Evernote and Obsidian get compared because both are note apps, but the difference is structural rather than cosmetic. Evernote is a cloud service: your notes live on Evernote's servers, the free tier is deliberately small, and the AI features that search, transcribe and clean up notes come with a paid plan. Obsidian is a local application: your notes are plain Markdown files in a folder you control, the app is free, and the company charges only for the optional sync and publish services.
TL;DR
Evernote and Obsidian sit at opposite ends of the ownership question. Evernote is a hosted service: Free is capped at 50 notes and one device, Starter is $129.99 a year and Advanced is $249.99, with AI features on paid plans. Obsidian stores plain Markdown files on your own device and costs nothing, with Sync at $4 per user a month billed annually and Publish at $8 per site. Choose Evernote for capture and AI, Obsidian for data ownership and no subscription.
The prices reflect that. Evernote's Free plan allows 50 notes, one notebook, one device, 200 attachments and 1 GB of storage. Starter is $17.99 a month or $129.99 a year and lifts those limits to 1,000 notes, 20 notebooks, three devices and 5 GB. Advanced is $24.99 a month or $249.99 a year and removes the caps. Obsidian's app costs nothing, with Sync at $4 per user a month billed annually or $5 month to month, and Publish at $8 per site a month billed annually or $10 monthly.
What you give up with Obsidian is convenience. There is no account, no web clipper built into the subscription and no AI assistant included, though the community plugin ecosystem covers much of the gap. What you gain is that your notes are files: readable without the app, synced however you choose, and not tied to a subscription or a vendor's storage limits. Evernote's advantage runs the other way, and it is real — capture from the web, email and scans, plus AI that transcribes recordings and tidies notes, without assembling plugins yourself. Both vendors are generous about trying before paying. Evernote runs a seven-day trial on paid plans and gives students 40 percent off a year of Advanced. Obsidian offers a full refund within seven days on Sync and Publish, and a 40 percent discount for students, faculty and nonprofit employees on those same services.
| Feature | Evernote | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Storage model | Hosted on Evernote servers | Local Markdown files on your device |
| Free tier | 50 notes, 1 notebook, 1 device, 1 GB | Free with no limits |
| Entry paid price | Starter at $17.99/month or $129.99/year | Sync at $4 per user/month billed annually ($5 monthly) |
| Top public tier | Advanced at $24.99/month or $249.99/year | Publish at $8 per site/month billed annually ($10 monthly) |
| Sync | Included in the subscription | Paid add-on at $4 per user a month, end-to-end encrypted |
| AI features | AI Assistant, semantic search, transcribe and edit on paid plans | Not included; available through plugins or external tools |
| Capture tools | Web capture, email, scans and calendar integration built in | Available through community plugins |
| Data portability | Export required to leave the service | Files are already on your device in Markdown |
| Collaboration | Sharing and team features on paid tiers | Shared vaults through Sync |
| Education discount | 40 percent off one year of Advanced | 40 percent off Sync and Publish for students and nonprofits |
Pick Evernote if
Choose Evernote if you want notes to keep themselves: capturing from the web and email, scanning documents, recording and transcribing meetings, and letting AI tidy the result. Advanced at $249.99 a year is a real cost, and the free tier will not carry a working archive, but the workflow is assembled for you rather than built by you.
Pick Obsidian if
Choose Obsidian if you want to stop renting your notes. The app is free with no limits, your notes are Markdown files you can read and back up yourself, and Sync at $4 per user a month is the only recurring cost most people need. You trade convenience for control, and for anyone who has migrated a notes archive before, that trade is usually worth taking.
Yes. The app costs nothing and has no note or device limits. You pay only if you want Obsidian's own Sync at $4 per user a month billed annually, Publish at $8 per site a month, or a commercial licence at $50 per user a year.
Starter is $17.99 a month or $129.99 a year, and Advanced is $24.99 a month or $249.99 a year. The Free plan allows 50 notes, one notebook and one device.
Evernote stores notes on its own servers, so you export to leave. Obsidian keeps plain Markdown files in a folder on your device, so there is nothing to export.
Not from the vendor. AI assistance comes through community plugins or by connecting your vault to an external AI tool. Evernote includes AI Assistant, semantic search, transcription and editing on paid plans.
Obsidian, by a wide margin. Three years of Evernote Advanced is $749.97, while three years of Obsidian with Sync is $144, and Obsidian without sync costs nothing.
Evernote exports to HTML and ENEX, which community tools convert to Markdown for Obsidian. The move works but is a one-way export from Evernote rather than a synced connection.
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