Obsidian vs. Notion: My PKM Journey and Which is the Best Second Brain Tool (After 2 Years)

In this video I'm excited to share my PKM Journey using Notion and Obsidian over the past 2 years. This video has been made to help you:
- Choose the right PKM System for your Second Brain
- Make a choice between Notion and Obsidian
- Provide Valuable Information based on my experiences
- Give you some insight into my PKM System
Our journey today looks like this:
- What exactly Is a 'second brain', and why should you care?
- I'll introduce Notion and Obsidian, explaining how they work.
- We'll break down pros, cons, and when each app shines.
- I'll give you specific reasons to pick one or the other.
- We'll even tour my own vaults for real-life examples!
By the end of this video, you'll:
1. Know which app will be suit your needs
2. Get insight in what works and what doesn't
3. See real life examples to help you make an informative decision
//Contents:
00:00 - Intro
00:42 - Part 01 - Mindful Mastery - My Second Brain Journey
05:42 - Part 02 - Why Build a Second Brain?
07:09 - Part 03 - What is Notion?
07:57 - Part 04 - Notion Pros
08:51 - Part 05 - Notion Cons
09:58 - Part 06 - What is Obsidian
11:22 - Part 07 - Obsidian Pros
12:16 - Part 08 - Obsidian Cons
13:03 - Part 09 - Hands On with Both Platforms
23:59 - Part 10 - Closing Thoughts
26:15 - Outro
// Apps I use
- Obsidian - obsidian.md/
- Notion - www.notion.so/
- Raindrop.io - raindrop.io/
Buy Me a Coffee
ko-fi.com/motion2082
Hope you enjoy watching my video. Please take 5 minutes to leave a comment about this video. I'm really interested to hear your feedback.
Your input helps me plan my next videos and create better content for the Obsidian community. If you would like to see similar content please let me know what you would like to see.
Thank you for watching and have a great day!
Edit: This is a repost fixing some audio issues

[@tlxreed]

This is kind of fascinating in a way. I've gone down the pipeline of Evernote >> Notion and now Obsidian. I got into PKIM via Tiago Forte, then took August Bradley's course. I use Notion for a general purpose wiki, task/project and as a content management system plus it helps in all manner of IT and information handling scenarios. Ultimately, now I'm at Obsidian and thinking I really don't want to end up in some other online platform that controls my data and lacks privacy.

[@Inspired_JG]

I’m an engineer, do marketing/consulting on the side, am creating a Bible app at the moment, and have 7 kids. Physical sticky notes are overwhelming, checklists pads and graph paper are fine for simple rough notes, and excel just doesn’t cut it. After doing some research for a “second brain” system, notion is everywhere but it didn’t click for me. I finally installed Obsidian and fell in love with it. Great review! I enjoyed the details and real world use cases which are very similar to mine.

[@edwinccp26]

Great insight. I'm using Obsidian most of the time as well.

[@jumadilov]

Thank you for a great video. I am thinking to stay on both for the moment and see which one will become daily tool for my second brain. I am using as well Xmind to mindmap ideas. As I've seen from your video there are templates in Obsidian helping to build tree map. Will try that. Thanks again

[@TheAmazinRaven]

This was so well done. Thank you for sharing your system!

[@PaulDickson7]

Thank you Raven, you're welcome

[@livb4139]

thanks very insightful subbed

[@guenterhb]

Thank you very much, this is very informative and helpful! I'm in the process of leaving Evernote, so I'm currently testing different software, including Notion and Obsidian.

[@dej647]

Great video! Although tiny correction at 12:58, Obsidian is not actually open source, even though the plugins are.

[@PaulDickson7]

Thanks DJ

[@slimanddusty]

Hi Paul! What resources did you use to get functional quickly in obsidian and what are the most useful plugins for you?

[@PaulDickson7]

Hi Slim, will be releasing a video soon covering what resources I used. Have released a “20 must have plugins” on the channel, check that one out.

[@Twistedsage42]

I've recently given up trying to do everything in one program. I was using notion exclusivly for years and I still love it, but I need obsidian for notes and journal stuff.

[@PaulDickson7]

I think that’s a good way to be. Notion definitely shines with relational databases, project and task management. Obsidian is great for notes and learning

[@HippieP629]

As a 3+ yrs (Maybe 4?) notion user, I like the DB connections but there's tons of content in so many pages that just collect dust and aren't really connected to much. It can be REALLY slow compared to anytype, coda and capacities, especially for mile-long DBs, even when filtered. Every obsidian user really likes the organic way of connecting things. I'll dig into it.

[@rilock2435]

This looks super useful, but as someone who is neurodivergent with ADHD, just thinking about trying to do all of this daily gives me anxiety. I can't imagine documenting this level of detail and then actually sticking to it day after day. I'm very jealous of people capable of doing this kind of digital organization, but my brain actively works against me. My Notion is just a random jumble of sporadic notes. Usually a result of whenever I get some temporary burst of interest in trying to write things down, but it fades pretty quickly.

[@abhishekechakrabortty5712]

Brother...there is no need for this kind of organisation... Just two things... 1. What are the stuffs you need to remember/ find later? ... Write those Down..or record those, or take a picture.. 2. What are the things/ keyword you will need whole looking for those info? Use them as Titles or keywords... And Boom! You have a second brain..It's just that simple.

[@PaulDickson7]

Absolutely, you really only need to start with a tag, a link, a topic, heading and the note text and you’re good to go. Worry about the organising later

[@PaulDickson7]

Hi Rilock, Obsidian can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Check out Bryan Jenks on youtube, he is an advocate for ADHD and his channel has some great content. I’m going to make an upcoming video talking about some of his stuff so stay tuned for that

[@HippieP629]

@@PaulDickson7 That's really kind of you to do that for him / her

[@TheAmazinRaven]

Please don't be discouraged. I am AuDHD asf & years ago when Obsidian first appealed to me, all I could do was watch other ppl organize their vaults bc I couldn't wrap my head around how to efficiently use Obsidian in a way that would not overwhelm me daily. Bc who has time for that? Lol. I continued to kick it w Notion. But now I've grown into the type of person who could benefit from the concept of a second brain. I love learning but I can hardly arrange my day to day thoughts bc I am thinking at the speed of light or I can't remember simple words. I have grown so tired of my social media addiction & I am learning about the concepts of field notes & such. I also have art & hobbies I would like to learn & teach myself so I'm sure I could benefit from organizing my notes like ppl do in Obsidian. Notion was/is my girl for taking math notes & quick coding notes but I'm able to apply what I've learned from Notion to Obsidian. TLDR; All that to say, omg 😵‍💫 that maybe Notion is what benefits you most right now, but you could certainly apply what you've learned from Notion to Obsidian later bc they are two sides of the same coin. Just do what benefits you the most. :D

[@Bakobiibizo]

take a look at audio compression

[@PaulDickson7]

Thank you, that was my biggest learning point making this video. Audio Compression. I have recently upgraded my Microphone and also learnt how to compress audio. Any future videos will have better audio ;)

[@lancelahbari231]

very good video but if u can increase ur voice

[@PaulDickson7]

Audio will be better on the next one I promise ;)