Obsidian Sync — Standard vs. Plus

Obsidian Sync: do you need Standard or Plus?

Obsidian Sync is a paid add-on starting at $4/user/month (billed annually), and its official help describes two tiers within it: Standard and Plus. This page works only from the one difference we could confirm in the official help — version-history retention — to lay out a decision guide for which one you need. We have not been able to confirm Plus's exact price, and we say so rather than guess.

By AI ATAKA · Published

SHORT ANSWER

The only difference the official help actually documents between Standard and Plus is version-history retention (1 month on Standard, 12 months on Plus; attachments are 2 weeks on both). Core features — sync, end-to-end encryption, collaboration on shared vaults — are the same on both. If you might need to restore something from more than a month ago, get Plus; otherwise Standard covers it. There may be other differences (e.g. storage caps), but retention is the only one we could directly confirm.

What we could confirm — and what we couldn't

Obsidian's official pricing page (obsidian.md/pricing) lists Sync's base price as "$4/user/month billed annually, $5/user/month billed monthly," but that page alone doesn't spell out two named tiers (see our verified pricing article). The dedicated Sync help page (obsidian.md/help/sync/version-history), on the other hand, explicitly names Standard and Plus and describes different version-history retention for each.

✅ Confirmed
Version-history retention: 1 month on Standard, 12 months on Plus, 2 weeks for attachments on both (obsidian.md/help/sync/version-history, checked August 26, 2026). Sync's base price: $4/user/month annual, $5/user/month monthly (obsidian.md/pricing, fetched August 23, 2026).
❓ Not confirmed
Plus's exact additional price. Whether storage caps differ between plans. This session's environment couldn't reach either obsidian.md itself or the official help source to re-verify and fill these gaps.
BEING UPFRONT
The pairing "Standard $4 / Plus $8" appeared once in this site's internal notes, but tracing it back turned up no actual source (it may have conflated two different products' prices — Sync at $4 and Publish at $8). This page does not use that number and states only what we could confirm. Check the official site directly for Plus's exact price.

Which one should you pick?

Since retention is the one confirmed difference, the decision comes down to it. Answer the questions below.

  • Could it take you more than a month to notice a note was overwritten or deleted by mistake?
    Yes → Consider PlusNo → Standard is enough
  • Do you keep important records — meeting notes, research logs — that you only revisit every few months to a year?
    Yes → Leans toward PlusNo → Standard is enough
  • Neither applies, and you revisit your notes on an everyday basis?
    Yes → Standard is enough (a month of retention rarely falls short in practice)

※ Sync, end-to-end encryption, and collaboration on shared vaults work the same on either plan. This decision guide covers only how long you keep version history.

Standard vs. Plus

Aspect Standard Plus
Version-history retention 1 month 12 months
Attachment retention 2 weeks 2 weeks (same)
Sync, E2E encryption, collaboration Yes Yes (same)
Storage cap difference Not confirmed Not confirmed
Extra cost From $4/user/mo (Sync base price) Not confirmed (check official site)

Either plan, it lands in the same folder

Standard vs. Plus is only a choice about how long you keep version history. Simple Memo emails each note to you and appends it straight into the daily note inside your vault folder on iCloud Drive — landing there regardless of which Sync plan you pay for.

Free to download

Setup is picking your vault folder in iCloud Drive once.

Download on the App Store
QR code to download on the App Store On desktop? Scan with your phone

FAQ

How much does Obsidian Sync Plus cost?
The only price we've directly confirmed is Sync's base rate: $4/user/month billed annually, $5/user/month billed monthly (fetched from obsidian.md/pricing on August 23, 2026). Plus's additional cost isn't spelled out on that same page and we couldn't confirm it separately in this session either. Check the official site for the current figure.
What's the difference between Standard and Plus?
The only documented difference, per the official help (obsidian.md/help/sync/version-history, checked August 26, 2026), is version-history retention: 1 month on Standard, 12 months on Plus, 2 weeks for attachments regardless of plan. Core features — sync, end-to-end encryption, collaboration on shared vaults — are identical on both.
Who does Standard work for?
Anyone who'd notice — and want to restore — an accidental overwrite or deletion within roughly a month. If you revisit your notes on an everyday basis, a month of retention rarely falls short in practice.
Who needs Plus?
Anyone keeping important records — meeting notes, research logs, contract drafts — that they only revisit every few months to a year. The 12-month window matters if you might not notice a bad edit or overwrite until more than a month has passed.
Can I get something like version history for free?
Yes. Managing your vault as a Git repository gives you unlimited change history per commit, for free. Resolving a conflict does require knowing Git, though — see the hands-on Git section on /obsidian/sync/ for what that looks like in practice.
TEST ENVIRONMENT & SCOPE

Tested August 28, 2026. Based on official documentation (not re-fetched in this session; cited from prior articles' confirmed content): Sync's base price (obsidian.md/pricing, fetched directly by a prior session on August 23, 2026 — see /obsidian/pricing/); Standard/Plus version-history retention (obsidian.md/help/sync/version-history, fetched directly by a prior session on August 26, 2026 — see /obsidian/sync/). Not verifiable in this environment: this session's runtime couldn't reach either obsidian.md itself or the official help's source repository (which a prior session reached via raw.githubusercontent.com), so we couldn't newly confirm Plus's exact price or any storage-cap difference. Network reachability has varied by runtime before — a GitHub Actions run reached obsidian.md directly — so a future session running there may be able to fill this in.

Related pages

Comparing four sync methods Syncing with iCloud (setup) Obsidian pricing Obsidian integration Appending to your daily note What is a vault FAQ

References

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