How much does Obsidian Publish cost, and is there a free option?
Obsidian Publish costs $8 per site per month billed annually ($96 a year) or $10 per site per month billed monthly ($120 a year), as listed on obsidian.md/pricing in November 2026. The Obsidian app itself is free. Free ways to put notes online include Quartz, an MIT-licensed static-site generator you host yourself, and Caldera, a free, open-source plugin that publishes a living profile from your vault rather than your notes as a website.
Updated 2026-11-10 · by mjonesone, LLC
Obsidian Publish prices
| Billing | Price per site | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Annual | $8 a month | $96 |
| Monthly | $10 a month | $120 |
| Students, faculty, nonprofit employees | 40% off either plan | Apply through Obsidian |
- Per site. Each Publish site is its own subscription.
- What is included: hosting up to 4 GB per site, a customizable theme and domain, graph view and full-text search, and priority support.
- Trial and refunds: the pricing page lists no free trial. Obsidian offers a full refund within 7 days of purchase for Sync and Publish.
- Sync is separate. Obsidian Sync is a different add-on, from $4 per user per month billed annually ($5 monthly).
Prices in USD as listed on obsidian.md/pricing and obsidian.md/publish, checked November 10, 2026. Check there before you buy: prices can change.
Free options
| Option | Cost | What you get | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quartz | Free, MIT license | A full website of your notes | You run a build and host the site yourself |
| Caldera | Free, open source | A living profile: journal, activity, projects, topics and notes you mark public, plus friends and encrypted sharing | Not a full notes website; no custom domain yet |
Compare more options in free alternatives to Obsidian Publish, or see Caldera vs Obsidian Publish side by side.
Is Caldera free?
Yes. Your page, your GitHub city, the Obsidian plugin and friends are free. The plugin and core library are MIT-licensed and the hub is AGPL-3.0, so you can also run your own. Caldera says optional paid features, such as a hosted AI journal and custom domains, may come later; what is free today stays listed on What is Caldera?
When paying for Publish makes sense
Pay for Obsidian Publish if you want many full notes online as a polished website on your own domain, with search and graph view, and no build step. The 7-day refund lets you try it. If what you want is a page that shows who you are and what you are working on, and your notes themselves stay private, a public profile from your vault does that for free.
Questions
How much is Obsidian Publish per month?
$8 per site per month billed annually, or $10 per site per month billed monthly, as listed on obsidian.md in November 2026.
Is there a free trial of Obsidian Publish?
The pricing page lists no free trial. Obsidian offers a full refund within 7 days of purchase for Publish and Sync.
Is there a discount on Obsidian Publish?
Yes. Students, faculty members and nonprofit employees get 40% off Obsidian Sync and Publish, according to obsidian.md.
Is Caldera free?
Yes. Your page, your city, the plugin and friends are free and open source. Optional paid features, like a hosted AI journal and custom domains, may come later.
Is Obsidian itself free?
Yes. Obsidian describes the app as free without limits; Sync and Publish are optional paid add-ons.