Free Alternative to Bear

Obsidian has rapidly become the most popular free alternative to Bear, and for excellent reasons. It fundamentally reimagines what a note-taking app can be by storing your notes as plain Markdown files on your own computer, giving you complete data ownership and portability. You're never locked into a proprietary format or subscription service—your notes are yours forever.

The killer feature that sets Obsidian apart is bidirectional linking, which allows you to connect notes together and visualize your entire knowledge base as an interactive graph. This transforms note-taking from a filing cabinet into a second brain, revealing unexpected connections between ideas. It's completely free for personal use and has cultivated an incredible ecosystem of community plugins—hundreds of them—that extend functionality in every direction imaginable.

From advanced task management and calendar integration to AI-powered writing assistance and custom themes, the community has built solutions for virtually every use case. The Canvas feature lets you arrange notes spatially on an infinite canvas, perfect for visual thinkers. Daily notes make journaling effortless.

The powerful search goes beyond simple text matching to find backlinks, unlinked mentions, and complex query patterns. While Bear offers a polished, focused experience, Obsidian offers endless possibilities and true future-proofing.

Apple Notes has evolved dramatically from its humble beginnings into a genuinely capable note-taking app that's already installed on every Mac and iPhone. It syncs seamlessly via iCloud at absolutely no extra cost, supports document scanning through your iPhone camera, handwriting with Apple Pencil on iPad, drawing, rich checklists with indentation, tables, and even locked notes secured with Face ID or Touch ID. For most casual users, it does everything Bear does without requiring any subscription whatsoever.

Recent updates have added collaboration features, smart folders that auto-organize based on rules, Quick Notes accessible from anywhere in macOS, and improved search that finds text within scanned documents and images. The tag system introduced in recent macOS versions brings organizational power closer to Bear's nested tags. While it lacks Markdown support, the rich text editor is intuitive and powerful enough for formatting articles, meeting notes, and daily journaling.

The key advantage is zero friction: no account creation, no subscription, no setup, and instant sync that just works across all your Apple devices. For users who don't need Markdown and just want reliable, fast note-taking with excellent Apple ecosystem integration, Notes is genuinely hard to beat.

Simplenote lives up to its name—it's a refreshingly minimalist note-taking app that's completely free with no premium tiers, paywalls, or feature restrictions whatsoever. Everything is available to everyone, always. It supports Markdown with live preview, syncs across all platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and web, and maintains complete version history of every note you've ever written, allowing you to restore previous versions at any time.

If Bear's main appeal is simplicity and clean design, Simplenote delivers that exact experience without the price tag. The interface is distraction-free, focusing entirely on your writing. Tag-based organization keeps notes discoverable without complex folder hierarchies.

Collaboration features allow you to share notes and edit them together with others. The search is instant and comprehensive, finding text within milliseconds even across thousands of notes. Published notes can be shared via public links with anyone, even those without Simplenote accounts.

The version history is particularly valuable for writers who want to see how their thinking evolved or recover from accidental deletions. While it lacks some advanced features like encryption or offline-first architecture, Simplenote excels at being a fast, reliable, truly free note-taking solution that works everywhere.

Notion's free tier is extraordinarily generous for individual users, offering unlimited blocks and pages with no restrictions on core functionality. It goes far beyond simple note-taking, functioning as an all-in-one workspace where you can build relational databases, wikis, project trackers, kanban boards, calendars, and custom workflows limited only by your imagination. While it has a steeper learning curve than Bear, the flexibility and power are unmatched in the free note-taking space.

You can create interconnected databases that automatically update across different views, embed rich media from hundreds of services, collaborate in real-time with teammates, and organize information in ways that match your thinking rather than being constrained by rigid structures. The template gallery offers thousands of pre-built setups for everything from meeting notes and daily journals to CRM systems and product roadmaps. The web clipper saves articles with perfect formatting preservation. AI features help with writing, summarizing, and brainstorming.

If you've outgrown Bear's capabilities and need a tool that scales from simple notes to complex knowledge management systems, Notion might be the significant upgrade you need. Many users find that once they learn Notion, they consolidate multiple apps into this single workspace.

Joplin is a fully open-source note-taking app that supports Markdown and offers optional end-to-end encryption—a critical security feature that even Bear Pro doesn't provide. Your notes are stored locally on your device and can sync via your choice of cloud service: Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV, or Joplin's own cloud offering. The encryption ensures that even if your cloud storage is compromised, your notes remain unreadable without your master password.

This makes Joplin particularly appealing for users handling sensitive information like passwords, medical records, or confidential business data. The interface supports both Markdown editing and rich text preview, with syntax highlighting for code blocks in dozens of languages. The web clipper browser extension captures articles, recipes, and research with excellent formatting preservation.

Notebooks and sub-notebooks provide hierarchical organization, while tags offer flexible cross-referencing. Note links create connections between related information. To-do items with due dates and alarms integrate task management directly into your notes.

The plugin system extends functionality with features like advanced tables, diagrams, and custom shortcuts. Being open-source means the code is auditable for security, free from corporate surveillance, and community-driven in development. While the interface isn't as polished as Bear's minimalist aesthetic, Joplin compensates with powerful features, true privacy, and no subscription costs ever.

Standard Notes is built on a foundation of privacy and security, offering end-to-end encryption as a core feature available even in the free tier. Now part of the Proton family (the company behind ProtonMail), it inherits a strong privacy pedigree and commitment to user data protection. The free plan includes offline access, encrypted email backups, 100 MB of storage, note export capabilities, and password-protected notes, all with military-grade AES-256 encryption that ensures your notes are encrypted on your device before syncing to servers.

Even Standard Notes cannot read your notes. The cross-platform apps work seamlessly on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and web browsers, keeping your notes synchronized and secure across all devices. The Extended tier adds features like Markdown editing with advanced editors, file attachments, and longer note history, but the free tier remains genuinely useful for basic secure note-taking.

The interface is clean and distraction-free, emphasizing writing without clutter. Tags organize notes efficiently, and smart filters help find information quickly. Version history protects against accidental deletions and allows you to see how your thoughts evolved. For users concerned about surveillance capitalism, data breaches, or simply wanting privacy as a default rather than an expensive add-on, Standard Notes delivers peace of mind that Bear cannot match even in its paid tier.

Notesnook positions itself as a privacy-focused alternative that went fully open-source in 2022, offering a compelling combination of strong encryption and rich features on its free tier. Unlike Standard Notes which restricts editing features to paid tiers, Notesnook's free plan includes rich text editing with support for Markdown, tables, and code blocks—making it immediately more functional for everyday use. Notes are end-to-end encrypted on your device before syncing, ensuring complete privacy even from Notesnook's own servers.

The cross-platform apps work seamlessly across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android with reliable synchronization. Organization tools including notebooks, tags, and powerful search capabilities keep your information discoverable. Two-factor authentication adds account security.

The offline support means you can access and edit your notes without internet connectivity. Color-coded notebooks provide visual organization. The attachment system handles images and files within encrypted notes.

At approximately $12 per year for the Pro tier (compared to Standard Notes' $84/year), it's also remarkably affordable when you need features like unlimited devices and additional storage. For users who want Standard Notes' privacy without the restrictive free tier limitations, Notesnook delivers a more generous and usable experience while maintaining the same security guarantees.

Anytype represents a new paradigm in note-taking with its object-based approach and local-first architecture. Rather than just storing text, Anytype treats everything as objects (people, tasks, books, notes) that can be interconnected in meaningful ways, creating a personal knowledge graph similar to Notion's databases but with true offline-first design and end-to-end encryption. Your data is stored locally on your device first, then encrypted and synced via a peer-to-peer file system that provides decentralized storage across your devices without relying on central servers.

This gives you complete data sovereignty—you truly own and control your information in ways that cloud-based services cannot match. The free tier allows up to 10 separate Spaces (think of them as different vaults or projects), each with unlimited notes and objects. The visual canvas lets you arrange information spatially, while relations between objects create automatic connections that reveal patterns in your knowledge.

Templates help you capture different types of information consistently. The block-based editor provides flexibility in structuring content. While it's still in active development with some features evolving, Anytype's vision of privacy-first, local-first, user-owned information management makes it a compelling Bear alternative for users who want both security and sophisticated knowledge organization.

Logseq is a privacy-first, open-source knowledge management tool that combines the outliner approach with Obsidian-style bidirectional linking. Unlike traditional note apps that treat each note as a document, Logseq structures everything as nested bullet points (blocks) that can be referenced, linked, and queried individually. This block-based approach mirrors how many people naturally think and brainstorm, making it particularly effective for daily journaling, meeting notes, and research workflows.

Each day automatically gets a journal page where you capture thoughts, tasks, and notes. Those blocks can be linked to project pages, topic pages, or tagged for later retrieval. The graph view visualizes connections between pages and blocks.

Advanced queries let you create dynamic views of your knowledge base, aggregating blocks that match certain criteria. Like Obsidian, your notes are stored as plain Markdown files locally, ensuring data ownership and portability. The page and block references create a powerful knowledge network without complex setup.

Task management integrates seamlessly with TODO markers and scheduled items. The Whiteboard feature adds visual canvas capabilities for mind mapping. While the outliner paradigm feels different from Bear's document-centric approach, many users find it more natural once they adjust, and the privacy, linking capabilities, and zero cost make it a worthy alternative.

Craft delivers a Bear-like experience in terms of beautiful design and elegant user interface while offering a generous free tier that includes device sync—something Bear restricts to paid users. The document-focused approach feels familiar to Bear users, with a clean editor that emphasizes your content rather than cluttering the interface with features. While Craft uses its own formatting system rather than pure Markdown, the experience is intuitive with keyboard shortcuts and slash commands that make formatting effortless.

The free personal plan includes unlimited documents, folders, and daily notes, plus sync across all your devices via iCloud. Rich formatting options include images, videos, tables, code blocks, and file attachments. The card-based interface creates visually appealing documents that can be shared as web pages with beautiful presentation.

Deep linking connects documents together for knowledge management. Templates provide starting points for common document types. The calendar integration helps with meeting notes and scheduled content.

While Craft has a paid Pro tier ($5/month) that adds team collaboration and unlimited file uploads, the free tier is genuinely functional for individual users. If Bear's aesthetic and user experience are what you love but the subscription cost bothers you, Craft provides a similar premium feel with free sync included.

UpNote offers a refreshing middle ground: while not entirely free, it provides a lifetime license option ($25 one-time payment) that eliminates subscription fatigue, plus a free tier that includes 50 notes with cross-device sync. For users frustrated by Bear's ongoing subscription cost, UpNote's one-time purchase feels like a return to traditional software ownership. The interface is clean and fast, with Markdown support, rich text formatting, and a beautiful editor that rivals Bear's polish.

Notebooks and tags provide flexible organization. The powerful search finds text within notes and attachments instantly. Dark mode and customizable themes let you personalize the experience.

Cross-platform support includes Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android—a significant advantage over Bear's Apple-only limitation. The lock feature protects sensitive notes with biometric authentication. Version history helps recover from mistakes.

Web clipper captures articles for later reading. Pin important notes to stay accessible. Export options include Markdown, PDF, and HTML. While the free tier's 50-note limit will eventually push serious users toward the paid version, the one-time $25 cost is vastly more appealing than perpetual subscriptions, especially when you consider Bear costs that much in a single year.

Trilium Notes is a powerful, self-hosted hierarchical knowledge base that's completely free and open-source. Unlike most note apps, Trilium stores all your notes in a local SQLite database, which enables incredibly fast search and advanced features like note relations, attributes, and scripting. The hierarchical tree structure provides unlimited depth for organizing complex projects, while relations let you create connections between notes similar to Obsidian's linking but with more structure.

The standout feature is scripting—you can write custom JavaScript to automate workflows, create dynamic notes, or build mini-applications within your note system. For technical users comfortable with self-hosting, Trilium's web-based interface means you can access your notes from any browser while maintaining complete control over your data. The built-in version history tracks every change to every note.

Encryption is available for sensitive notes. The markdown editing is solid with live preview. While setup requires more technical knowledge than cloud-based alternatives, the power and flexibility Trilium offers make it a compelling choice for advanced users who want maximum control without subscription costs.