Markd.ly vs Bear
Looking for a Bear alternative? Here is an honest Markd.ly vs Bear comparison — what each one does well, and where the other one wins. Bear is a beautifully designed Apple-ecosystem notes app with a beloved tagging system, polished iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and a long-running brand built on typography and craft. Markd.ly is a native markdown editor that works on plain .md files, ships on Windows and Android in addition to Apple devices, and adds vim, Pandoc export, encrypted documents, and an MCP server in a $19 one-time desktop Pro tier — no subscription.
| At a glance | Markd.ly | Bear |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free | Free (limited) |
| Most popular plan | $19 lifetime (launch) | $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr (Bear Pro) |
| Lifetime license | $19 launch / $29 retail (Mac + Windows desktop, one purchase, no subscription) | Subscription only — no lifetime tier |
| Platforms | Mac · Windows · iPhone · iPad · Android | Mac · iPhone · iPad |
Pick Bear if
- ·Beautiful, opinionated design. Bear's typography, themes, and overall feel are universally praised and the app has earned every point of its polish.
- ·iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad is mature, fast, and effectively invisible. Markd.ly does not ship a sync service — your files are local and you sync them with whatever cloud you already use.
- ·The hashtag (#tag) organization model is iconic in the category. Nested tags, pinned tags, 250+ tag icons — it is a genuinely different mental model from folders, and a lot of writers prefer it.
- ·OCR search inside photos and PDFs (Pro) is a real Apple-platform polish feature Markd.ly does not have.
- ·Apple Pencil sketching support on iPad. Markd.ly does not ship handwriting or drawing tools.
- ·28+ themes in Pro plus Bear's restrained typography system. Markd.ly has Pro themes and a custom CSS editor but nowhere near Bear's curated theme catalog.
- ·Mature iOS and iPadOS clients with deep system integration (share sheet, Shortcuts, widgets). Markd.ly's mobile clients are free local editors — fine for editing, but not the polished iOS-first experience Bear has built over a decade.
Pick Markd.ly if
- +Files-on-disk, folder-based. Markd.ly opens any folder of plain .md files — git-friendly, scriptable, no proprietary database. Bear stores notes in its own SQLite library; markdown export works but is a separate step, not the storage format.
- +One-time purchase, no subscription. $19 at launch, $29 retail, covers Mac and Windows desktop forever. Bear is subscription-only at $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr — past year three you have paid more than Markd.ly Pro lifetime, and the meter never stops.
- +Windows and Android. Bear is Apple-only — no Windows, no Android, no Linux. If anyone in your workflow uses a non-Apple device, Bear is a hard no and Markd.ly is the only option that covers them.
- +Full vim mode in the editor for keyboard-driven writers (Pro). Bear has no vim mode.
- +Pandoc export to DOCX, EPUB, slides, and styled PDF in the desktop Pro tier. Bear exports to DOCX and HTML/PDF but does not ship Pandoc-grade EPUB, reveal.js slide decks, or template-driven styled PDF pipelines.
- +Live KaTeX math and live Mermaid diagrams render in the desktop preview as you type. Bear does not render Mermaid diagrams; math support is limited.
- +Encrypted documents using AES-256-GCM stored as standalone .md.enc files (Pro). Bear has note-level encryption but only on Pro and only inside Bear's library — Markd.ly's encrypted files are portable, sync via any cloud you already use, and stay readable to any AES-256-GCM tool.
- +Model Context Protocol server out of the box — agents like Claude Code can read your markdown library, and (with consent in Pro) write to it. Bear has no MCP server.
- +`markd` CLI to open files and set Markd.ly as your default .md handler from the terminal. Bear has no CLI.
Full feature comparison
Verified 2026-05-08. Source linked at the bottom.
| Feature | Markd.ly | Bear |
|---|---|---|
| Price (entry) | Free | Free (limited — no sync, fewer themes, fewer exports) |
| Pro pricing | $19 launch / $29 retail (one-time, lifetime) | $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr (subscription) |
| Subscription option | None | Subscription only — no lifetime tier |
| Platforms | Mac + Windows + iPhone + iPad + Android (free editor) | Mac + iPhone + iPad (Apple-only — no Windows / Android / Linux) |
| Storage model | Plain .md files in any folder you choose | Internal library; markdown is an export format, not the storage format |
| Sync | Files are local; sync with any cloud you already use | iCloud sync (Pro) across Apple devices — mature and seamless |
| Tagging / hashtag organization | Standard markdown only (no first-party tag system) | Nested #tags with pinning + 250+ icons — category-defining |
| Live KaTeX math | Yes (Mac + Windows desktop preview) | Limited |
| Live Mermaid diagrams | Yes (Mac + Windows desktop preview) | No |
| HTML / standard PDF export | Yes (free) | Yes (Pro) |
| DOCX export | Yes — via Pandoc (Pro) | Yes (Pro) |
| EPUB / slides / styled PDF (Pandoc) | Yes (Pro, Mac today; Windows rolling) | EPUB yes; reveal.js slides and template-driven styled PDF no |
| Custom CSS / theme editor | Yes — in-app editor (Pro, Mac today; Windows rolling) | Curated 28+ theme catalog (Pro); no in-app CSS editor |
| Snippet library with variables | Yes (Pro, Mac today; Windows rolling) | No |
| Advanced workspace search | Yes (Pro, Mac today; Windows rolling) | Standard search + OCR inside photos / PDFs (Pro) |
| Full vim mode | Yes (Pro, Mac today; Windows rolling) | No |
| Encrypted documents | Yes — AES-256-GCM .md.enc, portable (Pro) | Yes — note-level encryption inside Bear library (Pro) |
| MCP integration | Read free, write Pro (with explicit per-user opt-in) | No |
| CLI | Yes — `markd` (free, Mac) | No |
| Apple Pencil / sketching | No | Yes |
Bottom line
Bear is a beautiful app and its tagging system is iconic for a reason. If you live entirely on Apple devices, want pretty notes that sync seamlessly across Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and your writing is a personal-notes workflow, Bear is the right answer and I would not pretend otherwise. I built Markd.ly for a different writer — one who keeps plain .md files in a folder, wants vim and Pandoc export and an MCP server for AI agents, and has a Windows or Android device in the mix. Bear is a notes app with markdown export. Markd.ly is a markdown editor with files on disk. Different products, different jobs. If subscription pricing on a notes app feels wrong to you, that is also a valid reason to pick Markd.ly — $19 once versus $29.99 every year forever.
FAQ
Is Markd.ly a Bear alternative?+
Honestly, only partly. Bear is a notes app with iCloud sync, hashtag organization, and a polished iOS experience. Markd.ly is a markdown document editor that works on files in folders. If you want a notes app, Bear is better. If you want to open a folder of .md files, write, and export to DOCX / EPUB / slides / styled PDF, Markd.ly is the better fit.
Why is Bear subscription-only and Markd.ly one-time?+
Bear charges $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr to fund their iCloud sync infrastructure and ongoing Apple-ecosystem work. Markd.ly does not run a sync service — your files stay local — so we charge $19 once for desktop Pro and call it done. Past year three on Bear, you have paid more than Markd.ly Pro will ever cost, and Bear's meter keeps running.
Does Markd.ly run on iPhone like Bear?+
Yes — Markd.ly ships free local editors on iPhone, iPad, and Android. They are real native editors (open files, edit, save, share), but they are not as polished as Bear's iOS clients, which Bear has spent a decade refining. If your primary writing surface is iPhone or iPad and you live in iOS-first workflows, Bear is honestly better there. If you want files-on-disk that follow you to Windows or Android too, Markd.ly is the only option.
Can I open my Bear notes in Markd.ly?+
If you export them. Bear stores notes in its own SQLite library, not as .md files on disk. Bear's bulk export to Markdown or TextBundle gives you a folder of .md files, which Markd.ly can open immediately. Hashtags export as inline `#tag` text — Markd.ly does not parse them as a tag system, but they remain searchable as text.
Does Markd.ly have iCloud sync like Bear?+
No first-party sync. Markd.ly works on files in a folder — point that folder at iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Syncthing, or git, and you have sync across whatever devices you already have. Bear's bundled iCloud sync is more polished if you are 100% Apple; Markd.ly's approach is more portable if you are not.
Does Bear support vim or Mermaid?+
No to both. Bear has no vim mode and does not render Mermaid diagrams. Markd.ly Pro ships full vim mode (motions, registers, macros, ex commands) on Mac today, with Windows rolling, and renders Mermaid live in the desktop preview on both platforms today.
More Markd.ly comparisons
Pricing verified 2026-05-08. Bear pricing source. Subject to change.