unnotable vs Obsidian
Obsidian is a folder of markdown files on your own disk, and a set of tools to shape it into almost any system you like. The shaping is the work: folders to plan, plugins to pick, a template for each kind of note. unnotable comes with its shape already: four kinds, your topics, and a way back to what you wrote.
Where Obsidian is stronger
- Your files, on your disk. Every note is a markdown file in a folder you own. It works offline, opens in any editor, and outlives the app. unnotable keeps your notes in its own database, online.
- Plugins for everything. Thousands of community plugins and hundreds of themes: calendars, spaced repetition, AI, whatever someone has thought of. unnotable does what it does, and can't be extended.
- Writing and linking. Long documents, links as you type, a graph of everything, canvases to lay notes out on. unnotable's writing is a thread of entries under a note.
- No AI unless you add it. Obsidian ships with none. If you want your notes kept away from models entirely, that's a reason to choose it.
If you want to build your own system, and keep it as files, use Obsidian.
Where unnotable is different
- Nothing to set up. No folders to plan, no plugins to
choose, no templates to write. Capture is one box. A kind if you want
one (! for a thing to do), a topic if you type one
(
@house), and otherwise it's scratch, sorted later or never. - Kinds, not folders. Every note is a thought, a thing to do, a thing to find out, or scratch. Filters, review and the board all read that one field, so a note never has to live in one place to be found.
- Notes turn into notes. Write on a note, lift the loose ends out of the writing, and each one is a note of its own, attached to the sentence it came from.
- It comes back to you. A vault holds whatever you put in it and waits. unnotable's Review surfaces what's been sitting, with a question, when you have a moment.
- AI that proposes. Chat with a note, or connect Claude. Whatever they suggest waits under Proposals until you commit it.
Side by side
| Feature | Obsidian | unnotable |
|---|---|---|
| Quick capture | A new file, in a folder you choose | ✓ |
| What a note is | A markdown file | One line, which earns a page by being written on |
| Structure | Folders, links and tags | Kinds, topics, and unfolding out of writing |
| Nested topics | Nested folders and tags | ✓ |
| Tasks | Checkboxes, or a plugin | ✓ |
| Links and backlinks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Review queue | — | ✓ |
| Timeline board | — | ✓ |
| Kanban | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calendar | Community plugin | ✓ |
| Sync between devices | Paid add-on, or your own | ✓ |
| Themes | Hundreds, from the community | Sixteen, each light and dark |
| Local files, works offline | ✓ | — |
| Plugins | Thousands | — |
| Graph view, canvas | ✓ | — |
| Templates | ✓ | — |
| Sharing and publishing | Paid add-ons | — |
| Web app | — | ✓ |
| Mobile apps | ✓ | Coming soon |
| Desktop apps | ✓ | Coming soon |
| AI | ||
| Connect Claude or any MCP app | Community plugins | ✓ |
| Connected apps propose, you commit | — | ✓ |
| Chat with a note | Community plugins | ✓ |
| Turn a brain-dump into items | — | ✓ |
If you're switching
You don't have to choose. Plenty of people keep a vault for reference and long writing, and put the loose thoughts, half-started things and errands in unnotable. If you bring a page of loose lines across, paste it into the capture box and press Sort this out: it splits the text into notes and gives each a kind, and nothing is saved until you've checked them.