Bear
Standard Notes
| Feature | Bear | Standard Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $2.99/mo | Free / from $7.5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | apple-users, writers, students, developers | privacy-focused-users, journalists, professionals, researchers |
| Founded | 2016 | 2016 |
| Markdown | ✓ | ✗ |
| Nested Tags | ✓ | ✗ |
| Themes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Export Options | ✓ | ✗ |
| Focus Mode | ✓ | ✗ |
| Apple Watch | ✓ | ✗ |
| Encryption | ✗ | ✓ |
| Editors | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tags | ✗ | ✓ |
| File Attachments | ✗ | ✓ |
| Two Factor Auth | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Bear Pros
- Beautiful design
- Markdown support
- Nested tags
- Fast search
✗ Bear Cons
- Apple only
- No collaboration
- Limited free features
✓ Standard Notes Pros
- End-to-end encrypted
- 100-year company promise
- Cross-platform
- Open-source
✗ Standard Notes Cons
- Basic free version
- Fewer features than Notion
- Limited formatting
The Verdict
Bear is built for apple users and writers, with a focus on markdown and nested-tags. Standard Notes targets privacy focused users and journalists and leads with encryption and themes.
Pricing is close: Bear starts at $2.99/mo versus $7.5/mo for Standard Notes — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.