files stored locally, your data is already in an open, portable format. You can move your entire vault to another app at any time without export tools or conversion processes.
07 Is Obsidian free to use?
Yes, the Personal plan is free, at $0/month billed monthly or $0/month billed annually, and includes the core app with community plugins and themes. Commercial use is a separate plan at $50/user/year, billed annually. Optional paid services include Sync for cloud synchronization and Publish for publishing your notes as a website, which costs $10/month billed monthly or $8/month billed annually.
08 Can I sync Obsidian without paying for Sync?
Yes, Obsidian works with any file sync service since it stores notes as plain markdown files. Users commonly sync via iCloud, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or git. The paid Sync service ($4/month annually) offers end-to-end encryption, version history, and is optimized for Obsidian, but free alternatives work well for many users.
09 Do I need a Commercial license to use Obsidian for work?
As of February 2026, Obsidian is now free for commercial use. Previously, companies with revenue over $1 million/year required a Commercial license at $50/year per user, but this requirement has been removed.
10 Are there student discounts available?
Yes, students can get a 40% discount on Obsidian's paid services. You can check eligibility and apply for the discount on the Obsidian pricing page.
11 Is Obsidian Publish worth the cost compared to alternatives?
Community opinion is divided. At $10/month ($8/month annually), Obsidian Publish is priced above free alternatives like Notion, Blogger, and Wordpress.com, and above paid options like Wix (~$4/month). Its advantage is frictionless, one-click publishing directly from your vault. In 2022, some users reported missing SEO metadata, rendering bugs, and theme incompatibilities; the service has continued to develop since.
12 What is the cheapest way to use Obsidian across multiple devices?
The cheapest method is the free Personal (Free) plan combined with a third-party sync solution — iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, or git are all free or included with existing subscriptions. If you want Obsidian's native encrypted sync with version history, the Sync plan costs $4/month on annual billing ($48/year).
Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.