Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Obsidian.md VS GitJournal

Compare Obsidian.md VS GitJournal and see what are their differences

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.

GitJournal logo GitJournal

Manage your Notes from any Git Repo.
  • Obsidian.md Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-01
  • GitJournal Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-05-22

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.

GitJournal features and specs

  • Version Control
    GitJournal uses git for version control, which means every change in the notes is tracked. This allows users to revert back to previous versions if needed.
  • Markdown Support
    The app supports markdown, enabling users to format their notes easily and consistently, which is particularly beneficial for users already familiar with markdown syntax.
  • Cross-Platform Sync
    GitJournal allows users to sync their notes across multiple devices using any git provider, ensuring that notes are always up to date no matter where they are accessed.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, GitJournal provides transparency in its operations and allows contributions from the developer community to improve and enhance the app.
  • Privacy
    Users have the freedom to choose their own git repository, which means they have complete control over the privacy and security of their data.

Possible disadvantages of GitJournal

  • Initial Setup
    The initial setup process can be complex for users unfamiliar with git, creating a potential barrier to entry for non-technical users.
  • Complexity for Basic Users
    For basic note-taking needs, using git may be overkill, and the additional features might be unnecessary and confusing for those users.
  • Limited Offline Features
    While notes can be accessed offline, some features may require an internet connection, which could be limiting for users needing full offline functionality.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a learning curve associated with using markdown and git, which might deter users who are not familiar with these technologies.
  • Dependency on Git Providers
    The app relies on external git providers for sync functionality, which means any issues with these services can impact the performance and reliabilty of GitJournal.

Obsidian.md videos

OBSIDIAN: Getting Started, Facts & Pricing

GitJournal videos

Gitjournal

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Obsidian.md and GitJournal)
Note Taking
95 95%
5% 5
Knowledge Management
100 100%
0% 0
Personal Notes
93 93%
7% 7
Knowledge Base
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

Obsidian.md Reviews

  1. 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...
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

GitJournal Reviews

We have no reviews of GitJournal yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Obsidian.md seems to be a lot more popular than GitJournal. While we know about 1486 links to Obsidian.md, we've tracked only 23 mentions of GitJournal. 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.

Obsidian.md mentions (1486)

  • Why I switched from obsidian: A real developer’s story and what I’m using now
    Obsidian Official Website Still an incredible tool for the right type of workflow. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • Show HN: An AI agent in Obsidian that can (sort of) write plugins
    This is a plugin for Obsidian [1] that can extend Obsidian with custom functionality. There's a demo video in the readme. Why? Obsidian is a note taking app with tons of extensions. Even so, there must be hyper-niche use cases that aren't being served by any existing extension. LLMs are decent at coding though, so maybe an LLM can write custom functionality on demand. That's the experiment, to see if you can... - Source: Hacker News / 9 days ago
  • Journey to GNOME Circle: Community, App Ideas, and Getting Started
    These are useful and beneficial for your reputation and branding. I use my email alias for GNOME-related work at AlirezaSh@gnome.org, have my blog at alirezash.gnome.org, and sync my Obsidian notes with Nextcloud on GNOME infrastructure. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my travel sponsorship as a speaker at events because I'm from Iran, and due to OFAC regulations which is so unfair. - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • Ask HN: Where are the good Markdown to PDF tools (that meet these requirements)?
    It's not marketed as a markdown-to-pdf tool, but I've found that Obsidian (https://obsidian.md) does an excellent job. Just create a new "vault", paste your markdown into a new note, and export to PDF. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Build personal blog easy with 11ty.js
    Limited Scope: Eleventy is primarily suited for blogs and simple static sites. It lacks advanced interactivity and business logic capabilities. ## Start with a Starter Projects — Eleventy When starting an 11ty project, there are many templates available to help you get started quickly. These templates provide pre-configured setups for various use cases, such as blogs, portfolios, and more. I chose the Official... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
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GitJournal mentions (23)

  • Daily work journal/note-taking app suggestions
    It crossed my mind to do a daily Jupyter notebook but I typically don’t need them to be interactive code. The closest solution that I’ve found looks like: GitJournal does anyone have experience with this or other solutions? Source: over 2 years ago
  • How likely is it that the Obsidian mobile app and Obsidian itself to be shut down and discontinued?
    See this gem too - https://gitjournal.io/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • ZK access via mobile phone?
    If you are working with text files and git, gitjournal works well for me. It defaults to Markdown, but if you just edit in raw mode, you can do anything in the text file. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Blogging from my phone with GitJournal
    I've been searching for a while for something that would let me simply publish from my phone. I actually saw GitJournal in the Play store a couple of times, but I assumed it would only use GitHub to back up its own proprietary file format and so be useful. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Best site/programm for creating documents
    There are plenty of desktop/mobile apps for working with markdown. (I've been using Notable (desktop) and GitJournal (mobile ) for an Evernote-like experience.) And markdown is often extended with support for internal links like a wiki, attachments, diagramming (see Mermaid), and easy export to other formats like HTML. Source: almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

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.

OneNote - Get the OneNote app for free on your tablet, phone, and computer, so you can capture your ideas and to-do lists in one place wherever you are. Or try OneNote with Office for free.

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

Google Keep - Capture notes, share them with others, and access them from your computer, phone or tablet. Free with a Google account.

Roam Research - A note-taking tool for networked thought