Can you get your notes out of a note app?
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The Short Answer
- Obsidian — Obsidian "stores your notes locally as plain text Markdown files" and "uses open file formats, so you're never locked in" — there is no export step because there is nothing to export from.
- Craft — Craft exports "PDF, Markdown, Docx, TextBundle" per document, folder or whole Space with no plan restriction, while a Space uses Craft's own backend unless you switch to iCloud and give up collaboration.
- Notion — Notion exports a whole workspace as Markdown, HTML and CSV on any plan, and states that "You can't instantly recreate your workspace by reuploading your exported workspace content".
- Coda — Coda is now Superhuman Docs, and its exports are PDF, per-table CSV, or a bulk dump of ".txt & .csv files" — none of which is the structured doc you wrote.
| Product | Best for | From | Free plan | Where your notes live |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obsidian | The working format is the archive format | $4/mo (annual) | Yes | Local files, yours |
| Craft | Four formats out, hosted by default | $7.99/mo (annual) | Yes | Hosted, exportable |
| Notion | Everything exports, nothing goes back | $10/mo (annual) | Yes | Hosted, exportable |
| Coda | Three exports, none of them the document | $12/mo (annual) | Yes | Hosted, exportable |
What we checked, and what we did not test
Notes are the longest-lived thing most people put into software. A deck is stale in a month and a form closes in a week, but a notes app is asked to hold ten years of thinking, across at least one change of employer and probably a change of app. So the question is not what the free plan lets you write. It is what survives the day you stop using it.
On 6 August 2026 we read four pricing pages and their export documentation. Each verdict quotes the vendor. We did not export anything ourselves, which matters here: fidelity is the one thing only a real export can show you.
The third time this pattern has decided a category
We have now found the same thing three times on this site, in categories that have nothing to do with each other:
- Image upscalers — the only tool with no watermark was the one that never uploaded the file.
- Whiteboards — the only free plan without a board cap was the one that saves to local files.
- Note apps — the only product with nothing to export is the one whose notes are already files on your disk.
Three times, the product that answered the question best was not the most generous product. It was the one whose architecture removed the place where the answer gets decided. A vendor that holds your work has to make a policy about giving it back; a vendor that never held it has no policy to make, and nothing to change its mind about later.
Obsidian, Excalidraw and Upscayl are not the best products in their categories by every measure — Obsidian has no real-time collaboration, Excalidraw’s cloud is one scene, Upscayl needs your own hardware. The argument is narrower than that: on the specific question of what leaves with you, they are structurally incapable of the wrong answer.
The working format is the archive format
1. Obsidian — The working format is the archive format
Obsidian’s answer to this category’s question is that the question does not apply to it.
Best for Notes that are already files on your own disk
From $4/mo (annual). Free plan: The app itself is not a tier: "Free without limits. No sign-up required. No strings attached." No cap on notes, vaults or devices is stated for local use.
- Sync — $5/mo, or $4/mo billed annually · 1 seat (An optional add-on, not a tier that unlocks the app: cross-device sync with end-to-end encryption and version history)
- Publish — $10/mo, or $8/mo billed annually (Optional add-on, priced per site, for publishing a vault as a website)
- Commercial licence — price not shown on the page we opened · 1 seat ($50 per user per year, required only for commercial or organisational use; personal use stays free)
- Catalyst — price not shown on the page we opened · 1 seat ($25 one-time supporter licence for early builds; not required to use the app)
There is no export step because there is nothing to export from: "Obsidian stores your notes locally as plain text Markdown files", and "Obsidian uses open file formats, so you're never locked in. You own your data for the long term." The working format and the archive format are the same file. The paid add-ons move those files between devices or onto the web; none of them stands between you and the text.
Pros
- Notes are plain Markdown on your own device from the first keystroke, in the vendor's own words.
- The core app is free with no account and no stated feature caps.
- Paid add-ons are optional and none of them gates writing or reading your notes.
Skip it if
- Multi-device sync and web access require the paid Sync add-on.
- There is no native real-time collaborative editing.
- Commercial or organisational use requires a $50 per user per year licence.
Four formats out, hosted by default
2. Craft — Four formats out, hosted by default
Craft offers the most export formats of the hosted three, and states the trade its local option costs you.
Best for Four export formats, and a local-storage option that costs you collaboration
From $7.99/mo (annual). Free plan: Free — 1,500 blocks across all documents, 1 GB storage, 25 MB media uploads, 7-day version history and 15 AI assistant credits; link sharing and cross-device sync are not included.
- Plus — $9.99/mo, or $7.99/mo billed annually · 1 seat ($95.88 a year. The rendered page priced in local currency for us; these USD figures come from the page's own US product data, not a conversion)
- Family — $15.99/mo, or $14.99/mo billed annually · 6 seats (A fixed-price bundle of 2 to 6 Plus accounts, $179.88 a year)
- Team — price not shown on the page we opened · 25 seats (Up to 25 Plus accounts in one subscription; no USD figure was present in the page data for this tier)
Craft states the intent plainly — "We want to make sure that your content is not locked down in Craft, so we made numerous options to export your content quickly and easily" — with "PDF, Markdown, Docx, TextBundle" available per document, per folder or for a full Space, and no plan restriction attached. Where the files live is the condition: a Space uses "Craft Sync, utilising our own backend solution" by default, and choosing "Offline / iCloud storage" means "you will lose access to collaboration features."
Pros
- Full-Space export in Markdown and TextBundle with no stated plan restriction.
- The free plan's caps are exact numbers — 1,500 blocks, 1 GB, 25 MB, 15 AI credits.
- A local iCloud storage option exists as an alternative to the hosted backend.
Skip it if
- Notes are hosted by default; choosing local storage costs you collaboration.
- The free plan has no cross-device sync and no link sharing at all.
- The pricing page never states whether export is available on the free plan; that is only on a help page.
Everything exports, nothing goes back
3. Notion — Everything exports, nothing goes back
Notion’s export is generous and one-directional, and it says so itself.
Best for A whole-workspace export that no plan withholds
From $10/mo (annual). Free plan: Free — $0 per member per month with "Unlimited" blocks for individuals, trial AI, basic forms and sites, Notion Calendar and databases; file uploads capped at 5 MB, page history at 7 days, and 10 external guests.
- Plus — $12/mo, or $10/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Per member. The rendered page priced in won for us; these USD figures are the page's own en-US price object rather than a conversion)
- Business — $24/mo, or $20/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Per member, $240 a year)
- Enterprise — price not shown on the page we opened ("Contact Sales" with no published figure)
The export is real and ungated: "Any non-database Notion page can be exported as a Markdown file", and you can "export all your pages as HTML, Markdown, or CSV (for databases), along with any files you've uploaded" on any plan. What you get back is not the thing you had — "Callout blocks will be exported as HTML, as there is no Markdown equivalent", and "You can't instantly recreate your workspace by reuploading your exported workspace content." The notes live on Notion's servers until you run that export by hand.
Pros
- Whole-workspace export in Markdown, HTML and CSV is available on every plan including free.
- Blocks are unlimited for individual use on the free plan.
- Ten external guests are included at no cost.
Skip it if
- The export is a manual snapshot, not the working format — your notes live on Notion's servers between exports.
- Notion states the export cannot be re-uploaded to recreate the workspace.
- Free file uploads stop at 5 MB and page history at 7 days.
Three exports, none of them the document
4. Coda — Three exports, none of them the document
Coda exports three things and none of them is the doc you wrote.
Best for Docs with real tables, now under a different name
From $12/mo (annual). Free plan: Free — "$0 USD" with collaborative docs, connected tables, views and forms, formulas and automations, and trials of Docs AI and MCP; limits are "Pages and objects: Limited for shared docs", "Attachments: 1Gb per doc", "Automations: Low quota", "Version history: 7 days".
- Pro — $15/mo, or $12/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Per Doc Maker; only editors are billed and viewers are free)
- Business — $40/mo, or $33/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Per Doc Maker)
- Enterprise — price not shown on the page we opened ("Custom" behind a sales contact)
The product has been renamed: coda.io now says "Coda is now Superhuman Docs!" and coda.io/pricing redirects to superhuman.com. Export exists in three shapes and none of them is the document: "You can export your entire doc or specific pages from your doc as PDFs", "you also have the option to export specific tables as CSVs", and a bulk "Export My Data" that "will generate multiple .txt & .csv files for all of your owned docs." PDF is not editable, CSV is not the page, and .txt is not the structure.
Pros
- The free plan includes connected tables, formulas and automations rather than a stripped-down editor.
- Only editing Doc Makers are billed; viewers are free on paid plans.
- An account-wide bulk export of every owned doc exists.
Skip it if
- There is no structured full-fidelity export of a whole doc — only PDF, per-table CSV, or bulk .txt and .csv.
- The product is now branded Superhuman Docs and its pricing URL redirects off coda.io entirely.
- Notes are hosted with no stated local-file option.
What this means if you are choosing today
If the notes are yours in the long sense — a journal, research, a decade of reading — Obsidian ends the comparison, and the $4-a-month Sync add-on is the price of having them on more than one machine rather than the price of having them at all.
If you need databases, sharing and real-time collaboration, Notion’s free tier is the strongest of the hosted three and its export is available on every plan, which is more than Coda manages. Run that export once now, while the workspace is small, and look at what came back. The gap between what you exported and what you had is the actual cost of the choice, and it is much easier to measure at 50 pages than at 5,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which note app lets you keep your notes if you stop paying?
Obsidian, because the question does not arise. Its site states "Obsidian stores your notes locally as plain text Markdown files" and "you're never locked in. You own your data for the long term." The files are on your disk while you write them, so cancelling a paid add-on like Sync stops the syncing rather than the reading.
Does Notion's free plan let you export everything?
Yes, and the export is honest about its own limits. You can "export all your pages as HTML, Markdown, or CSV (for databases)" on any plan including free. What comes back is a snapshot rather than the workspace: callout blocks "will be exported as HTML, as there is no Markdown equivalent", and Notion states "You can't instantly recreate your workspace by reuploading your exported workspace content."
What happened to Coda?
It is now Superhuman Docs. coda.io displays "Coda is now Superhuman Docs!" and coda.io/pricing redirects to superhuman.com. The product still works and the free plan still includes connected tables and automations, but a reader searching for Coda pricing lands on a different company's domain, which is worth knowing before you evaluate it.
Is Markdown export the same as owning your notes?
Not quite, and the distinction is the whole point of this comparison. A Markdown export is a copy you make on the day you remember to make it. Local Markdown files are the notes themselves, continuously. Craft and Notion both export Markdown; Obsidian never needs to, because the file you edit is already the file you keep.
Did you export from these apps yourselves?
No. Every verdict here was read on the vendor's own pricing page or help documentation on 6 August 2026 and is labelled as read, not run. The one thing a hands-on test would settle is fidelity — how much structure survives a Notion or Craft export in practice — which no vendor page can honestly answer for you.
How We Keep This Updated
Prices move and vendors rewrite their plan tables, so every value on this page carries the date we read it. When a page changes, the change lands here rather than being edited away quietly. The procedure is on the methodology page. tell us and we will re-check it.
- 2026-08-06 — First published. Export terms read on each vendor's own help documentation; Notion's and Craft's USD prices taken from the US price objects embedded in their own pages after both rendered in local currency for us.