Smart Connections
Local-first related-note discovery for Obsidian
Overview
Smart Connections is an Obsidian plugin from Brian Petro (Jobsi, Inc.) that shows notes and passages related in meaning to the one you are writing, using a bundled local embedding model with no API key. The source-available core is free; a Pro All-access subscription adds inline connections, Smart Graph, API chat and MCP access.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 12 Oct 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- Related notes and passages pane
- Connections at the foot of each note
- Lookup semantic search
- Local embeddings, no API key or account
- All Pro plugins while subscribed
- Inline paragraph-level connections and ranking controls
- Smart Graph, Context Pro and Chat Pro
- Connect Pro: local MCP, CLI or remote GPT
- Same as monthly
- New Pro plugins included automatically
Use cases
What you can produce with Smart Connections
- Related notes and passages shown for the note you are working on
- Vault indexing with a bundled local embedding model, no API key or account
- Search the vault by meaning with the Lookup view
- Connections at the foot of each note, including on mobile
- Matches sent to Smart Context to build reviewable context for any AI chat
- Inline paragraph-level connections and Smart Graph (Pro)
- Vault tools exposed to AI apps through local MCP (Pro)
Smart Connections does one job well: it surfaces related notes and passages beside the note you are writing, using a local embedding model with no API key or account. Chat and every API model integration have moved out into a separate Smart Chat plugin, with API chat a paid Pro feature, and the core is source-available rather than open source.
It suits Obsidian users with large vaults who want private resurfacing of old notes. Expect rough edges from an issue tracker of nearly 500 open issues, and treat Pro at $30 a month as a power-user purchase.
What we found
Smart Connections is the flagship of the Smart Plugins for Obsidian, built by Brian Petro and run by Jobsi, Inc., and it shows about 1.2 million downloads in Obsidian's community directory. It surfaces notes and passages related in meaning to the one you are working on, in a side pane or at the foot of the note, and its Lookup view searches the vault by meaning. A bundled local embedding model indexes the vault with no API key and no account, so nothing leaves the machine by default, and it works on mobile.
Two changes matter for anyone reading older reviews. First, chat is no longer inside Smart Connections. It moved to a separate Smart Chat plugin, whose free version saves links to conversations held at ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini rather than calling models itself; all API-based model integrations, cloud and local, now sit in the paid Smart Chat Pro. Second, the code is not open source in the usual sense. The repository carries a Smart Plugins License Agreement that allows use and modification but bars competing general-purpose products, and the README itself calls the core source-available.
The paid side is a single subscription, Smart Connections Pro All-access, at $30 a month or $299 a year after a 14-day free trial. It unlocks paragraph-level inline connections and ranking controls, Smart Graph, Context Pro, Chat Pro and Connect Pro, which exposes vault tools to outside AI apps through a local MCP server or a CLI while Obsidian Desktop is running.
The issue tracker holds nearly 500 open issues, including reports of Obsidian freezing during indexing and of local embeddings failing to load on Linux. The latest public core release is 4.7.2, from August 2026. It suits Obsidian users on reasonable hardware who want private related-note discovery; anyone wanting AI answers composed from their notes will be paying for Pro or using another plugin.
Compiled by RECATOOLS from public sources: vendor documentation and pricing, code repositories and published reporting.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Smart Connections's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Smart Connections unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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