Obsidian LiveSync
The most recommended of 4 obsidian plugins
Syncs Obsidian notes to your own servers so no third party holds them, and it is fast once working. Common caveat: setup is fiddly and some find it issue-prone.
Syncs Obsidian notes to your own servers so no third party holds them, and it is fast once working. Common caveat: setup is fiddly and some find it issue-prone.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Keeps notes off third-party servers
“But for me I just want to sync with my local servers. I don't want any stuff in someone else's computer even if it is end to end.”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “An Introduction to Obsidian” “I really don't want my notes on other people's servers so the official sync will never be an option”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Obsidian plugin was abused to deploy a remote access trojan” “I don't want my stuff on other people's computers even when encrypted”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “The Future of Obsidian Plugins” Can't do without it
“I can't really do without some of them, in particular selfhosted-livesync.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Obsidian plugin was abused to deploy a remote access trojan” “I can't do without the livesync plugin.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Obsidian plugin was abused to deploy a remote access trojan” Works very well once set up
“once you get it to work, it actually works extremely well and is lightning fast too”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Obsidian Sync now has a headless client” “Privately I use obsidian with self hosted livesync which is amazing.”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft CEO resorts to blogging in defense of AI”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Fiddly setup, hard for non-technical users
“there is no way I would recommend using it or other third-party alternatives to my non-technical friends”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Show HN: Files.md – open-source alternative to Obsidian” “there are a lot of "gotchas" and the configuration and set up are a bit intimidating for the clients”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Obsidian Sync now has a headless client” Often issue-prone and painful
“were all way too issue-prone for me to ever trust it”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “An Introduction to Obsidian” “90% of the time it has been extremely painful”
Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “Obsidian Sync now has a headless client”
Other obsidian plugins people recommend
The three most recommended other obsidian plugins, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obsidian LiveSyncThis page | 8 | 2 | 80% | 8 | — | — |
| Omnisearch for Obsidian | 7 | 2 | 78% | 4 | — | — |
| Obsidian Bases | 7 | 1 | 88% | 4 | — | — |
| Obsidian Git plugin | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“pretty good though a bit quirky at times”
“there is no way I would recommend using it or other third-party alternatives to my non-technical friends”
“I don't want my stuff on other people's computers even when encrypted”
“I really don't want my notes on other people's servers so the official sync will never be an option”
“I can't do without the livesync plugin.”
“I can't really do without some of them, in particular selfhosted-livesync.”
“But for me I just want to sync with my local servers. I don't want any stuff in someone else's computer even if it is end to end.”
“You can even see yourself typing from another connected client.”
“were all way too issue-prone for me to ever trust it”
“once you get it to work, it actually works extremely well and is lightning fast too”
“there are a lot of "gotchas" and the configuration and set up are a bit intimidating for the clients”
“90% of the time it has been extremely painful”
“So far it seems to be good, but I haven't spent more than a few hours with it yet.”
“Privately I use obsidian with self hosted livesync which is amazing.”
“Obsidian notes with self hosted livesync”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.