Comparison · Last updated 2026-08-08
Obsidian writes documents.
SeqLog writes outlines.
These two apps are less alike than the category suggests. Both keep your notes as Markdown files on disk, and there the resemblance mostly ends: Obsidian is a document editor with a very large plugin ecosystem, and SeqLog is a keyboard-driven outliner that happens to be native. Which one is right depends almost entirely on how you think, not on a feature count.
The short version. If you write in paragraphs and want an app you can extend endlessly, Obsidian is the better tool and it is not close. If you think in nested bullets, live in a daily journal, and want the app to open instantly and scroll at full frame rate on macOS, that is what SeqLog is for.
Obsidian is free for personal use and asks 50 USD per user per year for commercial use. SeqLog is free forever for both.
The real difference: blocks or documents
Obsidian's unit is the note. You open a file and write in it; headings give it structure and the outline sidebar reflects them. Bullet-first workflows are possible — the community Outliner plugin adds folding, zoom and drag — but they are an addition to a document editor.
SeqLog's unit is the block. Every line is a node: indent it, collapse it, drag it to another page, link to it. There is no “document mode” to switch out of, because there is no document — a page is a tree of blocks, and the daily journal is the front door. This is the Logseq and Roam lineage rather than the Obsidian one.
Neither model is better. They are different enough that most people know within an hour which one matches how they think.
Side by side
| SeqLog | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary unit | Outline block | Document |
| Storage | Plain .md files | Plain .md files |
| Runtime | Native SwiftUI + AppKit | Electron |
| Platforms | macOS 15+ only | macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Plugins & themes | None, none planned | Thousands |
| Graph view / canvas | No | Yes |
| Backlinks & unlinked refs | Built in | Built in |
| Search | ripgrep over the files, no index | Built-in index |
| Version control | Git built in — auto-commit, push/pull, inline diffs, revert | Community Git plugin |
| Sync | Your Git remote, or any file sync | Obsidian Sync (paid) or any file sync |
| Personal use | Free forever | Free |
| Commercial use | Free forever | $50 / user / year |
| Open source | No | No |
What being native actually buys
“Electron is heavy” is a tired complaint, and Obsidian is one of the better-behaved Electron apps. So, specifically:
- It is there when you press the key. Cold launch is a system process start, not a browser engine boot.
- Scrolling holds the frame. SeqLog draws its rows directly with CoreText on a recycled list with absolute-frame layout. A journal with thousands of days flings the same as an empty one.
- It behaves like a Mac app. System text input, services, the real menu bar, proper full-keyboard access, native find, no re-implemented scroll physics.
None of this makes your notes better. It makes the app disappear, which is the point.
Git, without assembling it yourself
Obsidian's usual answer to version control is the community Git plugin, which works well once configured. SeqLog embeds libgit2 directly: auto-commit on save, push and pull to any remote, branch switching, conflict resolution, commit history with inline diffs, and revert down to a single file — with no plugin to install, no Git binary required, and a UI rather than a command palette.
Coming from Obsidian
Your notes are already Markdown with wikilinks, so they open. Two things to expect:
SeqLog organises a vault as pages/ and journals/
folders, so a flat Obsidian vault will need its files moved into pages/. And because
every line is a block, a long prose note arrives as one block per line rather than as flowing
paragraphs — fine for notes that were already bulleted, awkward for essays. Obsidian-specific
syntax that SeqLog does not implement (Dataview queries, callouts, plugin blocks) stays in the
file as literal text.
Nothing is converted, so both apps can point at the same folder while you decide.
Where Obsidian is the better answer
- You need Windows, Linux, or a phone today.
- You rely on plugins — Dataview, Templater, Excalidraw, Kanban. SeqLog has no plugin API and no plan for one.
- You want the graph view or canvas.
- You write long-form prose. A block outliner is the wrong shape for essays.
- You want a large community, a decade of forum answers, and a company with a track record. SeqLog is a one-person project that shipped its 1.0 in March 2026.
Questions
Can SeqLog open my Obsidian vault?
Partly — see the caveats above. The Markdown and wikilinks come across; the folder layout and the block model are the friction.
Does SeqLog have plugins?
No, and none are planned. This is Obsidian's biggest advantage and SeqLog does not contest it.
Is SeqLog free for commercial use?
Yes, free forever, no seat count, nothing to buy. See the Terms.
Does SeqLog have a graph view?
No. Backlinks and unlinked references, but no graph and no canvas.