# Bear vs flat palette

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: flat palette at none against Bear's 2. flat palette also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (9.3 vs 16). Bear's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (6.9K vs 4). On price, review sentiment, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Bear sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. flat palette asks for nothing beyond the download.

flat palette holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bear has 6.9K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Bear's written reviews are positive against 85% of flat palette's.

Bear ships an update every 2 weeks, flat palette every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Bear | flat palette |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (6.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bear-markdown-notes/id1016366447/reviews) | **[5.0 (4 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/flat-palette/id1234418016/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **6.9K** | 4 |
| Positive reviews | 76.9% of reviews | **84.6% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 2 weeks** | Every 3 months |
| Monetization | Freemium | **Free** |
| Size | 230 MB | 31 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16 | **9.3** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch** | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Shiny Frog Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/527618974) | [Tokyo Cartographic CO.,LTD.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1044962368) |

## What reviewers say

### Bear

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bear-markdown-notes/id1016366447)

A beautiful and simple Markdown app for capturing, writing, and organizing your thoughts and ideas. It offers a distraction-free writing environment, flexible formatting, and powerful organizational tools like tags and tasks. Ideal for anyone looking to streamline their note-taking and creative processes.

**Highlights:** Distraction-free writing environment, Flexible Markdown formatting, Tag-based organization, Task management, Note linking (WikiLinks), Web clipping extension, Apple Pencil sketching

**Features:** Safari Extension, Siri integration, Apple Watch app, iMessage stickers, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Pro subscription | $2.99 | per month |
| Yearly Pro subscription | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Elegant and minimalist design
- 🚀 Smooth and fast performance
- 💡 Flexible tagging system for organization
- 🔒 Secure and private notes
- 🎨 Customizable themes and fonts

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 Subscription required for syncing and advanced features
- 🔍 Limited search functionality within notes on iOS
- 🖼️ Issues with image handling and resizing
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes reported
- 💻 Lack of web/Windows app for cross-platform access

**Reported bugs**

- Sync issues causing note conflicts and data loss
- Cursor jumping and input issues on iPad
- Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting content

**Requested features**

- Add password protection for individual notes
- Improve search capabilities to find text within notes
- Implement table support for more robust note-taking
- Develop a web-based version for broader accessibility
- Allow manual sorting and organization of notes


### flat palette

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/flat-palette/id1234418016)

This app helps with creative activities by providing tools to manage color schemes. It allows adjustment of colors using RGB, CMYK, and HSB sliders, and can extract colors from images to generate palettes. Users can create custom color lists, name them, and export them as images.

**Highlights:** RGB/CMYK color adjustment, HSB color adjustment, Image color extraction, Custom color list creation, Color scheme generation, Hex color code input

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Bear free?

Bear is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is flat palette free?

flat palette is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Bear or flat palette?

flat palette is rated higher. Bear averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.9K ratings, while flat palette averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.

### Do Bear or flat palette have ads?

Neither Bear nor flat palette shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Bear or flat palette?

Bear ships an update every 2 weeks, and flat palette every 3 months. Most recently, Bear was updated on October 15, 2026 and flat palette on October 4, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*