Milanote
Milanote is a versatile visual writing and organization tool that helps you arrange your ideas and projects into beautiful, flexible boards to streamline your entire creative process.
Obsidian
Obsidian is a powerful private knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files to help you build a personal digital garden.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Milanote | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Website | milanote.com | obsidian.md |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting Price | Free | Free |
| FREE Trial | ✘ No free trial | ✓ 14 days free trial |
| Free Plan | ✓ Has free plan | ✓ Has free plan |
| Product Demo | ✘ No product demo | ✘ No product demo |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2016 | 2020 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia | Toronto, Canada |
Overview
Milanote
Milanote is a visual workspace designed to help you organize your creative projects. Instead of linear documents or rigid grids, you get an infinite canvas where you can drag and drop notes, images, files, and links. You can build moodboards, mind maps, and project plans that look exactly how you think, making it easier to see the big picture of your work.
You can use it for everything from brainstorming initial ideas to managing complex production schedules with your team. It feels like a digital whiteboard but with the power of a task manager, allowing you to assign to-do lists and set deadlines directly on your boards. Whether you are a solo designer or part of a large creative agency, it adapts to your specific workflow.
Obsidian
Obsidian is a flexible note-taking and knowledge management application that lives on your local device rather than in the cloud. You can create a complex web of interconnected ideas using plain text Markdown files, ensuring your data remains portable and future-proof. Because it stores everything locally, you maintain full ownership of your information and can access your notes even without an internet connection.
You can transform your notes into a visual knowledge graph to see how different concepts relate to one another. The software adapts to your specific needs through a massive library of community plugins and themes, allowing you to build anything from a simple daily journal to a comprehensive research database. It is free for personal use, making it an accessible starting point for students, researchers, and knowledge workers.
Overview
Milanote Features
- Visual Boards Arrange notes, images, and files on an infinite canvas to create moodboards and project plans that match your vision.
- Drag-and-Drop Interface Move any element around your workspace instantly to organize your ideas without clicking through complex menus or settings.
- Task Management Add checklists and to-do items directly to your visual boards so you can track progress alongside your creative assets.
- Real-time Collaboration Work with your team on the same board simultaneously to brainstorm ideas and share instant feedback on designs.
- Web Clipper Save inspiration from any website with a single click and drop it directly onto your boards for later use.
- Mobile Syncing Capture ideas or photos on your phone and see them appear instantly on your desktop boards for seamless editing.
Obsidian Features
- Backlinks and Outgoing Links. Create a web of knowledge by linking notes together and seeing exactly which pages reference your current thought.
- Graph View. Visualize your entire knowledge base in an interactive map to identify clusters of related ideas and hidden connections.
- Canvas. Organize your ideas visually on an infinite whiteboard where you can lay out notes, images, and PDF documents.
- Local-First Storage. Keep your data private and secure by storing all your notes as plain text files directly on your hard drive.
- Community Plugins. Extend your workspace with over 1,000 community-made plugins that add calendars, task boards, and advanced formatting tools.
- Markdown Support. Write in a standardized format that ensures you can open and read your notes in any text editor forever.
Pricing Comparison
Milanote Pricing
- 100 notes, images or links
- 10 file uploads
- Unlimited shared boards
- Full feature access
- No time limit
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Unlimited notes, images and links
- Unlimited file uploads
- Search your entire workspace
- Priority support
Obsidian Pricing
- 100% free for personal use
- No account or registration required
- Full access to plugins and API
- Community support access
- Local file storage
- Everything in Personal, plus:
- Commercial use license
- Priority support access
- Required for work-related use
- Annual billing only
Pros & Cons
Milanote
Pros
- Extremely intuitive drag-and-drop interface for non-technical users
- Excellent for visual brainstorming and creating moodboards
- Flexible canvas allows for non-linear project organization
- Generous free version with no expiration date
Cons
- Limited offline functionality for desktop users
- Mobile app is better for capturing than organizing
- Lacks advanced automation found in traditional PM tools
Obsidian
Pros
- Complete ownership of your data via local files
- Extremely fast performance even with thousands of notes
- Highly customizable through themes and community plugins
- Free for personal use with no feature gates
- Strong privacy as data stays off third-party servers
Cons
- Steep learning curve for non-technical users
- Mobile sync requires a paid subscription or workaround
- No built-in collaboration features for teams
- Requires manual backup management for your files