Bear is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 8.4. Bear wins on 4 of the 5 scores, TickTick on 1.
Writers and Apple users who want fast, good-looking Markdown notes
Students and planners who want tasks, calendar, habits and focus in one app
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Bear | TickTick |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity & Notes | Productivity & Notes |
| Category rank | #3 of 13 | #11 of 13 |
| Developer | Shiny Frog | Appest Limited |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | — | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
| Linux | — | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Bear better than TickTick?
Bear is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 8.4. Bear wins on 4 of the 5 scores, TickTick on 1.
Which is cheaper, Bear or TickTick?
Bear: Free without sync; Bear Pro is $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year. TickTick: Free plan; Premium $49.99/year, or $4.99/month in the iPhone app. On value for money, Bear scores higher.
Do Bear and TickTick work on the same devices?
Only TickTick runs on Android, Windows, Linux.
Which is more private, Bear or TickTick?
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
TickTick
- Huge feature set in a single app
- Useful free plan with habits and a focus timer
- Apps for every major platform, including Linux
- Interface feels busy with so many features
- Premium price rose sharply in 2026
- Free plan caps you at nine lists
TickTick packs more into one app than almost any task manager. Alongside lists and natural language input, you get calendar views, a habit tracker, a Pomodoro focus timer and an Eisenhower matrix on every major platform, and a new AI assistant can break projects into tasks. The free plan is unusually useful. The trade-offs are a busier interface than Todoist, and Premium now costs $49.99 a year.
Full TickTick review
