Bear is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 9.0. Bear wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Notion on 1.
Writers and Apple users who want fast, good-looking Markdown notes
Teams who want docs, wikis and task boards in one place
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Bear | Notion |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity & Notes | Productivity & Notes |
| Category rank | #3 of 13 | #5 of 13 |
| Developer | Shiny Frog | Notion Labs, Inc. |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | — | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Bear better than Notion?
Bear is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 9.0. Bear wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Notion on 1.
Which is cheaper, Bear or Notion?
Bear: Free without sync; Bear Pro is $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year. Notion: Free plan; Plus $10 and Business $20 per member/month, billed yearly. On value for money, Bear scores higher.
Do Bear and Notion work on the same devices?
Only Notion runs on Android, Windows.
Which is more private, Bear or Notion?
Bear scores higher on privacy (9.4/10). App Store label: no tracking and no data linked to you, only crash data. Notes sync through your own iCloud, Shiny Frog says it can't access them, and Pro adds per-note encryption.
Strengths and weaknesses
Bear
- Polished, distraction-free writing
- Notes stay in your iCloud, not on Bear's servers
- Pro costs just $29.99 a year
- No Android or Windows app
- Sync and encryption require Pro
- Tags only, no traditional folders
Bear is a Markdown notes app with a calm, polished editor that makes jotting things down a pleasure. Organize with nested tags instead of folders, add tables, callouts, math and Mermaid diagrams, and search text inside images and PDFs with Pro. Notes sync privately through your iCloud, and the price is gentle. It's Apple-only apart from a web version, and sync needs Pro.
Full Bear review
Notion
- Flexible enough to replace several separate apps
- Excellent for shared team docs and wikis
- Huge template gallery to get started fast
- Large pages and databases can feel slow
- Full Notion AI needs the Business plan or higher
- No end-to-end encryption for your notes
Notion lets you build almost anything from blocks: notes, wikis, task boards and project trackers, all tied together by flexible databases. Notion AI can write, search across connected apps and run agents that work through tasks for you, though full AI needs a Business plan. It is excellent for teams. Offline mode now exists, but large workspaces can still feel sluggish and nothing is end-to-end encrypted.
Full Notion review
