Atlas vs Capacities (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Atlas if

• Fits if you read many papers and want answers that point to the passage
• Works for people who build notes from a set of sources

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you stay free: 5 AI messages and 10 sources
• Pricey if you need the AI: $16 a month billed yearly, double the category's dearest-tenth threshold of $10
• Watch out: no exact figure is given for paid AI usage
• Watch out: custom research skills and the highest-capability model are Pro only, at $32 a month

Pick Capacities if

• Fits if you think in people, books and projects rather than folders
• Works for people who jot in a daily note first, or send things in from WhatsApp or email

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you need a shared team workspace, as there are no team plans and sharing is view-only
• Pricey if you want tasks, AI, calendar or version history, which need Pro at $9.99 a month billed yearly
• Not for you if you need end-to-end encryption, which its own documentation says it doesn't have
• Watch out: Pro's AI has a monthly budget, and raising it is the Plus add-on at $8.33 a month on top
• Tight if you store a lot of media on free, capped at 5 GB in all and then 100 MB a month

Atlas

• The free plan allows 5 AI messages and 10 sources, so it works as a trial of the AI features.
• AI usage on paid plans is described as hundreds of chats a month, with no exact figure given.
• Priority support, custom research skills and the highest-capability model are limited to paid tiers.
• The pricing table lists a Chrome extension and mobile apps without naming stores, so only web and extension are listed here.

Capacities

• There are no team or organization plans, and sharing is limited to view-only access to notes.
• Task management, the AI assistant, calendar integrations, smart queries, version history and API access all need Pro.
• The free plan caps media uploads at 5 GB in total, then 100 MB per month.
• Capacities is not end-to-end encrypted, as its own documentation states.

Atlas

Chat with citations

Ask about one paper, the whole library or the wider literature, with answers traced to the page and passage.

Knowledge map

Breaks a paper into its argument structure, relationships and timelines, with multi-level zoom.

Semantic map

Plots sources in a project to show how they connect from different angles.

Paper search

Searches over 200 million papers from a research question and adds matches to a project.

Notes and export

Notes that Atlas writes and edits with you, exportable to PDF, Word, Markdown and text, with citation styles and BibTeX.

Capacities

Object types

Every note is a typed object, such as a person, book or project, with its own properties and templates. Objects can be shown as lists, galleries, tables or cards.

Daily notes

One note per day works as an inbox for quick thoughts. Content can also be sent in from WhatsApp, Telegram or by email.

Links, backlinks and graph view

Links between objects work in both directions. A backlinks panel lists every reference to an object, and a graph view draws the whole network.

AI assistant (Pro)

AI chat, property auto-fill and analysis of web links and images, limited by a monthly budget. The Plus add-on raises that budget.

Smart queries, tasks and calendar (Pro)

Pro adds saved queries, task management with actions for apps such as Todoist and Things, and calendar integration for Google, Microsoft, Apple and CalDAV.

Offline mode and web extension

Offline mode lets you open, create and edit content without a connection. A browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox saves pages to a space.

Atlas

• Free$0

  Unlimited notes and projects, semantic and knowledge maps, up to 10 sources and 5 AI messages.

• Plus$16

  per month, billed yearly ($192)

  Hundreds of AI chats a month, unlimited sources, multi-step synthesis and literature-indexed citations. Monthly-billing price is not shown on the page text read.

• Pro$32

  per month, billed yearly ($384)

  Everything in Plus with 2x the AI usage, saved custom research skills and the highest-capability AI model for answers.

Capacities

• Capacities Basic$0

  Unlimited spaces, objects, blocks and custom object types, with sync and offline support. Media uploads up to 5 GB, then 100 MB per month.

• Capacities Pro$9.99

  per month, billed yearly

  Adds task management, an AI assistant with a monthly budget, calendar integrations, smart queries, version history, API access and unlimited media uploads.

• Capacities BelieverFrom $12.49

  per month, billed yearly

  Everything in Pro, plus beta access to major new features. Positioned as the plan for supporters of the team.

• Plus AI Power-Up (add-on)$8.33

  per month, billed annually, on top of Pro or Believer

  Optional add-on with a substantially larger monthly AI budget and one-time or automatic top-ups.

Atlas

• Annual discount

  Save 20% with yearly billing

  The pricing page marks the Yearly option with a 20% saving over monthly billing.

Capacities

• Annual discount

  16% lower price with yearly billing

  The pricing page marks yearly billing as 16% cheaper than monthly billing for Pro and Believer. The Plus add-on includes 2 months free when billed annually.

• Education

  40% off annual plans for students

  Students can apply with proof of enrollment for a 40% discount on the annual plan of Capacities Pro or Capacities Believer.