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Compared · as of

Graphite and Obsidian, compared.

Both keep your notes as plain markdown files in a folder you own, and Graphite's Mac app opens an Obsidian vault as it is. Obsidian is a blank page you can shape any way you like, and the organizing is yours. Graphite is a small notebook — an Inbox, and the folders and projects you set up — that files what you write down, tells you what it did, finds what's missing, and arranges a first draft from your own sentences when you ask, with the AI you choose.

The facts

Obsidian, from the pages that describe it.

Read on 10 October 2026. Each line links to the page that says it, and things change: check there before you rely on one.

  • “Obsidian stores your notes locally as plain text Markdown files.”

    obsidian.md

  • It's “Free without limits”, with paid add-ons to sync your notes between devices and to publish them as a site. A commercial license is optional: “You are not required to pay for a commercial license.”

    obsidian.md/pricing

  • It has apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.

    obsidian.md/download

  • Its community directory has thousands of plugins and hundreds of themes.

    community.obsidian.md

  • Community plugins add AI tools inside a vault. Obsidian's official Web Clipper also has an optional Interpreter: it uses a model you choose to extract, summarize, explain or translate information from a web page before saving it to Obsidian.

    Obsidian community directory; Obsidian Help, Interpreter

Side by side

How they differ.

  • Your files

    Obsidian
    Markdown files in a folder you choose, with [[wikilinks]], callouts and properties.
    Graphite
    The same: markdown, [[wikilinks]], callouts in Obsidian's syntax, and frontmatter. The Mac app opens your vault and leaves every file where you put it, except a photo or a PDF in the vault's Inbox folder that, after your yes, it reads as a receipt: that moves once, when it's filed, and Undo puts it back. A file it didn't make is a note, and fields it doesn't use are kept exactly as they were. In a browser, notes are kept in that browser, which can't open a folder.

  • Organizing

    Obsidian
    Yours: folders, tags, links and templates, as you set them up, or as a plugin does.
    Graphite
    Your own folders and projects, and an Inbox of every note in no project or folder: arrange it, and move a note to a project when you know where it goes. With File my Inbox on in Settings → AI, Graphite files the Inbox into the project or folder each note clearly belongs to, with one line of frontmatter, and writes each act in the Logbook, with Undo. It never changes your words, and never moves a note out of a folder of yours.

  • Shaping it

    Obsidian
    Thousands of community plugins, hundreds of themes, and your own CSS.
    Graphite
    Nothing to shape, by design: no plugins, themes or templates, and tags if you want them. Graphite isn't an Obsidian plugin, and doesn't run Obsidian's plugins.

  • Publishing

    Obsidian
    Obsidian Publish, a paid add-on, hosts your notes as a site.
    Graphite
    Publish a page makes any note one web page, as an HTML file you own, for you to put on any website. Graphite doesn't host it.

  • AI

    Obsidian
    Community plugins add AI inside the vault. The official Web Clipper's optional Interpreter uses your chosen model to process web pages before you save them.
    Graphite
    Built in, on your own key from any major provider or your OpenRouter account: it files, answers about the note you're in, finds what's missing and arranges a draft from your own sentences when you ask, reads receipts, and asks you to teach it back. Graphite never charges for AI.

  • Where it runs

    Obsidian
    macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
    Graphite
    A Mac (macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon), and a browser on a computer or phone. No native phone, Windows or Linux app yet.

  • Sync

    Obsidian
    Obsidian Sync, a paid add-on, end-to-end encrypted.
    Graphite
    None of its own. On the Mac your notebook is a folder you choose; in a browser it stays in that browser, and exports as a .zip.

Choosing

Which to use.

When Obsidian is the better choice

  • You want to build your own system — folders, tags, templates, plugins — and you enjoy keeping it.
  • You want a native app on your phone, on Windows or on Linux.
  • You want to sync between devices, or publish your notes as a site, from the same app.
  • You'd rather no AI came near your notes.

When Graphite fits

  • You'd rather not do the filing: write it down, and find it filed in the project it belongs to, each act shown, with Undo.
  • You want to make something of what you learn — an article, a video, a talk — in your own words, with what's missing asked for.
  • You're learning something, and want the explanation, the connections and teaching it back in the same place as your notes.
  • You want to publish a note as a page in a file you own, rather than a site someone hosts.
  • You keep receipts, and want them read, filed by year and added up.

Using both

Point Graphite's Mac app at your vault, and the two work on the same files. Graphite picks up what you change in Obsidian, and Obsidian reads what Graphite writes: its links are ordinary [[wikilinks]], and how a note is filed is ordinary frontmatter.

For help choosing a workflow for your vault, read how to use AI with Obsidian notes.