Obsidian vs. Logseq - A High Level Overview

Obsidian and Logseq are at the forefront of the note taking space with strong communities, local-first notes, and more.
Which do you choose?
In this video, we cover similarities between these two apps and some key differences to help you decide between them.
When you're ready, there are three ways I can help:
1. Join our newsletter for productivity tips: thinkeffective.co/join
2. Go deeper with Obsidian: obsidianmadesimple.com
3. Ask your productivity or PKM question and get it answered by Justin: airtable.com/shrJI8e1bPZ7uCJqd
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[@torspedia]

There are quite a number of us who use both. I use Logseq for my fleeting notes, random thoughts and project planning. Obsidian is for my intermediate and permanent notes, along with my long-form writing. 🙂

[@sandipb]

One important point is the licensing. To use Obsidian at work, you need to pay for the commercial license. The cost is not much ($50/y), but the general problem is that your employer may or may not approve it to be used. I am an Obsidian user, but for the work computer, I think I would prefer learning and using Logseq as the alternative for this reason - most employers dont mind open source software without commercial restrictions being used.

[@EffectiveCo]

That's a fair point and one that's easy to overlook.

[@pnhbs392]

Long time Logseq user here that just started playing with Obsidian - I'd love a video comparing Logseq and Obsidian that's oriented toward more advanced users. For example, compare it for certain common workflows - advanced math, PDF annotation, exporting information to PDF, publishing, Sync, multi-homing, multi-tiered permissions, limitations of the assumption about files, compatibility with git, etc

[@block3732]

Which one do you prefer so far?

[@jevonreynolds1252]

@@block3732 just wanted to boost this comment because I have the same question

[@Ellemona]

Also commenting for wanting OPs insight

[@Slipping_thru_the_Seams]

which one did you settle on?

[@_thealexm_]

Waiting for his answer too

[@yarikv]

I liked your comparison. Straight to the point. Thanks! Also enjoyed meaningful conversation in the comments.

[@ppreshants]

Thank you for the excellent video and the quick summary at the end 😊

[@RameshKumar-ng3nf]

Sad reality is most people have not used logseq extensively to understand it use. Logseq queries, namespace and PDF annotation and inbuilt outliner etc is so simple to use. I quit Obsidian , the javascript query writing is so complex for a normal user and obsidian always felt like a programming screen when working on it. Enjoying using logseq and will use it for rest of my life.

[@7shaan]

Came from obsidian to anytype and finally settled on logseq for most part. obsidian is too stripped down and complex although highly customizable, anytype is easy and fun but very limited which strips the fun very soon, but logseq is the perfect middle ground where you get a great experience and customization with a little bit of learning. Also 2 things logseq has over these 2 is the whiteboards which are much powerful than the canvas in obsidian and the ability to interlink blocks which is non-existent in both atm. This makes logseq much powerful and versatile overall. 3 things that suck are the mobile app, graph view, and queries which they could learn from anytype, they nailed it. But I am settling on logseq, makes me a happy note-taker.

[@RameshKumar-ng3nf]

@@7shaan Happy to know bro 👍. Thanks for sharing. Me too happy using logseq. Every app has it own limitations . Over all i am happy and am stuck to using logseq and enjoying using it 😊

[@WFTA]

This was actually helpful, thank you.

[@drtomasaragon]

Excellent summary! HUGE thanks!

[@EffectiveCo]

Glad it was helpful!

[@davidingham2216]

Nice video, thanks, Justin

[@Slipping_thru_the_Seams]

thank you! nice and clear :)

[@yaaqoubeliyyahu5783]

If you were going to set up the Tiago Forte PARA Method; how would you do it in Logseq? Thank you.

[@themichaelferrari]

I had the same question for the last month, and my best answer is you can't apply it perfectly. Obsidian has the strength for this since LogSeq doesn't have any folder system. PARA only works if you have a dashboard (Notion) or folder system (Obsidian). Not journal-based outliner (LogSeq). However I've tried an similar system: the ACE method by Nick Milo. It works a lot better on LogSeq. But you still need to tweak here and there to fit the system into the app perfectly. Hope it helps 😁

[@mageprometheus]

That was a well-balanced look at them both. I have used both and agree with all your points. Logseq's database, datascript, advanced queries, and the closure programming language took me a while to get into. Obsidian's dataview plugin, javascript, and its plugin API are more accessible for the advanced stuff. Using something like Svelte and Typescript as a framework for plugin development is great, not that I have time to mess. A last annoyance with Logseq is that it creates a page for each #tag as they are just a visual alias for a link. Personally, I prefer Obsidian's way of keeping a #tag as a category mechanism.

[@EffectiveCo]

Those are some great points, Mage. I agree with the tag bit; Logseq seemingly copied Roam's tag feature which I wasn't a big fan of myself. Having two ways to denote the same thing can be poor user experience.

[@kirso]

A matter of perspective. I find Obsidians tags useless. Its also easy to create many duplicates without a check. In Logseq tags are a node with aliases so everything will just fall under linked notes below. But I get it, it might just as well be a [[ ]] page.

[@mageprometheus]

@@kirso True. Sometimes I think my preferences come down to irrational likes/dislikes. All I know is Logseq tags make me want to slam my keyboard down repeatedly. Now that doesn't sound logical. 😄

[@ChristAcolyte]

@@mageprometheus skill issue

[@voldefox]

Will you do a comparison between Logseq and Tana?

[@EffectiveCo]

I have it on the list :)

[@MarkieAurelius]

are you able to use logseq for the para method by tiago due to it not having folders?

[@EffectiveCo]

It might be possible but I don't have enough experience to confidently say.

[@EmmaVB82]

I think you can totally use any app that supports tags for PARA, even if there aren’t traditional folders. I don’t know if I’m allowed to rec other KZbin channels here (I’ve just come across the channel for the first time today, so maybe it’s a bit rude to add a link!) but I just did a quick search and came across another KZbinr named Tomi Nuottamo with a video called “Second Brain: Your QUICK START guide | Logseq (and Roam)” - it doesn’t appear to focus on PARA specifically, but I bet there are people out there who do use it for this :)

[@rinleeds]

Is my style of long notes and organising via folders and subfolders an old way of thinking? Is outlining a more effective and better system?

[@majorgear1021]

No. Folders are the best way.

[@rinleeds]

So, can I clarify... can I create lots of long documents in LogSeq or is it meant to be for short sharp snappy bits of content? For example, I am writing a 600 book on education in medicine, and there is lots of content from a variety of sources. Many big pdfs, some big word docs, some my own lengthy notes. Which is better for this? LogSeq or Obisidan?

[@EffectiveCo]

Honestly you could probably make Logseq work for this similarly to Obsidian. It’s a matter of if the writing flow makes more sense to you in one over the other.

[@michaeltodd2012]

Logseq falls down on mobile. I see no plugins available on Android. Doesn't make sense to spend time customizing either program on Windows/Mac/Linux when those tweaks and add-ons are not available in mobile devices. I was using Logseq but this is a game changer for me. So now back to Obsidian.

[@7shaan]

Yea I wish they bring the plugins soon, but again I used obsidian on phone and it kindna fell apart under the weight of plugins, the plugins made it so heavy that it took too long to load, some plugins were not compatible so I had to make 2 diff plugin folders for pc and mobile.

[@michaeltodd2012]

@@7shaan Good points. I have 33 active Obsidian plugins and it works well on my phone and PCs. So far there's only been a couple plugins I started to use then found out they don't play well on Mobile. So far, it's the most useful single program I have ever used. Were it not for Logseq not allowing Mobile plugins I may not have dived deep into Obsidian.

[@yaaqoubeliyyahu5783]

Nice to see you Justin! 😉

[@EffectiveCo]

Thanks for watching Yaaqoub!

[@keithdow8327]

Thanks!

[@EffectiveCo]

Appreciate the Super Thanks!

[@rickywu1682]

Logseq is my choice because of the outliner.

[@spinni81]

I used Obsidian when it was really new and far from a 1.x version. It was an interesting concept but ultimately I needed something else back then. Now I do have the need for a note taking app and if Logseq wasn't around I would probably go back to Obsidian. But I general prefer OS over closed source if everything is of equal quality. So, Logseq it is for me.

[@quinten01]

*OSS, not 'OS'

[@pe6649]

I am only halfway through, but your video is fantastic explained !!

[@EffectiveCo]

Glad it was helpful!

[@gabrieloforti]

Android app of Logseq doesnt't have the plugins?

[@Momonga_666]

And IOS

[@tomo-one]

A video which do nit SHOW the tools to compare is useless for me. This can be done with a article or podcast.

[@francisgigot6416]

Thanks for these videos... As a former Evernote and Roam Research user. Obsidian is MUCH more stable than Logseq... I suggest a test with 10000 files in Logseq and Obsidian... As far as I'm concerned, Logseq freezes, bugs... Is very slow. Obsidian imports everything transparently, quickly and reliably... I like Logeseq a lot, but as far as I'm concerned, it's unusable with large databases... Tested on several Windows PCs, Linux...

[@daliboroslav]

Thanks for this!

[@EffectiveCo]

Good to know - I haven’t done extensive performance testing with it myself so thanks for sharing your experiences

[@RameshKumar-ng3nf]

I am using logseq extensively for more than 1.5. years. My file sizes are more than 20000, i never faced any slowness our freeze issues like you said. It works smoothly in my large databases. I am using Macbook pro M2 and RAM size is 32 GB. Not sure if this makes a difference.. No idea.. But honestly, logseq i never ever faced any slowness or freeze issues inspite of my database is big.

[@ash1kh]

Interesting... My obsidian started to lag after 40,000. Before it was lagging on even 10 notes for using heavy usages of dataviewjs query I used to do. So I revert to only plain text markdown, no queries, no fancy stuff and 40k is the limit. Over the past 3 years I have 159,241 notes. So I reverse engineered and rewrite obsidian from electron to tauri to get a performance boost. Though I support the devs buying their services, I never use them, I prefer my customized syncing and publishing. Now I think it is time to put to test logseq.

[@user-fj4rn4vv8c]

One point you missed about Obsidian being closed source: the developers argue (in the thread you mentioned) that a closed source application is more safe. The code being open means good actors can verify and contribute, but it also means bad actors can search for vulnerabilities and exploit them. Agree or disagree, I think it’s worth mentioning 🙂

[@colbyboucher6391]

It also means that vulnerabilities are open to *everyone* and can be immediately pointed out.

[@EffectiveCo]

True but when apps are local-first, it's much harder to exploit those vulnerabilities in the first place. The bigger risk in both cases are third party addons.

[@EricDongh2p]

@@EffectiveCo It depends on the commitment level of the developers. If they are willing to maintain and release patches on a regular basis, closed source is more secure.

[@fabiandrinksmilk6205]

@@EricDongh2p If developers aren't committed to their app, someone else probably is and will fork the project to develop it independently, if the original project was open source of course. Being closed source doesn't inherently make it more or less secure. Security by obscurity is not real security.

[@Shajirr_]

Close-sourced is pretty much never more secure. It does however raise the chance of the devs refusing to fix vulnerabilities even if they know about them, because it would cost time and $. So they often don't. And then some years down the line you get a message about all of your data being leaked via a hack. Or you don't get the message and find out about it randomly from social media.

[@7shaan]

You forgot 2 points that make logseq a much stronger knowledge management app. The whiteboards which are much powerful than the canvas in obsidian for creating visual notes/ data boards and the ability to interlink blocks which makes logseq a really powerful wisdom creation tool, a feature non-existent in obsidian. And Obsidian has a much better graph view

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

The argument that open source doesn't work in a b2b setting is hard to reason if you consider the vast majority of services and servers are built on top of open source software.

[@a.h.m1365]

man! show me those differences and similarities in practice! what can I do with your face?

[@svhuwagv2965]

I know it is hard to make videos but you just talking and not showing the differences is not a good presentation. Think of it like this. Would you rather see the face of the presenter or the brain content. You can use 2 channels of information for your presentation instead of one.

[@jangunnarmoe5344]

I prefere not to see applications visually as long as words alone is pefectly enough for sharing brain content to be shared. If it was about visual details in user interface of apps, that would be another situation. This could be a podcast. Ptesentation is best as is.

[@svhuwagv2965]

@@jangunnarmoe5344 Well, then you can just not look. For others who would like to have a visual aid, the option of looking is not there.

[@BB-zd2sf]

Stopped watching at 7:51 and gave you a big thumbs down because it's just... you talking. You should have actually included screencaps or something.

[@devcor]

App comparison video. Zero app demonstration. Nice work!

[@placeholder3853]

Honestly I fail to see the usefullness of Obsidian and other note-taking apps, they just seem so complicated for me. Outliners seem to do everything I need

[@sairos4057]

what's "Outliners"?

[@placeholder3853]

@@sairos4057 Like loqseq, a more rigid bullet point and indentation system, really obsidian can "outline" but selecting all of the text and pressing backspace removes the indentations annoyingly.

[@quinnherden]

Obsidian is only as complicated as you make it. At its heart, it's a pain text editor :)

[@incogenator]

@@placeholder3853 I'm actually trying to understand the difference between obsidian and logseq before i settle on one. it seems that open-source is a key difference but i do see you can outline on both. so i dont get why people say you can write longer form text in obsidian. you can seem to do just the same in logsseq.

[@incogenator]

@GravyBaby time travel!

[@danilomenoli]

Logseq is open yes but it is clojure lmao

[@georgevan2606]

Honestly, I "feel" that Obsidian and Logseq teams are being lazy and rely too much on community plugins. For example, it has been 2 years and yet, they have not created a native calendar. I am impressed with Capacities because the app itself is a complete package with everything. Yes, I agree with those who prefer minimalism, but an app with journal feature but no calendar feature? Really?

[@Tech-Dino]

Like Capacities too it's very promising. But not internet = no data.

[@AlessandroScaltritti]

I'm trying Obsidian to switch from Logseq. I saved the Obsidian files on iCloud and I don't need another cloud syncing service, why should I pay for Obsidian? I'm concerned with the limitations of the free plan.

[@EffectiveCo]

iCloud should work just fine for syncing. The major difference is end-to-end encryption with Obsidian Sync.

[@andypassion5787]

Thanks!

[@EffectiveCo]

Thank you for watching!

[@yaaqoubeliyyahu5783]

Enjoy following you! You are the Best!!!👍😉