Obsidian vs Craft: Compare plans, costs, and trade-offs.

Obsidian vs Craft · 1-person scenario

Prices are checked snapshots. Confirm the final quote before purchase.

PURCHASING DECISION / REVIEWED PAIR

Short verdict

Choose Obsidian for a local-first Markdown corpus with direct file and plugin ownership; choose Craft for polished documents, easy sharing, and a managed collaborative workspace.

Choose Obsidian when

Choose Obsidian when authors need offline custody of Markdown files, linked knowledge, local folders, extensibility, and the responsibility to govern plugins, sync, backup, and succession.

Choose Craft when

Choose Craft when writers and small teams value polished native documents, shared spaces, comments, presentation, and managed cross-device collaboration more than direct control of every source file.

Principal difference: Obsidian makes the local Markdown corpus and plugins user-owned; Craft provides a polished managed document, sharing, and collaboration workspace.
Overlap boundary: Both create linked documents and can publish or share knowledge, but Markdown portability does not reproduce Craft's managed spaces, and attractive exports do not preserve an Obsidian vault's links and plugin behavior.
Procurement scenario: Use Obsidian when local custody and extensible research practice are controlling; use Craft when document presentation and low-friction managed collaboration are controlling, with one authoritative home per corpus.
Migration and ecosystem risk: Pilot nested Markdown, attachments, backlinks, plugin-generated properties, shared spaces, and comments; inspect export structure, vault and space permissions, link and revision history, author acceptance, and rollback before moving the corpus.

Scroll within the table to see every tool

Decision criteria8 matches

Knowledge

Example purchase1 person

Custom

Selected plan

$4/mo$48/yr

+$4/moPer account

Selected plan

$0/mo$0/yr

LowestPer account

Best forPrivate linked notes, research, writing, local files, and extensible knowledge workflowsPolished documents, personal planning, small-team knowledge, and shared spaces

Starting priceApp free · Sync $4/user/mo billed yearlyFree · Plus price displayed in local currency

Ease of useModerateVery easy

CollaborationModerateVery good

AI featuresCommunity plugins and local-model options rather than bundled AIAI assistant credits and model tiers vary by plan

PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, AndroidWindows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web, visionOS

Export formatsMarkdown, attachments, PDF, HTML through plugins, and local foldersMarkdown, PDF, Word, image, text, API, and shared web pages

Offline accessYesYes via native apps

ATLAS VERDICT / 01

Start with Obsidian. Choose Craft when its price, platform, or collaboration terms fit your needs better.

Use ObsidianAnalyze selected plans

Official pricingObsidianChecked 2026-07-30 CraftChecked 2026-07-30