The plasma density radial profiles in capacitive discharges driven over a wide frequency range (60–220 MHz) are measured by a floating double probe, and the results measured at 60 MHz are compared with those obtained from the electrostatic models, i.e. particle in cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) and the fluid models. It was found that at low pressure the plasma density peaks at the center of the reactor, while it peaks at the electrode edge at high pressure, indicating that the power deposition transitions from ‘non-local’ to ‘local’ with increasing pressure. The plasma radial profiles obtained from the PIC/MCC simulation and fluid model show a qualitative agreement with the experiment at low pressure and high pressure, respectively. This is primarily due to the fact that at low pressure the fluid model substantially under-predicts sheath heating, which, however, is the main electron heating mechanism at low pressure. So the total power into electrons and therefore the plasma density is also under-predicted. In contrast, the PIC/MCC model takes into account these electron collisionless heating effects at low pressure, and thus the plasma density is enhanced in the central region of electrodes. At high pressure, due to local power deposition, both the experiment and fluid simulation show that as rf power increases, a density peak at the electrode edge appears, indicating an enhancement in edge field. Compared with the electrostatic case, at a higher frequency, the plasma density profile is determined by electromagnetic (EM) effects, especially the standing wave effect. To be specific, we found that the standing wave effect exhibits multi-node structure within the electrode at 130 MHz or above, and the wavelength becomes smaller as the excitation frequency increases. At high excitation frequency and high pressure, the rf power is mainly deposited at the electrode periphery due to the fact that the EM waves are strongly damped when they propagate from the discharge edge to the center. In addition, our experimental results show that the standing wave wavelength increases with rf power.