Obsidian Sync is $15 cheaper. Here is what you trade for it.

Calendar

Obsidian has no calendar, not even a bad one.

Obsidian is a local-first notes app; Sync just keeps your vault of markdown files in step across devices. There's a community Calendar plugin that shows a monthly grid linked to daily notes, but it's a navigation aid for notes, not a scheduler - it has no concept of events, durations, or conflicts. Daylo's calendar is the whole product, not a plugin someone else maintains.

A side-by-side of the same task in Daylo and in Obsidian Sync, index 1.

Tasks

Tasks need a plugin. Scheduling needs three more.

Out of the box, Obsidian doesn't have a task manager - the Tasks community plugin adds checkbox syntax and queries, and people commonly pair it with two or three others (Calendar, Day Planner, Reminder) to approximate what Daylo does natively. Each is maintained separately, and none of them talk to your actual calendar.

A side-by-side of the same task in Daylo and in Obsidian Sync, index 2.

Natural-language input

No natural-language input, by design.

Obsidian is a markdown editor; typing a sentence just writes a sentence. There's no parser turning “lunch with Sarah Friday” into anything scheduled - you'd type it into a daily note and then manually create a calendar entry elsewhere if you wanted it to actually happen at a time. Daylo does that parsing as the core interaction.

A side-by-side of the same task in Daylo and in Obsidian Sync, index 3.

Automation rules

No rules engine - Obsidian doesn't act on your day.

Plugins like Templater and QuickAdd can automate note creation (new daily note gets a template, for instance), which is powerful for a notes workflow but has nothing to do with your schedule. Daylo's rules react to what's actually happening on your calendar - attendee count, time of day, focus block presence - and change it.

A side-by-side of the same task in Daylo and in Obsidian Sync, index 4.

Focus / time blocking

No focus timer, no protected blocks.

Some people run a separate Pomodoro plugin alongside Obsidian, but it's disconnected from any calendar - nothing stops a meeting from getting booked into what would've been a focus session. Daylo's focus blocks are real calendar holds that defend themselves, then score the session once it's done.

A side-by-side of the same task in Daylo and in Obsidian Sync, index 5.