Real-time collaboration in Obsidian with Peerdraft

Real-time collaboration in Obsidian is finally getting a practical answer: Peerdraft adds live, simultaneous editing to Obsidian notes with low latency and minimal setup, using a peer-to-peer connection mediated by a web app. The core pitch is simple—stop bouncing ideas into Google Docs just to brainstorm together. Instead, collaborators can open the same Obsidian note, start a shared session, and type at the same time with changes appearing instantly.

Peerdraft works through two components: an Obsidian community plugin and a Peerdraft web app. In Obsidian, a user starts a “sharing session” from the command palette, which copies a session link to the clipboard. That link is sent to a collaborator, who joins via the web app; the actual document edits then travel peer-to-peer between the participants using WebRTC, with end-to-end encryption. The web app mainly acts as the rendezvous/middle layer that helps peers find each other and establish the connection.

Setup is straightforward but not entirely invisible. After installing the plugin, Obsidian may need a restart. The plugin then asks for a name, and users can connect an existing subscription or begin on a free tier. Peerdraft offers a “Forever Free” plan that allows 2.5 hours of use per month; the pro plan costs $30 per year and removes the time limit. During testing, the collaboration behaved like a true live editor: one person on Obsidian and another in the browser could both type, and the note updated quickly enough to support real brainstorming rather than delayed copy/paste workflows.

The experience also comes with clear tradeoffs. There are no read-only permissions—anyone with the link can edit. Collaboration is asymmetric: at least one participant must be using the browser, and the other must be using Obsidian; both can’t be in the browser, and “Obsidian-to-Obsidian” simultaneous editing isn’t available yet. Once the shared session ends, edits and session activity don’t persist on Peerdraft, and there’s no post-session record of who typed what. A particularly practical drawback surfaced during testing: there’s no notification when someone joins, so collaborators can effectively “lurk” without being obvious—unlike Google Docs, where presence is visible.

Peerdraft’s limitations also reflect its security posture. The service is closed source and not self-hostable, so confidential notes may not be a fit. The developer, Dominik Schlund, says the server’s role is limited to session setup and peer discovery; it doesn’t see the document content. He also notes that usage metadata like session duration is stored to support the free-tier gating.

Compared with alternatives, Peerdraft is positioned as the most seamless option for true simultaneous editing. Obsidian Sync is the official syncing/collaboration route, but it can require both parties to pay and still produced conflicts during shared typing tests. Etherpad Lite, while workable, was described as less real-time because it involves pushing note content out to a hosted editor and pulling it back.

Peerdraft isn’t perfect, but it targets the one weakness that pushes many writers back to Google Docs: editing the same note at the same time. If that’s the goal—fast, low-latency co-writing without a complicated workflow—Peerdraft is built to deliver it now, with future requests focused on better editing and Obsidian-to-Obsidian collaboration.