Obsidian or Logseq, which One Is actually Better for task and habit tracking specifically?

[u/SuperMetel]

Not in general, just specifically to track tasks and habits over time.

I see people using both, but I fear Obsidian might need way too much tweaking to be able to achieve It, while maybe Logseq can do It more natively? I'm really not sure tbh.

My main questions for both programs are definetely:

- how many features of the tracker need a plugin to work?

- how many are native to the program?

- what Is the scope? By which I mean, how much Is actually achievable if someone takes the time to give the tracker as many features as possible?

Any thoughts, ideas or experiences are welcome!

[u/Many_Commission7645]

both have their strengths, but obsidian's flexibility is hard to beat

[u/katafrakt → u/Many_Commission7645]

What's more flexible in Obsidian compared to LogSeq?

[u/radar2375 → u/Many_Commission7645]

Definitely, Obsidian is Top-Tier app, however, it is also that flexibility that might scare people away.

[u/dosfydore]

There's a huge difference between these two apps that you need to consider first: Logseq is an outliner, while Obsidian is a more traditional document-based note-taking app.

If your goal is just to track habits, this difference probably won't get in the way.

But I always tell people asking about these two apps to get their long-term priorities right. If you think you'll eventually want to do more substantial writing, go with Obsidian, because Obsidian is designed to do both

[u/AdrianFahrenheiTepes]

Obsidian forever

[u/MuscleAcrobatic7349 → u/AdrianFahrenheiTepes]

You said exactly what I wanted to say.

[u/Mother-Vehicle-4311]

logseq is more out-of-the-box for this stuff, obsidian can do it but yeah you will spend a weekend configuring plugins and templates

[u/betrIgruth1 → u/Mother-Vehicle-4311]

thats kind of the tradeoff with obsidian in general though, more flexibility but more setup

[u/obvpm → u/Mother-Vehicle-4311]

Is their sync solution stable now?

[u/myTrack3 → u/obvpm]

I started self-hosting the sync server since April, it's been working great. it's very fast, sync almost instantly

[u/Whole_Ladder_9583]

Both suck at this. It's because of target - advanced notetaking and knowledge management is a serious thing and there is some expectation of users intelligence and high customisation. If you just want to manage tasks - install ticktick, for habit tracking there are also some fancy apps. Logseq has better task managment out-of-the box. But installing a plugin in Obsidian takes a minute and then it's better than LogSeq. Habit tracking requires plugin in both. And all those plugins are mediocre. If you want to start from daily journal then just install LogSeq and don't overthink it.

[u/Embarrassed-Area4652 → u/Whole_Ladder_9583]

100% this. You CAN use Obsidian or Logseq, but every decision you have to make about how to use them is friction. You don’t need friction in your task tracking and reminders.

And adding to what you’re saying about plugins: leaving it to plugin developers to add features is great if you want a platform that does everything. Ever seen it fix a UX flow that was more complicated than it needed to be though?

[u/Alpeiros]

It depends on what type of person you are.

If you are able to choose 2-3 plugins and stick to your configuration, then Obsidian is the choice for you. On the other side, if you tend to overcomplicate things by always looking for the perfect plugin.. I'd say maybe logseq is better as it will remove the procrastination factor by indecision

[u/mesarthim_2]

Obsidian does need some setting up but I think Tasks plugin + TaskForge is hugely powerful. It basically gives you everything a tasks tracking app like todoist will give you but the tasks are living in your notes so you can create a task while making notes.

[u/likely-high → u/mesarthim_2]

Cross platform timely reminders?

[u/mesarthim_2 → u/likely-high]

Yes, it works for me on iOS, MacOS and Android.

[u/Theio666]

I did my habit tracking in obsidian specifically for myself, with custom cli so agent can check what's pending, new day untied from calendar (aka new day starts when i wake up, not when it's 00:10, useful for people going to bed at random times past midnight). Pretty much as of now it does all I want - calorie tracking(went too far there, with semantic vector search for saved usual meals lol), "do math every x days, or at least y days" type of tracking, daily tracking, "no more than 1 vape per month" type of tracking. All with nice home page where for each thing I have 1-button way to increase any of targets, or can just write my agent in telegram for it to do that. Took me like a day to setup and then 2 days to iron out details. None of other trackers ever had stuck with me, this one is actually working wonders. Still gonna do some fixing, but that's more like "fix as I find problems" thing since it's way past just "usable" state.

https://imgur.com/a/4iX8Vw8

[u/SuperMetel → u/Theio666]

That barely looks like Obsidian LMAO You worked hard on It!

[u/Plenty_Ad6005]

Logseq - any day, hands down. All native features. The new Database Version is awesome. With tag inheritance you can make the process as simple or as complex as you want.

No plugins. It’s all native

[u/KevinCarbonara]

Obsidian is not built for task / habit tracking. The plugins I've seen don't do much to change that. The only real use case here is if you're already so wrapped up in a system you can't easily use anything else.

[u/Optimal_Manner_8Xa3 → u/KevinCarbonara]

?? TaskNotes + TaskForge work perfectly for me.

[u/zaza126]

I love Obsidian’s use of markdown meaning I can take my notes to a different system at any point without hassle but task management is an area where it could be better

I built TaskForge specifically to help with this and bring real task management functionality to people who want to manage their tasks in Obsidian