Capacities vs Napkin (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Capacities grades higher than Napkin: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 4, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Capacities grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. Napkin grades higher on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Capacities
Object-based note-taking app with daily notes and backlinks
Napkin
iPhone app for saving quotes and ideas and revisiting them as flows
Which one is for you
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
Pick Napkin if
- Fits if you collect quotes from books and articles and want to see them again later
- Works for people on an iPhone who want a calm review habit more than a note library
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to try before paying, as there is no free plan or trial
- Skip it if you also write on a laptop: the desktop version was shut down and no replacement is promised
- Too light for notes with folders, long text or search, as it is built for short ideas
- Watch out: it needs iOS 26.0 or later, and the listing shows two pairs of subscription prices
How we grade them
| 2.6GPACapacitiesGood | 2.0GPANapkinFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DPro is $9.99 a month billed yearly, which is exactly where the dearest tenth of this category starts, and it's where tasks, smart queries, calendar, version history and the API all live. Want AI you can lean on? The Plus add-on is another $8.33 on top. | B$40 a year, or about $3.33 a month, which is the edge of the category's cheapest quarter. The listing also shows a $3 monthly and $30 yearly pair without saying why. |
| Free plan and trial | BBasic is free for good: unlimited spaces, objects and blocks, sync across devices, offline support, full-text search. One person could live on that. Media is the cap, 5 GB in total then 100 MB a month, and the Pro trial needs no card. | FNothing is free: the listing says a subscription is needed and shows no free plan or trial. |
| Features | BTyped objects with their own properties and templates, daily notes as an inbox, backlinks, a graph view, a web clipper, offline mode, and on Pro tasks, smart queries, calendar and an AI assistant. The gap is other people: no team plans, and sharing is view-only. | CIt does one smaller job fully: collect ideas by typing, dictating, scanning a book or sharing, then revisit them with AI topic suggestions. It isn't a notes library, and the desktop version was switched off on 30 June 2026. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and objects instead of folders is a different way of thinking that takes a while to click. Daily notes at least give you somewhere to put things on day one. | BNo store rating on record. You install it and share or type something in, with nothing to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android and a browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox. It hooks into Todoist, Things, Google Calendar, Readwise and Raycast, and takes notes in from WhatsApp, Telegram and email. | CiPhone only. No iPad, Mac, Windows, Android or web version, and no integrations listed. |
| Best for | notes built around people, books and projects | saving quotes and ideas on an iPhone |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Capacities and Napkin. How we grade
Price against what you get
Capacities starts at $9.99 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Napkin starts at $3.33 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3.
Capacities scores higher, and starts $6.66 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other note-taking apps on the chart, 15 score higher than Capacities for less, and 19 score higher than Napkin for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Capacities also covers linked notes, web clipper and daily notes.
- Napkin also covers dictation.
At a glance
| Capacities | Napkin | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $9.99 per month, billed yearly | $5 per month, or $40 per year |
| Free plan | Capacities Basic: unlimited spaces, objects and blocks, sync across devices, offline support and full-text search. Media uploads are capped at 5 GB in total, then 100 MB per month. | None |
| Free trial | Free trial of Capacities Pro, started in the app, with no credit card required. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Capacities Labs GmbH | Napkin GmbH |
| Price read from | capacities.io | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 4, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Napkin
- Runs on iPhone only; the desktop prototype was shut down on June 30, 2026, and no replacement is promised.
- The App Store listing says a subscription is needed to use Napkin, and it shows no free plan or trial.
- The listing also shows a second pair of subscription prices, $3 monthly and $30 yearly, without saying what differs.
- It requires iOS 26.0 or later.
Key features
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.
Napkin
- Share from other apps
- Send text from other apps to Napkin through the share sheet, or type an idea in with the keyboard.
- Flows of ideas
- Saved ideas are connected into short, curated playlists meant for quick moments of reflection.
- AI topic suggestions
- A personal AI reads your saved ideas and suggests topics you may want to look at again.
- Scan and dictate
- Scan a passage from a printed book or dictate an idea by voice instead of typing it.
Plans
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.
Napkin
All features, monthly$5
per month
Subscription with all features, billed monthly through the App Store.
All features, yearly$40
per year
The same subscription billed yearly, which works out to about $3.33 a month.
Ways to pay less
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.
Napkin
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Capacities or Napkin?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Napkin is cheaper to start with: $3.33 a month when paid by the year, against $9.99 a month for Capacities. Capacities starts at $9.99 per month, billed yearly, and Napkin starts at $5 per month, or $40 per year.
Which has a free plan, Capacities or Napkin?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Capacities has a free plan. Napkin does not.
Which platforms do Capacities and Napkin run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Capacities lists a web app, macOS, Windows, Linux and Android apps and a browser extension. Both list an iOS app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.