How to use Obsidian
Write notes as Markdown files in a local vault and connect ideas with wikilinks and the graph view. Add AI through community plugins to chat with your vault, run semantic search, and generate text, pointing them either at a cloud API for pay-per-token use or a local model to keep everything offline.
Best for
Private, local-first note-taking over plain Markdown files. Bidirectional links and a graph view for personal knowledge management. AI through community plugins for chat, semantic search, and related-note surfacing.
How it behaves
The core app is free with no account and is local-first, so notes stay as files on disk. It ships no native AI, so AI is bring-your-own through third-party plugins, with cost coming from the plugin subscription and your own model or API usage.
Tips
Connect notes with wikilinks to build a usable graph. Add AI through plugins, the core app ships none. Point a plugin at a local model to keep AI fully offline.
Pricing
The app is free for personal use. First-party Sync and Publish are a few dollars a month each, and AI comes through plugins at roughly $15 to $20 a month plus optional model costs.