Bear vs Octarine
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Bear
Markdown notes app for Mac, iPhone and iPad with tags and links
Octarine
Local Markdown notes app with daily notes, views and optional AI
Where they differ
- Bear starts at $2.99 per month, or $29.99 per year. Octarine starts at $79 one-time purchase.
- Only Bear lists an iOS app.
- Only Octarine lists Windows and Linux apps.
- Octarine can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Bear also covers web clipper.
- Octarine also covers daily notes.
At a glance
| Bear | Octarine | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $2.99 per month, or $29.99 per year | $79 one-time purchase |
| Free plan | The free version covers writing and organizing notes with 3 themes. iCloud sync, note encryption, OCR search and export to PDF, HTML, DOCX and JPG need Bear Pro. | Personal: the WYSIWYG editor, unlimited workspaces, daily and weekly notes, graph view, full-text search, templates, 4 themes and txt export. The vendor says the core features will always be free. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial on both the monthly and yearly Bear Pro subscriptions. | 7-day trial of Pro features included with the download |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Shiny Frog | Rajat Kulkarni |
| Price read from | bear.app | octarine.app |
| Checked | Oct 4, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Bear
- Writers who want a focused Markdown editor on Mac, iPhone and iPad
- People who prefer organizing notes with tags rather than folders
- Apple users who want notes synced through their own iCloud account
Octarine
- Writers who want Markdown notes kept as local files
- People who prefer a one-time license to a subscription
- Those who want linking, daily notes and views built in, not added as plugins
Worth knowing
Bear
- Bear is offered only for Apple devices: Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
- Syncing notes between devices requires a Bear Pro subscription.
- Note encryption, OCR search and export to PDF, HTML, DOCX and JPG are Pro features.
- Subscriptions are billed through Apple's App Store, and prices vary by country.
Octarine
- Properties, filtered views, note types, focus mode, note sharing and every AI feature need the $79 Pro license.
- There is no public phone app: an iOS beta runs on TestFlight for eligible Pro users, and no Android app is listed.
- AI features need your own API key or a local model, and syncing relies on a file-sync service or the built-in Git sync.
- Pricing is early-access: the docs say the price goes up as Pro features are added, while earlier buyers keep all future Pro features.
Key features
Bear
- Markdown editor
- Notes mix text, photos, tables and to-do lists in one place, with sketches inserted inline next to text and attachments.
- Tags and nested tags
- Notes are organized with tags, including nested tags, and more than 250 icons help individual tags stand out.
- Wiki links and backlinks
- Notes link to each other with wiki links, and an info panel shows each note's backlinks and table of contents.
- Web Clipper
- Extensions for Safari, Chrome and Firefox save a full page or a highlighted selection as a note, with the clipping done on your device.
- Sync, encryption and OCR search (Pro)
- Bear Pro syncs notes through iCloud, encrypts individual notes, locks the app and searches for text inside photos and PDFs.
- Export and import
- Exports to TXT, Markdown, TextBundle, RTF, PDF, JPG, HTML, DOCX and ePub, with migration guides for Evernote, Apple Notes and Obsidian.
Octarine
- Markdown files you keep
- Notes are plain Markdown files in a workspace folder you pick, and core note-taking works offline. Files sync through any file-sync service or the built-in Git sync to GitHub or GitLab.
- Daily Desk
- Daily and weekly notes are part of the free plan, and unfinished tasks from yesterday's note can be moved into today's without copying.
- Links, backlinks and graph
- Wikilinks can point at a note or a single heading and carry an alias. Backlinks and mentions are listed in their own sheet, and a graph view maps the workspace.
- Properties and Views
- On Pro, Note Types start new notes with a set of properties, and Views filter, sort and group notes by any property in a table or kanban layout.
- Quick Capture and Inbox
- A Spotlight-style window opens over any app to take down a thought, which lands in an Inbox to be sorted into notes later.
- Ask Octarine and Writing Assistant
- On Pro, a chat over your notes can create, update and move notes, and an assistant rewrites text inline. Both need your own API key or a local LLM.
Plans
Bear
Free$0
Markdown notes with tags, links, tables and sketches, and 3 themes. No sync between devices.
Bear Pro$2.99
per month, or $29.99 per year
Adds iCloud sync across devices, note encryption and app lock, OCR search in PDFs and images, 28+ themes and export to PDF, HTML, DOCX and JPG.
Octarine
Personal$0
WYSIWYG editor, unlimited workspaces, daily and weekly notes, graph view, full-text search, templates, Mermaid diagrams, 4 themes and txt export.
Pro$79
one-time purchase
Adds properties, filtered views, note types, focus mode, note sharing, AI tools, 30+ themes and PDF, HTML and DOCX export. One key works on 3 devices at a time.
Ways to pay less
Bear
- Annual discount
About 15% lower price with the yearly subscription
Bear's site marks the $29.99 yearly subscription as 15% cheaper than paying $2.99 each month.
- Education
30% off the first year for students and academics
Students and people working in academia can ask support for a code giving 30% off the first year of the Bear Pro yearly subscription. It renews at the regular price.
Octarine
No public discounts listed.
