The pair looks like two note tools and is really two deployment philosophies. Confluence stores pages in Atlassian's cloud, permissions, spaces and audit surface included. Obsidian stores plain Markdown files in a folder you control, and sells the services around that folder rather than the folder itself.
TL;DR
Confluence is a hosted wiki priced per user: Free forever for up to 10 users with 2GB of storage and 3 active whiteboards each, Standard at $5.42 per user a month billed yearly with Rovo AI features and 250GB, Premium at $10.44 with unlimited pages, spaces, whiteboards and storage plus a 99.9% SLA, and Enterprise by quote. Obsidian is a local Markdown app whose Community account is free without limits and no sign-up, with paid extras: Sync at $4 per user a month billed annually for end-to-end encrypted sync, Publish at $8 per site a month to put notes on the web, a $25 one-time Catalyst licence and a $50 per user a year Commercial licence. Choose Confluence when knowledge has to be shared and governed across a company; choose Obsidian when the notes are yours, on your disk, and collaboration is occasional.
Confluence's pricing page lists Free at $0 for up to 10 users: pages, spaces, databases, templates for marketing, product and program management, up to 3 active whiteboards per user, 50 automation steps per subscription a month, support for apps and integrations, community support and 2GB of file storage. Standard is $5.42 per user a month billed yearly and adds Rovo Search, Chat and Agents with integrated AI features, free guest access, advanced permissions, cross-source data analysis, 100 automation steps per user a month, 250GB of storage, 9/5 regional support and sites of up to 250,000 users. Premium is $10.44 per user a month and lifts the ceilings: unlimited pages, unlimited spaces, a dynamic intranet, unlimited whiteboards, admin controls and insights, 250 automation steps, unlimited storage, 24/7 support for critical issues and a 99.9% uptime SLA. Enterprise is sold through sales and adds advanced analytics, 500 automation steps per user a month, multiple sites up to 150 and a 99.95% SLA.
Obsidian's pricing page leads with a Community account that is free without limits, with no sign-up and no strings attached — the app runs on local files. Two optional subscriptions sit on top: Sync at $4 per user a month billed annually, which syncs notes across devices with end-to-end encryption, version history, shared vaults for collaboration and priority support; and Publish at $8 per site a month billed annually, which puts notes on the web without technical knowledge, with customisable themes. Two licences support development instead of buying a service: Catalyst at $25 as a one-time payment, which adds early access to beta versions and community badges, and Commercial at $50 per user a year, described as a licence for organisations and bulk purchases. A monthly billing option exists alongside annual.
| Feature | Confluence | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free for up to 10 users: pages, spaces, databases, templates, 2GB storage | Community account free without limits, no sign-up, local Markdown files |
| Entry paid plan | Standard at $5.42 per user/month billed yearly | Sync at $4 per user/month billed annually |
| Mid tier | Premium at $10.44 per user/month billed yearly | Publish at $8 per site/month billed annually |
| Enterprise | Sold through sales: advanced analytics, multiple sites up to 150, 99.95% SLA | Commercial licence at $50 per user a year for organisations and bulk purchases |
| Where notes live | Atlassian cloud, with spaces, permissions and admin controls | Local files on your device, optionally synced and published |
| Storage | 2GB free, 250GB Standard, unlimited from Premium | Your own disk; no storage allowance is metered |
| AI features | Rovo Search, Chat and Agents from the $5.42 Standard tier | No AI subscription is sold on the pricing page |
| Automation | 50 steps a month free, then 100, 250 and 500 per user a month | Plugins and scripts run locally under the Community account |
| Collaboration | Free guest access from Standard; unlimited spaces from Premium | Shared vaults through Sync; version history and priority support included |
| Support | Community support free, 9/5 regional Standard, 24/7 critical issues Premium | Priority support with Sync; help site and community for the free app |
| Development support | None required | Catalyst $25 one-time, Commercial $50 per user a year |
Pick Confluence if
Confluence charges $5.42 then $10.44 per user a month billed yearly and gives back the things a shared wiki needs: spaces, permissions, templates, guest access, storage that reaches unlimited at Premium, and an uptime SLA in writing. Teams that onboard people, keep process documentation current and need pages discoverable across departments should pay the per-user rate.
Pick Obsidian if
Obsidian gives the app away and charges $4 a month per user for encrypted sync, $8 a month per site for publishing, and optional support licences at $25 one-time and $50 a year. Individuals, researchers and small groups who want local Markdown files — and are willing to assemble sharing themselves — spend less here than one Confluence seat.
No user reviews, ratings or quotes were gathered for this pair. Figures come from atlassian.com/software/confluence/pricing and obsidian.md/pricing as fetched for this page; SLA, storage and feature statements are vendor-published.
Yes — the Community account on Obsidian's pricing page is free without limits and requires no sign-up, and the app writes plain Markdown files locally. The paid items are optional services: Sync at $4 per user a month billed annually, Publish at $8 per site a month, plus support licences at $25 one-time and $50 per user a year.
Confluence's free site covers up to 10 users, so a team of 10 pays nothing to start; Standard would be $5.42 per user a month billed yearly for each editor who needs to pass the free ceiling. Obsidian has no team plan — collaboration runs through Sync subscriptions per participant, so 10 active collaborators on Sync would be $40 a month at the annual rate.
Only partly. Shared vaults through Sync let several people edit the same notes with version history, but there is no hosted site, permission hierarchy or guest access model like Confluence's spaces. Teams that need governed, discoverable pages usually keep Confluence for that layer.
The $5.42 Standard tier adds Rovo Search, Chat and Agents with AI features, free guest access, advanced permissions, 100 automation steps per user a month and 250GB of storage. The $10.44 Premium tier adds unlimited pages, spaces, whiteboards and storage, admin controls and insights, and a 99.9% uptime SLA with 24/7 support for critical issues.
Obsidian's pricing page sells no AI subscription; plugins and local scripts are what extend the app. Confluence bundles Rovo Search, Chat and Agents into its paid tiers, starting at $5.42 per user a month billed yearly.
With Obsidian, nothing changes locally: the files are Markdown on your own disk and the free Community account keeps working. With Confluence, the pages live in Atlassian's cloud, so access continues only while the site has a subscription — the free tier remains for up to 10 users.
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