I would say they’re both notes-based. I say “right in the middle” because the NotePlan dev recently introduced backlinking.
I’m not crazy about the way backlinks display. The multi-level nesting under a toggle drives me nuts. I realize that it provides context, but I can get that context, if I want it, by actually clicking on the backlink. I much prefer Notion where backlinks are concerned.
I also need tables for some of the things I do. I know it’s on the roadmap, but it’s not here yet.
All of that said, it also took me quite a while to wrap my head around Notion, so it’s entirely possible that Craft will start to click for me in time. I just don’t have the time to deal with it right now as I prepare online courses to start in February. Fortunately, my subscription’s good until December. 
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I checked NotePlan out but I need to use a more robust task manager like Things or OF. I also don’t really need calendar focused notes, which is why I’m not using Agenda. My notes are very project, meeting, and/or person focused. My main need is a solid note taking app that I can link notes to emails, calendar, tasks, etc. and conversely from those to the relevant note(s). It is also important for me to be able to use Markdown and bulk export notes as md or plain text files if needed. Based on my needs thus far Craft is working better. That said, it is not perfect for my needs but I have yet to find an app that is. I should probably stop looking for the Holy Grail of note apps. 
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I’m curious, have you looked at Obsidian? Mobile apps should not be long now. 
Yes and I’m using it for PKM on a book project.
But the truth is I’ve not considered it for “normal” note taking.How is you experience with it for that purpose? One of my issues–my wife says I have many! – is linking emails to notes. I use Apple Mail but could use Spark if this can be done. Any experience with this?
I already have it linked to DEVONthink so once DT comes out with their revised iOS app and we have Obsidian’s, this could be a marriage made in heaven, if not the Holy Grail. Hmmm, now you have given me something to think about.
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message: links from Mail seem to work fine just for me on Obsidian.
If you happen to not have yet a way to fetch those links, you can refer to a bunch of ways to create those links already posted on this Forum, such as this one
$39/$49 per month?
I cannot imagine this will get any traction other than in Enterprise settings - and maybe not even there.
What is the killer feature which supports this pricing?
Any kind of link works in Obisidian, even URL schemes, so direct links to emails form Apple Mail, Spark, Airmail and the like will work just as fine as DT ones
I’m using Obsidian for everything now, regular note taking, Zettelkasten, journaling and even lists of stuff I want to read or watch. I’m basically navigating it mostly via quick open and have a Keyboard Maestro macro that opens it from everywhere on my system; I don’t even have to remember where the notes are, I just type a few words and they come up. My vaults can be as messy as they want, it works beautifully and I barely put any kind of order there - only when I feel the need. Things that need to grow will grow on their own!
(If you’re interested in deeper PKM workflows, I would recommend the Linking Your Thinking workshop by Nick Milo - so, so much better than BASB)
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DEAR GOD I HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT AND THEY ARE GOOD
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Yes, I’ve been testing them and so far so good.
@anon85228692 thanks for the input; I’ll check out Linking Your Thinking workshop by Nick Milo. I’ve been using Obsidian for research note linking and it works well for that. The biggest issue I’m running into is when I try to use it effectively on the iPad. I took several of my Craft notes and recreated them with links in Obsidian. They work perfectly on MBP and in DT but, some of the links do not work when I try them in 1Writer, which is the app I understand I should use until Obsidian releases a mobile version. Have you run into similar limitations? What do you use on mobile for Obsidian?
I’ve been following @ryanjamurphy advice and using Noteplan as my iOS Obsidian client. Sync is awesome and search is instantaneous, but there are a lot of features on Obsidian Editor there are lacking in Noteplan.
Still, it’s probably the most reliable way to access and create notes on Obsidian.
If you want to give it a spin, there’s the link to Ryan’s excellent tutorial:
https://forum.obsidian.md/t/using-noteplan-as-an-obsidian-companion-iphone-and-ipad-compatibility/7699
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Who says the mobile apps shouldn’t be long now? I’ve searched for their updates in Discord and have found nothing outside of a confirmation that they’re on the road map…at some point.
“Soon” and so on are never timelines you should depend on.
That said, they’ve said they’re aiming to work on it in early 2021, and I believe they’ve started on it.
Edit: You don’t need to take my word for it after all: https://discord.com/channels/686053708261228577/771575014382108672/796118837841756230
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It does look like they’ve started on it, but it’s still “very far”. I really like Obsidian, but if you work on an iPad a bunch you loose most of what there is to like about it.
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I’ve asked on the supporter channel. Among the last two big roadmaps items remaining, WISYWYG edition and mobile apps, I’ve been told the latter will come first. That’s why I’m saying “soon” (it’s a Blizzard “soon”) but we know how fast they work.
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Sorry, I’m not using Obsidian on mobile, I’m just using Drafts for capture at the moment. Since I’m stuck at home I don’t have a need to explore this yet, so I’ll be using the mobile apps when they come out.
I’ve decided to give Craft a try instead of Curio for planning research, mainly because it works on iOS, and I’m really impressed so far. I recreated all of my Curio projects and everything was easily migrated (with a lot of copying and pasting). I like the interface so far, and have no issues with using it. Having all my data shared across my devices will be awesome.
@Rob_Polding thus far your experience with Craft is mine. I also like the fact that one can bulk export all Craft files in multiple formats. This is critical and far more robust than Obsidian.
Export Options
Markdown, TextBndle, PDF, and MS Word.
Result
Notice that Craft retains the folder structure when doing a bulk export.
While I like Obsidian, I found significant limitations yesterday, e.g., trying to share out or even copy a formatted markdown file. It was not possible to copy the formatted markdown file. As an example, I took an Obsidian note and wanted to share it to Mail, or at least copy and paste the formatted markdown file to a Mail message, but could not find a way to do so from Obsidian. I could copy and paste the markdown file with no problem but I don’t want to send professional emails in markdown. I could be missing something but if not, the inability to easily share out a formatted markdown file from Obsidian limits its usefulness as a note taking app.
While Crafts Share Sheet extension is missing within the app, the developer told me that that is a feature currently being worked on (I gave him specific input on this feature) as well as the ability to create tables. Moreover, Craft’s linking features are robust enough to serve as both a decent PKM system and work related note taking app.
At this point, it seems that Craft meets most of my needs with new features coming. I haven’t figured out if it is possible to index Craft files to DEVONthink, which would be ideal but not necessary.
I explored Curio but it was too fiddly for my purposes.
For those interested in a good overview, this YouTube video is a a good place to start:
Obsidian does not have robust export capabilities because it does not need to: it has Markdown files living on your disk. Just fire up your Markdown editor of choice and share or export things from there. It’s like DEVONthink in that regard. Its job is not to be a full document editing suite but a knowledge repository; there are many options for more advanced formatting and sharing and they work out of the box.
You could even have Ulysses index your vault (be careful to not have it erase the Obisidan formatting upon import though, as it will want to take over your notes with its own brand of Markdown)
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