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Open-source alternative to Obsidian

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HN · launched May 18, 2026 · 730 upvotes (top 1%) · 0 views

Niche: note-taking and writing apps · 264 launches, 27 in the last 7 days ▼ -23% · Explore this niche →

Category and tags
  • Horizontal
  • Content generation
  • Prosumer
  • Not AI
  • Hobby / open-source project

Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗

More like this: all 264 launches in note-taking and writing apps →

Could you build this?

Yes It is a local-first markdown note-taking app replicating basic Obsidian functionality using standard web/desktop technologies like Electron or Tauri, CodeMirror, and filesystem APIs.

Discussion

20 comments analyzed.

Competitors mentioned: Obsidian, Joplin, Zettelkasten, Helix, mdterm

Concerns raised: Sync reliability between laptop and mobile compared to Obsidian's paid service, Unclear what specific problem it solves vs Obsidian's existing open-source approach, Free software restrictions despite not charging money, Most open source projects don't provide the value authors think they do, Risk of AI tools wiping notes during organization

Feature requests: Daily Note feature with templated notes and checklists (stretching, exercises, language practice), Better mobile and desktop sync capabilities, Remote image support, Plain text/Markdown file access on disk with UI features like Joplin

Competitors

Other products that read as similar to this one : 2308 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.

Attention rank: #3 of 2309 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).

Launched 200 days after the earliest competitor.

  • Hibi · hn · 2026-09-21 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.74
  • obsidian-excalidraw-cli · github · 2026-10-12 · 24 upvotes · similarity 0.69
  • lcars-obsidian · github · 2026-10-09 · 12 upvotes · similarity 0.69
  • obsidian-spaces · github · 2026-09-15 · 15 upvotes · similarity 0.65
  • Silica · github · 2026-10-31 · 16 upvotes · similarity 0.64
  • Quartz · github · 2026-11-08 · 12 upvotes · similarity 0.60
  • prism-viz · github · 2026-10-08 · 41 upvotes · similarity 0.57
  • Blast · hn · 2026-08-28 · 11 upvotes · similarity 0.57

Related data

The niche, labels, vibe code rating and competitor comparison on this page are analysis by Nicheloom. If you use them, please credit nicheloom.com. How you may use our data.