Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian

Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by andix on Monday May 18, 2026 @01:08PM (#48182367)

Because then someone might fork it into a new product with their own sync service.

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by kepano on Monday May 18, 2026 @04:02PM (#48184794)

Obsidian has an entire plugin category for syncing, and recommended alternatives to the official Sync service.

https://community.obsidian.md/search?type=plugin&categories=...

https://obsidian.md/help/sync-notes

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by andix on Monday May 18, 2026 @04:27PM (#48185130)

True, and it's great that they don't block those (they absolutely could).

But those are plugins and aren't as easy to use as the integrated sync. Obsidian wants to have their sync to be the easiest to use, and the easiest to discover.

If they went FOSS anyone could just create a rebranded fork that includes their sync instead of Obsidian's sync. Even GPL wouldn't stop that, if the competitor would just keeps their product open source too.

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by Apocryphon on Monday May 18, 2026 @06:31PM (#48186704)

You're replying to the CEO of Obsidian btw ;P

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48088576

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by andix on Monday May 18, 2026 @06:43PM (#48186829)

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by vovavili on Monday May 18, 2026 @05:41PM (#48186094)

As an Obsidian LiveSync user, there is no way I would recommend using it or other third-party alternatives to my non-technical friends. The initial setup and fly.io setup was worth me saving ~50 Euro/year, but I doubt that holds for my less technically inclined peers.

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by wholinator2 on Monday May 18, 2026 @01:14PM (#48182450)

This is definitely it. I set it up myself with git private repos because my more-work to more-cost balance weighs heavily towards more-work. It would be trivial to fork it, set up some sync backend, and charge $4 a month to undercut them.

And honestly, they've been very good stewards of the project thus far, I'm happy with the status quo.

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by yogorenapan on Monday May 18, 2026 @01:33PM (#48182689)

And I remember that did happen at one point: https://github.com/acheong08/obi-sync

The mechanism that allowed that was patched as a vulnerability

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Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by fwn on Monday May 18, 2026 @02:43PM (#48183743)

I doubt that. There are competing sync extensions in their extension store. If you do not want to use extensions, you can sync the vault folder with any syncing app for free.

The whole data structure is designed to make this easy.

I chose Syncthing for this purpose, and it is free and works flawlessly. You can even trivially disable their native sync, as it comes as an internal extension.

Mozilla could have avoided so much drama with Pocket, VPN, AI features, etc., if they just were as transparent and liberal with critical first-party services as Obsidian is.

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