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173M visits/mo+0.1%#1 Productivity & Office
Obsidian
Markdown-based note-taking and personal knowledge management app that turns notes into a connected system of ideas.
$4Starting price
6.1MMonthly visits
63Popularity
About Obsidian
Obsidian is a markdown-based note-taking and personal knowledge management application designed to help users organize and connect ideas into a structured system. Unlike traditional note apps, it treats notes as interconnected ideas rather than standalone documents, allowing users to link notes together like a personal Wikipedia. This networked approach improves thinking, learning, and creativity over time by making relationships between concepts easier to discover. Notes are stored locally on the user’s device, ensuring full ownership and privacy of data. The app supports simple markdown formatting for creating and editing notes, while plugins and themes enable users to extend functionality and tailor the workspace to their workflow. A graph view visualizes how ideas connect, providing an interactive way to explore knowledge networks. Ideal for students, researchers, writers, developers, and knowledge workers, Obsidian helps organize complex information for learning, productivity, and creative work.
Key features
- Create and edit notes using simple markdown formatting
- Link notes together to build a network of interconnected knowledge
- Visualize relationships between ideas using a graph view
- Store notes locally for full ownership and privacy
- Extend functionality with plugins and custom workflows
- Use themes to personalize the workspace
- Support for plain Markdown files
- Networked approach to knowledge management
Use cases
- Build a personal knowledge base or second brain system
- Write articles, books, and research notes
- Organize complex information for learning and productivity
Pros
- Stores notes locally as plain text Markdown files, ensuring full data ownership and privacy
- Supports thousands of plugins and themes for extensive customization and workflow adaptation
- Enables bidirectional linking between notes, creating a networked knowledge system
- Offers a graph view to visualize relationships and patterns between ideas
- Provides end-to-end encrypted sync across devices with selective file control
Cons
- Primarily designed for users comfortable with Markdown and local file management
- Advanced features like plugins and sync require some technical setup and maintenance
- Lacks built-in real-time collaboration features compared to cloud-based alternatives
Frequently asked questions about Obsidian
What is Obsidian and who is it designed for?
Obsidian is a markdown-based note-taking and personal knowledge management application designed for users who want to organize ideas into a structured, interconnected system. It suits students, researchers, writers, developers, and knowledge workers who value data ownership and long-term knowledge organization.
How does Obsidian handle data privacy and ownership?
Obsidian stores notes locally as plain text Markdown files on the user's device, ensuring full ownership and privacy. The company cannot access user data, and notes are not stored on external servers unless explicitly synced by the user.
Can Obsidian be used for team collaboration?
Obsidian supports shared vaults for team collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same files with fine-grained access control. However, it emphasizes private data security and does not offer real-time collaborative editing like cloud-based tools.
What are the main ways to extend Obsidian's functionality?
Obsidian can be extended through thousands of community plugins and custom themes, as well as an open API for developers. Users can tailor the app to fit their workflow, from task management to advanced data queries.
Does Obsidian support offline access?
Yes, Obsidian stores notes locally on the user's device, allowing full offline access and quick performance even without an internet connection.
How can I publish my notes from Obsidian?
Obsidian allows users to instantly publish their notes as an online wiki, knowledge base, or digital garden directly from the app. Published content can be customized with themes and password protection.
Obsidian traffic & engagement
obsidian.md · third-party estimates from Similarweb
Data as of Sep 2026Full AI website ranking →
Monthly visits · Sep 20266.1M-12% MoM12-month high 7.2M (Jul 2026)
Rank among AI websites#130▼ 13 vs last monthof 8,652 tools on aitoolnavio™
Top marketUnited States21.1%Top 5 countries bring 48% of visits
Average visit2m 44sLonger than 83% of AI sites
Pages per visit3.59More than 83% of AI sites
Bounce rate44%Leave after one page · lower is better
Similarweb global rank#8,901#8,796 in United States
Traffic trend
Last 4 months · grows by one month every month
- Jun 20266.6M
- Jul 20267.2M+8.1%
- Aug 20266.9M−3.4%
- Sep 20266.1M−12%
Where visitors come from
Share of visits by channel
No measurable traffic from Paid Referrals.
Top countries
Share of visits · estimated visits
Other countries: 51.9%
Visits sent by AI assistants
How people reach this site from other AI tools
81K a month · 1.3% of all visits
Compared with similar tools
Productivity & Office · Sep 2026
Traffic figures are third-party estimates, good for scale and trends; they can differ from a company's own numbers. Updated monthly.
