Capacities
Standard Notes
| Feature | Capacities | Standard Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $9.99/mo | Free / from $7.5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | knowledge-workers, researchers, students, networkers | privacy-focused-users, journalists, professionals, researchers |
| Founded | 2021 | 2016 |
| Object Types | ✓ | ✗ |
| Daily Notes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bi Directional Links | ✓ | ✗ |
| Tags | ✓ | ✓ |
| Media Embedding | ✓ | ✗ |
| Graph View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Encryption | ✗ | ✓ |
| Themes | ✗ | ✓ |
| Editors | ✗ | ✓ |
| File Attachments | ✗ | ✓ |
| Two Factor Auth | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Capacities Pros
- Unique object-based approach
- Daily notes with automatic linking
- Beautiful and intuitive interface
- Bi-directional linking built in
✗ Capacities Cons
- No mobile app yet (web only)
- Limited export options
- No API for integrations
✓ Standard Notes Pros
- End-to-end encrypted
- 100-year company promise
- Cross-platform
- Open-source
✗ Standard Notes Cons
- Basic free version
- Fewer features than Notion
- Limited formatting
The Verdict
Capacities is built for knowledge workers and researchers, with a focus on object-types and daily-notes. Standard Notes targets privacy focused users and journalists and leads with encryption and themes.
Pricing is close: Standard Notes starts at $7.5/mo versus $9.99/mo for Capacities — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Both tools are a solid fit for researchers — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.