Comparison
Dumpling vs Obsidian
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Obsidian earned its following honestly. Your notes are plain markdown files in a folder you control, the app is free, the graph made linked note-taking mainstream, and a huge plugin ecosystem lets you build almost anything on top. On data ownership, nothing hosted — Dumpling included — matches files sitting on your own disk.
The trade Obsidian asks for is assembly. Linking is manual, one [[bracket]] at a time, and tasks, calendars, and contacts arrive via plugins you choose, configure, and maintain. Dumpling takes the opposite bet: tasks, notes, calendar, people, goals, and habits are first-class parts of one app, and the connections between them are found for you — keyword and semantic matching across eight entity types, no brackets, no tagging.
Side by side
| Feature | Dumpling | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Connections | Automatic — keyword + semantic matching across 8 entity types | Manual [[backlinks]] you write, plus a graph view of them |
| Notes | Rich block editor: callouts, code blocks, version history, daily notes | Markdown at its best — deep, fast, endlessly extensible |
| Tasks | Built in: priorities, subtasks, recurrence, kanban, natural-language quick add | Via community plugins, not the core app |
| Calendar | Two-way Google Calendar sync built in | Via plugins |
| AI | Built-in agentic assistant with persistent memory and per-data-type visibility toggles; MCP server for outside AI tools | None built in; available through plugins |
| Data ownership | Hosted; everything exportable anytime, and lapsed accounts keep read-only access — nothing held hostage | Local files on your disk — the strongest ownership there is |
| Sync | Included, offline-first, across all your devices | A paid add-on, or arranged yourself |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android — native performance, no web app, no Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Pricing | Free plan (50 active tasks, 10 notes, 5 projects, 2 areas); Pro $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr | The app is free; sync and publishing are paid add-ons |
| Config burden | Zero — the structure ships with the app | You assemble your system from plugins; many people enjoy exactly this |
Choose Obsidian if…
- Local-first plain files are non-negotiable. Dumpling is hosted; Obsidian is files on your disk.
- You're on Linux, or you refuse to depend on anyone's server.
- You like tinkering — picking plugins and shaping your own system is part of the appeal.
- Notes are the center of your life and tasks are an afterthought.
Choose Dumpling if…
- You want tasks, calendar, and people as first-class citizens, not plugins.
- You'd rather links found themselves than write [[brackets]] all day.
- You want an AI that can act on your data — with you deciding exactly what it sees.
- You want sync that just comes with the app, working offline-first.
The honest bottom line
This one comes down to a philosophical question more than a feature list: do you want to own the machine, or do you want the machine to run itself? Obsidian gives you the parts and total ownership; what you build is yours in the fullest sense there is. Dumpling asks you to trust a hosted service in exchange for structure that's already there and links that make themselves — and tries to earn that trust concretely: export everything anytime, and if you stop paying, your data stays visible read-only rather than locked away. If your Obsidian vault is mostly task lists and meeting notes about people, Dumpling may fit better than the plugins do. If your vault is a decade of thinking in plain text, stay put.
Dumpling is in beta. Free to join, and your data is exportable at every moment.
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