Originally published at devtoolpicks.com
Every solo developer ends up asking the same question: where do I actually keep everything?
The code is in GitHub. The tasks are somewhere. The research notes from three months ago are in a browser tab you haven't closed. The product decisions live in your head. At some point you need a single place for knowledge, planning, and thinking, and right now three tools dominate that conversation: Notion, Obsidian, and Anytype.
The problem is that most comparisons are written for teams of 10. They talk about permissions, admin controls, and enterprise SSO. None of that matters when you're a solo developer building a SaaS or shipping a side project.
This comparison is specifically for indie hackers. Solo. Maybe one or two collaborators. Shipping fast. Not doing IT administration.
The short version: Obsidian if you want zero recurring cost and maximum control over your files. Notion if you need a solid all-in-one workspace and don't mind $10-20/month. Anytype if privacy matters and you want encrypted sync without paying for it.
Quick Verdict
| Tool | Best For | Starting Price | Sync Included | Real-Time Collab |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion | All-in-one workspace, databases | Free / $10/mo (Plus) | Yes (cloud) | Yes |
| Obsidian | Local-first notes, PKM, full control | Free | No (DIY or $4/mo) | No |
| Anytype | Privacy-first, encrypted, offline | Free | Yes (P2P, free) | Limited |
Notion in 2026
Notion has become the default workspace for indie hackers. It handles notes, project tracking, wikis, content calendars, and databases in one place. The flexibility is real: you genuinely can replace 4-5 separate tools with a well-built Notion workspace.
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Key Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Solo use, 5MB file limit, 10 guests |
| Plus | $12/user | $10/user | Unlimited files, 30-day history, limited AI trial |
| Business | $24/user | $20/user | Full Notion AI, private spaces, 90-day history |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | SSO, advanced security |
The thing worth knowing: Notion AI is only fully unlocked on the Business plan. Free and Plus users get a trial that hits limits fast. If you want AI meeting notes, the AI search, and the writing assistant without restrictions, you're looking at $20/month. That's the real entry price for the full Notion experience in 2026.
For a solo builder, the free plan is actually solid. Unlimited pages and blocks for individual use, no block limit unless you start adding team members. The 5MB file upload limit is the main friction point.
What Notion Does Well
The database system. You can build a CRM, a content pipeline, a bug tracker, and a product roadmap and link them all together. Linked databases, relations between tables, filtered views by project or status. For a solo developer running multiple projects, this is where Notion earns its place.
Templates. Thousands of community templates mean you can start a project tracker, a launch checklist, or a reading log in minutes without building anything from scratch.
The API. If you're comfortable with a bit of code, Notion's API lets you automate content, pull in data from other tools, and build custom workflows. Useful when your SaaS needs a public-facing changelog or docs page.
What Notion Gets Wrong
Performance. Large databases with hundreds of entries or deeply nested pages load slowly, especially on mobile. If you're doing focused writing or need instant note capture, the lag is noticeable.
The AI pricing cliff. The jump from Plus ($10/month) to Business ($20/month) is entirely about AI access. If you don't need Notion AI, you're on Plus and the tool is great. The moment you want AI features, you're paying double.
Version history is limited by plan. Seven days on free, 30 on Plus. If you accidentally delete something important three weeks ago, it's gone on the free plan.
Who should NOT use Notion: Solo developers who work offline a lot, or who want their notes stored as plain files they own. Notion is cloud-dependent. If the service goes down or pricing changes significantly, migrating years of structured databases is painful. It's also overkill if all you need is a personal knowledge base. Obsidian does that better for less money.
Obsidian in 2026
Obsidian is the opposite philosophy. Your notes are plain Markdown files on your computer. No cloud dependency. No subscription required. The app reads those files and adds a layer of powerful features on top: bidirectional linking, a graph view showing how notes connect, a plugin ecosystem with thousands of community extensions.
As of early 2025, the commercial license requirement was removed. You can now use Obsidian for your freelance work, your SaaS planning, your product research, without paying anything.
Pricing
| Option | Cost | What It Is |
|---|---|---|
| Core app | Free | Full app, unlimited notes, all plugins |
| Sync | $4/month annual ($5 monthly) | Official cross-device sync, E2E encrypted |
| Publish | $8/site/month annual ($10 monthly) | Publish notes as a public website |
| Catalyst | $25 one-time | Support the developers, beta access |
| DIY sync | $0 | iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or git |
The practical cost for most indie hackers: free. Your notes live in a folder on your laptop. You can back that folder up to iCloud or Dropbox for free. You only need to pay if you want official Obsidian Sync, which is faster and adds version history, or if you want to publish notes publicly.
What Obsidian Does Well
Ownership. Your notes are Markdown files. Open them in any text editor. Move them anywhere. Switch tools without an export process. No vendor lock-in at any level.
Speed. Because everything is local, Obsidian is instant. No loading spinners, no API calls, no waiting for a sync. For a developer who captures thoughts quickly, this matters.
Plugin power. The community has built plugins for everything: Kanban boards, Dataview (query your notes like a database), calendar sync, Templater for automating note creation, Daily Notes for journaling. The plugin ecosystem rivals any paid tool's feature set.
The graph view. Genuinely useful for indie hackers who research topics deeply. Seeing which ideas connect to which others is how you spot patterns and avoid recreating the same thinking twice.
What Obsidian Gets Wrong
No real-time collaboration. Obsidian is built for one person. You can share a vault via Dropbox with a collaborator, but two people editing the same note simultaneously creates merge conflicts. It's not a team tool.
Mobile experience is worse than desktop. The iOS and Android apps work, but they're not as polished. Fast capture on mobile is trickier than Notion or Anytype.
No built-in database. Obsidian is a note-taking and knowledge management tool, not a project management tool. You can fake databases with Dataview plugin and YAML front matter, but it's not as clean as Notion's native database system. Managing a full product roadmap in Obsidian requires significant setup.
Who should NOT use Obsidian: Indie hackers who need structured project management alongside notes. Also anyone who wants collaboration from day one. And non-technical people who find Markdown, plugins, and vault configuration overwhelming. There's a real learning curve before Obsidian becomes powerful for you.
Anytype in 2026
Anytype is the newest of the three and takes the most distinctive approach. It's local-first like Obsidian but with a visual, block-based interface closer to Notion. Everything is an "object": a note, a task, a person, a project, and objects link to each other in a graph. Your data is encrypted before it leaves your device and synced peer-to-peer, without a central server.
The privacy story is genuine: zero-knowledge encryption means Anytype itself can't read your notes. Swiss-based infrastructure, GDPR-compliant, open-source code you can audit.
Pricing
| Plan | Cost | Key Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1GB network space, 3 shared spaces, 3 members per space |
| Builder | $99/year (~$8.25/month) | 128GB storage, 10 editors per space, priority support |
| Co-creator | $299/year | 256GB storage, shorter unique name |
| Business | Contact sales | Custom storage, more editors |
The key difference from Obsidian: Anytype includes P2P sync on the free plan. You don't need to pay for Sync or set up iCloud. Your devices find each other and sync directly. For a solo developer using a laptop and a phone, this is a real advantage over Obsidian's free tier.
What Anytype Does Well
Privacy without the DIY setup. End-to-end encryption and sync are included free. You're not trusting a company with your notes in the way you are with Notion. Your recovery phrase is the only key to your data. Even Anytype can't access it.
The object model. Once you understand it, the way Anytype links everything is more powerful than Notion's pages. A "Product Launch" object can be linked to the "Tasks" for that launch, the "Notes" you took during research, and the "People" you're working with. Relations between objects show you the full picture.
Works offline. Like Obsidian, Anytype works without an internet connection. Sync happens when you reconnect.
What Anytype Gets Wrong
Still maturing. Anytype is newer than Notion and Obsidian. Some features feel unfinished, the mobile experience has rough edges, and the template ecosystem (called the Experience Gallery) is smaller than Notion's.
The mental model takes time. "Everything is an object with types and relations" is genuinely different from "pages in a folder." If you're coming from Notion or even plain Markdown, the first week with Anytype feels foreign.
No web-based access. Anytype is desktop and mobile apps only. You can't open your notes in a browser tab. For a developer who sometimes works from different machines, this is a meaningful limitation.
Who should NOT use Anytype: Anyone who needs a polished, stable workspace right now and can't afford a week of setup and learning. Also: anyone who needs browser access to their notes from shared or public machines. And founders who need web-based team collaboration. Anytype's shared spaces work but are limited on the free plan.
Head-to-Head: What Actually Matters for Solo Builders
Cost for a Solo Developer
Obsidian wins. Free core app, free DIY sync, zero ongoing cost. If that's enough for you, nothing else comes close.
Anytype is free with included sync, making it cost-effective for anyone who wants something more structured than Obsidian without paying Notion prices.
Notion's free plan covers you as a solo user but you'll hit the 5MB file limit with screenshots and images quickly. The $10/month Plus plan is the real starting point for practical use.
Project Management vs Pure Notes
Notion is the only one of the three that genuinely handles project management as a core feature. If you need a database of tasks linked to projects linked to customer feedback linked to a roadmap, Notion is built for that. Obsidian and Anytype can approximate it with effort but it's not their native strength.
For pure note-taking and knowledge management, Obsidian and Anytype both beat Notion. They're designed around connection and recall, not structured data entry.
Data Ownership
Obsidian: you own the files completely. They're on your hard drive.
Anytype: you own the encrypted data. Anytype holds encrypted backups but can't read them.
Notion: your data lives on Notion's servers. You can export, but it's a cloud-first service.
For developers who've watched tools shut down or change pricing unexpectedly, this matters.
Which Fits the Indie Hacker Stack Best
If your workflow is: write code, ship, capture ideas quickly, manage a small backlog, do research. Obsidian covers the notes and research, and you use a lightweight separate tool for task management. Low cost, fast, infinitely flexible.
If your workflow involves more structure: managing multiple projects, content pipelines, customer conversations, and you want one place for everything. Notion at Plus or Business level is worth the cost.
Anytype sits between them. More structure than Obsidian, more privacy than Notion, still maturing.
Decision Flowchart
FAQ
Is Notion free actually usable for a solo indie hacker?
Yes, for a single user. The free plan gives you unlimited pages and blocks for individual use with no block limit. The limitations that bite are the 5MB file upload cap (annoying with screenshots and images), the 7-day version history, and the limited AI trial. For notes, project tracking, and a lightweight wiki, the free plan is genuinely fine as a solo user. Add a second person and you'll want to upgrade.
Does Obsidian work on iPhone and Android?
Yes, Obsidian has iOS and Android apps. The experience is functional but less polished than the desktop version. Cross-device sync either uses DIY methods (iCloud, Google Drive) for free or the official Obsidian Sync at $4/month annual. Note: free DIY sync on iOS is trickier because of how Apple handles file system access. iCloud is the most reliable approach without paying.
Is Anytype ready to use as a Notion replacement in 2026?
For personal knowledge management and project tracking as a solo developer, yes. The interface is stable, the sync works reliably, and the free plan is genuinely generous. It's not ready to replace Notion if you need polished team collaboration, a large template library, or browser-based access. If you're a privacy-conscious solo builder, it's worth a week of testing.
Can I migrate from Notion to Obsidian?
Yes. Notion exports to Markdown, and Obsidian uses Markdown natively. The migration isn't perfect. Notion databases don't translate cleanly to Markdown files, but for notes and pages, the export is straightforward. Tools like Notion to Obsidian converters on GitHub help with the database-to-YAML conversion.
Which has better AI features?
Notion at the Business plan ($20/month) is the only one with built-in AI that meaningfully competes with dedicated AI tools. It includes meeting notes, document summarization, and AI search across your workspace. Obsidian has community AI plugins but they require your own API keys and are not first-party. Anytype has a Local API that can connect to local LLMs but it's technical to set up. If built-in AI is your main requirement, Notion Business is the answer.
Final Verdict
There's no universal winner here. It genuinely depends on what you're building and how you work.
Use Notion if: You need databases, project tracking, and a team-friendly workspace in one place. The free plan works for a solo developer. If you want AI built in, you're paying $20/month. That's real money for a side project, but it's a complete workspace.
Use Obsidian if: You want zero subscription cost, you care about owning your files as plain text, and you're comfortable doing some setup. It's the most powerful and the cheapest, but it takes investment to become productive in it. The graph view and plugin ecosystem are genuinely excellent once you've built your vault.
Use Anytype if: Privacy matters to you, you want encrypted sync without paying for it, and you're willing to learn a slightly unusual tool. It's the most interesting of the three for indie hackers who think about data ownership. The free plan is the most generous: 1GB of encrypted network storage and P2P sync included.
My honest pick for a solo developer starting fresh in 2026: start with Obsidian for personal notes and knowledge, and Notion free for project tracking. Zero cost, two tools that each do what they're best at. Reach for Anytype if you want to consolidate into one privacy-focused tool and have the patience to learn it properly.
Related: PostHog vs Plausible vs Fathom vs Mixpanel for Solo Developers. Another essential tool decision for indie hackers building in 2026.
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