# Obsidian as a Media Tracker: Bases, Dataview, and Alternatives in 2026
**Published:** May 23, 2026
**Author:** Achriom
**URL:** https://www.achriom.com/blog/reddit-obsidian-tracker
> Obsidian's Bases and Dataview can build a working media tracker. Notion goes turnkey. Achriom adds cross-media AI. How to pick by what you actually want.
**Tags:** comparison, guide, obsidian
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**Obsidian can absolutely become a media tracker.** Plugins like Bases, Dataview, and Book Search turn your vault into a library with cover art, status pills, and reading logs. The tradeoff is real. You maintain the plumbing, your watch history doesn't talk to anything outside the vault, and there's no AI that knows what's in there.
If you already live in Obsidian and like building things, a custom setup gives you total control. If you want patterns across books, films, and music without configuring plugins, a dedicated tracker (or Achriom for the AI angle) gets you there in an afternoon.
_Last reviewed: May 2, 2026._
## What to look for in an Obsidian media tracker
A working setup needs four things:
1. **A schema for media notes**: title, creator, status, rating, date fields
2. **A view layer**: galleries, tables, or boards (Bases or Dataview)
3. **Data ingestion**: clipping covers and metadata without manual typing
4. **A query habit**: actually using the data once it's in there
Most builds nail one or two and quietly die at the others. The breakdown below maps which plugins handle which job, and where the seams show.
## Obsidian Bases (built-in, 1.7+)
**Best for:** A native database view inside your vault
Bases is the built-in database feature. Define a base file, point it at a folder of media notes, and you get a table or gallery view. No third-party plugin required for the most common tracker setup.
**What it does well:**
- Native, so it survives plugin churn
- Gallery view with cover images works out of the box
- Status pills and filters are simple to configure
- Plays well with the rest of your vault
**The limitation:** Schema discipline is on you. Forget to fill `status:` on a note and it falls out of every view. There is no recommendation engine. Importing 800 books from Goodreads still requires a script or manual entry. Free, included with Obsidian.
## Dataview
**Best for:** Custom queries and dashboards
Dataview is the long-running answer for treating notes like a database. Write inline queries (DQL or JavaScript) that pull stats, lists, and tables from frontmatter.
**What it does well:**
- Most flexible querying in the ecosystem
- Large community library of media tracker templates
- Supports calculations (average rating, books per month, rewatch counts)
- Renders inline anywhere in a note
**The limitation:** Performance degrades as your vault grows past a few thousand notes. Mobile rendering is uneven. Queries break when you rename fields. Free, plugin-based.
## Book Search and Movie Grabber plugins
**Best for:** Auto-creating notes from external sources
Plugins like Book Search, Movie Grabber, and Media DB Plugin fetch metadata and cover art from APIs (Google Books, TMDB, MusicBrainz) and create a note for each item. Pair them with Bases or Dataview for the view layer.
**What they do well:**
- Cuts the worst part of a manual setup (typing every title)
- Cover art comes through automatically
- Frontmatter is consistent enough to query later
**The limitation:** Plugin quality varies. Some are abandoned. APIs change and rate-limit. You're stitching three or four plugins together to get what a dedicated tracker does in one tap. Free, third-party.
## Notion
**Best for:** A turnkey database with views, no plugin stitching
Notion is the other "build your own tracker" option. Templates exist for books, films, and music. Galleries, tables, and Kanban boards are native. Sharing and collaboration are easier than in Obsidian.
**What it does well:**
- Nice gallery views with covers, no setup
- Web clippers work across browsers
- Notion AI can summarize notes inside the workspace
- Shared databases for households
**The limitation:** Your data lives on Notion's servers, not in plain Markdown. The mobile app is heavier than Obsidian. Notion AI doesn't have access to your media taste the way a purpose-built librarian does. Free tier covers most personal trackers, AI add-on is $10/month.
## Achriom
**Best for:** Cross-media library with an AI that knows your taste
Achriom is the dedicated, AI-first option. Books, movies, albums, TV shows, and anime sit in one library. An AI librarian reads across all of them for patterns. No plugin maintenance, no schema drift.
**What it does differently:**
- One library for five media types with no manual schema
- Conversational discovery ("what should I read after Severance?")
- Imports from Goodreads, Letterboxd, Apple Music, and CSV
- Private by default, no social pressure
- Free tier with unlimited items and 50 AI messages, Pro at $9.99/month for unlimited conversations
**The limitation:** Less customizable than a Markdown vault. You can't write arbitrary Dataview queries against your data. The tradeoff is depth of understanding versus structural freedom. If "I want it to look exactly like my Obsidian gallery" matters more than "I want patterns surfaced for me," stay in Obsidian.
## Quick comparison
| Setup | Cross-media | Setup time | Auto metadata | AI features | Price |
|-------|-------------|------------|---------------|-------------|-------|
| Obsidian + Bases | Manual | 2-4 hours | Via plugin | No | Free |
| Obsidian + Dataview | Manual | 4-8 hours | Via plugin | No | Free |
| Book Search / Movie Grabber | Per-medium | 1-2 hours each | Yes | No | Free |
| Notion | Manual | 1-2 hours | Web clipper | Notion AI | Free / $10 mo |
| Achriom | Built-in | 5 minutes | Yes | Yes (librarian) | Free / $9.99 mo |
## Which should you use?
**Use Obsidian Bases if:** Your vault is already your second brain and you want media inside it. You enjoy maintaining the schema and the view is the point.
**Use Dataview if:** You want custom queries and dashboards. Average rating per genre, books per month, rewatch frequency. You're comfortable writing DQL.
**Use Book Search or Movie Grabber if:** You're staying in Obsidian but want to skip the manual data entry. Pair with Bases or Dataview.
**Use Notion if:** You want a turnkey database with nice views and no plugin stitching. You're fine with cloud storage and the heavier interface.
**Use Achriom if:** You want one library for everything you read, watch, and listen to, plus an AI that talks about it. You'd rather spend an evening reading than configuring frontmatter fields.
## The honest answer
The right choice depends on whether the setup is part of the fun.
- **Vault-native, customizable:** Obsidian + Bases, optionally with Book Search
- **Power-user queries:** Obsidian + Dataview
- **Turnkey database, easy sharing:** Notion
- **Cross-media patterns and AI conversation:** Achriom
Plenty of people use both Obsidian and a dedicated tracker. Project notes, daily logs, and reading highlights stay in the vault. The actual library (the thing you query when picking what to read or watch) lives in Achriom. The two don't fight. They cover different jobs.
For Achriom scoped to a single medium, see [the book tracker page](/book-tracker/) or [the movie tracker page](/movie-tracker/). For more on what cross-media surface area gets you, read [How to find patterns in your media collection](/blog/how-to-find-patterns-in-your-media-collection/).
## Common questions
### Can Obsidian be used as a media tracker?
Yes. Obsidian's Bases feature (built in since version 1.7) and the Dataview plugin both turn frontmatter notes into queryable databases. Pair either with a metadata plugin like Book Search or Movie Grabber and you have a working tracker. The cost is setup and ongoing maintenance.
### What is the best Obsidian plugin for tracking books?
Book Search is the most-used plugin for fetching book metadata and covers into notes. For the view layer, either Bases (native) or Dataview (more flexible). Most popular tracker templates on the Obsidian forums combine Book Search with Dataview.
### Is Obsidian Bases better than Dataview for a media tracker?
Bases is simpler and native, with cleaner gallery views. Dataview is more powerful, with arbitrary query support. Pick Bases for a clean tracker with minimal setup. Pick Dataview if you want stats, dashboards, and complex filters across thousands of notes.
### What is the difference between Obsidian and Achriom for tracking media?
Obsidian is a Markdown vault you customize into anything, including a media tracker. Achriom is a dedicated cross-media library with an AI librarian that already knows what you've read, watched, and listened to. Obsidian is configurable and local. Achriom is conversational and connects books, films, albums, TV, and anime out of the box.
### Can I use both Obsidian and Achriom together?
Yes, and many people do. Keep reading highlights, daily notes, and project work in Obsidian. Track the actual library in Achriom. They cover different jobs and don't overlap much in practice.
### How do I export my Obsidian book notes into a dedicated tracker?
Most trackers accept CSV. Use a Dataview query to export your media frontmatter (title, author, status, rating, dates) as a CSV, then import into Achriom, Goodreads, or Letterboxd. Achriom's importer also accepts Goodreads and Letterboxd CSVs directly if your notes originally started in those platforms.