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  1. Home
  2. Compare
  3. Evernote vs Obsidian

EvernotevsObsidian

App
vs
App
ScoresSignalsPricingFeatures

Score Comparison

42
Overall
72
25
Pricing
90
55
Usability
55
45
Performance
85
30
Support
70
40
Reliability
75
60
Onboarding
40
50
Mobile
55
35
Security
92
65
Integrations
70
EvernoteObsidian

Signals Comparison

Pricing

Evernote

  • Dramatic price increases after Bending Spoons acquisition(9/10)
  • Severely limited free tier (50 notes, 1 device)(9/10)
  • Unauthorized charges and billing issues(8/10)

Obsidian

  • Sync across devices requires $48/year paid plan(6/10)
Support

Evernote

  • Unresponsive customer support after layoffs(9/10)

Obsidian

No signals

Reliability

Evernote

  • Persistent sync issues and data conflicts(8/10)

Obsidian

  • Free sync alternatives have corruption issues(7/10)
Performance

Evernote

  • Slow performance and frequent crashes(8/10)

Obsidian

No signals

Usability

Evernote

  • V10 redesign broke workflows and removed features(8/10)
  • Aggressive upgrade pop-ups and UX traps(6/10)
  • Cluttered interface and poor search functionality(6/10)

Obsidian

  • Plugin overload and management headaches(7/10)
  • No real-time collaboration features(7/10)
  • No web version - desktop app required(5/10)
  • No native task management or project features(6/10)
  • Plain interface lacks visual appeal(4/10)
  • Search becomes limiting with larger vaults(5/10)
Security

Evernote

  • Data export is extremely difficult - notes held hostage(9/10)

Obsidian

No signals

Onboarding

Evernote

No signals

Obsidian

  • Steep learning curve intimidates new users(7/10)
Mobile

Evernote

No signals

Obsidian

  • Mobile experience is basic and clunky(6/10)

Pricing Comparison

Evernote

Free
Free

Users: 1 user

Storage: 250MB monthly upload

Limits: 50 note limit is extremely restrictive, Cannot sync across devices, No customer support

Limited to 1 device plus web, Aggressive upgrade pop-ups, No offline access
Starter
Popular
$8.25/mo

Users: 1 user

Storage: 1000 attachments

Limits: Not unlimited notes, Limited notebooks, No teams features

Billed annually at $99/year, Price varies significantly by region, Note and notebook limits still apply
Advanced
$20.83/mo

Users: 1 user

Storage: Unlimited

Limits: No team collaboration features, Still reports of sync issues

Billed annually at $249.99/year, Massive price increase from previous plans, Regional pricing varies
Teams
$24.99/mo

Users: Per user

Storage: Unlimited

Limits: Team features are basic compared to alternatives, Limited admin controls

Per-seat pricing adds up quickly, Annual billing required for best rates

Obsidian

Personal
Popular
Free

Users: Unlimited

Storage: Unlimited (local)

Limits: No built-in sync, No web access to publish, Must self-manage backups

Sync requires paid plan or technical workarounds, Publish requires paid plan
Obsidian Sync
$4/mo

Users: 1 user

Storage: 10GB total, 200MB per file

Limits: Per-vault pricing, Cannot share with others

Billed annually at $48/year, 10GB may not be enough for media-heavy vaults
Obsidian Publish
$8/mo

Users: 1 site

Storage: 4GB

Limits: One-way sharing only, Not collaborative editing

Billed annually at $96/year, Per-site pricing, Additional sites cost more
Catalyst
$25/mo

Users: 1 user

Storage: N/A

Limits: Not required for any features, Purely supporter benefit

Higher tiers (Supporter $50, VIP $100) for more forum recognition

Feature Comparison

FeatureEvernoteObsidian
Capture
Web clipper

Still one of the best web clippers

Document scanning

Mobile app feature

Search
OCR search

Text search in images and PDFs

Reliability
Cross-device sync

Free: 1 device only, 46% report issues

Offline access

Paid plans only

Visualization
Graph view

Visualize note connections

Canvas/whiteboard

Built-in canvas feature

Customization
Community plugins

1000+ available, quality varies

Custom themes

Extensive theme marketplace

AI
AI features

Starter plan and above

Storage
Unlimited notes

Advanced plan only ($250/year)

Security
End-to-end encrypted sync

Obsidian Sync only ($4/mo)

Data export

Difficult - desktop only, 100 notes at a time

Local-first storage

Cloud-only, data on Evernote servers

End-to-end encryption

Not available

Open source

Proprietary

Pricing
Free tier

Limited to 50 notes, 1 device

Free personal use

No feature restrictions

Publishing
Publish to web

Obsidian Publish ($8/mo)

Usability
Note templates

Available

Markdown support

No native markdown

Web version

No browser access

Mobile
Mobile apps

iOS and Android, basic experience

Organization
Tags and notebooks

Notebook limits on lower tiers

Bidirectional linking

Not available

Native database views

Requires Dataview plugin

Productivity
Task management

Basic tasks within notes

Templates

Core and Templater plugin

Built-in task management

Requires plugins

Integrations
Third-party integrations

Google Drive, Slack, etc.

Collaboration
Real-time collaboration

Not available