Obsidian alternative
ForkLeaf vs Obsidian
Both keep your notes as Markdown files you own. Obsidian keeps them in a folder on each device and sells sync as an add-on; ForkLeaf keeps them in a GitHub repository, so sync, history and publishing come from git — free, and in any browser.
Side by side
| Question | ForkLeaf | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Where a note ends up | A .md file in a GitHub repository you own | A .md file in a folder on that device |
| Format | Markdown — readable in any editor, for ever | Markdown |
| History | Every save is a git commit — diffs, blame, revert | Nothing built in; a plugin or git of your own |
| Sync | git push, to a repository you already pay nothing for | A paid add-on, or a folder-sync tool you wire up |
| Offline | Fully — edits queue locally and push when you reconnect | Yes — it is a local app |
| Diagrams | A Mermaid studio; the diagram renders on GitHub as well | Mermaid, plus plugins |
| Collaboration | Pull requests and review — proposed, discussed, then merged | A paid add-on, or none |
| If the company disappears | Nothing happens. The notes were never here | You still have your folder — same answer, and a good one |
| Price | Free, open source, and no account to close | Free for personal use; sync and publish cost extra |
Choose Obsidian if…
- You rely on a specific community plugin — Obsidian's plugin ecosystem is far larger than anything else in this space.
- You want a native desktop app that never touches a network, and you are happy to sync folders yourself or pay for Sync.
- Your vault holds files you would rather never put in any git repository, private or not.
Choose ForkLeaf if…
- You want sync between devices without paying for it or wiring up a folder-sync tool — a private GitHub repository does it.
- You want real version history: every save is a commit you can diff, blame and revert, not a snapshot with a retention window.
- You want to open your notes on a machine you cannot install software on — ForkLeaf is a web app that also installs as one.
- You want to publish some notes as a site; GitHub Pages does that from the same repository.
- Your notes belong beside code, reviewed in pull requests like everything else your team writes.
Moving from Obsidian
- Open ForkLeaf and sign in with GitHub, then create or connect the repository your notes will live in.
- ⌘K → Import notes from Obsidian or Notion, choose Obsidian vault, and pick the vault folder.
- Folders and front matter come across as they are; ![[picture.png]] embeds become ordinary images and .obsidian and .trash are left behind.
- Your [[wikilinks]] keep working — it is the dialect ForkLeaf speaks natively — and the files still open in Obsidian afterwards.
Nothing is locked in on the way in, either: your notes stay plain Markdown in your own repository, so changing your mind later means opening the same folder in something else.
Questions
Is ForkLeaf a free alternative to Obsidian Sync?
Yes. ForkLeaf syncs through a GitHub repository you own, and private repositories are free on GitHub. Every save is a git commit, so you also get full version history at no cost. ForkLeaf itself is free and open source with no paid tier.
Can I keep using Obsidian and ForkLeaf on the same notes?
Yes. Both read and write plain Markdown with [[wikilinks]] and YAML front matter, so a repository ForkLeaf writes to can also be opened as an Obsidian vault. Boards are saved as JSON Canvas, the open format Obsidian uses, so they open in both.
Does ForkLeaf support Obsidian plugins?
No. ForkLeaf is a different application, not an Obsidian client. Many things people install plugins for — backlinks, graph view, Mermaid diagrams, to-dos, flashcards, git history — are built in.
Is ForkLeaf open source? Obsidian is not.
ForkLeaf is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence, and the code is on GitHub. Your notes are never stored on ForkLeaf's servers — they are files in your own repository.