Bear is one of the best-known Mac note apps because it makes Markdown feel clean, fast, and approachable. It is native to Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, supports flexible tags, WikiLinks, todos, tables, attachments, document scanning, private iCloud sync on Bear Pro, note encryption, OCR search, and polished export options.

But Bear is not the right notes app for every Mac user. Ulysses is stronger when notes become long writing projects, articles, ebooks, or blog posts. Craft is better when beautiful documents, sharing, tasks, collections, and team-ready spaces matter. Obsidian is the best fit if you want local Markdown files, backlinks, plugins, graph-based knowledge work, and long-term data control. Apple Notes is the easiest built-in option for quick capture, locked notes, attachments, sharing, tags, and Smart Folders.

This guide compares Bear alternatives for Mac across writing feel, organization, Markdown support, long-form work, collaboration, local data control, export, AI features, privacy posture, and current pricing.

Quick Verdict

Choose Bear if you want the cleanest Mac-native Markdown notes app with tags, WikiLinks, todos, document scanning, OCR search, note encryption, iCloud sync, and a calm writing interface.

Choose Ulysses if your notes often become serious writing projects. It is the best Bear alternative for articles, essays, books, client work, goals, proofing, export styles, and publishing.

Choose Craft if you want notes to look like polished documents. It is strongest for visual pages, nested documents, tasks, daily notes, collections, sharing, AI-assisted organization, and collaborative spaces.

Choose Obsidian if you want plain-text ownership and a deep personal knowledge base. It is best for local Markdown files, backlinks, graph view, plugins, canvases, custom workflows, and long-term portability.

Choose Apple Notes if you want the no-cost default already on your Mac. It is enough for quick notes, checklists, attachments, tags, Smart Folders, locked notes, collaboration, and iCloud sync.

Feature Comparison

Bear

Bear is still the most balanced option here for people who want notes and writing to live in the same calm Mac app. It is not as sprawling as Obsidian, not as document-like as Craft, not as writing-project-specific as Ulysses, and not as basic as Apple Notes. That middle ground is the appeal.

Bear's official site and Mac App Store listing describe a native Markdown app for capturing, writing, organizing, linking, scanning, sketching, and exporting notes. The tag system is the heart of the app. Tags can live anywhere inside a note, nested tags can create lightweight structure, pinned tags keep important areas visible, and TagCons make the sidebar easier to scan.

Bear Pro adds the features that make it a serious everyday notebook: iCloud sync across devices, encrypted notes, app locking, OCR search inside images and PDFs, more themes and icons, and export to PDF, HTML, DOCX, JPG, and ePub. The app also supports WikiLinks, backlinks, todos, tables, document scanning, Spotlight search, Siri, Shortcuts, and command-line features.

The tradeoff is that Bear is intentionally opinionated. It does not give you Obsidian's plugin ecosystem or local vault control. It does not give you Craft's shared workspace and polished page publishing. It does not give you Ulysses' manuscript, goal, revision, and publishing workflow. It also uses iCloud for sync, which is convenient inside the Apple ecosystem but less flexible if you want Dropbox, Git, or plain folders as the primary source of truth.

Bear Pro currently costs $2.99/month or $29.99/year, with a trial. The free version remains useful for local notes, basic export, scanning, and writing, but most people choosing Bear as a main notebook will want Pro for sync and advanced export.

Choose Bear if you want a beautiful personal notes app that stays fast, private, and Mac-native without turning into a full workspace platform.

Ulysses

Ulysses is the Bear alternative to choose when notes become publishable writing. Bear can handle essays and drafts, but Ulysses is built around managing bigger writing projects: articles, newsletters, books, client assignments, scripts, research-backed drafts, and anything that benefits from goals, deadlines, export styles, and a dedicated writing library.

The official Ulysses site highlights a distraction-free editor, project organization, a markup-based workflow, writing goals, deadlines, statistics, revision mode, grammar and style checks in more than 20 languages, and export to PDF, Word documents, ebooks, and blog posts. It also supports publishing to WordPress, Ghost, Medium, and Micro.blog.

That makes Ulysses more focused than Bear. If your notes are mostly small personal fragments, Bear is lighter. If you are building a serious body of writing, Ulysses gives the better structure. Sheets, groups, filters, goals, attachments, keywords, backups, split view, and export previews are all designed for people who write a lot and need to ship the result somewhere.

The tradeoff is that Ulysses is less of a general notebook. It is not where I would build a dense personal wiki, manage a shared project workspace, or store every scanned receipt and random reference. It also uses a subscription model, so the value depends on whether writing is a recurring part of your work.

Ulysses currently lists $5.99/month or $39.99/year in the US, with local pricing varying through the App Store. Ulysses is also available through Setapp, which is relevant if you already use Setapp for several Mac apps rather than subscribing to Ulysses alone.

Choose Ulysses if your Bear notes keep turning into articles, essays, books, client drafts, or publishing workflows.

Craft

Craft is the best Bear alternative when presentation matters as much as capture. It is less Markdown-first than Bear and less local-first than Obsidian, but it is much stronger when you want notes, documents, tasks, and shared spaces to feel polished out of the box.

Craft's current product and support pages describe native apps across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, web, and Vision Pro. It supports documents, subpages, folders, spaces, daily notes, tasks, reminders, calendar views, collections, tables, comments, sharing, published pages, custom domains on relevant plans, API access, MCP access, and Craft Assistant.

That gives Craft a different job than Bear. Bear is a personal writing notebook with elegant tagging. Craft is closer to a beautiful document workspace. It is strong for project plans, client proposals, product notes, family planning, personal dashboards, meeting notes, lightweight task management, and documents you want other people to read without friction.

Craft Assistant is also a meaningful differentiator. Its help center describes AI features for exploring content, summarizing, reorganizing, creating pages, applying styling, moving content, working across spaces, and using on-device or cloud model tiers. Craft says your content is not used to train AI models, and it also supports API and MCP access for users who want to bring Craft content into external AI tools.

The tradeoff is data model and complexity. If you love Bear because everything feels like fast text, Craft can feel more structured and visual. If you want notes as plain files in folders you fully control, Obsidian is a better fit. If your priority is long-form writing, Ulysses is more specialized.

Craft currently has a free plan. The Plus plan is currently shown from $4.80/month when billed yearly or $8/month when billed monthly on Craft's pricing page, with family and team plans above that. Craft's support docs also list Setapp as an alternative access path, so Setapp is worth checking if you already subscribe to the catalog.

Choose Craft if your notes need to become attractive documents, shared workspaces, lightweight plans, or client-facing pages.

Obsidian

Obsidian is the most powerful Bear alternative for users who care about ownership, extensibility, and long-term knowledge systems. It stores notes as local Markdown files in vault folders, so your data can live on your disk and remain readable outside the app.

That alone changes the buying decision. Bear feels smoother for many people, but Obsidian gives you more control. You can sync with Obsidian Sync, iCloud, Dropbox, Git, OneDrive, or another file-based setup. You can use external editors. You can back up the vault like any other folder. You can build your own structure with folders, tags, links, properties, templates, canvases, and community plugins.

Obsidian is especially good for research, software notes, academic notes, personal knowledge management, Zettelkasten-style linking, technical documentation, and custom workflows. Backlinks and graph view make relationships visible. Canvas helps map ideas spatially. Plugins can add task systems, publishing helpers, calendars, kanban boards, spaced repetition, AI integrations, and much more.

The tradeoff is setup burden. Bear is pleasant almost immediately. Obsidian can be simple, but it also tempts power users into configuration. Themes, plugins, vault structure, sync choices, hotkeys, and workflows can become their own project. If you want a beautiful app that makes notes feel cozy without much tuning, Bear is easier.

Obsidian is free for personal use. Obsidian Sync currently costs $4/month when billed annually or $5/month monthly. Obsidian Publish costs $8/month annually or $10/month monthly. A commercial license is listed at $50/user/year, and the pricing page says it is encouraged for organizational work rather than required for every work use case.

Choose Obsidian if you want your notes to outlive any single app and you are willing to design your own system.

Apple Notes

Apple Notes is the Bear alternative most Mac users already have. It is not the most powerful app in this comparison, but it is the default for a reason: it opens quickly, syncs through iCloud, supports attachments, checklists, tables, scanning, links, folders, tags, Smart Folders, pinned notes, locked notes, and collaboration.

Apple Notes is strongest for everyday capture. A grocery list, meeting note, travel plan, scanned receipt, sketch, link from Safari, photo, checklist, shared family note, or quick idea can land there without any buying decision. Smart Folders can organize notes by tags, mentions, checklists, dates, and other criteria. Locked notes help with private content, and shared folders make lightweight collaboration easy.

The tradeoff is depth. Apple Notes is not a Markdown app. It does not have Bear's elegant tag-writing flow, Ulysses' writing pipeline, Craft's polished document publishing, or Obsidian's local vaults and plugin ecosystem. It is also best when you are staying inside Apple's ecosystem.

For many people, that is fine. If you do not need advanced Markdown export, plugin workflows, local file ownership, or writing-project tools, Apple Notes may be all you need. It is also a good baseline before paying for anything else. If Apple Notes is frustrating you, the specific frustration usually points to the right upgrade: Bear for better writing and tagging, Ulysses for long-form output, Craft for beautiful shared docs, or Obsidian for local knowledge management.

Apple Notes is currently included with macOS.

Choose Apple Notes if you want a free, built-in, sync-friendly notes app and do not need a specialized writing or knowledge-management workflow.

Which Bear Alternative Should You Use?

Use Ulysses if your notes are really drafts. It is the best fit for people who write articles, newsletters, books, client copy, essays, or documentation and need goals, revision tools, exports, and publishing.

Use Craft if your notes need to look good when shared. It is strongest for project docs, proposals, plans, personal dashboards, collaborative spaces, daily notes, tasks, and visual organization.

Use Obsidian if portability and customization matter most. It is the best choice for local Markdown files, backlinks, plugins, graphs, research systems, and users who want control over where their notes live.

Use Apple Notes if you want the easiest no-cost option. It is enough for quick capture, attachments, scanning, checklists, locked notes, shared notes, tags, and Smart Folders.

Stick with Bear if the core need is a beautiful personal Markdown notebook. It is still the cleanest blend of Mac-native writing, flexible tags, WikiLinks, exports, OCR search, note encryption, and iCloud sync.

These apps can also coexist. A writer might keep Apple Notes for quick capture, Bear for personal notes, Ulysses for publishable drafts, Craft for client-facing plans, and Obsidian for long-term research.

Final Verdict

Bear is still the best Mac-native Markdown notebook for most Apple-focused users. It is fast, beautiful, private, flexible, and approachable without becoming a full workspace.

Ulysses is the best Bear alternative for serious writing. Choose it when the output matters and notes need to become articles, manuscripts, ebooks, or published posts.

Craft is the best Bear alternative for polished documents and shared work. It gives up some Markdown simplicity in exchange for better presentation, collaboration, tasks, collections, sharing, and AI-assisted organization.

Obsidian is the best Bear alternative for local-first knowledge work. It rewards users who want plain Markdown files, backlinks, plugins, graph thinking, and custom systems.

Apple Notes is the best free built-in fallback. It is less specialized, but it is already on the Mac and covers a surprising amount of everyday note-taking.

My practical recommendation: start with Apple Notes if your needs are simple, choose Bear if you want a better personal Markdown notebook, move to Ulysses when writing output becomes the job, choose Craft when documents need to be shared beautifully, and pick Obsidian when data ownership and extensibility matter most.

Note: Features and prices are current as of July 2026. App Store pricing, Setapp availability, AI credits, sync options, export formats, operating-system requirements, Apple Intelligence availability, and collaboration features can change. Verify current details on each developer's official product, pricing, support, App Store, or documentation page before subscribing or moving your notes.

Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for Setapp as an optional way to access Ulysses and Craft. Apps.Deals may earn a commission if you subscribe through them, at no additional cost to you.