Capacities
Freemium Last verified: September 2026Object-based note-taking app that organizes thoughts around typed entities like people, books, ideas, and projects
What is Capacities?
Capacities is a newer note-taking app (launched 2022, Berlin-based) that tries to solve the "messy notes" problem with a completely different mental model: instead of folders or tags, every piece of content you capture is a typed Object. You don't just write a note about a book, you create a Book object with fields like author, rating, and status, linked to a list of highlights, linked to People who recommended it, linked to Projects where you used ideas from it. Out of the box, Capacities comes with sensible default types like Daily Note, Page, Person, Book, Movie, Podcast, Meeting, Tag, and more, and you can create custom types with your own properties. The result feels like a cross between Notion's databases and Obsidian's knowledge graph, but with far less setup required, the structure is already there. Capacities added AI chat with your content in 2024, letting you ask questions across your entire space and get answers with citations. The daily notes flow, combined with inline object creation, is especially loved by journalers, researchers, and anyone trying to build a "second brain" without spending weeks configuring Notion databases. Capacities is cloud-based (data synced via their servers) with a generous free Basic tier, a paid Pro plan, and a Believer subscription for supporters who want beta access. Note that the plan structure shifted since our last review: unlimited spaces and unlimited custom object types are now part of the free plan, and Believer is sold as a recurring subscription rather than the old one-time five-year purchase. It is one of the most opinionated yet accessible note apps on the market in 2026.
Capacities demo video
Watch Capacities's official demo to see Capacities in action before reading our full review.
Official video by Capacities via YouTube, embedded for reference. ToolChase does not host or claim this video.
⚡ Quick Verdict
Knowledge workers who want the structure of a database without configuring Notion, especially readers, researchers, and daily journalers
Teams needing real-time collaboration, or users who want local-first markdown files
Free Basic · Pro $12/mo ($120/yr) · Believer $15/mo ($150/yr), monthly or yearly
Yes, and unusually generous: unlimited spaces, objects, blocks, and custom object types, plus offline support and full-text search. Media uploads capped at 5 GB total, then 100 MB per month
Object types give you the benefits of a database without any setup work, and they are free
Cloud-only (no local files), and the AI assistant is a paid Pro feature, not part of the free plan
Bottom line: Capacities scores 4.3/5, The best note app for people who tried Notion databases and gave up because it was too much work. Pro ($12/mo, or $120/yr) is worth it if you use Capacities daily.
Pricing
Basic (free): Unlimited spaces, objects, and blocks, unlimited custom object types, sync across all devices, full import and export, view-only sharing, full-text search, offline support, and saving content from WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, or email. Media uploads are capped at 5 GB total, then 100 MB per month afterwards.
Pro: Everything in Basic plus the AI assistant, task management, task actions, calendar integrations, smart queries, related content, smart search, formulas for tables, a curated icon set, extra extensions such as Raycast and Webhighlights, API access, and unlimited media uploads subject to fair use. A free Pro trial is available inside the app with no credit card required.
Believer: A recurring subscription, billed monthly or yearly, priced above Pro and cancellable at any time. Features are identical to Pro; what you get on top is beta access to major features before release and a direct line into the roadmap.
Discounts: Capacities states that Believer cannot be purchased at a discount. For students there is a waiting list you can apply to for Capacities Pro rather than an automatic discount. There are no team or organizational plans.
Note (checked August 2026): Capacities renders its prices in the browser in your local currency, so the exact Pro and Believer figures could not be read from outside the app. Pro is $12/month or $120/year and Believer is $15/month or $150/year, read from Capacities' own pricing data in August 2026.io/pricing for the current amount in your currency. The old Believer offer, a one-time payment covering five years, is no longer sold.
Key Features
- Typed objects, every piece of content is a structured type with properties
- Daily notes flow with automatic linking to people, projects, and tags mentioned
- Built-in types for Book, Movie, Podcast, Person, Meeting, Tag, Project, and more
- Custom types, create your own object types with custom properties
- AI chat across your content with citations back to source objects
- Queries, filter and group objects dynamically in pages
- PDF annotation that turns highlights into linked objects
- Collections, filter and group objects across types
- Cross-platform, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, web
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Structured out of the box, no weeks of Notion database setup required
- Daily notes flow encourages consistent capture and linking
- AI chat works well with typed objects as context
- Free Basic plan is unusually generous: unlimited spaces, objects, and custom types
- Active, responsive developer team shipping updates frequently
Cons
- Cloud-only, no local markdown files or local-first option
- Team collaboration is limited compared to Notion
- AI assistant, queries, and calendar features are Pro-only, the free plan has none of them
- Prices are only rendered in-browser in your local currency, which makes them hard to compare
Popular comparisons:
Capacities vs Notion AIFAQ
Is Capacities worth the $12/month Pro plan?
For users who stick with it, yes, but check what you are actually buying in 2026. Capacities has moved unlimited spaces and unlimited custom object types down into the free Basic plan, so structure by itself is no longer a reason to upgrade. Pro is now what unlocks the AI assistant, smart queries, calendar integrations, task management and task actions, formulas for tables, extensions such as Raycast, API access, and unlimited media uploads under a fair-use policy. It sits in the same bracket as Notion with AI. Capacities shows prices in your local currency and only renders them in the browser, so confirm the exact figure on capacities.io/pricing before subscribing.
How is Capacities different from Notion?
Capacities ships with pre-built typed objects (Book, Movie, Person, Project, etc.) and every piece of content you create gets a type automatically. In Notion you would build those databases yourself, configuring properties and relations manually. Capacities is more opinionated and gives you structure immediately. Notion is more flexible but requires more setup. Pick Capacities if you want structure without work. Pick Notion if you want to build custom systems.
Does Capacities have AI?
Yes. Capacities added AI chat in 2024, letting you ask questions across your entire space and receive answers with citations linked back to the objects the AI referenced. As of August 2026 the AI assistant is a paid feature: Capacities lists it under Pro, and the free Basic plan's feature list does not include it. Believer includes everything in Pro, so it covers AI as well.
Can Capacities replace Obsidian?
For structured note-taking and daily journaling, yes. For local-first markdown and complete data ownership, no. Obsidian stores files on your disk and has a huge plugin ecosystem. Capacities is cloud-based with structured objects and built-in AI. Pick Capacities if you want built-in structure and don't mind cloud storage. Pick Obsidian if privacy, longevity, and customization matter most.
Does Capacities work offline?
Partially. Capacities lists offline support as part of the free Basic plan, so you can create and edit notes offline and they sync when you reconnect. AI features require an internet connection since they call cloud LLMs. Capacities is not local-first in the Obsidian sense, your data lives on their servers, but it is generally reliable offline for reading and writing.
What are Capacities Spaces?
Spaces are Capacities' version of separate workspaces. You can have multiple spaces for different contexts (personal, work, a specific project) and each space has its own objects, types, and data. As of August 2026 the free Basic plan includes unlimited spaces, objects, and blocks, so spaces are no longer a paywalled item. Capacities is not primarily a team tool like Notion or ClickUp, and it states it does not offer team or organizational plans at all.
Is the Believer plan worth it?
The Believer plan changed. It used to be sold as a one-time multi-year purchase; as of August 2026 Capacities sells Believer as an ordinary recurring subscription, billed monthly or yearly, priced above Pro, and cancellable at any time. Feature-wise Believer and Pro are identical, so you are not buying extra functionality: what you get is beta access to major features before they ship, a direct line into the roadmap, and the knowledge that you are funding a bootstrapped team. Capacities also states Believer cannot be bought at a discount. Treat it as patronage with early access attached, not as a cheaper route to Pro.
📋 Good to know
Sign up at capacities.io, create your first Space, start with daily notes and let object types emerge from your writing. Import from Notion, Obsidian, or markdown is supported.
GDPR compliant (Berlin-based). Data encrypted in transit and at rest, stored on EU servers. AI features use OpenAI but content is not used for training. Export at any time as markdown.
Pro for the AI assistant, smart queries, calendar, task actions, and unlimited media uploads. Unlimited spaces and custom types are already free, so upgrade only if you want those Pro features. Believer is a recurring subscription that adds beta access on top of Pro.
Moderate. The object model takes a few days to internalize but the app guides you with sensible defaults.
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