A detailed comparison table of Notion, Capacities, and Obsidian, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses across features such as offline access, file ownership, media handling, backlinks, plugins, and database capabilities. | Criterion | Notion | Capacities | Obsidian | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Local or online | Notion offline is rubbish. Have to click option make this page available offline | Capacities seems to be local as long as you have synced. | Local files with very efficient, fast sync. The best. | | Who owns the files | On server. Export is possible. | On server. Export to check | You own the files 100% on local machine | | Exporting | Exporting is possible, of databases and whole workspace | Not tested export but options exist | Exporting never required, files are local. | | Importing content, media | Importing possible. Multiple files? Test importing multiple files to Notion | Content and objects easily sent one by one to capacities on mobile, on desktop web with browser add-on. But bulk import of pages severely lacking. Development in progress. | Import is easy. Particularly for bulk files, media. Txt to convert extension to md. | | Use of images | Images are embedded, only accessible from the embedded page. No central image repository. | Capacities provides a "way in" to your content through a central linked repository of images | Images can be displayed in a base, accessed through backlinks, but this is less convenient. | | Additional content on images | Notion does have good features to comment on almost any object. | I love that you can add content to an image | Images are only described in the context of linked note. You could create additional notes to fully describe images but not as intuitive as capacities | | Backlinks and context | Backlinks are hard to access, not well implemented | Capacities thrives on links, backlinks and context. | Backlinks are efficient, an available on side panel or in document but this is an option by note file (less convenient). | | Use of blocks | Notion uses blocks. | I actually really like blocks. In capacities they are easy to use and multiple blocks easily selected. | Obsidian doesn't use blocks. Note files are text only. Moving "blocks" requires adding a heading and moving in the outline | | Use as an editor | Editing is unstable, or it was. I gave up using Notion as an editor. | Editing seems generally solid | Obsidian is the most stable editor, no doubt. No lag. Local files. | | Plugins | Notion still doesn’t have tasks. The only way to create tasks in Notion is to create a tasks database with manual links to context. And backlinks to tasks are inefficient. | Capacities pro includes a useful tasks function | Obsidian thrives on plugins. Most useful is tasks. But there are 2,600. Including link to Antidote grammar checker, find orphan files and broken links. | | Annotate pdf plugin | No plugins in Notion to annotate a pdf | No plugins in Capacities to annotate a pdf | The annotate pdf is a very useful plugin in obsidian. Otherwise requires adobe reader. | | Graph view | Not integrated, uses Graphify, but initial test failed | Capacities graph view is the most useful | I initially came to obsidian for graph view. But there’s something wrong with it. | | Databases | This is where Notion excels. Databases, properties, views and filters are easy to create. Although display is limited to record pages. | Capacities isn’t for databases, it’s for linked content, background and research material. But not volume databases. | Obsidian notes are easy to turn into databases with the new bases core plugin. | | Formatting | Notion can use coloured text easily | Capacities can use coloured text easily | Obsidian can only highlight, italic or bold. | | [Text to Speech](https://feedback.capacities.io/b/1v35e680/feature-ideas/text-to-speech) requested on Feedback | No TTS to my knowledge | TTS on Edge but doesn't always work. TTS of a PDF. | There is an excellent TTS plugin (Aloud) for Obsidian | | Document aliases | No aliases in Notion | No aliasss in capacities | Obsidian allows you to create aliases to refer to documents. Useful for long documents | | Document properties | Documents have properties when in a databases | Custom objects can have properties | Any note file can have YAML properties and enable it to be selected in a base. | | Bases | You create databases in Notion | Create collections | Any note file can be included in a base. This is a big advantage of obsidian | | Sharing | Notion is good at sharing based on a single url and you can publish a page. Also pages can be collaborative with team comments. | A capacities page can be shared by url. Is it a public page or does recipient need a capacities account? No collaboration? | An obsidian page can only be shared within obsidian or if published with obsidian publish (extra cost). No collaboration. Obsidian is a personal knowledge tool. | ## PKMS App market There are many more apps than before. The granddaddy of note-taking was Evernote, but now, every time I go on Reddit there are more. Whether they describe themselves as note-taking, productivity, task managers or pkms systems. ## Summary description of Capacities Capacities has improved dramatically since its release. The most valuable improvement has been the addition of a working mobile app, which was already operational for obsidian and notion. Although the Notion app was for a long time online only. These days it seems pointless to have an online-only app in the face of obsidian. Capacities is a thinking environment. ## Summary of Obsidian Obsidian is a powerful note-taking and knowledge-management app that centers on local Markdown files and a linked thinking workflow, enabling bidirectional links, graph visualization, tags, and powerful search to build a personal knowledge base. It emphasizes privacy, offline access, plugin extensibility, and a flexible, non-linear approach to organizing ideas, making it popular for researchers, writers, and lifelong learners who prefer a self-hosted, customizable environment over cloud-only solutions. In Obsidian, the priority is on local notes first, which can be used anywhere. See [[Obsidian Features and Plugins for Action Notes]]. ## Notion data management system Notion is a flexible, cloud-based workspace that combines note-taking, databases, and collaboration within a block-based system. It excels at creating interconnected databases, views, and templates suited for personal and team projects, documentation, and knowledge management. However, its reliance on an online platform with limited offline capabilities and concerns over data ownership makes it best for users seeking a highly flexible, collaborative environment, though heavy or complex content can impact performance. See [[Example Databases, Likes and Dislikes in Notion]]