Determine Sync's storage limits by size of local vaults, not by consumed server space

Use case or problem

I want to:

  • choose the right subscription plan for Sync and/or
  • prune an existing vault when the limits of a plan are reached.

I find it difficult to:

  • understand how the size of a remote vault can be much larger than the size of the local vault
  • identify what to prune, eg delete a complete remote vault or delete a local file or delete a remote file or …
  • identify where to prune, ie locally or remote
  • understand the timing of the pruning process

Proposed solution

Determine the storage limit not by the size of the remote vault, but by the size of the local vault. For example: Sync Standard could support the full synchronization of vaults that take up to 1GB on the local device (plus maybe a size limit for individual files).

a) It would make size management simpler for users:

  • The size of a local vault can be controlled by the user. They can easily determine in their local Obsidian app how big the vault is.
  • The size of a remote vault depends on factors that can not be controlled directly by the user, like the retention period of the version history and the frequency of syncing.

b) It would make it easier to understand the concept of Sync. Obsidian Sync syncs local vaults. The remote vault is just an intermediary storage and nothing that users should interact with directly.

c) It would make the pricing model easier to understand. To find the right plan, users only have to

  • count the local vaults that they want to sync
  • add up the total size of those vaults

Obsidian’s philosophy is local files first. Why not apply the same philosophy to Sync?

Current workaround (optional)

The current workaround is to follow the procedures described in Obsidian’s help pages: https://help.obsidian.md/sync/plans

1 Like

Yes. Under the current system users are charged for something they can’t directly control. Charging by the size of the local vault is much clearer. I don’t know what the norm is for other services, but I believe neither iCloud nor Dropbox count file versions against the storage limit.