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Comparison · Collab
Capacities vs SiYuan
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Capacities and SiYuan — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Capacities vs SiYuan: at a glance
What is Capacities?
AI stopped being a bundled feature at Capacities and became the thing you buy more of
Capacities ships a numbered release every few weeks across its knowledge-base app — objects, tabs, the editor, presentation mode — with AI threaded through most of them. Recent releases added a choice of AI model provider, chat connectors, image analysis for Pro users, and in July a full public API. The newest release introduces Pro+ and Believer+, optional paid add-ons that raise the monthly AI budget and sell top-ups on top of it.
What is SiYuan?
SiYuan re-tagged the same 3.8.2 changelog three times in thirty hours
The 3.8.2 line is a cumulative train: every tag republishes the full release list rather than a delta. Beta.1 was the superset, and beta.2, beta.3 and beta.4 all landed within thirty hours carrying a byte-identical changelog. The substance in that shared list is editor ergonomics (scrolling the viewport without moving the caret, configurable cursor surrounding lines), a broad mobile pass (configurable bottom bar, swipe gestures, marketplace access), and continued build-out of the AI Agent introduced in 3.8.0.
Capacities vs SiYuan: editorial side-by-side
Capacities
3.8COLLAB
AI stopped being a bundled feature at Capacities and became the thing you buy more of
◆ Current state
Capacities ships a numbered release every few weeks across its knowledge-base app — objects, tabs, the editor, presentation mode — with AI threaded through most of them. Recent releases added a choice of AI model provider, chat connectors, image analysis for Pro users, and in July a full public API. The newest release introduces Pro+ and Believer+, optional paid add-ons that raise the monthly AI budget and sell top-ups on top of it.
◆ Where it's heading
Two arcs are converging. The first opened the product up: API 2.0 made the knowledge base programmable, and connectors let outside assistants reach it. The second is now closing around cost — AI has moved from a bundled capability to a budgeted one, and the new tiers charge for consumption rather than for features. Read together, Capacities is treating the knowledge base as the durable asset and inference as a metered resource priced separately from it.
◆ Prediction
Expect AI budget to become an explicit dimension of the plan comparison, with limits and top-up sizing tuned in follow-up releases. The entries do not show how the budget is measured, so the unit being sold remains unclear.
SiYuan
6.3COLLAB
SiYuan re-tagged the same 3.8.2 changelog three times in thirty hours
◆ Current state
The 3.8.2 line is a cumulative train: every tag republishes the full release list rather than a delta. Beta.1 was the superset, and beta.2, beta.3 and beta.4 all landed within thirty hours carrying a byte-identical changelog. The substance in that shared list is editor ergonomics (scrolling the viewport without moving the caret, configurable cursor surrounding lines), a broad mobile pass (configurable bottom bar, swipe gestures, marketplace access), and continued build-out of the AI Agent introduced in 3.8.0.
◆ Where it's heading
Two surfaces are absorbing most of the work. The Agent keeps gaining reach rather than changing shape — image upload in agent chat, independent execution across sessions, skill inline markers, kernel log access for error analysis — all extensions of the capability 3.8.0-alpha.1 established. The plugin API is the other growth area, adding roughly a dozen hooks this cycle covering dock visibility, link interception, asset upload interception and breadcrumb buttons.
◆ Prediction
With four betas out and the changelog frozen since beta.1, the next tag in this line is most likely a 3.8.2 stable release.
Alternatives to Capacities and SiYuan
Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Capacities or SiYuan.
Hive
Hive is building the plumbing its Buzz AI snippets need to run on real team data
Mattermost
Mattermost is selling sovereignty and air-gapped AI, with releases buried in the argument
Paperless-ngx
Paperless-ngx is patching hard behind a 3.1 release that made AI a workflow step
Read the Docs
Read the Docs ships a dated release every week, and this one is documentation and dependencies
Zoho Sign
Zoho Sign is clearing the exit path off Docusign while stacking up regional legal assurance
See all Capacities alternatives → · See all SiYuan alternatives →
Recent activity from Capacities and SiYuan
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4d agoSiYuanFourth 3.8.2 beta re-tags an unchanged changelog
- 4d agoSiYuanThird 3.8.2 beta ships beta.1's changelog verbatim
- 4d agoSiYuanSecond 3.8.2 beta leaves the changelog unchanged
- 5d agoSiYuanBeta.1 adds caret-free scrolling and mobile draft recovery
- 6d agoSiYuanCustomizable startup screens and SVG notebook icons
- 6d agoSiYuanv3.8.2-alpha.6: Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/dev' into dev
- 16d agoCapacitiesCapacities Pro+ and Believer+ ⚡
- 1mo agoCapacitiesReliability polish across dates, tabs, editor, and presentation mode
- 1mo agoCapacitiesCapacities API 2.0, Weblink Analysis, and Presentation Mode ⚡
- 2mo agoCapacitiesAI Chat Connectors 2.0 + Many improvements
- 3mo agoCapacitiesBulk Import for Everyone, Image Analysis for Pro, and Continuous Improvements
- 4mo agoCapacitiesRecurring Tasks and Choose Your Capacities AI Model Provider
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Capacities and SiYuan?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. SiYuan is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Capacities better than SiYuan?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. SiYuan is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Capacities?
Top Capacities alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Capacities alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/capacities for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to SiYuan?
Top SiYuan alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "SiYuan alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/siyuan for the full list with editorial commentary on each.