Products

Bear

Markdown notes you’ll love on Mac, iPhone & iPad

bear.app App Store RedditProductivity & Collaboration / Notes & Knowledge Management

AI Benchmark
Desktop
Mobile
Monthly visits
171.6K
Down9.7%MoMSep 2026
Public revenue
Undisclosed
No public revenue evidence yet
Entry price
$2.99/mo
Lower than 87% of peersNiche median $7.99/mo
Creators
Bear - Markdown Notes
@bearnotesapp· 26.4K followers+1 more creators
Launched
10y ago
2016-11-03 · Est.

Traffic

Monthly visitsData through Sep 2026

Marketing moves

Launches, search & content, referrals, promotions
  • Launched on App StoreLaunch

    Bear is a beautiful, powerfully simple Markdown app to capture, write, and organize your life. ​ Take notes, plan your day, journal thoughts, organize tables, create lists and tasks, sketch ideas, link notes together, write a book, and much

    Nov 3, 2016 · 10y agoLaunch page

Store data

App Store
Bear: Markdown Notes
Bear: Markdown Notes App Storev2.9.24+
Shiny Frog Ltd.ProductivityUtilities· 10 languages
Updated 4mo ago
Rating
Rating not syncedRating count not synced
New ratings last mo
—
Price & IAP
FreeIAP data not synced
First released
2016-11-0336 MB
Store Screenshots (7)
Latest Release Notes (v2.9.2)

- Added support for Mermaid, enabling charts and diagrams within notes - Resolved an issue in BearCLI that could result in data loss - Fixed a search defect causing infinite loops - Updated the keyboard shortcut for dismissing a workspace

Bear is a beautiful, powerfully simple Markdown app to capture, write, and organize your life. ​ Take notes, plan your day, journal thoughts, organize tables, create lists and tasks, sketch ideas, link notes together, write a book, and much more. Bear is used by writers, lawyers, chefs, CEOs, teachers, doctors, engineers, students, parents.. you get the picture. Getting started couldn’t be faster—no signup and no account. Just open a note and write naturally. ​ "My journaling app of choice is Bear" - Kit Eaton, New York Times ​ * 2017 Apple Design Award * 2016 App Store App of the Year * Editors' choice for 7 consecutive years * Most of our parents love it ​ ## BEAUTIFUL. SIMPLE. POWERFUL. PRIVATE - Tools stay out of your way so you can just write - Clip web pages and other content with Bear’s app extension - The redesigned Info Panel now with Table of Contents and Backlinks - Support for all the scripts including RTL languages like Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian - Easily create notes with Siri and Shortcuts - Your notes, not ours - Bear is private at its core: We cannot see your notes, tags, or anything else ​ ## FLEXIBLE MARKDOWN ​ - Work in plain text - easy to move between apps - Still use formatting like bold, italics, strikethrough, links, tables, and more with Markdown - Combine text styles like bold and underline, even in headings - Markdown hides for a clean reading experience - Use WikiLinks to connect notes and build a personal wiki or knowledge management tool ​ ## GET ORGANIZED with #tags, tasks, and more ​ - Add #tags, #multi-word tags# and even #multiple/nested/tags anywhere in a note for quick organization - Pin important tags to the top of the Sidebar - Make important tags stand out in the Sidebar with TagCons - Add tasks to notes and easily view all notes that include tasks - Fold sections to get them out of the way ​ ## SHARING MADE EASY ​ - Export notes to plain text, Markdown, TextBundle, Bear note, and rich text - Export notes to HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub (Bear Pro required) - Easily share your notes to any third-party app with the Share Sheet ​ ## SEARCH FAR AND WIDE ​ - Use Spotlight to search your notes from anywhere - Search for text inside photos and PDFs (Bear Pro required) - Focus on specific types of notes with powerful Special Searches like @todo, @images, and @yesterday ​ ## CREATE YOUR COZY SPACE ​ * Pick from nearly 30 themes for the perfect writing space in both Light and Dark Mode (Bear Pro required) * Choose an app icon that speaks to your personality (Bear Pro required) * Set your own fonts for plain text, headings, and code * Set line height and width, paragraph spacing, and more ​ ## GET MORE WITH BEAR PRO ​ One subscription enables a variety of features on all your devices and keeps the Bear hugs coming. ​ - Sync notes between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud - Encrypt individual notes with a password that is entirely private to you - Lock Bear with Face/Touch ID - Export to more formats including HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub - Search for text inside images and PDFs in Bear notes - Over 30 beautiful app themes & app icons ​ $2.99 monthly $29.99 yearly 14-day free trial ​ ----- Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your App Store account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. After purchase, manage your subscriptions in App Store Account Settings. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription. ----- ​ bear@shinyfrog.net Twitter: BearNotesApp Reddit: reddit.com/r/BearApp Facebook: BearNotes Instagram: BearNotesApp Privacy Policy: http://www.bear.app/privacy/ Terms of Service: http://www.bear.app/terms/

Store assets, rating histograms, install tiers, and screenshots are synced from Apple App Store, Google Play, and Chrome Web Store.

Traffic sources

Sep 2026

Traffic breakdown

Channels

  • Direct56%
  • Organic Search33%
  • Social6%
  • Referrals4%
  • Other2%

Countries

  • United States21%
  • South Korea12%
  • United Kingdom8%
  • Colombia7%
  • Japan5%

Search

Domain authority —Domain registered 2018-05-08

KeywordMonthly volume
bear230.5K
bear notes8,460
bear app4,410
bear web780
bear notes app500

Traffic data: Vaneform

Pricing

Free
Unknown
Local access to your notes · Document scanning · 3 free themes · 1 app icon
Bear
$2.99/mo
Billed annually $29.99/yr-16%
28+ themes · 15 app icons

Trial: A 7 day free trial, then $2.99/month · 1 paid tier ($2.99) · Up to 16% off annually · Observed 2026-11-03 · Source page

Entry price $2.99/mo, Lower than 87% of peers; “Notes & Knowledge Management” median is $7.99/mo.View pricing benchmark

Pages & changes

Tracked since 2026-07-31

Key pages

Weekly snapshots

Changes

No pricing, plan, or positioning changes detected since tracking started.

Design

First-screen visual analysis & :root CSS

Minimal Monochrome (Light canvas, airy density) featuring centered headline + cta layout and product ui screenshot / component visuals.

First-screen preview · click to zoom

First-screen pitch & conversion flow

“Markdown notes you’ll love on Mac, iPhone & iPad”

Centered Headline + CTA hero structure paired with download app / install extension CTA and no explicit trust bar.

Conversion path: Centered Headline + CTA + Product UI Screenshot / Component → Download App / Install Extension

Palette · click to copy

5-D design score7.5 / 10
Typography
8.0
Color & Contrast
7.0
Layout & Spacing
8.0
Craft & Polish
8.0
Distinctiveness
6.0

Structure

Fonts
Inter
Primary visual
Product UI Screenshot / Component
Social proof
No Explicit Trust Bar
Navigation
Full-Width Top Bar
Theme & density
Light · Airy
Corners & depth
Medium Radius · With shadow
Preview full AI design brief (includes :root CSS variables & layout rules)Style tokens only; never copy brand names, logos, copy, or images
# Design Brief: Minimal Monochrome

Monochrome palette with a single accent color, hairline dividers, and generous whitespace.

## Design Tokens

```css
:root {
  --background: #ffffff;
  --surface: #f4f5f7;
  --foreground: #2c2c2c;
  --muted-foreground: #8e8e93;
  --accent: #e23b3b;
  --radius: 8px;
  --font-heading: "Inter", ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif;
  --font-body: "Inter", ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif;
}
```

Color area ratio: Background #FFFFFF (~62%) · Surface #F4F5F7 (~16%) · Text #2C2C2C (~8%) · Muted Text #8E8E93 (~6%) · Accent #E23B3B (~8%). Background and surface dominate the canvas; reserve the accent color for primary buttons and active states.

## Layout & Conversion Structure

- Hero layout: Centered Headline + CTA
- Navigation: Full-Width Top Bar
- Theme & density: Light · Airy
- Border radius & elevation: Medium Radius; use elevation shadows to separate layers
- Primary visual medium: Product UI Screenshot / Component
- Conversion CTA: Download App / Install Extension
- Headline hook: Category Positioning Anchor
- Hero components: Large Hero Product Shot
- Spatial layout notes: Centered Headline + CTA hero structure paired with download app / install extension CTA and no explicit trust bar.
- Visual summary: Minimal Monochrome (Light canvas, airy density) featuring centered headline + cta layout and product ui screenshot / component visuals.

## Avoid

- Multi-stop neon gradients
- Heavy drop shadows
- More than one competing accent color

Implement the UI following the design tokens and layout specifications above: use only these color variables, and reserve the accent color strictly for primary actions and active states. Adopt only this visual style—never copy any reference product’s brand name, logo, copy, or imagery.

Questions & evidence

How much does Bear cost?
Free: Unknown; Bear: $2.99/mo (annual billing available). Observed 2026-11-03. Check the source for current billing terms, usage limits and taxes.Source
How much website traffic does Bear get?
Vaneform estimates 171.6K website visits in 2026-09. Visits can include repeat visits; this estimate does not measure paying customers or revenue.Source

Related products in this category

Productivity & Collaboration / Notes & Knowledge Management

These products share a catalog category. Compare customer tasks, features and deployment requirements before treating them as alternatives.