Free alternatives to Obsidian

Logseq is the closest match to what Obsidian does well, minus the one thing Obsidian does not do: be open source. It opens to a daily journal, stores notes as local Markdown or Org-mode files you own, and links and queries at the block level, all free under AGPL-3.0 with no plan to upgrade to (as of July 2026). The difference in feel is the outliner model, where every line is a bullet, which suits capture and journaling more than long prose. Sync is the weak spot: official Sync is a beta perk for backers, so most people use iCloud, Dropbox, or Git, the same free routes Obsidian users already know.

• Completely free (as of July 2026)
• United States
• Open source (AGPL-3.0)

Best for:

Obsidian users who want open source code and think in bullets rather than pages

The catch:

The outliner format fights long-form writing, and official sync is still beta and limited to backers.

SiYuan gives you more inside the app than Obsidian does before you install a single plugin: block-level references, an attribute-view database, PDF annotation, and spaced-repetition flashcards, all free for life under AGPL-3.0 and working fully offline (as of July 2026). Where Obsidian charges $4 per user per month for Sync, SiYuan charges once: $64 to sync through your own S3 or WebDAV, or $148 for official cloud sync with 8 GB. The tradeoff is the storage format. Notes are kept as JSON rather than plain Markdown files, so leaving is an export rather than just opening the folder.

• Free plan, paid from $64 one-time (as of July 2026)
• China
• Open source (AGPL-3.0)

Best for:

People who want block references and PDF annotation built in, and prefer paying once or never

The catch:

Notes are stored as JSON rather than plain Markdown, and the English documentation is translated and rough.

Joplin removes the two Obsidian gaps that cost money or effort: sync and clipping. Sync runs free to Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV, or S3 with end-to-end encryption you switch on, and the browser clipper saves articles straight into a notebook, where Obsidian relies on a community plugin for the same job. It is free and open source under AGPL-3.0 on every platform (as of July 2026). The catch is age: the notebooks-and-tags interface looks a decade old next to Obsidian.

• Free plan, paid from €2.4/month (as of July 2026)
• United Kingdom
• Open source (AGPL-3.0-or-later)

Best for:

Obsidian users who want free encrypted sync and a dependable web clipper without paying

The catch:

The interface looks dated, and it lacks Obsidian's backlinks, graph view, and plugin depth.

If what pushed you off Obsidian was the lack of databases or the fact that it is a single-player app, AppFlowy is the workspace-shaped answer. You get a block editor with slash commands plus grid, board, and calendar views, with real-time collaboration, all local-first so it still works offline. The hosted free plan covers one workspace of up to 2 members with 5 GB of storage, and self-hosting the AGPL-3.0 code removes those caps if you can run Docker (as of July 2026). It is a younger project, so database relations and rollups are thinner than a mature tool's.

• Free plan, paid from $10/month (as of July 2026)
• Singapore
• Open source (AGPL-3.0)

Best for:

People who wanted Obsidian to have databases and shared pages

The catch:

The hosted free plan stops at 2 members, and the database features still have gaps.

AFFiNE is the pick when your Obsidian notes kept needing a diagram next to them. Any page flips into edgeless mode, where its blocks become cards on an infinite canvas you can connect and draw on, and it adds databases on top. The free plan gives 10 GB of cloud storage, up to 3 members, 7 days of version history, and unlimited local workspaces that stay off that quota (as of July 2026). The client is MIT licensed, though the server directory carries a separate license, and it ships fast enough that sync bugs still surface.

• Free plan, paid from $6.75/month (as of July 2026)
• Singapore
• Open source (MIT (client); server directory under a separate license)

Best for:

Obsidian users whose notes always end up beside a whiteboard or diagram

The catch:

The 3-device login cap is tight, and stability is not yet at Obsidian's level.

Anytype is the choice when you want Obsidian's ownership feeling plus encryption Obsidian never had. Everything is encrypted on your device before it syncs peer-to-peer, local storage is unlimited on every tier, and structure comes from typed objects and relations rather than folders (as of July 2026). Free includes 100 MB of remote sync storage and 10 shared spaces, and paid tiers from $4 per month only buy more sync space. It is source-available rather than OSI open source, and the object model takes longer to learn than a folder of Markdown.

• Free plan, paid from $4/month (as of July 2026)
• Switzerland

Best for:

Privacy-first users who want structure across their notes and encryption by default

The catch:

Only 100 MB of free sync storage, no web app, and a source-available license rather than open source.

Standard Notes solves the Obsidian sync bill directly: unlimited notes synced across unlimited devices with end-to-end encryption, free and with no trial clock, backed by Proton (as of July 2026). Encryption is the default, not a setting. The trade is severe for a knowledge base: the free plan is plain text with no attachments and no backlinks, so it is a place to write, not a place to build a linked vault. Rich formatting and Super notes arrive on Productivity at $90 a year.

• Free plan, paid from $90/year (as of July 2026)
• Switzerland
• Open source (AGPL-3.0)

Best for:

Private writing and journals that need to sync everywhere at no cost

The catch:

Free is plain text with no attachments, backlinks, or graph, so it is not a knowledge base.