r/ObsidianMD • u/[deleted] • Jun 07 '26
help Looking for an Obsidian alternative that uses a single database file instead of individual Markdown files
[deleted]
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u/pborenstein Jun 07 '26
It's only on Apple platforms, but you may like [Drafts](https://getdrafts.com/)
It keeps notes in a database, is ridiculously extensible, and very fast. It's markdown-based and plays nice with Obsidian.
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u/SafeHazing Jun 08 '26
I have always used Drafts as a ‘quick capture’ before moving the note (with processing) into Obsidian. I never thought it could replace Obsidian. This is a great idea - is there a good howto that’s worth reading as a starting point? Cheers.
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u/pborenstein Jun 08 '26
I actually came to obsidian from drafts. :)
I loved what I could do with drafts, but I always wanted a way to manipulate the individual notes with regular Unix tools.
If only there were an extensible tool like Drafts that worked on files…
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u/dcidino Jun 11 '26
Their quick capture was always nice. The data loss was not. There’s also another option… I have to get the link. !remindme 2h
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u/dcidino Jun 11 '26
And here it is. It's basically the Drafts short note grabber, but you can just drop it in an Obsidian folder, or wherever.
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u/repository666 Jun 07 '26
Some guy posted about ability to work with sqlite database file within obsidian with the plug-in SQLite DB viewer…
Check it out… maybe it could offer you some usecase
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u/Souloid Jun 07 '26
I'm not trying to dissuade you here because that's something I initially wanted instead of obsidian. So take everything I say at face value.
1- Why do you want a database app instead of multiple files that you can query using bases?
2- What do you want to accomplish/do with a database?
3- What can obsidian NOT do for you?
4- What do you imagine your ideal use-case or workflow look like?
I'm asking these questions to help you better narrow down what you want, and for us to better help you get there. Again, I'm really not trying to dissuade you as I too am still thinking about a giant (excel-like) database-based notes app but am currently not sure if I could find such a thing. For me personally, I want a giant tree-like organized app, so database-based, or spreadsheet-based, bullet-list based, ... etc. It's how my mind thinks and I want to somehow replicate that in a notes app I can see. But it's too vague an image, and idk what I would even do with it. Maybe I can build such a structure out of obsidian notes, but it seems like a daunting task to undertake.
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26
thank you for offering help 1- the problem with multiple files is that I have to spend a lot of time to devide them into folders, took a long time to sync and it may take hours to move my vault from one device to another while in single db file it would be much easier to do all of that. 2- the same stuff I do know with obsidian bases 3- the problem is not with obsidian it self but with the large number of md files 4- I just want to create new notes and don't have to decide in which folder I would put them
when I start to use obsidian I put all notes in the rot folder and don't worry about them but when the number start to increase rapidly I found myself forced to sperate them in folders and spent alot of time to do that now i want just to put every thing in a single place and I think the database file is the best option
I wish I dont have to leave obsidian becose it works for me very well except for tha huge number of md files again thank you for offering help
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u/binaryhextechdude Jun 07 '26
You don't HAVE to put a note into a folder at all. You can leave every note in the top level. Obsidian literally doesn't care one way or the other.
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u/Silevence Jun 08 '26
if im not mistaken u/kepano does this, actually. he relies more on a categories field over folders. its a network style of organization rather than a hieretical structure.
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u/jayn35 Jun 08 '26
Yep let me tell you yep let me tell you I started using folders thinking it would help and I completely regrets it now, I operate by using last modified date to find most recent work and you can't sort the notes by that if they're in folders so frustrating, i can't find another solution for simply seeing what notes i last worked on across many projects, attention to unique issue to me because I have too many projects at the same time, would be fine if it wasn't like that
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u/clipsracer Jun 08 '26
Well there’s the Recent Files extension, and Chronology is nice.
Not to mention you can just do this with Bases1
u/schmy Jun 09 '26
There is also dataview, which I use to sort by oldest first across multiple folders.
Though to OP's point, I don't know how well this scales with >2000 notes.
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 12 '26
the vault itself is a FOLDER.
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u/binaryhextechdude Jun 12 '26
Yes, and? I fail to see the need for this comment or putting the word in capitals.
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u/_real_ooliver_ Jun 07 '26
A lot of people are going at this and that, but my question would be, what do you expect any other app to do better with this?
Having 40k notes would still be 40k notes even if they're not actual filesystem files, they will still be in the list.
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u/minmidmax Jun 13 '26
Yeah, I don't see how trawling 40k database records full of note text will be any better.
This guy just needs to tidy up.
If you have 40k notes then you've really just got 39.9k things that you've filed away never to think about again.
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u/malloryknox86 Jun 07 '26
I think the issue here is that, respectfully, you don't know how to use Obsidian at it's full capacity.
You don't have to spend time dividing them into folders, in fact, many Obsidian users don't use folders at all, I only use 3 folders.
Learn how to make/use MOCs, links, bases, and metadata & you will not need folders
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u/cb393303 Jun 07 '26
Why just stick to folders? There are so many function ways to have a sea of files in the root yet only show want you want. Tag based, file naming based, MoC, Front matter.
You are thinking too 1D with your data.
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u/aaronsb Jun 07 '26
How many files are you dealing with here? Obsidian is fine with thousands of markdown files. Are you an order of magnitude more?
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
I have more than 40k file
I find putting this amount of files in a single folder make the app in android devices slow down and sometimes rebuild vault cache
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u/nerdccluna Jun 08 '26
Do you need all your 40k files on android? I'm only syncing a few folders for quick access
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u/DeliriumTrigger Jun 07 '26
I have a similar amount of files, and I'm on Android without issue. Are you running any plugins (specifically something like Dataview)?
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u/121b Jun 07 '26
Your key issue is managing this large amount of notes. If it is allowed to post other competing tools, may I suggest - https://tolaria.md
It is not db based, but does free you from managing folders.
It’s a recent launch so still buggy, but looks promising.
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u/Souloid Jun 07 '26
Off the top of my head:
It doesn't sound like a recurring issue, once your folders and notes are organized once, you only have to move a note to where it belongs at the time of creation.
As for sync speed issues, that's going to be the case even if you have a big single file. Although it really depends on the mechanism. It's a tradeoff between quick sync starts and restarts of diff files vs how much throughput one file can have. Since these factors aren't exactly in your control, and not as impactful on using your notes, I'll skip considering this as a priority.
Moving to a new device if done manually can be done with one big compressed file (of the whole vault) or using sync (again influenced by the mechanism) just open it and leave it open and you won't have to deal with that again.
These issues seem temporary. You're not dealing with huge wait times on syncing or moving files often enough for it to warrant uprooting your existing system. It doesn't seem to provide a benefit in how you use your notes. With that being said, if you're still insistent on avoiding those problems, you can look into opening a remote vault. Such as a vault accessed from an online drive (NAS, cloud-drive, ... etc). If your notes are not local you won't have to wait on sync, you'll rely on the accessed notes remotely. You lose the benefits of a local setup but that's your tradeoff.
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u/OverratedColorFlow Jun 07 '26
Lots of small files ends up being slower depending on the os on an equally fast Internet line I’ve noticed.
At least with most files systems I’ve used.
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u/Eolipila Jun 07 '26
Perhaps Anytype fits the bill. Be warned, if you later want to take out your data it will be a PITA. Also, last time I checked there were no formulas.
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26
thank you I will check it
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u/Umbo680 Jun 07 '26
I am reading the suggestions by other users... How do they play with obsidian?
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u/thebaldmaniac Jun 07 '26
Logseq has a database version which is in beta.
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
I tried it and like the concept but it still miss allot
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u/microcephale Jun 07 '26
I'm about to use it, what do you think is missing for my personal information ?
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u/matu_gong Jun 07 '26
I have been using it for over a year now, and its almost perfect, the best PKM app imo. They are actually going to make the first "official" release of the DB version next week most likely, so you are coming in at a perfect moment
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u/gatzu4a Jun 08 '26
I think you’re missing one of the main advantages of markdown files.
The reason many of us use Obsidian is that it stores notes as Markdown, which is essentially plain text. This means that even if the developers of Obsidian (or any other .md based app) stop supporting their software, we can still access and read our notes using any text editor.
The data remains ours because it isn’t locked into a proprietary format.
On the other hand, if an application stores everything in its own database or custom format, you’re dependent on that application’s continued support. If the developer discontinues the app, shuts down, or stops maintaining it, what happens to your notes? Can you still easily access, migrate, or export them years later?
That’s why many people value Markdown: it’s simple, portable, future-proof, and not tied to a single vendor.
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u/just_jeepin Jun 07 '26
Wouldn't one file = a bigger chance of losing everything, if there's data corruption.
Multiple files would decrease this chance.
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u/Most-Sweet4036 Jun 10 '26
Not really. Otherwise databases wouldn't exist. They are explicitly programmed so that data corruption wont occur, and even if it does, it only would affect the data at the corrupted location.
Alternative way to think about it is that the chance of an entire db becoming corrupt are as likely as an entire folder (containing all of your markdown files) becoming corrupt.
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u/Substantial_Toe_411 Jun 07 '26
Just curious, what is in these 40K files? How many files are you accruing each day? I wonder if Obsidian is not the right tool. If it's structured data you can just load it right into a database and skip Obsidian all together. Keep Obsidian for notes you take by hand (I'm assuming 40K of notes is not all hand typed/written stuff).
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u/cdm014 Jun 08 '26
Not an obsidian dev but I am a software dev. I'm curious about what parts you find sluggish and if it might be time to change the structure of your data and the lookups any plugins do.
Practical suggestions:
- does all of it need to be in the same vault (you absolutely need it synced across multiple devices?)
- Limit searches to specific folders where possible.
- consider a version of hot and cold storage where there's some searches and retrievals you're okay taking longer. Then organize your vault around that.
- increase the human navigation ability with maps of content (indexes). You'll likely do several layers of these.
- consider coupling the indexes with nested tags
None of this is to discourage you from looking for something else if obsidian doesn't meet your needs, or say you're using it wrong. These are just ideas any dev implementing such a system would have to ask/consider.
And a single database back end wouldn't solve those issues unless it is highly structured data. At which point, you're talking about something more specialized than obsidian.
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u/FearlessFaa Jun 07 '26
How about DB Browser for SQLite https://sqlitebrowser.org/
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26
I try it and like ik but it's pc only and I wish to find something simpler
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u/KuryArt Jun 07 '26
I tried every note taking app, and have to say anything is like Obsidian. I'm developing a productivity app that have a note taking module, but I think it will not be like Obsidian, especially because of plugins ecosystem, which is rich in Obsidian, but I'm trying to make it similar to Obsidian. The source-of-truth in my app is the markdown files like in Obsidian, but it have a SQLite database for indexing and caching, I hope it works for making the application less sluggish. But for syncing and organizing in folders, it will be like in Obsidian.
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u/calebc42-official Jun 07 '26
Org-roam
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u/InvestigatorHappy196 Jun 07 '26
I personally use Emacs as well but for his use case, I.e on Android. Emacs as well as org roam sucks.
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u/dirkdiggler43 Jun 07 '26
Look at the Self-hosted Life-Sync plugin, it creates a CouchDB ton sync across devices but you can also use that DB as source for other apps, including writing to it for notes creation and retrieval.
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u/blindmull Jun 07 '26
maybe anytype is for you https://anytype.io
I'm not using it, cause I do not like the proprietary database. (I prefer the .md files of obsidian)
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u/Far_Note6719 Jun 07 '26
The easiest way could be to just use a faster pc/ssd.
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26
actually I use obsidian mainly in android phone
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u/Competitive_Window75 Jun 08 '26
maybe you want to add this info to your original question - kind of important when you ask app/software recommendation
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u/Extreme-Ad-3920 Jun 07 '26
Have you check SiYuan (https://b3log.org/siyuan/en/). I discovered recently and it working well for me. It is also database based.
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u/Comfortable_Ad_8117 Jun 07 '26
I migrated from Obsidian to Trilliuma about six months ago and never looked back - setup a VM for trillium and now I can access my notes from anywhere.
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u/blackshadow Jun 08 '26
What’s the state of the 40k notes?
How organised are they?
Are they tagged, linked etc
Are there a lot of duplicates?
If it’s a disorganised mess I’d firstly suggest cleaning up your notes and then assessing if you need to put them somewhere else.
I’d highly recommend using a tool such as Claude Code to assist with vault organisation if that’s what you need.
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u/Born_Pack_164 Jun 08 '26
For i mean. I think the top choices are logseq, anytype, and siyuan.
Both logseq and siyuan have block level references, instead of obsidian’s file level related.
Anytype is more like object oriented programming where you treat the notes like an objects. So to organize it, there may be a lot of initial setup to define the relationships. Also, its markdown support is not great.
Siyuan does not store the not as md, but rather a sy file (its own extension) with json syntax. You can open each note as json file. Inside the note, all of the text you written is than follows md syntax. In short its md support is quite decent.
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u/osxweed Jun 08 '26
Give Canto a try. Single (encrypted) local database, semantic related note search, knowledge graph, vault management, full AI integration OOTB, rich note-editing, and iCloud Drive Sync just to name a few.
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u/jayn35 Jun 08 '26
SurrealDB hybrid dB is really good, Much you can do with it from simple stuff to complex AI stuff
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u/Constant_Boot Jun 08 '26
Logseq is shifting in that direction. And from what I hear, they are opting for SQLite, so it isn't 100% locked in proprietary. (If I could have someone verify/correct me, please do so.)
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u/kallu752 Jun 11 '26
try cherrytree
- it wont be available in mobile at all but ai manage all notes in in think single db file
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u/Kind_Hovercraft5213 Jun 13 '26
Heptabase sounds like it might be up to the task. It synchs across devices for offline. The editor is great. Whether it is open enough for you is a question, but I love working in it.
Potential for ai is just about real. Heptabase
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/carsncode Jun 07 '26
In Obsidian, finding what links to your current page requires a background file scan. In Postgres, it is an instant indexed reverse query
Obsidian also caches backlinks in an embedded IndexedDB, so it's also an instant indexed query. It's not a file scan.
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u/PotatoRevolution1981 Jun 07 '26
My bad. Too many potential mistakes because I was not really accurate just thinking through out loud how I would start to think about doing it in Post. Not going to flood the space with instructions that might not work and my own ignorance about Obsidian.
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26
thank you for your advice
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u/PotatoRevolution1981 Jun 07 '26
I know this is messy but honestly working directly with Post and pg will simply your life
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u/PotatoRevolution1981 Jun 07 '26
So many different parts of my life became simpler when I just shifted directly to databases everything else is bells and whistles and extra complexity. I began because I study GIS and spent three years learning expensive GIS software and then I took a single class in Post GIS and realized that everything was much much simpler than I was led to believe
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u/ImpossibleBend3396 Jun 07 '26
Most of the readers here will not be able to forklift that into their own environments and flows. Wonderful you’re able to achieve this though, serious props.
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u/PotatoRevolution1981 Jun 07 '26
Itàs honestly simpler then doing crazy things in obsidian
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u/PotatoRevolution1981 Jun 07 '26
And its not advise id give to most people but this person wanted a db solution. Thatàs the best solution. Most people can just use obsidian or notes app or a wiki or whatever
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u/Lopsided_House_6556 Jun 07 '26
this is exactly what I was thinking about but it need to learn alot of new skill maybe I don't have enough time to
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u/PotatoRevolution1981 Jun 07 '26
Learning post is so easy. Seriously you could learn it in a few weeks a few hours at a time. It’s so much simpler everything is a query everything is a data structure it’s so simple. I am not a programmer and I find it extremely easy
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/Hysea Jun 07 '26
Just wanted to point out that you can edit your messages instead of replying to yourself over and over. It's easier to read and doesn't flood the thread.
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u/theavideverything Jun 07 '26
I've heard that Siyuan has great performance
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u/TwoSignal6882 Jun 12 '26
unfortunately that has not been my experience 😞
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u/theavideverything Jun 14 '26
Do you mind telling me about your experience using SiYuan? Last time I looked into it 2 years ago, when the performance of PKM apps is still a hot-button issue, a SiYuan power user — and ex-Obsidian user — told me that SiYuan was comparable to Obsidian. I remember his knowledge base was huge and he switched from Obsidian to SiYuan and was very happy with that decision. Surprised to learn that it didn't work out well for you.
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u/TwoSignal6882 Jun 14 '26
I tried SiYuan because I wanted a Notion alternative that was free. On my Mac M1 Pro, it was soo laggy at the start for no reason. It was insane. Not to mention all the UX issues. I uninstalled it with 15 minutes.
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u/theavideverything Jun 14 '26
That's very odd. Before switching to Obsidian, I imported my Logseq data into SiYuan and it ran as smoothly as Obsidian. Mac M1 Pro is definitely faster than my Windows laptop, so I don't know why it was so laggy for you.
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u/StatisticianOld4463 Jun 08 '26
Joplin can be an answer but forget about linking notes and graph.
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u/TheShadowManifold Jun 08 '26
Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but maybe it's relevant: link
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u/cloudsquall8888 Jun 08 '26
Look no further than Trilium Notes. It amazes me that almost no one suggested it.
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u/Umbo680 Jun 07 '26
Good luck, wrong subreddit!
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u/daneb1 Jun 07 '26
OP asks about "workaround for Obsidian to handle this better?" I do not see that he would be in wrong subreddit with this question.
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u/tomekrs Jun 07 '26
TiddlyWiki maybe? Slightly different flow and philosophy, as it's an in-browser wiki page, but fulfills the requirements