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 by keyword and semantic matching across eight entity types, no brackets, no tagging.
Side by side
| Feature | Dumpling | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Connections | Automatic: keyword and 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, so nothing is 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 and macOS today, iOS, Android and web on the way; native performance, 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 start, and your data is exportable at every moment.
Download Dumpling