The comparison is less about feature checklists than about who holds the files and how the bill is shaped.
TL;DR
Notion is a hosted workspace priced per member: Free at $0, Plus at $10, Business at $20 a member a month, with AI metered at $10 per 1,000 credits. Obsidian gives the application away and charges for optional services: Sync at $4 per user a month billed yearly, Publish at $8 per site a month, a $25 Catalyst one-time license and a $50 per user per year commercial license. Pick Notion when notes have to be shared and edited by a team; pick Obsidian when the files are yours and the tools are plugins.
Notion's pricing page is per member: Free at $0 for individuals, Plus at $10 per member, Business at $20 per member a month, Enterprise by quote. Databases with subtasks, dependencies and custom properties arrive on the free tier, basic connections on Plus, and automations on Business. Notion AI is a metered add-on at $10 per 1,000 monthly credits after the trial, and Sites custom domains cost $8 per domain a month billed annually or $10 monthly.
Obsidian's pricing page is the opposite shape. The app itself is free with no sign-up required, described on the site as a free and flexible app for private thoughts, and the paid items are optional: Sync at $4 per user a month billed yearly ($5 monthly) for end-to-end encrypted sync with version history, shared vaults and priority support; Publish at $8 per site a month billed yearly ($10 monthly) for putting notes online; a Catalyst license at $25 one-time that funds development and adds early beta access; and a Commercial license at $50 per user per year for work use.
| Feature | Notion | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free at $0 per member, hosted, databases included | Free app with no sign-up, local files, plugins included |
| Entry paid plan | Plus at $10 per member/month | Sync at $4 per user/month yearly, $5 monthly |
| Mid tier | Business at $20 per member/month | Publish at $8 per site/month yearly, $10 monthly |
| Enterprise | Quote-based, contact sales | Commercial license at $50 per user/year; enterprise offering listed separately |
| One-time options | None listed | Catalyst at $25 one-time, with early beta access |
| Where notes live | Hosted workspace on Notion's servers | Local files in a vault on your own device |
| AI pricing | Free to try, then $10 per 1,000 monthly credits | No AI line item on the pricing page |
| Sharing | Pages and databases shared inside the workspace | Publish at $8 per site a month for a public site |
| Platform | Web app, desktop app, mobile apps | Desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux, plus mobile |
| Offline mode | Not covered on notion.so/pricing | Local files open without a connection; sync waits |
Pick Notion if
Notion hosts the workspace, so adding an editor is a seat on a plan rather than a file-share arrangement, and the databases carry subtasks, dependencies and custom properties from the free tier up. Teams that need shared context, permissions and automations in one place will get more from $10 or $20 a member than from piecing together local files.
Pick Obsidian if
Obsidian keeps notes as local files and gives the application away, so the only recurring cost is the $4 Sync or the $8 Publish service you actually need. Writers, researchers and anyone building a long-term personal library tend to prefer paying for a service on top of files they control over renting a seat on a hosted workspace.
No independent reviews or user ratings were collected for Notion or Obsidian on this page; the bullets are the vendors' own wording from notion.so/pricing and obsidian.md/pricing, and every price here comes from those two pages.
The app is free with no sign-up, and notes are stored as local files. The paid items on Obsidian's page are optional services: Sync at $4 per user a month billed yearly for encrypted sync and shared vaults, Publish at $8 per site a month for a public site, a $25 Catalyst license, and a $50 per user per year license for commercial use.
Notion is built for it: a hosted workspace where every editor is a seat, starting free at $0 per member and moving to $10 Plus or $20 Business. Obsidian supports sharing through paid Sync and Publish services rather than through a multi-member workspace.
Notion Plus for two editors is $20 a month at the listed $10 per member rate. Obsidian with two users on Sync is $8 a month billed yearly, and the app itself stays free — a difference that grows with headcount because Obsidian charges per service, not per seat.
Notion meters AI as credits: free to try, then $10 per 1,000 monthly Notion credits, with automation-heavy behavior on the Business tier. Obsidian's pricing page carries no AI line item at all.
In Obsidian, notes are local files in a vault on your device, with optional encrypted sync at $4 a month. In Notion, pages and databases live in a hosted workspace on Notion's servers, which is what makes in-browser collaboration and permissions possible.
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