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Obsidian AI

Free

By AI Bookmarks Editorial Team, Directory editors Last reviewed

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Offline note app that stores plain text files in a folder you own, with AI added through plugins rather than built in.

Quick facts

PricingFree
Free tierYes — the app is free for personal use; sync and publishing are paid
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
DeveloperObsidian
Website https://obsidian.md

What Obsidian AI is

Obsidian is a note-taking app that stores notes as plain text files in a folder you control. That single decision explains most of its properties: no vendor lock-in, works offline, syncs however you choose, and remains readable in twenty years. Notes are linked into a graph, and plugins extend it into a task manager, a publishing tool or a spaced-repetition system. AI arrives through plugins rather than a built-in assistant, so you choose the model and where the data goes — including local models that never leave the machine. The limits follow from the same design: there is no built-in real-time collaboration, setup is a project of its own, and plugin quality and maintenance vary. Backlinks and the graph view show how notes connect, which helps when a topic has grown over several years. Themes and CSS snippets allow visual customisation, though the default look is plain.

Best for

  • Personal knowledge work that must survive a vendor change
  • Writers and researchers with large note archives
  • Anyone who wants notes stored as plain files

Not ideal for

  • Real-time collaborative editing on shared documents
  • Teams that need an admin-managed workspace

Pros

  • Notes are plain files you can back up and move
  • Works fully offline
  • AI can run through local models if privacy matters

Cons

  • No built-in real-time collaboration
  • Setup and plugin choices take time
  • Plugin quality and maintenance vary

Pricing in detail

The app is free for personal use on desktop and mobile. Paid extras are a launcher licence for commercial use, an optional sync service and an optional publishing service, each billed separately. AI is not included: plugins require your own API key or a locally run model, so cost depends on which provider you connect. The total is the app licence plus whatever the model calls cost.

Obsidian AI alternatives

Mem AI Note-taking app that replaces folders with AI retrieval, so notes surface by relevance instead of ta Notion AI Assistant layer inside Notion that writes, summarises and answers from workspace content, metered se Folio Wiki Open-source team wiki stored in Git, with version history, self-hosting and Markdown pages under you Slab Team knowledge base with topic-based structure and search that spans Slack, Drive and GitHub as well Tettra AI Internal knowledge base with owner verification cycles, so pages do not quietly go stale.