ObsidianSharpen your thinking. The free and flexible app for your private thoughts.
vs
ShelfNext-generation knowledge and governance platform for accurate GenAI answers.
Comparison · Knowledge Management · weekly run Nov 3
Obsidian vs Shelf
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Obsidian is the stronger AI pick in Knowledge Management: it has a visibility score of 5.2 versus 1.5 for Shelf.
Choose Obsidian if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (5.2 vs 1.5)
- Strong for personal knowledge management
- Maximum ownership of your files
Choose Shelf if…
- AI answers describe it more positively (67% vs 50% positive)
- You need SOC 2 Type II or GDPR or CCPA coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (51–200 employees)
- Recommended by analysts for knowledge management
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Obsidian | Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 5.2% | 1.5% |
| Change vs last week | New | New |
| Rank in Knowledge Management | #17 | #38 |
| Share of voice | 1.1% | 0.7% |
| Mentions this run | 6 | 4 |
| Positive in AI answers | 50% | 67% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Obsidian 0pp · Shelf 0pp over 0 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Obsidian leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
ObsidianShelf
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Obsidian ranked higher
0Shelf ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Obsidian | Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | — |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $4 per seat / mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Deployment | Local desktop and mobile apps, with optional cloud Sync and Publish add-ons | Cloud-hosted on AWS, with data centers in the US, Canada and EU |
| Compliance | — | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA |
| Support | Discord community, Discussion forum, Help site, Priority support with paid Sync and Publish plans | Contact form on the website, Developer portal with API specs, cookbooks and SDKs |
| Founded | 2020 | — |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | New York City, NY, United States |
| Employees | 1–10 | 51–200 |
| Funding | Bootstrapped | Series B · $61M raised |
| Best for | Individuals and small teams who want private notes stored locally as plain text files they can keep long term | Business and knowledge management teams that need governed enterprise knowledge, and technical teams that want a data layer under their own AI applications. |
Plans side by side
Obsidian
Free$0forever
Sync$4per user per month, billed annually ($5 billed monthly)
Publish$8per site per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)
Shelf
Pricing not available.
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Obsidian
- Strong for personal knowledge management
- Maximum ownership of your files
Shelf
- Recommended by analysts for knowledge management
- Suited to customer-service and contact-center knowledge management
- Recommended for vendor landscape and competitive intelligence databases
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 100%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Obsidian vs Shelf”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/obsidian-vs-shelf, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.