---
title: "Obsidian RAG vs True RAG"
aliases: [rag-comparison, when-to-use-rag]
tags: [rag, knowledge-management, architecture, decision]
sources: [raw/Karpathy's Obsidian RAG + Claude Code = CHEAT CODE.md]
created: 2026-04-15
updated: 2026-04-15
---

# Obsidian RAG vs True RAG

When does structured markdown beat a vector database? Almost always, for solo operators.

## Key Takeaways

- Obsidian RAG wins for <5,000 docs, solo/small team, personal use
- True RAG wins at scale: millions of docs, multi-user, production apps
- Start with Obsidian — scale to RAG only when you hit the ceiling
- The audit step makes Obsidian RAG self-improving; vector stores are static

## Where Obsidian RAG Wins

| Factor | Obsidian RAG | True RAG |
|--------|-------------|----------|
| Setup | 15 minutes | Hours/days |
| Infrastructure | Zero | Vector DB, embeddings, hosting |
| Human-readable | Yes — browse your own wiki | No — black box |
| Self-improving | Yes — audit loop | No |
| Output compound | Yes — answers feed back in | No |
| You get smarter | Yes — you read and learn | No — just get chunks |
| Cost | Free (subscription already paid) | API costs per embed/query |

## Where True RAG Wins

| Factor | When RAG is needed |
|--------|-------------------|
| Scale | 5,000+ documents |
| Bulk ingestion | 500 new docs at once — compiling takes hours |
| Semantic fallback | If index misses it, Obsidian misses it |
| Multi-user | Production apps, teams need real infrastructure |
| Speed | Large-scale retrieval needs sub-second response |

## Decision Rule

```
Solo operator or small team + <5,000 docs → Obsidian RAG
Multi-user or production or massive scale → True RAG
Unsure → Start with Obsidian, migrate if needed
```

The upgrade path: if you outgrow Obsidian RAG, you have a well-organized markdown wiki that maps cleanly into a vector store. Starting with Obsidian forces good information architecture.

## Related

- [[wiki/obsidian-rag/karpathy-llm-wiki-approach|Karpathy's LLM Wiki Approach]]
- [[wiki/obsidian-rag/claude-code-obsidian-setup|Claude Code + Obsidian Setup]]
