Bear vs Craft

What Bear is

Bear is a Markdown note app for Apple devices with tag-based organisation and a focus on writing. Tags replace folders, so structure emerges from writing rather than being decided up front, and export to Markdown, HTML or PDF is clean. It is Apple-only, which rules it out the moment part of your work happens on Windows or Android.

What Craft is

Craft is a document and note app with an unusually polished editor, strong exports and clean sharing links. It suits documents meant to be read by someone else: pages export and publish cleanly, and the typography holds up. It is weaker as a knowledge base, since linking and querying across a large collection is not where its design effort went.

What Bear is built to do

Tag-based organisation

Files notes by inline tags instead of a fixed folder tree.

Markdown editing

Writes in Markdown with formatting rendered in place.

Apple-ecosystem sync

Syncs notes across Mac, iPhone and iPad through iCloud.

What Craft is built to do

Block-based editor

Builds documents from blocks that can be nested, styled and reordered.

Shareable web pages

Publishes a document as a formatted link without a separate site.

Offline-first sync

Edits locally and syncs across devices when a connection returns.

Choose Bear if

• Apple users who want a beautiful Markdown notes app with tags and wiki links
• Writers who need iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone and iPad for $2.99/month or $29.99/year
• People who want to try before paying — 7-day trial

Skip Bear if

• You need sync for free: the free tier is local-only with 3 themes and no PDF/image search
• You use Windows, Android or the web — Bear is Apple only
• You need collaboration or shared notebooks

Choose Craft if

• Individuals who want a polished, native-feeling document app and can live with 1,500 blocks and 1 GB on the Free plan
• Apple-first users who value design over Notion-style databases
• Families or small groups: the Family plan bundles 2–6 Plus accounts with shared Spaces

Skip Craft if

• You write a lot: 1,500 blocks fills fast and unlimited content needs Plus
• You upload media above 25 MB per file or need more than 7 days of version history on Free
• You need a published USD price before deciding — Craft sets prices per market in local currency

Bear: pros & cons

• Beautiful, distraction-free writing
• Tag organisation instead of folders
• Fast and native
• Apple platforms only
• Sync requires the subscription
• Limited collaboration

Craft: pros & cons

• Documents genuinely look good
• Excellent export and sharing
• Fast native apps on Apple platforms
• Best experience is on Apple devices
• Collaboration is lighter than rivals
• Subscription for most useful features