We employed a polypyrrole hydrogel precursor to create a carbon framework that possesses both huge heteroatom content (13wt% nitrogen and 11wt% oxygen) and high surface area (945m2 g−1) that is equally divided between micropores and mesopores. A sodium ion capacitor (NIC, HIC) electrode fabricated from this N and O Functionalized Carbon (NOFC) has tremendous reversible capacity and rate capability, e.g. 437mAhg−1 at 100mAg−1, and 185mAhg−1 at 1600mAg−1. This is among the most favorable reported, and is due to copious nanoporosity that enables fast ion sorption at the many N and O moieties and graphene defects. The NOFC imbues a NIC device with energy–power characteristics that are not only state-of-the-art for Na hybrids, but also rival Li systems: Ragone chart placement is 111Whkg−1 and 38Whkg−1 at 67Wkg−1 and 14,550Wkg−1, respectively, with 90% capacity retention at over 5000 charge/discharge cycles.