I am puzzled by articles like these that somehow attempt to connect Obsidian as an alternative to Notion. I suppose the line “Obsidian has a steeper learning curve than Notion” or even relegating Notion as just a note taking app should tip me off that Jared hasn’t truly utilized Notion. Sure, Notion _could_ be used as a simple note-taking app, but that would be like owning a Porsche without an engine. The soul of Notion is its database functionality – until Obsidian gets that, it’s really in the league of OneNote or Apple Notes to me.
That's a good point, though I can see why many people use Notion for notes as it has great features. But I agree - there's much more to it and it's not the best platform for notes, not unless you have a system around it like the amazing freelancer pitch system built by Tami Carey. That being said, I find it very useful to capture note ideas via the Notion Android widget into a list page.
Ultimately, I find Notion too resource-heavy for a notes app. It's probably not an issue if you use a MacBook or higher-end Windows PC, but it's too demanding for mid-tier PCs.
For me the killer feature of Notion is the database structure. Linking between databases and having filtered contextual views means that Obsidian (while extremely nice for note-taking) is almost a non-starter. I have inventories of various collections that would be cumbersome to replicate in Obsidian. I've poked at Dataloom a bit, but it's just not there yet.
The other thing is the WAF. Notion's easy enough to get my less-tech-savvy wife on board for house projects and other documentation. Obsidian appeals to my techy side but the syntax and presentation is too clunky for her. I do keep checking in on Obsidian - love just about everything else about it, but for now I remain tied to Notion.
I am puzzled by articles like these that somehow attempt to connect Obsidian as an alternative to Notion. I suppose the line “Obsidian has a steeper learning curve than Notion” or even relegating Notion as just a note taking app should tip me off that Jared hasn’t truly utilized Notion. Sure, Notion _could_ be used as a simple note-taking app, but that would be like owning a Porsche without an engine. The soul of Notion is its database functionality – until Obsidian gets that, it’s really in the league of OneNote or Apple Notes to me.
That's a good point, though I can see why many people use Notion for notes as it has great features. But I agree - there's much more to it and it's not the best platform for notes, not unless you have a system around it like the amazing freelancer pitch system built by Tami Carey. That being said, I find it very useful to capture note ideas via the Notion Android widget into a list page.
Ultimately, I find Notion too resource-heavy for a notes app. It's probably not an issue if you use a MacBook or higher-end Windows PC, but it's too demanding for mid-tier PCs.
For me the killer feature of Notion is the database structure. Linking between databases and having filtered contextual views means that Obsidian (while extremely nice for note-taking) is almost a non-starter. I have inventories of various collections that would be cumbersome to replicate in Obsidian. I've poked at Dataloom a bit, but it's just not there yet.
The other thing is the WAF. Notion's easy enough to get my less-tech-savvy wife on board for house projects and other documentation. Obsidian appeals to my techy side but the syntax and presentation is too clunky for her. I do keep checking in on Obsidian - love just about everything else about it, but for now I remain tied to Notion.
It's funny - I used to be an Obsidian fan, then I discovered Notion.