Obsidian Sync is $10 a month for what is, under the hood, file sync. If you own a NAS, you already own a better file server. The point of moving your Obsidian vault onto it is not really the money, it is that every device you own sees the same vault, the sync path stays inside your network, and the backup story is whatever your NAS already does with the rest of your data.
The tricky part is that Obsidian expects a fast, byte-consistent local folder. Any sync tool that goes through a slow cloud round trip, silently renames files, or leaves half-written .tmp scraps around will corrupt a vault fast. We tested the seven best desktop apps for keeping an Obsidian vault on your own NAS, and here is which combinations survive daily use.
What to look for in a NAS-hosted Obsidian setup
Start with sync semantics. The tool has to handle conflicts on the same note when two devices edit it at once, not silently overwrite. It has to sync closed files consistently, not stream a partial write. And it has to preserve Obsidian’s .obsidian/ folder, where plugins and themes live. Any tool that filters dotfiles by default is out.
Look at how the vault is served. LAN-only SMB from your NAS is fastest and easiest, but only useful when you are on the LAN. A WireGuard or Tailscale overlay solves that. Watch the latency: a vault stored on a NAS across a slow VPN can turn every note switch into a two-second wait. Last, look at conflict recovery. Even the best sync tools sometimes produce a duplicate-file conflict; the tool that names it clearly (note-conflict-2026-08-29.md beats note (2).md) saves you the guessing game.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Paid tier | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obsidian | The client that reads the vault | Free | Optional Sync at $10/mo, Publish at $10/mo | The one part you keep no matter what sync you pick |
| Syncthing | Peer-to-peer sync across devices | Free, open source | Free | LAN-fast, cloudless, ignores nothing you tell it to sync |
| Nextcloud | Web UI on top of your NAS | Free, self-hosted | Paid hosted plans exist | WebDAV endpoint Obsidian mobile can point at |
| Self-hosted LiveSync | Real-time CRDT sync via CouchDB | Free plugin | Free | Merges edits from two devices without losing writes |
| Tailscale | Reaching the NAS from anywhere | Free tier for personal use | Paid plans for teams | Zero-config WireGuard mesh, makes SMB usable off-LAN |
| Resilio Sync | BitTorrent-based sync between devices | Free personal tier | Paid pro tier | Fast on large binary files that live near notes |
| TrueNAS SMB share | Simplest LAN-only vault | Free with your NAS | Free | The desktop client mounts the share, no third-party sync needed |
| Kopia | Off-site backup of the whole vault | Free, open source | Free | Encrypted snapshotting so a bad sync isn’t fatal |
1. Obsidian
Obsidian is the client, and the client stays the same no matter how you sync the vault. Install it on every desktop that will edit the vault, point it at the same folder, and make sure only one device writes to a note at a time. Obsidian’s Files & Links settings let you tune how paths get resolved, which matters when the vault is on a mounted share.
Where it falls short: Obsidian’s own Sync product is the smoothest experience by far. Rolling your own with a NAS is more work, and if you value your time at telco rates you should just pay for Sync.
Pricing: Free. Obsidian Sync is $10/mo, Publish is $10/mo, both optional.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Obsidian for desktop
Bottom line: the constant. Everything below is about how you serve the vault to it.
2. Syncthing
Syncthing is the default answer for a self-hosted Obsidian sync. It runs on your NAS (a package or a Docker image on every major NAS OS) and on every desktop, and it syncs a folder peer-to-peer over your LAN and the internet if you want. It respects .obsidian/ by default, does not touch closed files mid-write, and names conflicts predictably.
Where it falls short: it needs a persistent process on every device. Web UI is functional rather than pretty, and pairing new devices is a QR-code exchange.
Pricing: Free, open source.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Unraid.
Download: Syncthing
Bottom line: the pick for most people. Cloudless, fast on LAN, respects the vault.
3. Nextcloud
Nextcloud installed on your NAS gives you a proper WebDAV endpoint and a desktop client that syncs folders like Dropbox. The Nextcloud desktop app handles the vault as any other folder, and mobile Obsidian’s Remotely Save community plugin can point at the same WebDAV endpoint.
Where it falls short: Nextcloud is a lot of software to run for one vault. If you already have it for photos, calendar, and contacts, you barely notice; if you install it just for Obsidian, Syncthing is simpler.
Pricing: Free self-hosted. Hosted plans exist if you don’t want to run it.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Nextcloud desktop
Bottom line: best if Nextcloud is already part of your NAS setup for other reasons.
4. Self-hosted LiveSync
Self-hosted LiveSync is an Obsidian community plugin that syncs your vault through a CouchDB or Fly.io endpoint you run yourself. Because it uses CRDT-style merging under the hood, two devices editing the same note at the same time end up with both sets of edits merged, not a conflict file. That is the pitch, and for real-time multi-device editing it holds.
Where it falls short: you are now running CouchDB, and the vault is stored inside CouchDB rather than on the filesystem, which changes your backup story.
Pricing: Free.
Platforms: Any desktop where Obsidian runs. The CouchDB endpoint runs on your NAS.
Download: Community Plugins tab, search “Self-hosted LiveSync”.
Bottom line: the pick for readers who edit the same notes from a laptop and a phone at the same time and hate conflict files.
5. Tailscale
Tailscale is not a sync tool. It is what makes any of the sync tools above usable from outside your LAN. A Tailscale mesh network gives your NAS a stable, private hostname that reaches every device you own, so the NAS SMB share is reachable from a cafe the same way it is at home. Combined with Syncthing or an SMB mount, it removes the “sync only works at home” problem.
Where it falls short: it is a background service on every device. For pure LAN setups you do not need it.
Pricing: Free personal tier covers up to 100 devices.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Tailscale
Bottom line: install this if you want your vault reachable everywhere you go.
6. Resilio Sync
Resilio Sync uses BitTorrent under the hood, which makes it very fast when the vault is large or contains binary attachments (PDFs, images, audio). Setup is share-a-key rather than pair-a-device. Pro adds selective sync and priorities.
Where it falls short: the free tier caps some features, and Resilio is closed-source, which some readers avoid on principle.
Pricing: Free personal tier. Paid Home Pro adds selective sync and priority queues.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, most NAS OSes.
Download: Resilio Sync
Bottom line: worth trying if the vault is heavy on media and Syncthing feels slow.
7. TrueNAS SMB share
TrueNAS (or any NAS OS with SMB) is the most boring, most reliable way to host a vault: create a dataset, share it as SMB, mount it on each desktop, and open Obsidian pointed at the mounted path. There is no third-party sync tool at all. Every device that opens the vault reads it directly from the NAS.
Where it falls short: you can only edit the vault from LAN or a Tailscale overlay. If two devices open the same vault at once, Obsidian will complain. And a network hiccup is now the network hiccup that eats a save.
Pricing: Free with your NAS.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux (any client with SMB).
Download: SMB is built into most desktops; on Linux install cifs-utils.
Bottom line: the pick if you use one desktop at a time and value zero sync tooling.
8. Kopia
Kopia is not a sync tool; it is what you run in the background so that a bad sync is not fatal. Kopia snapshots the vault to a second location (another NAS, a B2 or S3 bucket, or a USB drive plugged into the NAS) and keeps encrypted, deduplicated snapshots you can roll back to. Any Obsidian-on-NAS setup should have Kopia or the equivalent running once a day at minimum.
Where it falls short: it is one more service to babysit. It also does not solve real-time recovery of a note you deleted five minutes ago; use Obsidian’s file recovery plugin for that.
Pricing: Free, open source.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, most NAS OSes.
Download: Kopia
Bottom line: whichever sync path you pick, run Kopia alongside it.
How to pick
For a straightforward setup that works on most days: install Syncthing on the NAS and on every desktop, and layer Tailscale on top so it works off-LAN. Add Kopia for daily encrypted snapshots. If you already run Nextcloud for photos and calendar, use it instead of Syncthing to avoid running two things. If you want two devices editing the same note in real time without conflict files, Self-hosted LiveSync is the pick. If you only edit the vault from one desktop and stay on LAN, an SMB mount from TrueNAS is honestly the most stable option and requires the least care.
FAQ
Can I self-host an Obsidian vault instead of paying for Obsidian Sync?
Yes. Any tool that syncs a folder across your devices works. Syncthing is the most common self-hosted answer; Nextcloud, Self-hosted LiveSync, or a plain SMB share also work.
Is it safe to keep an Obsidian vault on a NAS?
It is safe as long as one device edits it at a time (or you use a merge-aware plugin like Self-hosted LiveSync), the sync tool respects closed files, and you keep off-site backups. Kopia or the NAS’s built-in snapshotting handles the backup half.
Does Syncthing work with Obsidian mobile?
Not directly. Syncthing does not run on iOS. On Android there are Syncthing-compatible builds, but for mobile the smoother option is Nextcloud plus the Remotely Save community plugin.
What is the fastest way to sync an Obsidian vault on a LAN?
An SMB mount from the NAS is fastest; there is no sync at all, just direct file access. If you need real multi-device sync, Syncthing on the LAN is faster than any cloud round-trip.
How do I back up a self-hosted Obsidian vault?
Point Kopia at the vault folder on the NAS and send snapshots to a second location: another NAS, a cloud object store, or an external drive. Snapshot daily or hourly depending on how much editing you do.