Obsidian is built for researchers and writers, with a focus on markdown and backlinks. Tana targets power users and researchers and leads with supertags and ai-commands.

On pricing, Obsidian is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $4/mo compared to $12/mo for Tana. That $8/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.

Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.

Obsidian edges out on user ratings (4.7 vs 4.3). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.

Both tools are a solid fit for researchers, knowledge workers — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.

Bottom line: Obsidian has a slight overall edge — but if supertags create structured data effortlessly matters most to you, Tana may still be the right call.