The 8 best Obsidian alternatives
Obsidian scores 8.4 out of 10 here, and its weak spots are specific: you assemble your own app, and that takes evenings you may not want to spend. These are the apps that fix that, ranked by overall score.
Grape
Take the note. The AI does the filing, the studying and the searching.
Mac / Win / Linux / iOS / Android
Gains you: speaker identification, document scanning, infographic generator. Same territory: privacy & ownership.
$3/mo
Apple Notes
Already on your phone, and better than it has any right to be.
Mac / iOS / Web
Gains you: document scanning, ai job notifications, real-time collaboration. Same territory: minimal & fast.
Free
Craft
Documents that look designed before you touch anything.
Mac / iOS / Win / Android / Web
Gains you: document scanning, ai job notifications, real-time collaboration. Same territory: minimal & fast.
$10/mo
RemNote
Take notes and generate the flashcards in the same keystroke.
Web / Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android
Gains you: real-time collaboration, comments. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$8/mo
Heptabase
Notes on whiteboards, for when the outline is not the shape of the idea.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android / Web
Gains you: real-time collaboration, comments. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$11.99/mo
Capacities
A studio for your mind, organised by object type instead of folders.
Web / Mac / Win / iOS / Android
Gains you: home screen widgets. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$12.99/mo
Day One
A journal that has been quietly perfecting one job since 2011.
iOS / Mac / Android / Win / Web
Gains you: document scanning, real-time collaboration, home screen widgets. Same territory: minimal & fast.
$49.99/yr
Tana
Supertags turn loose bullets into a structured database as you type.
Web / Mac / Win / iOS / Android
Gains you: speaker identification, real-time collaboration, comments. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$10/mo
Still not sure?
Filter the whole directory by the one feature you cannot live without, or browse by what you need the app for.