Obsidian vs XWiki
Obsidian and XWiki are both personal productivity tools. Obsidian is aimed at freelancers and developers, while XWiki is aimed at enterprise and small businesses. Both have a free plan.
Local-first markdown knowledge base
Open-source enterprise wiki, self-hosted or cloud, now with MCP
| Pricing | Freemium · $5 | Open source |
| Starting price | $5/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 30 days |
| Built for | Freelancers, Developers, Creators | Enterprise, Small businesses, Developers |
| Platforms | macos, windows, linux, ios, android | web, linux |
| Country | CA · 2020 | FR · 2004 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Obsidian if
Individuals, researchers and writers who want ownership, longevity and deep customization.
- You own your files; works offline forever
- Free for personal and commercial use
- Unmatched extensibility through plugins
Look elsewhere if: Teams needing shared, collaborative documents or users who want a zero-setup tool.
Choose XWiki if
Organisations that want an open-source, self-hostable enterprise wiki with full data ownership and a supported path off Confluence.
- Fully open source, so self-hosting has no licence cost
- Data stays portable between cloud and self-hosted at any time
- Scales to millions of pages and very large user bases
Look elsewhere if: Small teams that want a polished, low-maintenance docs workspace with monthly billing (Notion, Outline).
Obsidian vs XWiki pricing
Obsidian
- Free$0Full app, personal and commercial use
- Sync$5/user/mo$4 billed annually; E2E encrypted sync
- Publish$10/site/mo$8 billed annually; publish notes to web
- Catalyst$25One-time supporter license, early access
- Commercial$50/user/yearOptional license for organizations
XWiki
- Open sourceFreeSelf-hosted XWiki under LGPL 2.1, community support
- Starter€773/yr25 users, XWiki Cloud only, portal support; 3-year term saves 20%
- Basic€1,486/yr25 users, cloud or on-prem, Pro Apps, LDAP/AD
- Business€2,318/yr25 users, SAML/OIDC, IP allowlist, Confluence migration toolkit
- Enterprise€33,990/yr500 users, SCIM, AI integration (beta), account manager
Obsidian · Key features
- Local Markdown files with bidirectional links and backlinks panel
- Graph view and Canvas for visual thinking
- Bases: database-style views over notes (2025)
- 2,000+ community plugins and themes
- End-to-end encrypted Sync and one-click Publish
- Daily notes, templates, search with operators, mobile apps
Cons
- No real-time collaboration
- Plugin quality varies; setup can rabbit-hole
- Sync and Publish are paid add-ons
XWiki · Key features
- Page hierarchies, templates, forms and structured data applications
- Real-time co-editing with comments and unlimited version history
- Search across pages, attachments and structured content
- 900+ extensions plus Pro Apps for draw.io diagrams and office editing
- Granular permissions with LDAP, Active Directory, SAML, OIDC and SCIM
- Confluence migrator with 150+ supported Confluence macros
Cons
- Interface and administration feel heavier than Notion or Outline
- Prices are in euros and billed yearly, with no monthly plan
- SSO via SAML or OIDC starts at the Business plan
Obsidian vs XWiki: FAQ
Do Obsidian and XWiki have a free plan?
Yes, both Obsidian and XWiki have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.
Which is better for small businesses, Obsidian or XWiki?
XWiki lists small businesses as a core audience, while Obsidian is aimed more at freelancers and developers.