Bear vs Ulysses

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

Ulysses

• Writers who work only on Apple devices and want their texts on all of them
• Bloggers publishing to WordPress, Ghost or Micro.blog
• Novelists and students keeping many texts in one library

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.

Ulysses

• The site and App Store listing cover Mac, iPad and iPhone only; no Windows, Android or web version is offered.
• The pricing page lists subscriptions only: $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year once the trial ends.
• The trial is described as fully functional, but the site does not say how many days it runs.
• Volume licenses are priced in euros and cover one Mac, one iPad and one iPhone per user.

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.

Ulysses

Markup-based editor

Text is formatted by typing markup in Markdown XL, Ulysses' own markup language, so headings, lists and emphasis never require leaving the keyboard.

Unified library

Everything is stored in one library and organized into projects, so scenes and chapters can be split into chunks and reordered.

Sync across Apple devices

Texts sync automatically between Mac, iPad and iPhone, and the vendor describes feature parity across macOS and iOS.

Grammar and style check

A built-in proofreader for more than 20 languages suggests fixes for capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy and style.

Export and publishing

Exports PDFs, Word documents, ebooks and HTML with switchable styles, and posts directly to WordPress, Ghost and Micro.blog with images and tags.

Writing goals

Set a character limit, a deadline or a daily goal for a text and track progress against it.

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.

Ulysses

• Yearly Plan$39.99

  per year

  Ulysses on all your Macs, iPads and iPhones with full sync. Apple Family Sharing with up to five other family members is included.

• Monthly Plan$5.99

  per month

  The same app and sync on every Mac, iPad and iPhone, paid month to month.

• Volume licensing€39.00

  per user / year, plus VAT if applicable

  Licenses for businesses and organizations, bought outside the App Store. Covers one Mac, one iPad and one iPhone per user.

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.

Ulysses

• Annual discount

  Yearly plan costs about 44% less than monthly

  The yearly subscription is $39.99, against $71.88 for twelve payments on the $5.99 monthly plan.

• Education

  Student offer: $10.99 per 6 months

  Students enrolled at a high school, vocational school, college or university can apply from inside the app with a valid student ID.

• Other savings

  Apple Family Sharing included

  One subscription can be shared with up to five other family members through Apple Family Sharing.

• Lifetime license

  Perpetual License listed in the App Store

  The US App Store listing shows a Perpetual License in-app purchase at $199.99 alongside the subscriptions. The pricing page does not describe its terms.