Comparison

Confluence vs Obsidian

No clear leader: Confluence (72.2) and Obsidian (70.5) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Confluence72
Obsidian71
Score
vioscaleAI score
Confluence72 / 100medium · 53%
Obsidian71 / 100medium · 53%
Pricing
Free tier
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Model
Confluencefreemium
Obsidianfreemium
Price level
Confluencelow
Obsidianlow
Transparent
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Integrations
Count
Confluence7
Obsidian20
Security
Disclosure policy
Confluence✓
Obsidian–
Fedramp
Confluence✓
Obsidian–
Gdpr
Confluence✓
Obsidian–
Trust center
Reliability
Sla pct
Confluence99.9
Obsidian–
Status page
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Market
Content
Faq
Confluence6 items
Obsidian6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for knowledge base software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Collaboration
Real-time co-editing
Confluence✓
Obsidian✗
Content
Structured database / table blocks
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Bidirectional links / backlinks
Confluence-
Obsidian✓
Markdown-native
Confluence-
Obsidian✓
Version history
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Storage
Local-first / offline files
Confluence-
Obsidian✓
AI
AI writing / Q&A over content
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Publishing
Publish pages to the web
Confluence-
Obsidian✓
Access
Permissions granularity
Confluence-
ObsidianWorkspace
Knowledge
Answer verification / expiry
Confluence-
Obsidian✗
Deployment
Hosting
ConfluenceCloud only
ObsidianCloud + self-hosted
Enterprise
SSO / SCIM
Confluence✓
Obsidian✗
Extensibility
Public API
Confluence-
Obsidian✓
Pricing
Free tier
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Confluence

A work management platform for tracking issues and planning across teams, featuring automated workflows triggered by AI agents, cross-functional planning tools, and integration with thousands of third-party applications.

Independently observed

Obsidian

Obsidian is a note-taking and knowledge management tool that stores data locally on your device by default, with optional end-to-end encrypted cloud synchronization. You can organize notes through bidirectional linking, customize the interface with plugins and themes, and publish content to the web.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Confluence

SubscriptionFree tier7-day trial

Free plan available; Standard, Premium, and Enterprise paid plans with 7-day trial

  • FreeFree
  • Standard-
  • Premium-
  • EnterpriseContact sales
as of verify ↗

Obsidian

from $4/moHybridFree tier

Free app with optional Sync ($4-5/user/mo), Publish ($8-10/site/mo), Catalyst ($25 one-time), or Commercial ($50/user/year) licenses. 40% discount for students, faculty, and nonprofits.

  • FreeFree
    • Local note storage
    • Plugins and themes
    • Bidirectional linking
    • Graph visualization
    • Offline access
  • Sync$4/user/mo (annual) or $5/user/mo (monthly)
    • Sync across devices
    • End-to-end encryption
    • Version history
    • Collaborative vaults
    • Priority support
  • Publish$8/site/mo (annual) or $10/site/mo (monthly)
    • Publish to web
    • Customizable theme
    • Full-text search
    • Graph view
    • No coding required
    • +1 more
  • Catalyst$25 one-time
    • Early access to beta versions
    • Community badges
    • Exclusive channels
  • Commercial$50/user/year
    • Support development
    • Featured organization badge
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
iOS
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Android
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
macOS
Confluence✗
Obsidian✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Self-hosted
Confluence✓
Obsidian✓
Hybrid
Confluence✗
Obsidian✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Confluence

8 total
  • Slack
  • Jira
  • Trello
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Bitbucket
  • Figma
  • Loom
  • Confluence
Independently observed

Obsidian

22 total
  • Apple Notes
  • Notion
  • Evernote
  • Roam Research
  • Google Keep
  • OneNote
  • Airtable
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Firefox
  • Edge
  • Brave
  • Arc
  • Orion
  • Vivaldi
  • Stripe
  • WeChat
  • Alipay
  • PayPal
  • Discord
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Confluence or Obsidian: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.