Comparison

iSilo vs Obsidian

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

iSilo

Read various document formats including iSilo, Palm Doc, and plain text. Access a vast library of content, organize your files, and customize viewing options for a personalized reading experience. Transfer documents easily via USB, Wi-Fi, or web download.

Highlights
  • Supports iSilo, Palm Doc, and plain text formats
  • Extensive document library and creation tools
  • Organize documents with categories and favorites
  • Customizable viewing options (font, colors, themes)
  • Autoscroll, full-screen, and orientation support
  • Text search, copy, and annotation
  • Multiple document transfer methods (USB, Wi-Fi, Web)
Features
Read full description

Document reader for viewing document files in iSilo, Palm Doc, and plain text format. Bonus: Get the complete edition of the CIA World Factbook for free, with layout optimized for viewing on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad using iSilo. In addition to full information for all the countries of the world, the complete edition contains appendixes, reference maps, field cross-reference links, rank order pages, country profiles for all fields, enlarged flag pages with descriptions, enlarged country maps, and more. Tens of thousands of documents, eBooks, reference works, non-fiction, fiction available for ready download through the iSilo library. Create your own documents too. Document list provides recently viewed list of documents, ability to categorize documents into single or multiple categories, marking of favorite folders for easy access, and file explorer access to entire document directory with document file management operations, such as copying/moving/deleting/renaming document files and creating/deleting/renaming folders. Document viewing options provide for font size and typeface selection, along with customizable color themes with selectable background and text colors. Autoscroll with adjustable speed, view documents in full screen, complete support for both portrait and landscape orientations and rotation. Jump history for easily navigating back and forth when following hyperlinks and jumping to different locations in the document. Documents open to last viewed location. Bookmarks. Document text search. Select a range of text to copy or annotate it with a comment and choice of color highlighting. Easily transfer documents to your device via USB, via Wi-Fi by connecting to iSilo's built-in file server from your computer, or via download from the Web. Configure the screen to perform actions when tapped. Assignable actions include scrolling, full screen mode, font sizing, among many others. The latest version adds the ability to view additional file types. Additional image file types include .jpg, .png, .gif, .tif, among others. Additional document file types include .pdf, .htm, Word (.doc, .docx), Excel (.xls, .xlsx), and PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx). See the manual for more details on the additional file type support.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Local Markdown file storage
  • Customizable toolbar
  • Graph view for connections
  • Community plugins
  • Themes
  • iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

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

iSilo4 screens
Obsidian4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Obsidian at Free against iSilo's $9.99. Obsidian also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.8) and ratings volume (2.8K vs 50). iSilo's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.6). On update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Obsidian is free to download; iSilo costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Obsidian holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Obsidian has 2.8K ratings behind it against 50, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
iSilo versus Obsidian: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriSiloObsidian
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (50 ratings)4.5 (2.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings502.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#137#116 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDC & Co.Dynalist Inc.

Customer experience

iSilo

All ratings50 ratings
Positive68.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative22.0%
Written reviews269 reviews
Positive50.6%
Neutral16.7%
Negative32.7%

Obsidian

All ratings2,757 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral4.0%
Negative10.5%

User reviews

iSilo

From 50 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Works well with Christian books
  • 📚 Excellent for reading documents with embedded hyperlinks
  • ⚡ Fast and smooth on many devices
  • 🙌 Hands down a life-saving app
  • 🏆 Basic but wonderful functionality

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes upon opening
  • 🐛 Unable to download new material since 2017
  • 🐛 Crashes when trying to open code-protected file
  • 🐛 Scrolling issues and performance problems
  • 🤖 Outdated and abandoned by developers

Obsidian

From 2.8K App Store ratings

What 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

iSilo

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when trying to open certain file formats
  • Displaying issues with Palm format (PDB) files
  • Inability to download files from Dropbox
  • Text going off-screen after recent updates
  • Bookmarks and annotations not syncing across devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add dark mode feature
  • Improve text highlighting and annotation capabilities
  • Implement cloud sync and cross-device support
  • Modernize the user interface
  • Add support for iOS Files app

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

None

iSilo

No in-app purchases

None

Obsidian

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iSilo free?
iSilo costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Obsidian free?
Obsidian is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iSilo or Obsidian?
Obsidian is rated higher. iSilo averages 3.8 out of 5 from 50 ratings, while Obsidian averages 4.5 from 2.8K ratings.
Do iSilo or Obsidian have ads?
Neither iSilo nor Obsidian shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iSilo or Obsidian?
iSilo ships an update every 3 weeks, and Obsidian every 3 weeks. Most recently, iSilo was updated on October 18, 2026 and Obsidian on October 19, 2026.
Which is more popular, iSilo or Obsidian?
iSilo currently peaks at #137 in the App Store charts, and Obsidian at #116. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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