Free alternatives to Obsidian Publish
Obsidian Publish is the official paid way to put a vault online as a website. Popular free alternatives are Quartz (an open-source static-site generator for publishing many notes), digital-garden style community plugins that publish selected notes to hosts like Netlify or Vercel, and Caldera, which publishes a living profile page about you and your work rather than your notes themselves. Pick by goal: a full notes website, a curated garden, or a profile that updates itself.
Updated 2026-10-11 · by mjonesone, LLC
Comparison
| Option | Cost | Best for | Setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obsidian Publish | Paid add-on (see obsidian.md for current pricing) | An official, hosted website of your notes | Built into Obsidian |
| Quartz | Free, open source | A full static site of many notes, self-hosted | Command line + a static host |
| Digital-garden plugins | Free (hosting tier dependent) | Publishing selected notes as a garden | Plugin + Netlify/Vercel account |
| Caldera | Free, open source | A living profile: journal, activity, projects, chosen notes, plus friends and private sharing | One prompt or the plugin; hosted at caldera.social or self-hosted |
When Caldera is the right choice
Choose Caldera if you want a page that shows what you're working on and updates itself, while your actual notes stay private, and if you want to connect with other Obsidian users. If you want to publish hundreds of notes as a browsable website, use Obsidian Publish or Quartz; Caldera can link to it.
Questions
Can I use Caldera and Quartz together?
Yes. Many people publish a notes site with Quartz or Publish and use Caldera for their profile, linking the two.
Does Caldera publish my whole vault?
No. It publishes counts, sections you turn on, and only notes marked caldera: public (title and first paragraph).
Is there a hosting cost?
Profiles on caldera.social are free. Self-hosting the open-source hub is also possible.