Notion and Obsidian both hold a team's knowledge. They disagree on the one thing that decides everything else: where that knowledge lives, and who holds the key.
Notion keeps your pages on its servers and bills every member, every month. Obsidian keeps your notes as Markdown files on your own disk and charges nothing for the app. Here is what that difference costs a five-person team, at list prices checked on September 29, 2026.
What each one costs in 2026
| Plan | Notion, per member per month | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0. Built for one person: once a second member joins, the workspace gets 1,000 blocks in total, then it has to upgrade. 5 MB per upload, 7 days of page history | $0. The full app, for personal and commercial use |
| Entry | Plus: $10 billed yearly, $12 monthly. Unlimited blocks, 30 days of history | Sync Standard: $4 billed yearly, $5 monthly. 1 vault, 1 GB |
| Next tier | Business: $20 billed yearly, $24 monthly. Notion AI included, SAML SSO, 90 days of history | Sync Plus: $8 billed yearly, $10 monthly. 10 vaults, 10 GB |
| Top tier | Enterprise: price on request | Commercial license: $50 per user per year, optional |
Three years for a five-person team
| Setup | 36 months |
|---|---|
| Notion Plus, billed yearly | $1,800 |
| Notion Plus, billed monthly | $2,160 |
| Notion Business with AI, billed yearly | $3,600 |
| Obsidian, vault shared through Git or Syncthing | $0 |
| Obsidian, Sync Standard for all five, billed yearly | $720 |
| Obsidian, Sync Standard plus the optional commercial license for all five | $1,470 |
Notion Free is not a team plan. A shared workspace burns through 1,000 blocks in weeks, because every paragraph, heading and checklist item is a block. The honest Notion price for a team starts at Plus.
Why Notion feels like freedom (but isn't)
Notion is easy. You can set up a database in minutes, the templates are good, and five people can edit the same page at once. That ease is exactly what makes it sticky.
After six months you have:
- 50+ pages in a custom structure
- 4–5 databases with custom fields and relations
- Templates your team depends on
- Embeds and integrations wired into daily work
- Months of team knowledge that only exists inside Notion's servers
Then the price moves, or the plan you need gains AI you did not ask for. Business now costs twice what Plus costs, and that is where Notion AI and SSO live. Rebuilding databases and relations in another tool takes weeks, so most teams stay and pay. That is lock-in dressed up as productivity.
Why Obsidian feels harder (but is freer)
Obsidian has a learning curve and less polish. It is built around files, not around five people typing into one page at the same moment. Teams share a vault through Obsidian Sync, Git or Syncthing.
Here is what you get for that friction:
- Your data is yours. Obsidian stores notes as plain Markdown files in a folder on your computer.
- No license bill. The app is free for any purpose, commercial use included. The $50 commercial license exists, but it is optional.
- No exit cost. Any Markdown editor opens your vault. If Obsidian disappeared tomorrow, your notes would not.
- Paid parts are optional. Sync and Publish are add-ons you can replace with Git, Syncthing or your own server.
The collaboration question
Notion's one real advantage is live co-editing. Ask whether your team needs it. Most small teams need documented processes, decisions and a searchable knowledge base. They rarely need five cursors in the same paragraph.
For that job, Obsidian with a shared vault is enough, and the three-year bill is $0 to $1,470 instead of $1,800 to $3,600. If your team mostly writes and reads, you are paying Notion for the part you do not use.
When to use which
Use Notion if:
- Several people edit the same documents at the same time, every day
- You need Notion's databases as a lightweight app for the whole team
- Nobody on the team will look after a shared folder or a Git repository
Use Obsidian if:
- You want your knowledge base in files you own
- You want the three-year bill near zero
- You can live with a learning curve of a few weeks
- Your notes are mostly written by one person at a time
Already deep in Notion and wondering where the time goes? Read Notion: Productivity Theater That Feels Productive but Isn't.
The hybrid approach
Keep your source of truth in Obsidian: processes, decisions, documentation. If you need a shared database that changes daily, run that one board in Notion on the smallest paid plan, for the people who edit it. Never let the tool that can raise its price hold the only copy of what your company knows.
The SaaSKiller Take
Notion is a good product with a rent model. For five people it costs $1,800 to $3,600 over three years, and your knowledge sits on someone else's servers the whole time. Obsidian costs $0 to $1,470 for the same three years and leaves you with a folder of files nobody can take away. For a business, the friction is worth it.
Sources
List prices from the vendors' own pricing pages, checked September 29, 2026. Vendors change prices without notice; check before you buy.