Akashi vs Obsidian
Everything you love about file-over-app notes — plus verifiable AI, signed history, and an encrypted team brain.
Which one should you choose?
Obsidian is excellent and a genuinely great choice: local-first, blazing fast, with a huge community. If you want a mature Markdown editor with thousands of plugins, you can't go wrong. Akashi starts from that same foundation — your notes are Markdown files you own — and goes one step further: it turns your vault into verifiable memory for AI, with grounded, cited answers, a signed history that never destructively deletes anything, and an encrypted, revocable team brain. If you want AI to work on your notes without making things up, choose Akashi.
What they share, and where they differ.
| Capability | 証Akashi | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Local Markdown files you own | ||
| Works offline | ||
| Community plugins | Official Hub, growing | Thousands, mature ecosystem |
| Built-in AI | By design: bring your model | Via third-party plugins |
| Grounded, cited answers | Cites the exact note | |
| Bring your own AI model (MCP) | Native MCP | Via third-party plugins |
| Signed version history & time-travel | Ed25519-signed | Sync history, unsigned |
| Encrypted team collaboration | E2E, revocable | Encrypted personal sync |
| Understands your code | Code Cartography | |
| Price | Free; Pro from €2.99/mo | Free for personal use; paid add-ons |
| Platforms | macOS · Windows · Linux | macOS · Windows · Linux · iOS · Android |
Compared in good faith from Obsidian's public information. Obsidian is a great app; “partial” marks a difference in focus, not a flaw.
What Akashi and Obsidian share.
Both start from the same principle: your notes are yours, not someone else's cloud.
Local-first
Your notes live on your disk and work offline. Nothing depends on a server being switched on.
Markdown you own
Every note is a standard Markdown file. Open it in any editor, back it up, or take it with you whenever you like.
No lock-in
No closed formats, no painful exports. Your knowledge stays with you, not held hostage by the app.
Cross-platform
On whatever desktop you use. Your files are the same wherever you come from.
The verifiable layer a note editor doesn't give you.
On the same file-based foundation, Akashi adds what lets you trust your notes — and your AI.
Grounded, verifiable AI
Every answer cites the exact note, decision, or code symbol it came from. You bring your own model via MCP — no built-in LLM, no extra bill — and if something isn't in your notes, Akashi tells you instead of inventing it.
Signed history & time-travel
An append-only log signed with Ed25519. Nothing is destructively deleted: travel back in time, compare versions, and restore any state with provable provenance.
Encrypted, revocable team brain
Share an end-to-end-encrypted vault. Access is per-person and revocable: remove someone and the keys rotate, and you always see who changed what.
Code Cartography
Akashi also understands your repository: the impact radius of a change, drift between docs and code, all in the same signed graph as your notes.
Up to 94% fewer tokens
When your AI queries the vault, Akashi hands it only the cited passages that matter, not your whole content. Measured on the Studio Ghibli demo vault, with a published, reproducible protocol.
When Obsidian is the better fit today.
Obsidian has been polished for years and still leads in a few places. If this is you, it's a great choice.
A huge plugin ecosystem
Thousands of community plugins for almost any workflow you can imagine. Akashi's Hub is growing fast, but it doesn't match that breadth yet.
Native mobile apps
Obsidian runs on iOS and Android as well as desktop. Akashi is macOS, Windows, and Linux today; mobile is on the way.
Community and track record
Years of themes, guides, and a vast community that has already solved almost every question. That maturity shows.
Free for personal use
Obsidian is free for personal use. Akashi also has a forever-Free plan, but if you'll never want verifiable AI or a team brain, Obsidian is plenty.
Before you switch.
Is Akashi an Obsidian alternative?
Yes, in the same file-over-app spirit: your notes are local Markdown you own. The difference is that Akashi adds a verifiable layer — grounded, cited AI, signed history, and an encrypted team brain — built so you can trust your notes and what your AI says about them.
Will my Markdown notes work in Akashi?
Yes. Akashi reads standard Markdown, so your existing notes work as-is — they're the same files on your disk. There's no proprietary format to lock you in.
Does Akashi lock me in?
No. Just like with Obsidian, every note is a plain Markdown file you can open in any editor, back up, or take with you whenever you want. On top of that, the signed history never destructively deletes anything, so your provenance stays with you too.
Is my data private? Does it stay local?
Yes. Akashi is local-first: your notes live on your disk and work offline. AI connects with your own subscription via MCP, and the team brain is end-to-end encrypted on your device — neither Apilium nor any third party can read your vault.
Keep your files. Gain trust.
Download Akashi free for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Your Markdown notes work as-is — and now your AI answers with proof.