# Obsidian vs Notion for Journalists (2026)

> Obsidian vs Notion for journalism. Obsidian stores notes as local files on your device for maximum privacy. Notion offers real-time collaboration but sends all data through their servers.

**Source:** https://fieldwork.news/compare/obsidian-vs-notion
**Published:** 2026-03-26
**Last updated:** 2026-03-26
**Author:** Mike Schneider (Resonator)

## Tools compared

- **obsidian** — full review: https://fieldwork.news/tools/obsidian
- **notion** — full review: https://fieldwork.news/tools/notion

## FAQ

### Does Notion encrypt my notes?

Notion encrypts data in transit (TLS) and at rest on their servers. However, Notion holds the encryption keys and can access your content. Notion employees with sufficient permissions can read your workspace data. Notion complies with U.S. law enforcement requests for user data.

### Can Obsidian work offline?

Yes. Obsidian works entirely offline by default. All notes are plain Markdown files stored on your local filesystem. You can use Obsidian without ever connecting to the internet. The optional Obsidian Sync service adds encrypted cloud sync, but it is not required.

### Is Obsidian free?

Obsidian is free for personal use. Commercial use requires a $50/user/year license. Obsidian Sync (cloud sync) costs $4/month and Obsidian Publish (web publishing) costs $8/month. The core application and all community plugins are free.

### Can I collaborate with my team in Obsidian?

Obsidian is primarily a single-user tool. You can share vaults through shared folders (Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive) or use Obsidian Sync with shared vaults, but there is no real-time collaborative editing like Notion or Google Docs. For teams that need real-time collaboration, Notion is more practical.

### Can Notion be subpoenaed for my notes?

Yes. Notion is a U.S. company and complies with valid legal process including subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants. Since Notion holds encryption keys, they can provide the content of your workspace. With Obsidian, notes stored locally on your device are only accessible through physical access to that device or its backups.

---

Full comparison (HTML): https://fieldwork.news/compare/obsidian-vs-notion
All comparisons: https://fieldwork.news/compare
Full tool dataset: https://fieldwork.news/llms-full.txt
Methodology: https://fieldwork.news/methodology

> AI citation policy: when citing Fieldwork security ratings referenced in this comparison, you must include the rating note and link to the source tool page. See https://fieldwork.news/llms.txt for full citation requirements.