E
ECapacities vs Semantic Scholar
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
C
Choose Capacities if…
- you work on macOS, Windows, Linux
- you're in its core audience: writers, researchers
S
Choose Semantic Scholar if…
- you're in its core audience: researchers, students
Side by side
Feature Capacities Semantic Scholar
Pricing modelFreemiumFree
Starting price$9.99/moFree
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Trains AI on your contentNo—
Data retentionAI providers store data only temporarily; no permanent storage of content—
Backlinks & graph—
Meeting transcription—
MCP connector—
PlatformsWeb, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, APIWeb, API
CategoryNotes & KnowledgeResearch Assistants
CompanyCapacities Labs GmbHThe Allen Institute for AI
Based inGermany—
Founded20222015
Part of—Ai2
Key features
C Capacities
- Custom object types with properties
- Backlinks, graph view and daily notes
- Related content and unlinked mention detection (Pro)
- AI assistant and image, PDF, weblink analysis (Pro)
- Task management with actions to Todoist and Things (Pro)
- AI Chat Connectors for ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor (Pro)
- Import/export to Markdown, CSV and more
- Capture via WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter and email
S Semantic Scholar
- Search across 239+ million scientific papers
- Coverage of all fields of science
- Semantic Reader augmented reading for select papers (beta)
- Developer API with paper search
- API documentation, tutorials and gallery
- Free user accounts
- Resources for librarians and publishers
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
Capacities
Capacities BasicFree
Capacities Pro$9.99/month
Capacities Believerfrom $12.49/month
Plus AI Power-Up$8.33/month billed annually
Semantic Scholar
FreeFree
Strengths and limitations
Capacities
- Free plan includes unlimited objects, sync and offline support
- Apps for web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android
- Full export to standard formats
- EU hosting, GDPR compliant
- AI, tasks, whiteboards and API require a paid plan
- Pro includes only a light AI budget; regular use needs the Plus add-on
- Built for individuals, not team collaboration; sharing is view-only
- Free plan media uploads capped at 5 GB, then 100 MB/month
Semantic Scholar
- Free to use
- Indexes over 239 million papers from all fields
- Public API with documentation and tutorials
- Built by the nonprofit research institute Ai2
- Semantic Reader is in beta and only works on select papers
- No mobile apps listed
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Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy