Obsidian is too much for me, so I switched to this free alternative

Tushar Mehta / Android Authority I take a LOT of notes, and in pursuit of the most promising solution, I have tried note-taking apps such as Evernote and OneNote, dabbled with celebrated knowledge management systems like Notion, and even tried to wrap my head around the infinite possibilities of Obsidian. But the overwhelming number of entry fields in these apps has prevented me from relying on them consistently. Time and again, I have found myself returning to simpler remedies, such as Google Keep or Apple Notes, or even rudimentary options like jotting notes by hand. But the biggest issue with these has been the poor support for recall. That lack led me to find something that satisfies both requirements — ease of collecting my thoughts, as well as the ability to retrieve them at a moment’s notice. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered a simpler app that solves both of those issues. However, before I tell you more about it, let me first describe the app that led me to it, and that precursor was Obsidian. Have you tried Logseq? If so, what is your experience? 19 votes Yes, and I use it a lot 0 % Yes, and I use it with other apps like Notion or Obsidian 5 % Yes, but I didn't like it 11 % No, haven't heard of it 79 % Any other (tell us in the comments!) 5 % How Obsidian helped (and deterred) me Tushar Mehta / Android Authority I like to consider myself somewhat of a privacy enthusiast — even though I’m far from cutting Google out of my life completely. With apps like Notion and Evernote, I have always felt unease about letting a company store my data on the cloud, and so, I immediately jumped ship when I first learned about Obsidian. Even though Notion also offers 256-bit encryption for servers and TLS for data in transit, it doesn’t have the same appeal as an app that thinks of its users as a community. Meanwhile, Obsidian felt like the perfect app for me to ditch Notion. It was free, stored everything locally, and had the aura of an app made for developers, all of which immediately attracted me. Initially swayed by the idea, I diligently transferred my notes from various apps to Obsidian. However, when the novelty died, the expansiveness and flexibility also became my reason to despise it. See, Obsidian is an excellent app, and I still swear by its abilities, but it wasn’t the right app for me. I had a 'it's not you, it's me' situation with Obsidian. The biggest reason for this realization was the core functionality in Obsidian. It is a personal knowledge management (PKM) app built with a writing approach. Every new document is a new entity, and for it to make sense, I had to spend time mastering formatting and even more time interlinking pages, just to utilize advanced features like internal graphs. While I can’t deny that these features are incredibly impactful for boosting productivity, I had no practical use for them. I found myself in an unhealthy relationship with the app where I was trying to perfect my notes, but still feeling I could do more. It was exhausting! Until I stumbled upon the perfect alternative with fewer options and a much simpler interface. I found a love in Loqseq Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Standard Logseq note with indented bullets. This isn’t the typical “falling in love with a computer program” kind of trope, primarily because I didn’t fall for Loqseq immediately. “Not another Obsidian imposter!” I told myself — for obvious reasons. Logseq has the same attributes as Obsidian: it’s a free app that stores documents locally, promises complete control, and is built with a community in mind. The fact that it is also open source didn’t initially persuade me. However, as I began using the app, I found it creeping up on me, becoming central to my workflow. Not because it was attempting to be an Obsidian alternative, but because it wasn’t. What truly attracted me to Logseq was how effortless creating notes felt. The app offers much less friction compared to any notes apps (though a pen and paper setup still beats it!) and finally lets me focus on storing thoughts, without feeling like I might be dumping them into limbo. Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Logseq note with tags and links to other pages Contrary to Obsidian’s approach, where every new note is treated as a document, Logseq records notes as outlines. Every new line in a note is a new bullet point, as it is essentially treated as a separate entity. I can indent bullet points to establish a sense of hierarchy and establish relations, or also un-indent to restore a sub-point to its status. Logseq is identical to Obsidian in its ability to format text, since both use the same markdown formatting. I can use hashtags or double block brackets to add tags, which helps in creating relationships between different points, or use parentheses to tag a specific document. However, it’s not the fancy formatting — or the resulting feeling of being an imposter coder (which I’m admittedly not) — that makes me really enjoy it. Logseq makes thought-dumping fruitful Tushar Mehta / Android Authority As you would expect, taking quicker notes is a crucial part of Logseq’s identity. And this is largely facilitated by its daily Journal, which is the first screen that shows up when the app is opened. The space is divided into date-wise sections that allow me to store my thoughts, to-do lists, insights, epiphanies, fears, anxieties, and more in one place, much like an actual journal. If I want to add some sense of organization, I use tags, as mentioned above, to mention the names of projects, people, or places. It’s just effortless dumping altogether. But I don’t always feel like adding tags to the notes, or sometimes don’t have enough time to embellish them. With Logseq, I can let that be and trust its organization features to sort them for me when I need it. It’s just like talking to an assistant without having to deal with the fear that it might use your personal information to train an AI model. Logseq's journal mode allows effortless dumping and lets me focus away from perfecting notes. For me, the journaling mode has proven to be one of the quickest methods for saving information in a note, without including it within the note itself. I could join a meeting early in the morning, still waiting for caffeine to do its job, and jot broken notes without having to worry about formatting them properly or adding the correct tags in the moment. The same applies to webinars or product briefs, where I want to make use of time efficiently and only drop in with half of my attention on another simultaneous task. However, I would be lying if I said the Journal is my favorite Logseq trait — though it’s easily one of my many favorites about this app. Retrieving notes is easy, and organizing is quick Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Search results from all pages for the term "Health" sorted into a new document. While adding notes is easy, the real reason I stuck to Logseq is its ability to retrieve and organize my notes. Besides simply searching, Logseq automatically creates new documents that link to every bullet point in every document mentioning a specific keyword. If I were to search for everything I have ever stored related to “health,” all results could be automatically grouped and stored in a new document. Tags further complement this discovery, and each tag can also be transposed into a new document. While tags also enable visual interlinking with graphs, I feel Obsidian does that much better. Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Dated entries show up in Journal. Another way Logseq’s discovery features truly help me is by allowing me to enter dates. That not only comes in handy for tracking deadlines but also serves as reminders that automatically show up in the journal feed. And that’s a feature my forgetful, overwhelmed, and overstimulated self appreciates, especially for their lack of a nagging reminder. Combined, these features make for a task-tracking and knowledge-management tool that is fairly easy to use, all without the steep learning curve that apps like Notion or Obsidian typically come with. I haven’t ditched Obsidian entirely Nathan Drescher / Android Authority There’s even more to love about Logseq. It has a whiteboarding feature, Flashcards for learning, and it can ramp up workflows with plugin support. It’s a very powerful app. Furthermore, Logseq offers syncing notes across different devices. You can either choose a voluntary donation of at least $5 a month or configure your own solution through cloud syncing services such as Google Drive or OneDrive. That all said, I haven’t completely renounced Obsidian. It still holds a crucial spot in my workflow for longer notes and even longer narratives or clippings and highlights from online articles (through its Raindrop integration). But for smaller, more fragmented remarks, Logseq remains my first recommendation — until I accidentally stumble upon another better alternative. If you use Obsidian but are looking for an alternative, I highly recommend Logseq. Follow