I use Obsidian which is a closed source application but focused on open data standards, and with a thriving community of extensions and use cases. The main competitors of Obsidian are Notion (closed source cloud service) and Logseq (open source). So, why Obsidian?
Why Obsidian?
- Freemium model, including various ways to help fund the organization (I've paid for Publish and Catalyst at different times)
- Business model makes sense and is working (~6 full-time developers)
- They hired a community developer as the CEO
- Small software company focused on profitability
- Great community, including things like the Obsidian Observer
- Helpful forum
- Linux and Android apps
- Offline first
- Open data formats means that using SyncThing works fine
- Enough plugins to cobble together interesting functionality
- Drag and drop images and the like
- Renaming files changes all instances
At some point, there might be enough plugin functionality for something like Codium to replace Obsidian, but that still leaves the issue of mobile applications (no Codium there, most folks rely on cloud apps). For example, Foam for VSCode, which looks great, though still not near enough equivalent functionality compared with Obsidian. For the forseeable future Obsidian is preferred software of choice.
Why not not Obsidian?
- Notion is a paid, proprietary cloud service (fremium), venture capital-driven, too many problems with this.
- Logseq is too much a one-person show, and has a flat file structure, which makes it hard to use.
- Joplin is too much a one-person show, and less functional overall
- Codium with something like Foam (mentioned above), still not as functional Obsidian and no mobile apps.
Configuration
- Theme: Tokyo Night
- Font size: 15
- Native menus: OFF
- Core plugins: Backlinks, Canvas, Command palette, Daily notes, File recovery, Files, Outgoing links, Outline, Search, Templates, Word count
- Community plugins: Advanced Tables, Dataview, Datetime Language Changer, DB Folder, Kindle Highlights, Omnisearch, Projects, Spaced Repetition, Tasks
Current use and notes
- I don't yet use Spaced Repetition just yet, but do use Tasks, Kindle Highlights, Projects, Dataview, Advanced Tables, DB Folder, etc.
- I've used Publish, and it works well, but too costly.
- For successful small software projects (non-VC funded), Obsidian is a great example. Yes, it does have proprietary software, but it has a healthy community producing very useful extensions, the software itself is fast and reliable, with support for Linux and Android, and it is best in class for what it does. A fremium business model with highly functional free offer that is not a cloud service is excellent to enable user confidence in the product and the team.