I really like Obsidian. Cozy borrows a lot from it: files on your computer, no accounts, no cloud lock-in. People sometimes ask me why I didn't use Obsidian instead of building Cozy. Obsidian is a notes app. I wanted a journal.
The short version
- What it's for. Obsidian is for organizing notes, research, and ideas. Cozy is for writing about your day.
- How much setup it asks of you. Obsidian rewards tinkering: folders, tags, links, plugins, themes. Cozy opens and you write.
- What's built in. Cozy has ambient sound, a map of where you wrote, mood tracking, and a calendar made for journaling. Obsidian doesn't, and isn't trying to.
- Both keep your files on your computer. That part is the same.
Different jobs
Obsidian is for connecting notes and growing a knowledge base over years. If you're a researcher or a writer working on a long project, it fits.
Cozy is for the quieter habit of writing about your day. Open it, see today, write a few sentences, close it. The point is to keep going.
How much it asks of you
Part of Obsidian's appeal is that you can shape it. You pick the folder structure, the tagging system, the plugins. Some people love that. I found it was a lot to think about when I just wanted to write something down before bed.
Cozy doesn't ask you to make those decisions. One folder. Each entry has a date, a mood, a location, and tags. Photos sit next to the entry they belong to.
What's built in
Cozy has the things a journal needs and a notes app doesn't: ambient sound to write to, a calendar made for daily entries, mood tracking, and a map of where you wrote. You could build some of this in Obsidian with plugins. With Cozy it's there.
Sync and pricing
Obsidian itself is free. Sync is a separate paid add-on: Obsidian Sync is $4 per month, billed annually ($48 a year). If you'd rather not pay for it, you can put your vault inside iCloud and sync that way.
Cozy is the same idea, minus the sync product. $49 once, no subscription. You point it at iCloud Drive or Dropbox if you want your journal on more than one device. One purchase covers every Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad you own.
Where your writing lives
On both, your writing lives in a folder on your computer, in a format you can open with any app.
If Cozy disappears tomorrow, you open your folder. Same as Obsidian.
So which one is for you?
If you want to build a knowledge base and live inside your tool, use Obsidian. It goes deep.
If you just want to write about your day in a calm desktop app and have it quietly pile up, pick Cozy.
Comparing other apps? Read Cozy vs Day One, Cozy vs Bear, Cozy vs Diarium, or Cozy vs Apple Journal.
“I've been using it for a week and I do not regret the purchase at all! :) Very solid, intuitive and aesthetic. I synced with two of my computers to be able to access it from bed, which is where I like to do my digital journaling, and works like a charm. I hope your app continues to grow!”
u/sorabood