Bear

What it is for

Bear is an Apple-notes Markdown desk: you open Polar Bears, keep a status table on the page, and local notes stay Free. Use it when the job is a note you start at a public $, not when you need Obsidian’s $0 Bases table + Sync $4.

Soft-note: Free local; Bear Pro US$2.99/mo or US$29.99/yr; 7-day Pro trial. Pro gates iCloud sync depth, encrypt, advanced export, themes, OCR. Distinct from Obsidian, Craft, and Logseq.

What makes it unique: the cover is Bear’s official Mac Markdown UI (Notes sidebar, Polar Bears title, ice-bear photo, Information / Detail / Reference table, #bear in the body) from bear.app/images/home/hero_mac.jpg — not a wordmark. Soft-note: homepage product chrome (the marketing red frame is omitted). The Polar Bears table itself is ops of the note.

Key features

• Markdown note — title + photo + body on one desk (cover still; product). One desk. Cover Polar Bears sits here.
• In-note table — Information / Detail / Reference on the cover (cover). A table, not a Pro tile.
• Tags — #bear in the body + tag sidebar (cover; product). A tag, not a $2.99 meter.
• Notes list — Polar Bears / My green friends / Coding 101 (cover). A list, not Get Pro.
• Todo / Today / Locked / Archive — sidebar stacks (cover; FAQ). A stack, not Enterprise.
• Pro export / themes / OCR / sync — advanced export, themes, OCR, iCloud depth (FAQ). Pro desks — not the Free default.

Download / Go Pro are CTAs (not desks). Free / Pro $ stay in Pricing. There is no AI extra to drop.

Who it's for

Best fit: 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).

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from bear.app plus Features and price of Bear Pro (Free local; Pro $2.99/month or $29.99/year; 7-day trial). Soft-note: App Store billing; taxes may apply.

• Free — $0. Local notes, Markdown, tags, tables. No Pro themes / advanced export / OCR / full iCloud depth.
• Bear Pro — US$2.99/mo or US$29.99/yr.
• Trial — 7 days of Pro.
• Do not invent a lifetime Bear $. The FAQ we fetched does not print one.

Limitations / costs

• Apple platforms only. Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — not Windows / Android.
• Pro gates themes / advanced export / OCR / sync depth. After the 7-day trial those desks need Pro.
• A notes app, not Obsidian’s $0 Bases vault. For that table see Obsidian.
• The product is not OSS. We omit a GitHub CTA rather than invent a product repo.

Alternatives

• Obsidian — a local Bases table when you want the app at $0 / Sync $4, not an Apple-only notes window.
• Craft — a hosted All Docs home when you want Starter $0 / Plus $8, not Bear’s tag sidebar.
• Logseq — a local outliner + page graph when you want Free forever $0, not Polar Bears Markdown.

Official tutorial

We searched @BearApp (200 — Japanese daycare, not Shiny Frog), @bearapp, @ShinyFrog (unrelated), @BearNotes (piano), and @bear. bear.app has no official product YouTube we could oEmbed. No official product channel to embed. Written path: bear.app plus Pro FAQ.

Website

https://bear.app/

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is Bear’s official Mac Markdown still (Polar Bears / ice-bear photo / Information table / #bear) from bear.app/images/home/hero_mac.jpg. Dollars checked on bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro/ (Free local; Pro US$2.99/mo or US$29.99/yr; 7-day trial). No invented GitHub. No official YouTube.

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.