Ever feel like the more notes you take, the harder it is to find anything ?

Last year I was jug gling three clients. I built out a whole Notion setup — a page per client, a page per project, looked clean . Then one afternoon I was at a café waiting for someone , and a client mess aged me on WeChat asking where the requirements doc from our last call was. I d ug around for nearly five minutes and came up empty. It was embarrass ing. I pan icked a little.

What I eventually figured out: it wasn't that I was being lazy . I just never understood from the start that these two tools are fundamentally different things . Use them in the wrong context and it doesn 't matter how hard you try — it won 't work.

What Notion and Obsidian actually are — and how people are already using them

Short version : Notion is like a shared office desk — built for collaboration, client - facing work , and managing projects with other people. Obsid ian is like a private journal — built for thinking things through on your own, building up knowledge, writing long-form content over time.

I know a brand consultant named Xi aowen ( freel ancer , based in Shanghai, solo operation ) who used to keep everything in Obs idian — client bri efs, quotes , follow -up notes . One day she needed to send a proposal to a client and realized Obsidian has no way to share a link directly . She spent an hour copying everything somewhere else. That project almost ran late.

On the flip side, I have a friend named Aming (knowledge product creator , based in Chengdu) who was writing course outlines in Notion. Every time he opened it he 'd get stuck asking himself : "Where does this page go? Which project does it belong to?" Eventually he just stopped taking notes altogether . When he switched to Obsidian, things clicked — because Obsidian doesn't force you to file every note somewhere . You just write , and sort out the connections later.

I only figured this out recently myself . For a while I had both installed and wasn 't using either one well .

What it actually costs to get started: money, time, barrier , first step

  • Money: Notion's free plan is enough for personal use; paid is around $10/month (~ ¥70). Obsidian is completely free for personal use — you only pay if you want cross -device sync (~ $ 8/month, ~ ¥55).
  • Time: Basic setup for either one takes about 1– 2 hours. No coding required — just click through the interface.
  • Technical barrier: Neither requires any technical background . If you can use a We Chat doc , you can use both of these .
  • First step : For Notion, go to notion.so and click "Get Notion free" in the top right. For Obsid ian, go to obsidian. md, click "Download," install it on your computer, and you 're in — no account needed.

You don 't need both . And if you're getting by fine with your phone 's notes app or We Chat Favorites right now, there 's zero urg ency to switch . Don 't fix what isn't broken.

Which one fits where you are right now?

If you're just starting out and don 't have steady clients yet : I 'd go Obsidian only . It's free, works offline , and gives you space to slowly sort out what 's in your head. Once you're cle arer on your direction , then think about whether Notion makes sense .

If you already have 1– 2 clients and need to track projects : I'd make Notion your main tool. You can build a page per client, keep requirements , progress , and files all in one place, and share a link directly with them — something Obsidian simply can 't do.

If you 're scaling up, starting to bring people in , or managing multiple projects: Both can work together , but keep the roles clear. Notion handles everything client -facing and external . Obsidian handles your own thinking, content building , and long-term knowledge. I got this wrong before — I cr ammed everything into Notion and it got so heavy that just opening it felt like a chore.