Comparison
A NoteLace look for people considering Obsidian.
Obsidian is excellent, and if its plugin ecosystem is what you love, stay with it. If you like local Markdown notes with backlinks but would rather have the common workflows built in — and a managed, end-to-end-encrypted sync — NoteLace is worth a look.
14-day free trial, no card required. macOS, Windows, and Linux.
What the two have in common
Both are local-first: your notes are Markdown that lives on your own device and works offline. Both support wiki-links and backlinks for connected thinking, and both let you keep your content in plain text you can take elsewhere. If that local-Markdown foundation is why you’re drawn to Obsidian, you’ll feel at home in NoteLace.
Where NoteLace is different
NoteLace’s philosophy is “batteries included”: the workflows many people assemble from community plugins are built in and maintained as part of the app, so there’s nothing to install, configure, or repair after an update.
- Database views (table, board, calendar) from note properties — built in
- A live preview with KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, and code highlighting
- Full-text search that also reads OCR text inside image attachments
- Optional private AI — your own API key or a local Ollama model; NoteLace never sees your notes
- Optional managed cloud sync with opt-in end-to-end encryption (one database per user)
- Workspaces, daily notes, version history, templates, a command palette, and a web clipper
Honest trade-offs
NoteLace is a paid app — €5/month or €48/year with a 14-day trial (no card), and no permanent free tier; Obsidian is free for personal use. NoteLace doesn’t have Obsidian’s large third-party plugin ecosystem or community plugins — the trade is fewer moving parts and features that are supported out of the box. And NoteLace’s mobile companion is still in development, while Obsidian ships mobile apps today. Pick the trade that fits how you work.
Bringing your notes over
Because your Obsidian notes are already Markdown, you can import them into NoteLace, and you can export your NoteLace vault back to plain .md at any time. You’re never locked in either direction — which is the point of keeping everything in Markdown.
Frequently asked questions
- Is NoteLace an Obsidian clone?
- No. It’s a different app that shares the local-first, Markdown, backlinks foundation. NoteLace focuses on built-in workflows (database views, private AI, OCR search, managed encrypted sync) rather than a plugin ecosystem.
- Can I import my Obsidian vault?
- Your Obsidian notes are plain Markdown, so you can import them into NoteLace and export back to .md at any time. Plugin-specific syntax from third-party Obsidian plugins may not carry over, since those are particular to Obsidian.
- Is NoteLace free like Obsidian?
- No. Obsidian is free for personal use; NoteLace is €5/month or €48/year with a 14-day card-free trial and no permanent free tier. After a trial or lapsed subscription you keep read access and Markdown export.
- Does NoteLace have a plugin ecosystem?
- Not a large third-party one like Obsidian’s. The trade-off is that common workflows are built in and maintained by us, so there’s less to install and nothing to fix after updates.
- Is there a mobile app?
- A mobile companion is in development. Today NoteLace is a desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Keep exploring
Try the built-in approach for yourself.
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