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At a glance
Choose Obsidian if
- you write on iOS or Android as well as a computer
- you want a free app for personal or commercial use
Choose InkSpine if
- you want validated EPUB 3, DOCX and a proof PDF built in, with cover, metadata and front matter
Feature by feature
| Feature | Obsidian | InkSpine |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A general-purpose notes and knowledge app you shape into a writing setup | A writing app for books — chapters, worldbuilding and export are the app, not a configuration |
| Where your words live | Markdown files in a folder you own | Markdown and JSON files in a folder you own — the same idea, borrowed deliberately |
| Getting to a finished book | Built-in export is PDF; EPUB and DOCX mean a Pandoc plugin plus Pandoc itself, installed and kept working by you | Validated EPUB 3, DOCX and a proof PDF built in, with cover, metadata and front matter |
| Characters, locations, lore | Notes and [[wikilinks]] you type and keep tidy by hand | Structured entities with fields and relationships — and names written as ordinary prose link themselves, no markup needed |
| Plot structure | A graph of links between notes | Corkboard, plot overview and story arcs drawn over the real chapters, including how long a storyline has been silent |
| Draft history | File recovery snapshots, handled a whole file at a time | Automatic snapshots, with a word-level compare of any earlier version of a chapter beside your draft |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android | Windows, macOS and Linux. No mobile app. Mobile apps are on the roadmap. |
| Syncing between devices | Obsidian Sync, a paid add-on, or a cloud folder you set up yourself | No built-in sync. Cloud sync is on the roadmap. |
| What it costs | Free, for personal and commercial use alike | A free version that never caps your writing; the publishable files and unlimited worldbuilding are InkSpine Core, a one-time purchase, not a subscription |
The same folder of Markdown. With the book part built in.
Obsidian got the important thing right, and we copied it on purpose: your writing is plain files on your own disk, readable long after any app is gone. The difference is everything that sits on top. In Obsidian a novel is a setup you assemble from plugins and maintain yourself; in InkSpine the chapters, the worldbuilding, the plot structure and the validated EPUB are simply there.
A longer, fairer version of this comparison — including the parts where Obsidian wins — is in writing a novel in Obsidian, and where it stops.
If you enjoy building the tool as much as writing the book, stay in Obsidian — genuinely. If you'd rather it were already built, come and see.