Less is safer: How Obsidian reduces the risk of supply chain attacks

Haven’t used Roam, but what I like about Obsidian:

- All your data is just plain files on your file system. Automation and interop are great, including with tools like Claude Code.

- It’s local-first, so performance is good.

- It’s extensible. Write extensions in HTML, CSS, and JS.

- It’s free.

- Syncing files is straightforward. Use git, Syncthing, Google Drive, or pay for their cheap sync service which is quite good.

- Product development is thoughtful and well done.

- They’re explicitly not trying to lock you in or own your data. They define open specs and build on them when Markdown doesn’t cut it.

Things you might not like:

- Their collaboration story isn’t great yet. No collaborative editing.

- It’s an Electron app.

In what universe is their sync service cheap?

It's literally at least 100 times more expensive that Dropbox/OneDrive/Google Drive/iCloud sync

My assumption is that most people on HN are making programmer money. $4 - 5 USD per month is affordable even on a junior engineer’s salary in many parts of the world.

The price per GB isn’t as good as the services you mentioned, but their storage limits are fine for the primary use case — storing a lot of plain text notes.

I’ve also had no problems with it, in contrast with iCloud which has routinely gotten stuck for me.

And if price per GB is what you care most about, use something else. That’s one of the great things about Obsidian.

The plain text thing is more of a feel-good argument than a practical one. If there’s a solid export path, the format isn’t really the issue... what matters is whether the app actually works the way you need it to. At the end of the day, your workflow lives or dies on how the software behaves... not on the file extension.