Obsidian Review

Obsidian's core decision is that your notes are Markdown files in a folder you control, and every strength and weakness follows from it. There is no lock in, no sync you did not choose, no company that can lose your writing, and the files are readable by any tool for as long as text files exist. On top of that foundation the application adds bidirectional links, a graph of them, and a plugin system with thousands of community extensions that add everything from task management to spaced repetition.

The free tier is the full product for personal use. The costs are the flip side of the same decision: sync across devices is a paid add on or a project you set up yourself, the first hour is spent choosing among plugins rather than writing, and the interface can feel like a developer tool to someone who wanted Apple Notes. People who take to it tend to stay a decade, which is the best thing you can say about software.