Kanka vs Obsidian Portal

Kanka is a web-based worldbuilding service and RPG campaign manager for organizing ideas, creations, and campaign settings. It is intended for game masters, worldbuilders, players, writers, and content creators, and can be used with any tabletop RPG system or without one. Campaigns can organize material across about 20 categories, including characters, locations, items, quests, journals, calendars, events, and abilities; owners can disable categories they do not need. Members can receive roles that control what they can see and do, and owners can preview a campaign from a member’s perspective. Worldbuilding tools include linked relations, timelines, custom calendars, layered interactive maps, and a rich-text editor with @mentions. The REST API is available to all accounts and can support scripts, backups, bots, dashboards, VTT integrations, and data synchronization. Kanka has a free plan and annual paid plans from $4.16/mo. It can also be self-hosted, though premium features are unavailable there and the team does not provide self-hosting support. There is no dedicated mobile app, but the interface adapts to smaller screens.

Obsidian Portal is a web-based campaign management site for tabletop role-playing groups. Its campaign wiki lets players organize game material in a shared campaign website, with a calendar, adventure log and character tracker to support campaign management. The service says it works with any game system and setting. The free Basic plan costs nothing and includes two campaigns, 2 MB per campaign and one map. Ascendant costs $5.99 a month and includes unlimited campaigns, 10 GB per Ascendant GM and 10 maps, as well as custom styling, player secrets, email notifications, selectable JavaScript capabilities, a dice roller and a campaign forum. Ascendant also offers public, friends-only or private campaigns. The service provides an API for developers creating tabletop tools or enhancing gaming experiences. Its privacy policy says member email addresses are not shared with third parties and users can choose public, limited or private access for their information. Support is available through a knowledge base, community forums and email, with a stated aim to follow up within 24 hours.