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Bear Markdown Notes

Elegant Markdown note-taking app for focused writing across Apple devices

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  • Overview
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Pros
  • Cons
  • Reviews

Bear Markdown Notes Overview

  • Updated February 28, 2026

Bear Markdown Notes is a beautifully designed, Markdown-first note-taking app built exclusively for Apple users. It emphasizes speed, simplicity, and flexible organization through tags rather than folders.

Bear supports rich Markdown, attachments, sketches, and exports, making it ideal for writers, students, and professionals who want a distraction-free space with powerful features that scale as their note library grows.

Key Features

  • Markdown-First Editor: Write using clean, intuitive Markdown that adapts seamlessly to rich formatting.
  • Tag-Based Organization: Organize notes flexibly with nested tags instead of rigid folders.
  • iCloud Sync: Keep notes automatically synced across Mac, iPhone, and iPad with a single Apple ID.
  • Advanced Export Options: Export notes to PDF, HTML, DOCX, JPG, and more with Pro.
  • Privacy and Security: Optional note encryption with full support for Apple’s Advanced Data Protection.

Price

Plan Price Featured
Free $0 Local notes only, Basic Markdown editing, Limited themes and app icons
Bear Pro (Monthly) $2.99/mo (Billed Monthly) iCloud sync across devices, OCR search in PDFs and images, Advanced export formats
Bear Pro (Yearly) $29.99/yr (Billed Annually) All Pro features, 14-day free trial, Best value annual pricing

Price details: https://bear.app/#price

Pros

Competitor

Pros
Apple Notes Bear offers far more advanced Markdown support and cleaner typography, making it better suited for long-form writing. Its tag-based organization is more flexible than Apple Notes folders, and its focused design avoids feature clutter, resulting in a faster and more enjoyable writing experience for power users.
Evernote Compared to Evernote, Bear is significantly more affordable and easier to use. It avoids heavy enterprise features, loads faster, and provides a distraction-free interface, making it ideal for individuals who prioritize writing and personal knowledge management over complex team workflows.
Notion Bear excels in speed and simplicity where Notion can feel overwhelming. It requires no setup, databases, or templates, allowing users to capture ideas instantly. For writers who want minimal friction and offline access, Bear delivers a much smoother daily experience.
Obsidian Unlike Obsidian, Bear works out of the box with no plugins or configuration required. Its polished UI, native Apple integrations, and automatic sync make it far more approachable for users who want Markdown power without managing files or extensions.
Microsoft OneNote Bear provides a cleaner, more consistent writing environment than OneNote, especially for Markdown users. It avoids complex notebooks and sections, offering a lightweight structure that feels faster and more intuitive for personal note-taking and writing-focused workflows.

Cons

Competitor

Cons
Apple Notes Unlike Apple Notes, Bear is not fully free if you need sync across devices, which may frustrate users already paying for iCloud storage. Apple Notes also integrates more deeply with iOS system features such as Siri, sharing extensions, and collaboration.
Evernote Bear lacks Evernote’s advanced web clipping, email-to-note features, and team collaboration tools. Users who rely heavily on capturing content from the web or managing shared knowledge bases may find Bear too minimal for those use cases.
Notion Compared to Notion, Bear does not support databases, tables as structured data, or collaborative workspaces. This makes it less suitable for project management, team documentation, or users who want notes tightly connected to tasks and workflows.
Obsidian Bear does not provide the same level of backlinking, graph views, or local file control as Obsidian. Advanced knowledge-management enthusiasts who enjoy building complex, interconnected note systems may feel constrained by Bear’s simpler structure.
Microsoft OneNote Bear is limited to Apple platforms, whereas OneNote works across Windows, Android, and the web. This makes Bear a poor choice for users in mixed-device environments or teams that require broad cross-platform compatibility.

Verified Customer Reviews

  • macstories.net Review: The author felt constrained by Apple Notes’ lack of native Markdown, automation features, and its folder-based organization, so Bear appealed with CloudKit sync plus Markdown, themes, tags, and cross-reference links. After moving remaining personal notes into Bear and placing it on the Home screen, the app “opened new possibilities for Markdown writers,” even though the long-term commitment still felt uncertain.
  • PCMag Review (Rating: 3.5/5): Bear suits Apple users who want something more capable than a basic notes app without stepping into overly complex territory. The write-up highlights its intuitive feel and relatively affordable pricing for those balancing simple and advanced needs.
  • Reddit r/bearapp: One commenter praised Bear’s “perfect middleground between pretty and functional” and valued its tag-first structure, where nested tags like #foo/bar replace folders entirely. Others noted Apple Notes remains free and handles collaboration easily, while features such as backlinks, themes, and open Markdown format drive interest in Bear despite missing conveniences like handwriting correction and Quick Note on iPad.
  • apple.com Review: An enthusiastic user called it “the GOAT” after testing around 10 note-taking apps and struggling with overly complex systems. Bear delivered a minimalistic yet functional setup with an “elegant and cozy” UI, easy hashtag-based linking, and such a light learning curve that the basics clicked within a day; support resources and community pages filled in the gaps.
  • TechRadar Review (Rating: 4.5/5): Bear earns praise as an ideal pick for Apple device owners who want a productive note-taking app that feels easy to navigate and costs less than many competing options.