Iliad vs Obsidian: a knowledge base and a writing desk

Iliad wrote this. We make Iliad, so read our claims about it with that in mind. Every claim about Obsidian below comes from Obsidian's own pages, linked at the end, and was checked on October 14, 2026.

Obsidian and Iliad agree on the thing that matters most: your writing is a folder of plain .md files on your own disk. After that they aim at different jobs. Obsidian is a knowledge base. It links hundreds of notes together, runs on every platform and can be shaped into almost anything with plugins. Iliad is a writing desk. It shows one document at a time, offers AI only when you ask, and shows you exactly what an agent such as Claude Code changed in your draft.

In short. Choose Obsidian if you are building a connected library of notes, need mobile apps or want to customize everything. Choose Iliad if you are writing a piece of prose on a Mac and want AI help and agent edits you can review one change at a time. Because both use the same plain files, you can keep your Obsidian vault and open the folder you are writing in with Iliad.

At a glance #

Where Obsidian is the better choice #

It runs everywhere, including your phone. Obsidian has apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, and an optional end-to-end encrypted Sync service. Iliad is a Mac app only, with no mobile version.

It is a knowledge base, and a very good one. Wikilinks, backlinks, the graph, Canvas and Bases (database-like views of your notes) are what Obsidian is for. Iliad has none of these. If your work depends on connecting ideas across hundreds of notes, Obsidian is the tool.

Plugins can make it anything. Obsidian's community plugins add AI chat (such as Copilot for Obsidian), semantic search (Smart Connections), threaded comments and much more. Iliad has no plugin system and does fewer things.

It is free, even for work. Since February 2025 Obsidian no longer requires a commercial license; the $50 license is now a voluntary way to support the company. You pay only for Sync or Publish if you want them.

Where Iliad is different #

One document, no setup. Reviewers often mention the hours it can take to configure Obsidian. Iliad has almost nothing to configure. You open a folder and write. That is a narrower tool, on purpose.

AI that waits to be asked. Obsidian has no built-in AI; you add a plugin and your own key. Iliad's AI is built in, free with a daily limit or on your own Groq key, and it only acts when you press a key or pick an ✦ AI action on a selection. Every result appears in place for you to accept or reject.

You review what your agent changed. Obsidian's team has embraced agents: version 1.12 added an official command-line tool, and its CEO publishes skills that teach Claude Code and Codex to work with a vault. When a file changes on disk while it is open, though, Obsidian merges the change into the note automatically and shows a notice, with no step where you approve each edit; its forum has reports of text lost this way. Iliad is built around that step. Each change an agent makes appears in the page, old text above new, and you keep or restore it. A restore never overwrites work you did since.

Comments you and your agent share. In Iliad you comment on passages, and the comments live in a plain Markdown file next to the document, where an agent can read and act on them. An agent can also leave its own comments, marked ✦, when you ask for feedback rather than edits, and you read them in the margin beside your text. Obsidian's native comments are hidden %% text in the note itself; threaded comments need a plugin.

Who should choose which #

Choose Obsidian if you want one place for all your notes and ideas, need Windows, Linux or a phone, or enjoy shaping your tools with plugins.

Choose Iliad if you are writing something to be read (an essay, a chapter, a report) on a Mac and want AI and agents to help without taking over: you decide on every change.

Using both #

This is not an either-or. Your vault is a folder of Markdown files, and Iliad opens folders of Markdown files. Many writers keep notes in Obsidian and draft the piece itself in Iliad, in the same folder or a separate one. Iliad does not use Obsidian's configuration and does not touch hidden folders such as .obsidian. One thing to check first: Iliad does not support every Obsidian-only Markdown extension, so a note full of wikilinks or callouts will look plainer in Iliad than in Obsidian.

Sources #