Capacities Alternative: Linko vs Capacities for Notes on What You Read

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You finish a long article on the train home and want to keep one line from it. In Capacities, that line can go into today's daily note. Later you can link it to the Book or Person object it's about, or turn it into an object of its own and fill in its properties. Capacities' own guide puts it plainly: "Your first question is 'What kind of note is this?'"

Some people love answering that question. Others notice that a month of lines is still sitting in their daily notes, waiting to be sorted. This page is for them.

Last updated: November 9, 2026. Facts about Capacities come from capacities.io and its documentation on that date, with links. Some Capacities features named here aren't on every account; capacities.io lists which. In Linko, how many resources get Key points depends on your plan; the help center has the details. We make Linko, so read this as a comparison from one side, and check anything that matters to you.

The short answer

Capacities is a strong choice if you like structure: you define types like Book, Person and Meeting, give them properties, and build views and queries on top. It has desktop apps, works offline, and pulls in highlights from Readwise and Kindle.

Linko is a notes app for the lines you write while you read and watch. You don't design a structure first; you write the line. Linko files it into the topics that fit, shows related notes beside it, and later brings your notes back in Daily review as questions.

So both apps ask you a question. Capacities asks when you keep a note: what kind of note is this? Linko asks later, in Daily review, about what your notes said.

If you enjoy building and tending your system, stay with Capacities. If you want to write a line and have it come back to you without sorting it, try Linko on the web.

Capacities and Linko side by side

Capacities details as of November 9, 2026, from capacities.io and its docs.

What Capacities does well

• Structure that fits real things. A Book has an author and a rating, a Person has an organization, a Meeting has attendees. Templates and views (lists, galleries, tables) come with each type (product page).
• Links in every direction. Mention a person or a project and Capacities makes a two-way link. Every object shows what points to it, and a graph view shows the network.
• Daily notes as a home base. Every day has a note, and every new object is linked to its day. You can send thoughts from WhatsApp, Telegram or email straight into it.
• Many ways in. Highlights from Readwise, Kindle and Web Highlights arrive in your daily note. Tasks go out to apps like Todoist and Things, and calendars like Google and Outlook connect.
• Desktop and offline. Apps for Mac, Windows and Linux as well as iOS, Android and the web, and you can read and write without a connection (offline docs).
• Search that finds different wording. Search has exact and semantic modes and works offline, so a note turns up even when you don't remember its words (search docs).
• Your data in the EU, and easy to take with you. Notes are hosted on EU servers (product page), and a full export gives you Markdown and CSV with links kept.

Where Capacities asks more of you

These come with a tool built on structure. They're worth knowing before you start.

• Capacities' way is to make the notes you keep into typed objects. The guide says: "Create new notes as objects of that type instead of filing them into a folder," after you add the properties that type always needs (object types vs folders). If your notes are mostly short thoughts from what you read, that decision comes up many times a week.
• The daily note can turn into a pile. The docs describe it as a place for unfinished thoughts that you link or turn into typed objects "when you are ready". The sorting step is still yours.
• Old notes come back when you open something related. Related Content and backlinks show up on the object you have open. Spaced repetition is on Capacities' list of things it isn't building yet (what's not next), so nothing schedules an old note to come back to you.
• The AI overview lives on the desktop. The reader view works on desktop, iPhone and iPad, but the AI overview of a saved link runs only in the desktop app, and Capacities' browser extension saves links but doesn't highlight (Capacities' extension docs).

How Linko handles the same jobs

A line from a talk. Open Linko on your phone and type it, or record a voice note and Linko writes it down. You don't choose a type or a folder. Linko reads it and files it into the topics that fit, and into your Auto-organize tags when they fit. Under Related notes, you may see a line you wrote months ago on the same idea from a book. See Tags and topics.

An article. Save it from the browser extension or your phone's share menu. Its page in Linko shows what it says, your notes on it and Key points, a section-by-section read. Select a passage and choose Note this to quote it in a new note, then add one line of your own underneath. See What Linko adds to a resource.

A YouTube video. Key points split it into sections, and each section's time plays the video from there. Note this section keeps one part as a note.

A book. Add it by title or author and mark it Reading. Every note you write about it links to the book, so the book's page gathers what you thought while reading.

A month later. Daily review shows you a question Linko made from one of your notes. You think of the answer, then choose Show answer. There's nothing to rate, and a note with no question just asks whether you remember it.

Say you've been trying to read more, and the question comes from the line you kept from the talk: "People keep the habits that match who they think they are." You open the note, and Related notes may show the passage you saved months ago from a book about running, where the author only kept going once she started calling herself a runner. You write a new note: stop counting pages, and start calling yourself someone who reads at lunch. Then use Link note to link it to the line from the talk and to the book passage.

In Review settings you can lean toward recent or older notes, and pick which tags and topics to include. See Daily review.

When you want to find something. Search with the words you remember. If nothing matches, Linko looks for notes with the same meaning. Or ask: "What have I saved about habit change?" Ask Linko answers from your notes and Cited lists the sources it used. See Find an idea you half remember.

You can still organize by hand. Make your own tags and nest them, remove a topic Linko picked and add a better one, and link two notes yourself. Linko just doesn't ask you to do it first.

When to choose Capacities

• Your notes are about things with fields: people you meet, projects, recipes, papers with authors and years. Typed objects and properties fit that well.
• You want queries and table views over your notes, tasks tied to projects, and your calendar beside your daily note.
• You work in a desktop app all day, on Mac, Windows or Linux, or you need full offline use.
• You read and highlight in Readwise or on Kindle today and want those highlights flowing in now.
• You like shaping your system, and the shaping helps you think.

When to choose Linko

• Most of what you write is a line or two while you read or watch, across several interests.
• You've tried building a structure and stopped keeping it up.
• You want old notes to come back on their own, as questions, instead of waiting for you to look.
• You learn from YouTube as much as from articles and books.
• You want to note one part of a video and jump back to it later: Key points list each section with its time.

Linko is the wrong pick if you need a native desktop app, a browser extension for Firefox or Safari, custom fields, tasks or a calendar. It's also the wrong pick if you mostly save and rarely write: Linko is built around the lines you write.

Moving notes between them

Capacities exports your whole space as Markdown, CSV and media files (export docs). Linko can't import from other apps today. A light way to start is to pick the notes you still return to, paste them in as new notes, and let Linko file them.

Going the other way, Linko exports a Markdown ZIP of your notes, resources and tags from Settings → Data on the web. See Privacy and export.

You can also keep both: Capacities for projects and people, Linko for what you read and watch.

If Linko sounds like the better fit, start on the web and write your first note about whatever you're reading this week.

FAQ

What is the best Capacities alternative?

It depends on why you're leaving. For local Markdown files and plugins, look at Obsidian. For a team wiki, Notion. For notes on what you read and watch that you don't want to sort by hand, try Linko: it files notes for you and brings them back in Daily review.

Is Capacities good for reading notes?

Yes, especially on the desktop. Saved links get a reader view with highlights, PDFs can be marked up, and Readwise and Kindle highlights can flow in (some of this isn't on every account; check capacities.io). What it doesn't do today is bring old notes back on a schedule; spaced repetition is on its "not next" list.

Does Linko have object types like Capacities?

No. Linko has note types (Insight, Excerpt, Idea, To-do and Log) and separate pages for articles, videos and books, but you can't define your own types or properties. If you need custom fields, Capacities is the better fit.

Can I use tags in Linko?

Yes. Tags are yours and can nest, and Linko also files notes into topics, so one note can sit under several of each. There are no folders.

Can I export my notes from Capacities?

Yes. Capacities exports your space as Markdown, CSV and media files with links kept, and can do it on a schedule while its desktop app is open. Linko can't import from other apps today.

Which one works with Claude and ChatGPT?

Both. Capacities has connectors for ChatGPT, Claude, Le Chat, Cursor and others. Linko is in Claude's connector directory and can be added to ChatGPT; the AI can search and read your notes and save new ones, but can't delete them. See Linko for AI tools.

Does Linko work offline like Capacities?

Only partly. The phone app keeps what's already on your phone readable and holds new notes until you're back online; search, editing existing notes, Ask Linko and the web need a connection. If you need full offline use, Capacities is the better fit.

More comparisons: Linko vs Obsidian, Linko vs Mem, and Linko compared with other apps.