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Obsidian
Free (personal) / $50/year (commercial)4.8/5
Local-first note-taking with graph view. Own your data, offline-first, extensible.
Why founders use Obsidian
Local markdown storage
Graph view & backlinks
Full-text search
Plugin marketplace
Custom CSS theming
Canvas view
API for automation
The Good
Local-first, you own your data
Works offline seamlessly
Graph view for knowledge mapping
Extensive plugin ecosystem
Fair pricing ($50/year commercial, free personal)
No vendor lock-in
The Bad
Steeper learning curve than Notion
No real-time team collaboration (by design)
Limited mobile features
Sync setup requires self-hosting or plugin
The Verdict
Obsidian is the indie hacker's knowledge management tool. Unlike Notion (which stores everything on their servers), Obsidian keeps your vault local—you own the files, no vendor lock-in, works offline. The graph view lets you visualize how ideas connect, and plugins let power users build custom workflows. Free forever for personal use; $50/year commercial license is rare in SaaS. Perfect for developers, writers, and researchers who value data sovereignty and want to avoid the Notion trap of abandonment when features don't fit your workflow.