Bear vs Notion

March 17, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
10
Bear
Bear is a focused, flexible writing app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch used by everyone from bloggers and web developers to aspiring authors and students. It has quick organization, editing tools, and export options to help you write quickly and share anywhere. Supports Markdown syntax for easy formatting.
51
Notion
All-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. Allows real-time collaboration with comments and mentions for teams.

Bear and Notion are two apps that, by some strange twist of fate, both let you capture thoughts, notes and to-do lists—one on a beautifully simple platform, the other on a sprawling digital universe. Both offer cloud syncing, so your ideas won’t be stranded on your phone like some long-forgotten sandwich. They both support Markdown, the modern way to make your text look like it’s been sprinkled with pixie dust and both let you organize things with tags or categories. It’s as if they’ve been quietly conspiring to be the best note-taking apps, yet each one has taken a slightly different path to glory.

Bear, released in 2016 by an Italian company called Shiny Frog, is the minimalist’s dream. It doesn’t clutter up the screen with unnecessary stuff; it just lets you write and it lets you write beautifully. If you’re an iOS or macOS user who appreciates a clean, distraction-free interface, Bear is your new best friend. Of course, you’ll have to pay a small fee if you want to sync across devices, because apparently, some things in the universe, like syncing, don’t come for free.

Notion, on the other hand, comes from the land of opportunity, also known as the United States and emerged in 2013 from the minds at Notion Labs. It is the Swiss army knife of apps—taking on everything from project management to note-taking to building complicated databases (because, why not?). It’s available on just about every device you can think of and it's not shy about offering a free version that’s already packed with features. If you’re into collaboration and want to create everything from simple notes to entire digital offices, Notion is like the spaceship that takes you to far-off planets of productivity.

See also: Top 10 Note Taking apps
Author: Adam Levine
Adam is an expert in project management, collaboration and productivity technologies, team management, and motivation. With an extensive background working at prestigious companies such as Microsoft and Accenture, Adam's in-depth knowledge and experience in the field make him a sought-after professional. Currently, he has ventured into entrepreneurship, owning a thriving consulting and training agency where he imparts invaluable insights and practical strategies to individuals and organizations, empowering them to achieve their goals and maximize their potential. You can contact Adam via email [email protected]