How many emails do you need? Choosing an Email2Obsidian plan

The plans at a glance

Per email, the math is small. Used fully, Starter works out to under 1 cent an email, and Pro to under half a cent.

Estimate your monthly emails

Here's a quick method that works for most people:

1. Think of a typical day and count the emails you'd send to your vault: forwards, captures, receipts.
2. If you mostly capture on workdays, multiply by 22. If you capture every day, multiply by 30.
3. Add a little headroom for busy weeks.

So 5 a workday is about 110 a month (Starter). 12 a day, every day, is about 360 a month, which means Pro.

Example workloads

These are illustrations to help you estimate, not data from real customers.

• Trying it out

  A handful of receipts, a booking confirmation and a few ideas from your phone.

  Fits: Free (10 emails in total)

• Grad student

  One or two forwarded journal alerts or supervisor emails a day, plus a few phone captures. About 60 to 90 a month.

  Fits: Starter

• Consultant

  Around 8 client emails, meeting recaps and receipts per workday. 8 × 22 workdays is about 180 a month.

  Fits: Starter

• Heavy capturer

  25 or more a day across work and personal life, split between two vaults. That's 750 or more a month.

  Fits: Pro

• Pro all year

  You already know Pro fits and you'd rather pay once.

  Fits: Pro Annual, for the 10% saving

One thing to watch for the heavy capturer: paid plans have a daily cap of 200 emails, which is far above what a person sends by hand but can matter for a broad automatic rule.

Do you need multiple vaults?

Only Pro routes emails to different vaults, using @@VaultName in the subject. If you keep everything in one vault and organize with folders and tags, Starter is enough. Pro makes sense when you keep work and personal life, or separate clients, in separate vaults. See routing to multiple vaults with @@VaultName.

What happens if you run out

When you've used your monthly allowance, new emails stop being added until it returns. We'll send you a reminder, at most every 3 days, so it doesn't catch you off guard. Upgrading refills your allowance right away.

The daily cap works a little differently. Free allows 10 a day, and paid plans 200 a day. Emails over the cap aren't added, and they don't use up your allowance either.

Unused emails don't roll over. Each month starts fresh.

Keep usage down without missing anything

You don't need a bigger plan if you're a little more selective. Keep automatic rules narrow (one sender, one subject keyword) rather than "everything from work". Forward the newsletter issues you actually want to annotate, not every issue. And tag as you send, so what does arrive is already useful. Our Outlook rules guide has examples of narrow rules, and receipts and invoices shows a low-volume, high-value setup.

Students and discounts

There's no student or education discount. For most students, Starter at $2.49 a month is the usual fit: 300 emails covers a steady stream of reading alerts, supervisor emails and quick captures. Start on Free to test it before you pay anything. More in email to Obsidian for students.

Billing basics

• Cancel anytime. You keep access until the end of your billing period.
• There are no pro-rata refunds, with exceptions for billing errors and duplicate charges. See the refund policy.
• Notes you've already received stay in your vault. They're your files.
• Payments go through Stripe, and your card details never touch our servers.

Is it worth paying vs free alternatives?

Honestly, not for everyone. If you capture a few emails a month, copy-paste or a free plugin may be all you need. One caveat on free options: at the time of writing (November 2026), the Email to Vault plugin routes mail through third-party mail.tm servers and advises against sending sensitive data.

If you'd value a sender allowlist, a 72-hour retention limit, attachments up to 25 MB and tags from the subject line, Starter costs $2.49 a month. For more on how we handle your email, see privacy and retention.