[kstrauser]

For me, they're so different that it's hard to compare them. Obsidian is a great tool for linking, searching, querying, and visualizing sets of thoughts. It happens to have a text editor, but that's not the brilliant part about it. Obsidian's editor feels to me like a method to get data into the note database. Also, Electron.

iA Writer is a one the best text editors I've ever touched. It happens to have tools for linking and searching notes, but that's not the brilliant part. Writer's data management feels to me like methods to navigate around to the note I want to writing. Also, it's a "Mac-assed Mac app", looks and feels exactly like it belongs on my desktop, plays nicely with all other Mac apps, and couldn't be faster or more responsive if it were hand-coded in assembler.

If I want to store and search notes, I'd probably pick Obsidian (although I'm currently using Bear Notes for that). If I want the best writing environment I know of, I'll reach for iA Writer every time.