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Productivity · head to head

Capacities vs Microsoft 365

Capacities logo

Capacities

Productivity

A studio for your mind with object-based notes

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft 365 logo

Microsoft 365

Productivity

Subscription bundle of the Office applications with mail, storage, meetings and organisational identity

From
$7/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Capacities has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Capacities pro plan pricing not prominently displayed on website; Microsoft 365 business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • They diverge on capability: Capacities covers Object-based notes, Microsoft 365 covers Office applications.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Capacities and Microsoft 365 actually diverge.

Attributes where Capacities and Microsoft 365 differ
AttributeCapacitiesMicrosoft 365
Starting priceFree$7/month
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, AndroidWeb
Founded2020Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Capacities

  • Object-based notes
  • Daily notes
  • Properties and relations
  • Graph view
  • AI assistant
  • Readwise
  • Web clipper
  • GDPR

Only in Microsoft 365

  • Office applications
  • Hosted services
  • Teams
  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • OneDrive storage
  • Device management and endpoint protection
  • Purview compliance
  • Copilot

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Capacities

  • Productivitynot Microsoft 365
  • Collaborationnot Microsoft 365
  • Task managementnot Microsoft 365
  • Organizationnot Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365

  • Any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill.not Capacities
  • A company standardising on single sign-on, where Entra ID becomes the account other services authenticate against.not Capacities
  • Regulated work that needs retention, legal hold and eDiscovery across mail and documents, provided the tier that includes them is actually bought.not Capacities
  • A household that needs installed Office applications on several machines rather than browser-only editing.not Capacities

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Capacities

  • Pro plan pricing not prominently displayed on website
  • Smaller community and ecosystem compared to Notion or Obsidian
  • Limited third-party integration marketplace

Microsoft 365

  • Business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • The compliance capabilities most organisations eventually need, including retention, data loss prevention, advanced eDiscovery and insider risk, sit at the top tier or in add-ons, so the real cost surfaces after an audit or a customer questionnaire rather than at purchase.
  • Annual term subscriptions commit you for the year and month-to-month terms cost measurably more per seat, so the flexibility to reduce seats during a quiet period is bought at a permanently higher rate.
  • Entra ID becomes the identity for everything else the organisation uses, which is the hardest kind of lock-in to put a number on, because leaving means re-federating every connected application rather than simply replacing a word processor.
  • The licensing model is complicated enough that most organisations are either over-licensed or quietly non-compliant, and reconciling it usually requires a partner or a specialist, which is a recurring cost that never appears in the advertised per-user figure.

Pricing, plan by plan

Capacities

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Unlimited spaces and objects
    • Device synchronization
    • Unlimited custom object types
  • Pro$10/month
    • Everything in Free
    • Unlimited notes
    • Advanced graph views
  • Believer$149.88/year
    • Everything in Pro
    • Beta access to new features

Microsoft 365

$7/month
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7/month
    • Email and calendar with 50 GB mailbox
    • Web and mobile versions of Office apps
    • Microsoft Teams included
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard$14/month
    • Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
    • Email and Teams
    • 1 TB cloud storage per user
  • Microsoft 365 E5$60/month
    • Comprehensive security and compliance
    • All productivity apps
    • Advanced analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Capacities if

  • You need object-based notes.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android.
  • You also want daily notes.
Capacities review

Choose Microsoft 365 if

  • You need office applications.
  • You also want hosted services.
Microsoft 365 review

Questions people ask

Is Capacities or Microsoft 365 better?
Neither clearly leads. Capacities starts at Free and Microsoft 365 at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Capacities or Microsoft 365?
Capacities has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Capacities and $7/month for Microsoft 365.
Does Capacities or Microsoft 365 run on more platforms?
Capacities runs on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android. Microsoft 365 runs on Web.
Can I use Capacities for free?
Yes. Capacities has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Microsoft 365 starts at $7/month.
What is Capacities best used for?
Capacities is most often used for productivity, collaboration, task management, organization. Of those, productivity and collaboration are not what Microsoft 365 is typically brought in for.
What can Capacities do that Microsoft 365 cannot?
Capacities covers Object-based notes, Daily notes, Properties and relations, Graph view. Microsoft 365 covers Office applications, Hosted services, Teams, Microsoft Entra ID.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Capacities: What platforms does Capacities support?

Capacities is available on Web, Desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux), and Mobile (iOS, Android), allowing seamless work across devices.

Source
Microsoft 365: What is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office?

Office was a one-off licence for a specific version. Microsoft 365 is a subscription covering the applications and the hosted services together, and when payment stops the applications drop to a reduced state rather than continuing as they were.

Capacities: Does Capacities have a free plan?

Yes, Capacities offers a free plan with unlimited spaces, objects, and blocks, device synchronization, unlimited custom object types, and 5GB media uploads total.

Source
Microsoft 365: Is Teams included?

Not automatically for newer customers. Microsoft unbundled Teams and now sells it alongside the suite, so check what a given quotation actually covers.

Capacities: What AI features does Capacities include?

Capacities includes an AI Assistant available on Pro and higher plans for brainstorming, summarization, and contextual Q&A about your notes.

Source
Microsoft 365: What happens to our files if we stop paying?

The documents remain yours and can be downloaded, but access to hosted mailboxes and sites ends after a retention window, so leaving requires a planned export rather than a cancellation.

Microsoft 365: Is Copilot part of the subscription?

No. It is a per-user add-on on top of the base licence, generally with its own term commitment, and it is priced per seat regardless of how much any individual uses it.

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