Joplin and Obsidian both promise the same basic thing: a private, offline-capable notes app that does not sell your data or lock your writing inside a cloud database. That promise resonates. The open source software market is projected to grow from 48.54 billion dollars in 2025 to 56.57 billion dollars in 2026, a 16.5 percent jump driven partly by people who want to inspect the code running on their own devices. On the other end of the spectrum, Obsidian's community plugin directory alone now lists 5,994 plugins and 644 themes built by outside developers, a sign of how far a closed source app can still be stretched by its users.
Joplin is a free, fully open source notebook app: an Evernote style structure of notebooks, sub-notebooks, and tags holding markdown notes, released under the AGPL-3.0 license on GitHub, where it has passed 55,000 stars. Obsidian is a proprietary app that is free to use for any purpose, built around a folder of local markdown files, backlinks, and a visual graph view that maps how notes connect to each other.
Both already solve the "my notes live in someone else's cloud" problem that a tool like Notion never fully answers, which is why this comparison skips that debate. If you are still weighing a database driven workspace against a markdown app, our Notion vs Obsidian comparison covers that tradeoff directly. Here, the real decision is narrower and, for an Android user, arguably more practical: open code and encrypted sync you can verify, or a smaller closed app stretched wide by a huge plugin catalog.
The Real Challenges of Choosing a Private Notes App
- Trusting the code, not just the promise. A privacy claim is easy to print on a pricing page; verifying it means reading source code most people never open.
- Encryption that is on by default versus encryption you must enable. An E2E encryption feature only protects you if it is actually turned on before your first sync.
- Wanting deep customization without stacking paid add-ons. Extending an app with plugins should not quietly turn a free tool into a subscription.
- Migrating years of notes without losing structure. A database file behaves differently than a folder of text files when you try to move to a new tool later.
- An Android app that holds up during real writing. A notes app that lags or crashes mid sentence on a commute defeats the point of taking the note at all.
Quick Comparison
Here is how Joplin and Obsidian stack up on the factors that matter most once you get past "both are private and both work offline."
| Factor | Joplin | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing | Fully open source, AGPL-3.0 | Free to use, closed source app |
| Local storage | SQLite database, exportable to markdown | Plain markdown files in a folder vault |
| Sync encryption | Optional end-to-end encryption on every sync target, including free ones | AES-256 encryption built into the paid Sync add-on |
| Sync cost | Free via your own Dropbox, Nextcloud, or WebDAV, or Joplin Cloud from about 3 euros a month | Free via third-party folder sync, or Obsidian Sync from $4/month |
| Note organization | Notebooks and tags, Evernote style | Backlinks and a visual graph view |
| Plugin ecosystem | Smaller, curated plugin directory | 5,994 community plugins and 644 themes |
| Web clipper | Official browser extension for Chrome and Firefox | Community plugin, not an official clipper |
| Android app rating | 3.99 stars, about 6,400 ratings | 4.12 stars, about 16,000 ratings |
Open Source Code and Local Storage
Joplin publishes its full source on GitHub under the AGPL-3.0-or-later license, meaning anyone can read exactly how notes are handled, encrypted, and synced, and anyone can fork the project if development ever stalls. That is a different guarantee than "free to download."
Obsidian is free for personal, commercial, and non-profit use according to its official license page, but the core app is closed source. On disk, the difference shows up too: Obsidian stores notes as plain markdown files inside a vault folder, while Joplin keeps notes in a local SQLite database and only produces loose markdown files when you export a notebook or sync through the filesystem target.
Sync and End to End Encryption
Joplin's encryption is opt-in: you set a password once, and Joplin generates a master key that encrypts notes before they leave the device, regardless of which sync target you choose. Forget the password and the data is gone, which is the tradeoff for keeping the developers themselves locked out of it too.
Obsidian's paid Sync add-on secures data with AES-256 end-to-end encryption automatically, no setup step required. The catch is that this guarantee applies specifically to Obsidian Sync; if you instead route your vault through a free service like Dropbox, encryption depends on that provider, not on Obsidian itself.
Pricing: Joplin Cloud vs Obsidian Sync
Per Joplin's official pricing page, Joplin Cloud starts at a Basic plan of about 2.99 euros a month (2 GB storage), with Pro at 5.99 euros a month for 30 GB, and a Teams plan at 7.99 euros a user each month. There is no free Joplin Cloud tier, but the free app works with your own free storage account instead. Organizations that want to self-host the entire sync layer, source code included, can run Joplin Server rather than paying for Joplin Cloud at all.
Per Obsidian's official pricing page, Sync Standard runs $4/month billed annually for 1 GB of storage, and Sync Plus runs $8/month annually for 10 GB, upgradable further. The optional Commercial License for organizations is priced separately and is not required to use Obsidian at work. A separate Publish add-on, priced per site per month, turns a vault into a public website, though that matters far less to someone taking notes on a phone.
Notebooks and Tags vs Backlinks and Graph View
Joplin organizes notes the way Evernote always did: nested notebooks, tags, and a to-do checkbox on any note, searchable through a fast full-text index. It is a familiar, list-first mental model that suits meeting notes, journals, and reference material you file rather than link.
Obsidian instead treats every note as a node. Typing a double-bracketed link creates a backlink automatically, and the built-in graph view renders the whole vault as a web of connections. For a slowly growing archive of interlinked ideas, that structure surfaces relationships a flat notebook tree would bury.
Plugin Ecosystems
Joplin has a genuine plugin API on desktop and, more recently, on mobile, with plugins distributed through an official directory covering appearance, developer tools, and productivity add-ons. It is a real ecosystem, just a smaller and more tightly curated one.
Obsidian's plugin catalog is one of its defining advantages. The official community site currently lists 5,994 plugins and 644 themes, letting a single user assemble a highly specific writing, research, or task-tracking setup piece by piece, something neither Joplin nor most competing apps can match at that scale.
Long-Term Portability
Because Obsidian's vault already sits on disk as individual markdown files, walking away from the app takes no export step at all. Open the same folder in any text editor, another markdown app, or a fresh Obsidian install years later, and every note reads exactly as it did the day it was written.
Joplin's SQLite database is not directly readable outside the app, but it is not a dead end either. Any notebook can be exported to markdown with front matter, plain HTML, or Joplin's own JEX archive format at any time, and the source code for the entire app, sync server included, stays public even if the hosted Joplin Cloud service ever changes its terms.
Android App Quality
On Google Play, Joplin's Android app sits at 3.99 stars from roughly 6,400 ratings, with reviewers generally praising reliable sync and markdown handling while flagging that text editing on the phone still feels rougher than the desktop app.
Obsidian's Android app holds a stronger 4.12 star rating from about 16,000 ratings, with most complaints centered on a sync delay of 20 to 30 seconds after opening the app rather than crashes or data loss.
Joplin and Obsidian Side by Side: Wins and Watch-outs
Joplin wins:
- Fully open source code you or anyone else can audit line by line
- Encryption works across every sync option, including free ones like Dropbox or Nextcloud
- Built-in web clipper and familiar notebook-and-tag structure for reference material
Joplin watch-outs:
- No free tier for Joplin's own hosted Joplin Cloud sync
- Notes live in a local database rather than loose markdown files, so filesystem access needs an export step
- Android app rating trails Obsidian's, with rougher text editing reported
Obsidian wins:
- Vault is already a folder of plain markdown files, no export needed to move on
- Free for personal and commercial use, with a huge plugin and theme catalog
- Backlinks and graph view surface connections a flat notebook list would hide
Obsidian watch-outs:
- The core app itself is closed source, unlike Joplin's fully public codebase
- AES-256 encryption is guaranteed only inside the paid Sync add-on, not free third-party sync
- No official web clipper; capturing sources relies on a community plugin instead
How to Pick the Right App for Your Notes
Choose Joplin when open code is not negotiable. If you want to read the encryption logic yourself, sync through a free storage account you already use, and keep everything inside one open source project from top to bottom, Joplin's notebook structure and web clipper cover most daily note-taking needs without asking you to touch a plugin.
Choose Obsidian when the plugin catalog and the graph view are the point. A researcher, writer, or planner who wants to customize deeply, see how ideas connect visually, and start from a vault that is already a folder of text files will get more long-term mileage from Obsidian's ecosystem, even while trusting a closed source core.
Whichever app wins, an open source, end-to-end encrypted approach to sensitive data is worth applying beyond notes too. Our Bitwarden vs KeePass comparison looks at the same open source, encrypted-by-design tradeoff for password managers.
