Obsidian is a great, customizable tool for note-taking and personal knowledge management. But before you migrate your life into Obsidian, you might want to know your options for backing up these notes to the cloud. While Obsidian offers a sync tool, it's a paid feature. So what if you're looking for a free option?

Luckily, you can back up and sync your Obsidian notes to the cloud for free. But depending on the service you use, your mileage may vary.

3 Google Drive

Easy cloud syncing between Windows PCs

Google Drive is my first choice when it comes to backing up Obsidian notes to the cloud thanks to its 15GB of free storage. However, this method mainly works for cloud syncing between different PCs with Google Drive installed. To sync to the cloud using your Android device requires more setup and additional third-party tools.

To sync your Obsidian notes to Google Drive, you will need to create a new vault. If you want to sync existing notes, it's best to create the new folder and copy over the Markdown files that contain your notes. But make sure you create a local backup first.

To create your new vault in Google Drive, make sure you have downloaded and set up the Google Drive desktop app. Once you have set the app up, it will appear in your File Explorer as a separate drive. Access this drive, then create a new folder. I named mine Obsidian Vault (Google Drive). Right-click on this folder and set it to Available offline.

Now, in the Obsidian desktop app, select your current vault at the bottom left of the window and select Manage vaults. In the new window, select the option to Open folder as vault and the navigate to the newly created folder in Google Drive through File Explorer.

Any notes you create in this vault will be backed up to Google Drive. If you want to copy over existing notes, make sure to copy and paste the Markdown files for the notes into the Google Drive folder.

2 OneDrive

Another option for syncing between PCs

Syncing Obsidian notes to the cloud with OneDrive works similarly to using Google Drive, however, it may have a few more quirks. For example, Obsidian Help notes that you should set the vault folder to Always keep on this device to prevent OneDrive from offloading files.

Make sure you have set up OneDrive on your PC and create a folder for your Obsidian vault. Then select the name of your current vault in Obsidian to bring up the Manage vaults tool. Then use Open folder as vault to select your newly created OneDrive folder. Any new notes you create in this vault will be synced with OneDrive.

One benefit of using OneDrive is that it works with RemotelySave's free plan, meaning you can sync notes on Obsidian for free across devices. However, this requires a bit of setup and configuration.

1 iCloud

The most convenient solution

If you're a Mac and iPhone user, you'll be happy to know that iCloud has more full-featured support as an Obsidian cloud solution. Once you create an Obsidian vault that syncs with iCloud, you can access the vault on macOS, iPadOS, and iOS.

Like the other cloud solutions, the process is very similar and involves creating a new Obsidian vault in your cloud folder. Select your current vault at the bottom of the Obsidian app and click on Manage vaults. Then select the Create new vault option. You can enter a name for this vault that aligns with the cloud service you're using. Then select Browse to navigate to your iCloud Drive folder to create a new vault.

While iCloud Drive is also available on Windows, Obsidian states that using the Windows app may cause file duplication and corruption. So, this method is recommended for users in the Apple ecosystem.

Sync Obsidian with the cloud for free

You can easily sync your Obsidian notes with various cloud services for free, but keep in mind you should also keep a local backup of your notes in case something goes wrong. Syncing your notes between computers is simple, but additional tools are needed if you want to also sync Obsidian notes on Android. For Mac and iPhone users, your iCloud backup is available across your devices.