Notion vs Obsidian // Databases vs Dataview

Notion and Obsidian are similar in many ways, but they have a fundamental difference in philosophy and the way they structure notes. In this video, I talk about structure as well as Notion databases vs. Obsidian's Dataview plugin, and tell you why I ultimately ended up with Obsidian.

// TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro
0:47 Structure of Notion vs. Obsidian
05:07 Databases in Notion
07:00 Dataview (Obsidian plugin)
10:03 Choosing which one is better for you

// ABOUT ME

// APPS I USE

// GEAR

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[deeplearnit]

I switched from Notion to Obsidian recently. With Obsidian, I spend less time creating the perfect system and can really focus on the content of my notes. Still, the Notion databases are a great way to organise our work and the Obsidian Dataview plugin looks very interesting, thanks for sharing!

[GrosPointRouge]

As a PhD student I prefer Notion because of the ability to embed anything and the multiple integrations with other plateforms (GitHub, overleaf, slack, etc). It took me a week to build my perfect PhD page but it was totally worth it. Inside that page I also have a mind map/ “brain” view of my literature review since I embedded my Litmaps profile. In addition, collaborating with my supervisors is extremely easy via my notion page.

[cabinjackalope]

This was really interesting to me because when you were explaining I totally thought "oh, Obsidian seems like a better option, " but when I actually sat down and compared, I found that Notion made a lot more sense for me and my note-taking style. :) Plus I love the cute customization options that (for the time being) Notion just has more of. Just shows how everyone's brain works differently! Thanks for the neat and comprehensive video. Now if only Notion had a thought-web

[hugocast]

You have a gift to explain things in a very simple and relatable way. Thank you for this amazing video 🙏

[superjuliracing]

when you started creating custom “variables” and sorting the data automatically, I was sold a thousand times over. this honestly seems more flexible than Notion? in the way it can be modified on the fly, seemingly disparate data can be connected over time, etc. way too cool!

[demirmahir]

Nicole, thanks for all the Obsidian videos you have made. I watched and re-watched many of them and they really helped me get to know the program well and develop my own workflow. I have your Obsidian playlist bookmarked :)

Your content is spot on, the videos are very well thought trough, shot and presented. The delivery is very natural and relatable. I like that your videos don't have all that PKM and productivity ideology included. I feel many of the YouTube creators dealing with Obsidian are obsessed with it and it's really irritating when I hear another Zettelkasten mention. You deal with the practical side of productivity.

Halfway trough this video I thought of writing a comment that maybe a blog post dealing with the dataview practicalities would be nice, but you already thought of that and are making videos about it. Can't wait :)
Thanks again and keep up the good work.

[smoocher]

This is an outstanding video for comparing Notion with Obsidian + Dataview. Thank you for creating and uploading this. I switched to Obsidian several months ago and would have loved to have found a video like this. I learned by poking around and experimenting, which in itself is helpful, but you do a great job showing how the two systems compare which will undoubtedly help people decide which of the two great services is best for them.

[mattural]

Can’t wait for your Dataview deep dive! Your explanations are clear as a bell, which is much appreciated even to this dev.

[andreasw]

I like the way you’re presenting!
After discovering obsidian your videos were very helpful and motivated me to just start using it. I love it and can’t imagine how I managed things without it before. It was a mess of notes over different tools

[BIMvoice]

This is exactly the same way I feel about Notion since the first day I used it, but I just could not define it: you always feel that something is missing, and that your system is not good enough, and you allways try to make it better. The long story short, instead of focusing on what you must do, you waste so much time learning about the system and the software itself. I'm sad I did not discover this earlier, but at the same time I am happy I discovered it now, and I will use it from now on! Great videos about Obsidian, thank you very much for your efforts, you are doing an amazing job!

[graydhd]

As a dreadfully scatter brained creative type, Obsidian seems perfect as a tool to help me string my many interests together in a way that's free flowing like I am. This vid made it crystal what the best option is for the way I think and process information. Thanks so much for sharing this perspective!

[jenellecarter]

As a long-time Notion user, I've been itching to get a better system for quick notes and the more free-flowing thoughts and ideas that I have, and trying to figure out how Notion and Obsidian would fit into that. I wasn't wanting a comparison of features, just a better idea of how I should approach knowledge management between the two systems, so this video was exactly what I was looking for - thank you! I will add that Notion's relational database features work well to structure and link ideas after the fact, as in your "everything I did in 2021" example. This is very much possible, but can be cumbersome and frustrating, which is why I've been looking more into Obsidian.
Thanks for your helpful comparison and insights! I really appreciated your approach to this topic. Well done :)

[iottuip]

Thank you so much for such great, vivid and substantial comparison.

[GoodMorningButch]

Love the explanation and how clearly you present the different functionalities and the logic behind them! As it happens, this only makes me happier to be using Notion, I feel uncomfortable when my notes lack structure personally, I like to know where to find things and for them to stay put lol

[GoMiashPrivate]

I really like that your videos are short but chock-full of great info. I am learning a lot, thanks Nicole! When I was trying to learn Notion, it occurred to me that instead of just using the tool, I have to design a data model, tables (databases, relationships), and an application. What I wanted to do was just to store and organize my notes, not design my own app. So I turned to other tools and found (and really liking) Obsidian.

[tomasanthony]

You continue to deliver super content on PKM. I love the way you think and analyze things. Thank you so much for sharing your insights - they are great and reflect exactly my thinking too! It is rare in this time of the Attention Economy to find someone like you who delivers so much in such a short period - via YouTube!

[artofworkflow]

You put a lot of care and thought into your videos, and it really shows - thank you! Trying to wrap my head around dataview 😵 This is a helpful step 🙏 Thank you, Nicole!

[acrossover]

thanks for this short but deep, insightful explanation of differences between those 2 tools. the best comparison I have ever seen and saves me a lot of time from further reviewing other comparison videos. thank you again.

[AcidDynamics]

I'm glad I've found this channel. Incredible insight! Thank you for this.

[concretecw]

Great little toe dip into Dataview. I’ve used notion for a couple years and switched to obsidian in Jan 22. I’m fairly technical and that’s helped a lot. Obsidian tbh has been harder to wrap my head around than notion as it’s far more open in terms of flexibility. Notion is great for building a system for beginners as it’s limitations can help decision making, however like you allude to it sucks when you want to add unplanned functionality. Obsidian, as scared as a blank page can initially be, is light years ahead of Notion purely because you really can build any system in it. I’m excited about it’s potential and the fact that my data is my data makes it all the sweeter. Thanks for your vids, they will help build our community and open data movement