# InkSpine vs Obsidian Obsidian and InkSpine both keep your writing in plain files. See how they differ on export, worldbuilding, plot structure and history. - - Published 18 September 2026 - Updated 30 October 2026 ## 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 | | 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](https://inkspine.app/obsidian-for-novel-writing). 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.