Notes vs Obsidian
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notes
Capture your thoughts, ideas, and important information with a versatile note-taking app. Attach various file types, scan documents, create checklists, and even sketch directly within your notes. Organize with folders, tags, and smart searches, and collaborate with others on shared notes.
- Add attachments (PDFs, images, links)
- Scan paper documents
- Create checklists
- Sketch with finger or stylus
- Search text in notes and handwriting
- Collaborate on shared notes
- Quick Note feature
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Notes is the best place to jot down quick thoughts or to save longer notes filled with checklists, images, web links, scanned documents, handwritten notes, or sketches. And with iCloud, it's easy to keep all your devices in sync, so you’ll always have your notes with you. Features Powerful note-taking • Add attachments - PDFs, photos, maps, web links, and more. • Record and transcribe audio directly into a note. • Scan paper documents with the built-in document scanner. • Secure sensitive or personal data in a locked note. • Create checklists. Make a grocery list, a wish list, or a to-do list, then tap to check off items as you go. • Apply different text styles, such as heading or body, bulleted lists, highlighting, and more. • Tap next to section headers to reveal a chevron to collapse text. • Add tables to quickly organize information. • Use your finger, or Apple Pencil on a compatible iPad, to sketch right in your note or an inline PDF. Choose from a variety of brush styles and colors, and add lines and grids to a note for easier writing and drawing. • Take a Quick Note without opening the app - add Quick Note to your Control Center, swipe up from the bottom right corner with an Apple Pencil on iPad, or use Fn-Q on a keyboard. Organize and search • Search for text in notes, your handwriting, and even inside scanned documents and photos like receipts or bills. • Link from one note to another to connect ideas, content, or any information. Try typing >> for a shortcut to add links while writing in your note. • Keep your notes in folders and subfolders, or add tags to categorize them. Type or handwrite tags directly in your note - like #cooking or #expenses. • Automatically organize notes in a Smart Folder based on filters. Create rules to filter for Date Created, Checklists, Attachments, and more. Collaborate • Collaborate on entire shared folders or on specific shared notes. • Mention friends to notify them of important updates and link them directly to a shared note. • See what others added into a shared note while you were away with Activity view, a day-to-day list summary of activity from each collaborator. Notes for Apple Watch • View all of your iCloud notes right from your wrist; you can also pin notes, complete checklist items, or create new notes with dictation or Siri. Certain features are available only in select languages and regions.
Obsidian
Organize your thoughts and ideas with a powerful knowledge base that utilizes local Markdown files. This app acts as your personal second brain, accessible on your mobile device for seamless note-taking and idea connection.
- Local Markdown file storage
- Customizable toolbar
- Graph view for connections
- Community plugins
- Themes
- iCloud sync
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Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files. It is a second brain, for you, forever. Now available on the go for iOS! Features include: - Customizable toolbar - Pull down quick actions - Graph view - Community plugins - Themes - Sidebar pinning for tablet - iCloud vaults
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Obsidian at every 3 weeks against Notes's every 9 months. Obsidian also leads on chart position (#128 vs unranked) and review sentiment (62% vs 51%). Notes's advantage is ratings volume (641K vs 2.7K) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notes has 641K ratings behind it against 2.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 51% of Notes's written reviews are positive against 62% of Obsidian's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Notes ships an update every 9 months, Obsidian every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Notes | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (641K ratings) — better | 4.5 (2.7K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 51.2% of reviews | 62.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 641K — better | 2.7K |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #128 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Apple | Dynalist Inc. |
Customer experience
Notes
Obsidian
User reviews
Notes
From 641K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📝 Versatile note-taking app
- 🔒 Secure with password/biometric lock
- 🌐 Seamless sync across devices
- 🚀 Quick and responsive
- 📂 Organized with folders and tags
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
- 🔍 Difficulty finding/retrieving notes
- 🔋 High battery drain when using Apple Pencil
- 📝 Limited formatting options (font, color, etc.)
- 🔒 Password reset issues with locked notes
Obsidian
From 2.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful features
- 👍 Customizable and flexible
- 🔒 Secure and private
- 💡 Innovative note-taking approach
- 🚀 Smooth mobile experience
Room to improve
- 🐛 Sync issues and unreliable iCloud integration
- 🔋 Slow startup and performance issues on mobile
- 👎 Steep learning curve for new users
- 👎 Limited sorting and organization options
- 👎 Lack of WYSIWYG editing on mobile
Bugs and requests
Notes
Reported bugs
5 issues- Notes randomly disappearing or not syncing
- Cursor jumping around when editing text
- Typing lag and performance issues
- Inconsistent behavior when adding images
- Formatting problems when pasting content
Requested features
6 requests- Add undo/redo functionality
- Improve table formatting and calculations
- Allow custom folder colors and icons
- Implement a page view for longer notes
- Integrate with Reminders app for to-do lists
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- Provide more drawing/annotation tools
Obsidian
Reported bugs
3 issues- Sync issues leading to data loss
- Freezing and crashing on mobile devices
- Editing bugs and text input issues
Requested features
5 requests- Improved sorting and organization options
- WYSIWYG editing on mobile
- Better integration with other cloud storage services
- More intuitive onboarding process for new users
- Native mobile widgets and share sheet integration
In-app purchases
Notes
No in-app purchases
Obsidian
No in-app purchases







