Bear

Overview checked Oct 6, 2026.

Bear is a Mac note editor for people who prefer a writing surface that stays close to plain text while still offering the structure needed for a personal notebook. Its core model is a single stream of notes organized with tags, including nested tags, rather than folders, projects, or a database builder. Markdown formatting, tables, to-dos, wiki links, backlinks, and a table of contents make it practical for connected research notes as well as short drafts. The free tier keeps local access, document scanning, several export formats, and a small set of themes; Bear Pro adds iCloud sync, more export formats, more themes and icons, encryption for individual notes, and text search inside PDFs and images. That makes the paid tier worth considering if the same library must follow you between Apple devices or if your archive needs richer output. Bear is intentionally Mac and Apple-platform focused, not a team workspace. Before moving important material into it, test the tag-first organization and confirm whether the Pro subscription, iCloud requirement for sync, and export formats fit the way you need to retrieve or share notes later.