Notion was my preferred solution for taking meeting notes, adding digital entries for daily reflections, creating various databases, and more. While the flexible all-in-one approach is appealing, as my needs increased and my workflow evolved, my Notion setup began to reach its limits. So I looked for an alternative and came across Obsidian – a knowledge base based on simple text files.
My Obsidian experiment quickly turned into a full-fledged migration, and it continues to impress me with its offline-first approach, features, customizability, and pricing structure. In this post, I'll share the key factors that initiated my move from Notion to Obsidian, and why I haven't once regretted my decision.
Why I switched from Notion
A major downside to Notion is the lack of a true offline mode. Last month, I drove through several remote areas on my trip to my hometown. During that time, I was unable to open or access my Notion workspace due to the lack of an internet connection.
Since I work mostly from my home office, this limitation wasn't so obvious, but now, after this experience, it seems like a dealbreaker.
The company has recently introduced new features such as charts, forms, dashboards, and automation, suggesting that the focus is on professionals, enterprises, and startups, while neglecting other important requests from Notion users.
Find a Notion alternative
As you might have guessed, a true offline mode was high on my priority list when I was looking for a Notion alternative. During my research, I came across some capable software solutions like Joplin, Anytype, Heptabase, and others. However, among them, I chose Obsidian because of its built-in canvas, diagrams, extensive, comprehensive support, and vibrant community. Here are some of the key Obsidian features that convinced me to go with the platform.
A true offline solution
No surprises here – Obsidian supports a true offline mode. When you first create a vault in Obsidian, you can choose a local or a cloud location (OneDrive, Google Drive, or Box) to save your notes, and you can proceed in either case without worrying about internet connectivity. You also don't need to preload any Obsidian vaults or pages to use the program offline. Just launch your Obsidian vault and start taking notes with all the essential features.
Once your device is connected to the internet, the system automatically syncs the changes. Even if I'm on a plane or in a faraway location, I can access my Obsidian vaults without worry.
Markdown support
Obsidian uses a Markdown language to format your notes. Markdown uses various characters like hashtags (#), brackets, plus, minus, asterisks, and others to format your notes like a pro. You can add block quotes, divide content with horizontal lines, highlight sentences, create tables, add footnotes, create to-do lists, insert code blocks, and much more without taking your fingers off the keyboard.
Markdown has a learning curve. However, once you get past that initial phase, it's a lot of fun to use. Since it's a widely accepted language (even Google Docs supports it), you can open your Obsidian files with any software of your choice. Like Notion, Obsidian also supports the “/” command to access useful features like split view, export options, file properties, and more.
Because Notion allows you to export your notes in Markdown format, you can easily import your existing notes into an Obsidian vault.
Solution with numerous functions
Compared to Notion, Obsidian may seem simple at first glance. However, for personal use, it offers numerous features that will replace any Notion setup. You can use a split view to open multiple files at once for multitasking. It also gives you the ability to connect notes, a diagram view to visualize the relationship between your notes, an infinite canvas for brainstorming ideas, tag support, and more.
Overall, you have a lot of options for formatting, organizing, and visualizing your notes. The ability to link related notes can greatly increase the productivity of researchers, students, professors, and others.
A robust free plan
Most all-in-one productivity apps charge a double-digit monthly subscription. Surprisingly, Obsidian is completely free to download and use. However, some advanced features, such as the ability to publish your notes to the web and end-to-end encryption, do come at a cost. Still, most users should be perfectly happy with the free plan.
To sync your Obsidian vaults across devices, you can forgo the company's paid sync add-on and instead use one of the cloud storage services of your choice.
Adaptation and flexibility
This is where Obsidian really excels over Notion. As much as I like Notion's block editor, the software as a whole isn't really customizable. You can't change the icons, the typography options are limited, and the theme options only support dark and light tones.
Obsidian has its own theme store that allows you to change the entire look and feel of the app with a single click. You can also explore the plugin store to further extend Obsidian's functionality. Check out my separate list of top plugins to streamline your Obsidian workflow.
From Notion to Obsidian: My one-way journey
While Notion shines with third-party app integrations, automation, and real-time collaboration, Obsidian really fits the way I think and work. Unlike Notion, it also gives me a sense of ownership and control over my digital space. I recommend giving Obsidian a try—you might find it as valuable as I did.
If you're still not sure whether to switch from your Notion setup to Obsidian, check out our dedicated comparison to learn all the differences between the two.