Obsidian vs. Roam: Which PKM App is Right For You? – The Sweet Setup

Deep dive comparison between Roam Research (valuation: $200m) & Obsidian (Product Hunt Golden Kitty award, Productivity category). Criteria used & results:

• User Interface (Roam Research, only because Obsidian's learning curve is steeper)
• Graph View (Obsidian by far)
• Backlinks (Roam Research: better placement of mentions, better block mgt)
• Sidebar (Obsidian's provides more power & flexibility)
• Block Embeds/References (Roam Research by far)
• Markdown Support (Obsidian by far - Roam doesn't respect Markdown standards, inexplicably)
• Search/Query (Roam Research by far)
• Daily Notes (Roam Research - it's central, and supports task mgt better)
• Tasks (Roam: "not as nice as a dedicated task management app ... but if you have only basic task management needs or want to link your tasks to the documents you’re working on, Roam is a decent option")
• Expandability (Obsidian)
• Theming (Obsidian)
• Data Portability (Obsidian, although "There’s no reason to think you won’t be able to get your notes out of Roam if you decide to switch")
• Publishing (Obsidian: possible to share specific notes via a dedicated site for $96/y)
• Data Security (Obsidian, although note synching to access notes from multiple devices costs $48/y)
• Mobile Experience (Obsidian, although Sync may be needed)
• Pricing (Obsidian: free for personal use)