Comparisons
Integrity vs Obsidian: a shared workspace or a local vault?
Choose around how you keep your knowledge, work with others, and use AI.
· 3 min read
Start with where you want the work to live. Integrity is a shared workspace for documents, canvases, structured work, and AI. Obsidian centers on a personal collection of local Markdown files that you can shape around your own habits.
Neither starting point is inherently better. A researcher’s private reading system and a team’s shared launch project can need different tools. We make Integrity; this guide explains the tradeoffs from that perspective. Official competitor sources were checked on September 26, 2026.
If local files are the foundation
Obsidian stores notes as Markdown files in a local vault. That makes the files themselves central to the workflow, including access through other compatible tools. Its core application is free; Sync and Publish are optional paid services. Sources: Obsidian, pricing.
If maintaining your own folder of Markdown is the requirement, start there. Integrity’s workspace export gives you portable Markdown, but an export is a snapshot. It is not a continuously synchronized local vault or a full-fidelity backup of every workspace feature.
Workshop notes.md
Reading list.md
Open questions.md
Workshop project
- Brief and references
- Tasks and decisions
- Team and AI
If the project belongs to a team
Try Integrity when people need to work on the same project, use documents and databases, and bring AI into that shared context. Every plan includes unlimited teammates. The limits are on workspace capacity and AI usage rather than seats.
For example, a launch brief can sit beside the task board while the team reviews work. Notes, meeting material, and references can stay connected to the project. This favors a shared working space over each person maintaining their own primary knowledge collection.
Obsidian also offers shared vaults through Sync, so “Obsidian has no collaboration” would be an unfair shortcut. Check its current shared-vault behavior and subscription requirements against the way your team edits. Source: Obsidian Sync.
Compare the shape of the work
Swipe the table to see all columns →
| Your priority | What to examine |
|---|---|
| A local Markdown collection | Obsidian’s vault and file workflow |
| Shared briefs, databases, and AI work | Integrity’s connected workspace |
| A highly personal setup | The effort and control involved in your chosen customization |
| Moving existing notes | A representative export/import test, including links and attachments |
These are starting points for a trial, not scores. A team can value the structure of a shared workspace while an individual keeps a separate private research vault.
Test AI against your own context
In Integrity, the assistant can work with workspace material and make edits using available tools. Mention a source and ask for a specific change rather than relying on an ambiguous conversation about “my notes.” AI work consumes the workspace’s shared credits.
If your Obsidian workflow includes AI through additional tools, evaluate those tools directly: where data goes, what they can read or change, and how they are billed. A customized setup can differ substantially from another person’s installation.
Bring a small, awkward sample
A migration test should include more than plain paragraphs. Choose nested notes, links between notes, a table, and attachments you care about.
Integrity imports Markdown from a ZIP into a new container. Check which material arrived, which links work, and what needs manual attention. Attachments and app-specific features should not be assumed to transfer. Exporting back to Markdown does not restore comments, history, permissions, or the exact original layout.
Keep the original vault while you evaluate. After a week of real work, ask two questions: can you find your own thinking, and can the people involved continue the project? The answers are more useful than declaring one product a replacement for every use of the other.
Try it with your next project.
Start free