Our take
Pick Bear if people on Mac / iPhone / iPad who will stay on Free local while they write a first Polar Bears note — then Pro at US$2.99/mo or US$29.99/yr when they want themes / export / OCR / deeper iCloud, not Obsidian Sync $4 first unless they want a graph vault, and not if they need Windows / Android (Bear is Apple-only). Pick Obsidian if individual writers who will stay on the $0 app while they open a first
Best for
Bear A note you start at a public $
Obsidian A vault table you start at a public $
Free plan
Bear $0 · local notes, Markdown, tags, tables. No Pro themes / advanced export / OCR / full iCloud depth
Obsidian $0 · no sign-up. No strings attached
Lowest paid
Bear Bear Pro $2.99/mo
Obsidian Sync $4/user/mo yearly
Next step up
Bear
Obsidian Publish $8/mo yearly
Watch out
Bear Apple platforms only
Obsidian The $0 tile is the local app
Last checked
Bear 2026-10-23 · bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro
Obsidian 2026-10-23 · obsidian.md/pricing
people on Mac / iPhone / iPad who will stay on Free local while they write a first Polar Bears note — then Pro at US$2.99/mo or US$29.99/yr when they want themes / export / OCR / deeper iCloud, not Obsidian Sync $4 first unless they want a graph vault, and not if they need Windows / Android (Bear is Apple-only).
Read the Bear pageindividual writers who will stay on the $0 app while they open a first Bases table, then Sync at $4/user/month yearly ($5 monthly) when they want encrypted vaults on other devices.
Read the Obsidian page
