For a scannable feature and pricing comparison, see Capacities vs Obsidian on the marketing site.

Obsidian is local-first networked note-taking: Markdown files, folders, wikilinks, tags, daily notes, and a rich plugin ecosystem. You customize almost everything; power and portability come with setup and maintenance.

Capacities is object-centric—a hosted app where every piece of content is an object with a type, title, properties, and body. Sync, search, and integrations are built in—you trade the open file on disk for a structured studio with fewer moving parts.

If you already have a workflow you love in Obsidian, there is no reason to leave. If you feel overwhelmed by plugin setup, want richer backlinks out of the box, or want the structure of typed objects without having to build it yourself, Capacities is aimed at that.

At Capacities we spend a lot of time thinking about every way we can enhance the knowledge work process for individuals, regardless of what you use the app for. Whether you're a student, a researcher, a developer, or use Capacities for your own personal use, we're building Capacities for you. We know you care about the work you do, and we care about making the workflows and thinking around your work easier, so you can spend more time on the things that truly matter for you. No more tinkering with complex systems, no more endless setups or searching for a note you know you wrote down somewhere. Just simple, elegant systems that get out of the way and let you do your best work.

Concept mapping

Day-to-day differences

Plugins and decision fatigue

Obsidian’s strength is extensibility: core and community plugins, themes, and snippets. That can mean endless tweaking instead of writing.

Capacities deliberately limits surface area: many features work without plugins. You still customize object types, layouts, and views, but not every pixel or behavior.

Backlinks

Obsidian’s backlinks panel is functional; previews are plain and depend on your theme and plugins.

Capacities emphasizes backlinks at the bottom of each object with layouts that honor formatting and media, plus filtering and sorting as the space grows.

Object-based note-taking

Obsidian notes are files; “types” are usually conventions, folders, or templates you enforce yourself.

Capacities gives each object a type (for example Page, Book, Meeting, Person). Sidebar browsing by type, templates, and properties are first-class. Pasted images and uploaded PDFs can become typed objects automatically.

Tags

Both use tags to structure content. In Capacities, opening a tag can show objects and blocks in list or wall views, filter by properties, and surface related tags; tags can be embedded for dashboards.

Reusing content visually

Obsidian users often combine Dataview, Canvas, and other plugins for dashboards and visual layouts.

Capacities builds in small and wide cards, linked blocks, editable embeds, and list/gallery/wall/table views for types, collections, and tags. No plugin installation required.

Time and calendar

Daily notes exist in both; in Obsidian they are optional. In Capacities, time is central: calendar, multi-day layouts, “created on this day,” and references/timeline sections on each day.

Specific features

Export and portability

Obsidian: Notes are Markdown on disk; plugins may add syntax that does not travel cleanly to other editors.

Capacities: Export to Markdown on demand (options for media, wikilinks, headings). No community-plugin surprises in the source format; moving tools still takes judgment and cleanup.

Offline and sync

Obsidian: Local files; sync is your choice (or official paid sync).

Capacities: Hosted sync with an offline mode to access, create, and edit content; some features (integrations, AI) need the network.

Data residency and encryption

Obsidian: You hold the files; encryption is up to you and your stack.

Capacities: Data is stored on Capacities servers so search, sync, and integrations can work. The product is purposefully not end-to-end encrypted, which would block core functionality. The company is EU-based and GDPR-focused; see the data protection memo.

Canvas and spatial boards

Obsidian: Canvas is a native spatial canvas.

Capacities: No Canvas equivalent; many users combine embeds, queries, and views instead.

What doesn't map 1:1

Local-first and “my disk, my files”

Capacities is not local-first. If plain Markdown in a folder is non-negotiable, Obsidian remains the natural choice.

End-to-end encryption

Capacities does not offer E2EE; Obsidian users who rely on local-only or encrypted vault patterns should weigh that carefully.

Plugin and theme ecosystem

Anything Obsidian does via community plugins may lack a direct Capacities counterpart; the tradeoff is fewer sharp edges and less maintenance.

Canvas

Heavy Canvas users may not find a single replacement; other visualization paths exist but not a duplicate tool.

Team and philosophy

Capacities is built by a small, bootstrapped team based in Europe. Our philosophy is to prioritize clear concepts, stability, and a calm product over endless customization, as outlined in our product principles.

We aim for powerful but opinionated defaults, with features that integrate deeply rather than a long list of toggles. When making product decisions, we default to simplicity, coherence, and long-term maintainability so the tool stays approachable as your workspace grows.

FAQs

• Can I keep working in Markdown on disk?
  Not as the live source of truth. Capacities stores data in the app; you export to Markdown when you want files.
• Will backlinks feel like Obsidian?
  Similar idea, richer presentation and filtering in Capacities without extra plugins.
• What about my plugin workflows?
  Expect to rebuild key patterns with built-in types, queries, and embeds—there is no plugin marketplace.
• Is there offline access?
  Yes, with limitations: offline mode supports core content; integrations and some features need connectivity.