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Notion API VS Obsidian.md

Compare Notion API VS Obsidian.md and see what are their differences

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Notion API logo Notion API

Connect Notion to the tools you use every day

Obsidian.md logo Obsidian.md

A second brain, for you, forever. Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.
  • Notion API Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-23
  • Obsidian.md Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-01

Notion API features and specs

  • Flexibility
    Notion API offers a high degree of flexibility, allowing developers to interact with their Notion data in a multitude of ways. This enables the creation of custom integrations and automations tailored to specific needs.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    The API is supported by extensive documentation and examples, making it easier for developers to get started and understand how to use the API effectively.
  • Wide Integration Capabilities
    Notion API supports various integration points, allowing it to work seamlessly with other tools and services. This helps in creating well-rounded workflows and cohesive tool ecosystems.
  • Active Development and Support
    Notion API is actively developed and maintained, with regular updates that introduce new features and improvements. There's also a responsive support channel for addressing developer issues.
  • Rich Data Interaction
    The API allows for in-depth interaction with Notion data, including reading, updating, and creating complex data structures like databases, pages, and blocks.

Possible disadvantages of Notion API

  • Rate Limiting
    The Notion API enforces rate limiting, which can be restrictive for applications requiring high-frequency data access.
  • Complexity
    Given the flexibility and richness of the API, it can be complex to master and may have a steep learning curve for developers unfamiliar with Notion’s data model.
  • Limited Offline Access
    The API requires internet connectivity to function, which can be a limitation for use cases needing offline access or synchronization.
  • Incomplete Features
    Certain features of Notion are not fully supported or accessible via the API at this time. This can limit what developers are able to achieve with the API currently.
  • Security Concerns
    As with any API, there are security considerations to be aware of. Ensuring data privacy and security in transmission and storage is crucial when using the API.

Obsidian.md features and specs

  • Local-first
    Obsidian stores your notes locally on your device, giving you full control over your data and enhancing privacy.
  • Markdown Support
    Obsidian uses Markdown, making it easy to format text and compatible with many other text editors and tools.
  • Bidirectional Linking
    You can create bidirectional links between notes, which helps in building a knowledge graph and navigating related information more easily.
  • Customizability
    Obsidian is highly customizable with community plugins, themes, and various settings to fit different workflows.
  • Graph View
    Provides a visual graph view of your notes and their connections, aiding in understanding relationships and discovering insights.
  • Offline Access
    Since the notes are stored locally, you can access and edit them without an internet connection.

Possible disadvantages of Obsidian.md

  • Learning Curve
    Obsidian can be complex and overwhelming for beginners due to its extensive features and customizable nature.
  • Sync Limitations
    While local-first is great for privacy, it requires additional steps or third-party solutions for syncing across devices.
  • No True Real-time Collaboration
    Obsidian lacks native real-time collaboration features, making it less suitable for collaborative work compared to cloud-based solutions.
  • Limited Mobile Features
    The mobile version of Obsidian, while functional, is not as robust as the desktop application, potentially hindering productivity on the go.
  • Dependence on Plugins
    Many advanced features require the use of third-party plugins, which could lead to compatibility issues and reliance on community support.
  • Performance on Large Vaults
    Performance might degrade with a very large number of notes or complex graphs, impacting usability.

Analysis of Notion API

Overall verdict

  • The Notion API is a solid choice for developers looking to extend the functionality of Notion or to integrate it seamlessly with other systems. Its extensive documentation and active community support contribute to a positive development experience.

Why this product is good

  • The Notion API is considered good due to its robust capabilities that allow developers to integrate with Notion's powerful database and content management features. It offers comprehensive documentation, making it easier for developers to understand and leverage its full potential. Additionally, the API supports a wide range of operations including retrieving, creating, updating, and deleting pages and databases, which enhances productivity and automation possibilities.

Recommended for

  • Developers who want to automate workflows involving Notion.
  • Teams seeking to integrate Notion with other productivity tools.
  • Users interested in custom applications or dashboards that interact with Notion data.
  • Innovators looking to expand on Notion's capabilities through custom solutions.

Analysis of Obsidian.md

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Obsidian.md is an excellent tool for users looking for a versatile and powerful note-taking application. Its unique features such as backlinking, markdown support, and robust customization options make it a favorite among knowledge management enthusiasts.

Why this product is good

  • Obsidian.md is considered good by many users because it is a powerful knowledge management and note-taking application that leverages Markdown for document formatting. It allows for bi-directional linking between notes, which helps in creating a network of interconnected ideas, often described as a 'second brain.' Its ability to support plugins, themes, and robust graph visualization also adds to its appeal. Additionally, it stores notes locally, ensuring privacy and data ownership, while being cross-platform compatible across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Recommended for

  • Knowledge workers who need a powerful tool to organize and connect their thoughts.
  • Students who are looking to create a structured and visually interconnected note system.
  • Writers and researchers who benefit from linking related ideas and maintaining detailed notes.
  • Tech-savvy users or developers who appreciate the local storage and open ecosystem for plugins and customization.

Notion API videos

+ Add

Notion API Beta - Release Radar

Obsidian.md videos

+ Add

OBSIDIAN: Getting Started, Facts & Pricing

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Notion API and Obsidian.md)

Notion API

Obsidian.md

Productivity
100 100%
Productivity
0% 0
Note Taking
0 0%
Note Taking
100% 100
No Code
100 100%
No Code
0% 0
Knowledge Management
0 0%
Knowledge Management
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Notion API and Obsidian.md

Notion API Reviews

We have no reviews of Notion API yet.
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Obsidian.md Reviews

  1. MTRG15
    The kind of software that may change your life

    Perhaps you know someone who swears by Obsidian, it may seem like a cult of overly devoted people for how passionate they are, but it's not without reason

    I've been using Obsidian for over 3 years, at a point in my life when I felt I had to handle too much information and I felt like grasping water not being able to remember everything I wanted, language learning, programming, accounting, university, daily tasks. A friend recommended it to me next to Notion (of which he is a passionate cultist priest) and I reluctantly picked it and fell in love almost immediately.

    Obsidian seems very simple, like a notepad with folder interface, similar to Sublime Text, but the ability to link files together in a Wiki style allows you to organize ideas in any way you want, one file may lead to a dozen or more ideas that are related

    If you want to do something specific, Obsidian has a plethora of community created plugins that expand the functionality, in my case, I use obsidian to organize my classes both as a teacher and as a student, using local databases, calendars, dictionaries, slides, vector graphic drawings, excel-like tables, Anki connection, podcasts, and more

    🏁 Competitors: Notion, Evernote
    👍 Pros:    Awesome community|Custom plugins|Local hosting|Beautiful themes|Highly customizable|Cloud storage|Becomes more useful over time|Markdown support
    👎 Cons:    Seems complicated/complex at first|Takes time to set up your personal workspace|Overwhelming for first time user
  2. Stan
    · Founder at SaaSHub ·
    My personal knowledge-base of choice

    I've been using Obsidian for more than a year. It's been great. I think it offer a great balance of control, flexibility and extensibility. What is more, you own your own data, that's been a must-have feature for me. I just can't imagine putting all my knowledge into something that I don't have control over.

    I think two of the most popular alternatives that people consider are Logseq and Roam Research. Although Logseq is a bit different, it's considered compatible with Obsidian. Supposedly, you can use them with a shared database (files. Both use simple text files for storage). I tried that once, a few months ago. It worked, yet it messed up a bit my Obsidian files ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

    🏁 Competitors: Logseq, Roam Research
The 6 best note-taking apps in 2024
One thing to note: Notion bills itself as an Evernote competitor for personal users. It can be—but it's too much for most people, and its offline functionality isn't the best. If you love the idea of Notion, go right ahead and try the free Personal Plan, but for me, it's really best as a team notes app or an AI-powered notes app. Something like Obsidian (which we'll look at...
Source: zapier.com
The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data
This app is the kind of thing that, if you’re into it, will have you exploring its various ins, outs, and add-ons for days and weeks on end. Obsidian uses the Markdown format for its notes (which means they can be used on a variety of other apps). Your notes and other media are kept locally in a Vault (in other words, a main folder). There are ways to sync between devices...
Source: www.theverge.com
The 5 Best Open Source Miro Alternatives in 2024
However, it's important to note that Obsidian's whiteboard functionality is not as robust as dedicated collaboration tools. While it lacks real-time basic collaboration features, Obsidian compensates with its vibrant plugin ecosystem, empowering users to customize their experience.
Source: affine.pro
The best encrypted note taking apps
For a consumer coming from Evernote, Notion, OneNote, or a similar product, we would advise trying Obsidian along another product on this list as it has the largest learning curve. However, if you are an expert with markdown, experts, linking, and graph views, Obsidian could be an excellent choice. Like many other configuration options, Obsidian leaves end-to-end encryption...
Source: www.skiff.com
Supercharge Your Productivity: Three Recommended Tools for Thought
One of my AP Productivity: Cohort mentors has a powerful system pairing Obsidian with OmniFocus. In OmniFocus, he builds his project and task structures, and in Obsidian he develops and organizes the project support materials as well as other relevant information. Because it’s easy to link to an Obsidian note or an OmniFocus project, he can seamlessly navigate back and forth...
Source: medium.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Obsidian.md seems to be a lot more popular than Notion API. While we know about 1492 links to Obsidian.md, we've tracked only 45 mentions of Notion API. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Notion API mentions (45)

  • 2024 in Review: 18 Tools That Supercharged My Development Workflow🚀
    Notion: https://developers.notion.com/. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • [Personal Website] How to Use Notion as a Database for Full-Stack Development
    Obtain Notion API Token: Go to the Notion Developer Page, create a new integration, and get the API Token. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Updating website content on schedule via GitHub Actions
    The “Update Content” action that downloads content from Notion API and commits the changes. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Building a subscription tracker Desktop and iOS app with compose multiplatform - Configuring Notion
    // composeApp/src/commonMain/kotlin/api/QueryDatabaseRequest.kt Package api Import kotlinx.serialization.SerialName Import kotlinx.serialization.Serializable /** * https://developers.notion.com/reference/post-database-query */ @Serializable Data class QueryDatabaseRequest( @SerialName("start_cursor") val startCursor: String? = null, @SerialName("page_size") val pageSize: Int? = 100, ) { ... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Shots: Create Mockups
    Our public API uses Notion.com: https://developers.notion.com/ Switching the product and marketing sites would take a lot of work for unclear/low benefit since at this point we’ve learned the .so lessons and have a good reputation. Given the choice of projects like “scale infra so we stay online and fast-ish”, “improve search”, or “notion dot com”, Notion dot com ends up below the cut line. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

Obsidian.md mentions (1492)

  • Level up your dev career with the T-shape strategy and why generalists don’t get XP boosts
    Obsidian.md Build your personal knowledge base while learning. - Source: dev.to / 21 days ago
  • Why every dev needs a coding journal no, your memory isn’t enough
    Resource: Obsidian, jrnl CLI, Markdown Journal Templates on GitHub. - Source: dev.to / 21 days ago
  • How I Built a Local AI Assistant for Obsidian — No Cloud, No API Keys
    Obsidian has become a go-to tool for developers, researchers, and writers who want to manage their knowledge in a flexible, local-first way. With Markdown-based storage, plugin extensibility, and full control over your data, it offers an ideal environment for serious note-taking and knowledge work. - Source: dev.to / 22 days ago
  • Why obsidian wins the second brain war and notion just can’t keep up
    Obsidian Website Download, docs, community, and roadmap. - Source: dev.to / 30 days ago
  • Using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to query Obsidian note taking
    You can find out about Obsidian on their site It's free to use and open source. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Notion API and Obsidian.md, you can also consider the following products

Sync2Sheets - Give Notion the superpowers of Google Sheets

Notion - All-in-one workspace. One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized.

Google forms to Notion - Supercharge Notion with Google Form ⚡️

Joplin - Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. The notes are searchable, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor.

Unofficial Webhooks for Notion - Receive Webhooks from your Notion Workspace

Logseq - Logseq is a local-first, non-linear, outliner notebook for organizing and sharing your personal knowledge base.

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