Bear vs Versatile Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bear
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.
- Distraction-free writing environment
- Flexible Markdown formatting
- Tag-based organization
- Task management
- Note linking (WikiLinks)
- Web clipping extension
- Apple Pencil sketching
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Bear is a beautiful, powerfully simple Markdown app to capture, write, and organize your life. Take notes, plan your day, journal thoughts, organize tables, create lists and tasks, sketch ideas, link notes together, write a book, and much more. Bear is used by writers, lawyers, chefs, CEOs, teachers, doctors, engineers, students, parents.. you get the picture. Getting started couldn’t be faster—no signup and no account. Just open a note and write naturally. "My journaling app of choice is Bear" - Kit Eaton, New York Times * 2017 Apple Design Award * 2016 App Store App of the Year * Editors' choice for 7 consecutive years * Most of our parents love it ## BEAUTIFUL. SIMPLE. POWERFUL. PRIVATE - Tools stay out of your way so you can just write - Sketch ideas on iPad with an extendable canvas and Apple Pencil (and other styli) - Clip web pages and other content with Bear’s app extension - The redesigned Info Panel now with Table of Contents and Backlinks - Use Apple Watch to dictate and append to recent notes - Support for all the scripts including RTL languages like Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian - Easily create notes with Siri and Shortcuts - Your notes, not ours - Bear is private at its core: We cannot see your notes, tags, or anything else ## FLEXIBLE MARKDOWN - Work in plain text - easy to move between apps - Still use formatting like bold, italics, strikethrough, links, tables, and more with Markdown - Combine text styles like bold and underline, even in headings - Markdown hides for a clean reading experience - Use WikiLinks to connect notes and build a personal wiki or knowledge management tool ## GET ORGANIZED with #tags, tasks, and more - Add #tags, #multi-word tags# and even #multiple/nested/tags anywhere in a note for quick organization - Pin important tags to the top of the Sidebar - Make important tags stand out in the Sidebar with TagCons - Add tasks to notes and easily view all notes that include tasks - Fold sections to get them out of the way ## SHARING MADE EASY - Export notes to plain text, Markdown, TextBundle, Bear note, and rich text - Export notes to HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub (Bear Pro required) - Easily share your notes to any third-party app with the Share Sheet ## SEARCH FAR AND WIDE - Use Spotlight to search your notes from anywhere - Search for text inside photos and PDFs (Bear Pro required) - Focus on specific types of notes with powerful Special Searches like @todo, @images, and @yesterday ## CREATE YOUR COZY SPACE * Pick from nearly 30 themes for the perfect writing space in both Light and Dark Mode (Bear Pro required) * Choose an app icon that speaks to your personality (Bear Pro required) * Set your own fonts for plain text, headings, and code * Set line height and width, paragraph spacing, and more ## GET MORE WITH BEAR PRO One subscription enables a variety of features on all your devices and keeps the Bear hugs coming. - Sync notes between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud - Encrypt individual notes with a password that is entirely private to you - Lock Bear with Face/Touch ID - Export to more formats including HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub - Search for text inside images and PDFs in Bear notes - Over 30 beautiful app themes & app icons $2.99 monthly $29.99 yearly 14-day free trial ----- Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your App Store account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. After purchase, manage your subscriptions in App Store Account Settings. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription. ----- bear@shinyfrog.net Twitter: BearNotesApp Reddit: reddit.com/r/BearApp Facebook: BearNotes Instagram: BearNotesApp Privacy Policy: http://www.bear.app/privacy/ Terms of Service: http://www.bear.app/terms/
Versatile Notes
This app functions as a versatile database for storing essential business data, including text, files, images, videos, PDFs, and secure password information. Its powerful search capabilities allow for instant retrieval of even large amounts of data, and data can be organized into groups for efficient management. It also supports iCloud syncing for seamless sharing across Apple devices.
- Store text, images, videos, PDFs
- Securely save IDs and passwords
- Organize data into groups
- Powerful search with AND/OR options
- iCloud syncing across Apple devices
- Apple Watch compatibility for data display
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Would you like to make your smartphone or tablet PC into a useful business tool? “Versatile Notes” is a database application that records data essential to your business. “Versatile Notes” also has an excellent search function, so even if you have a lot of data saved, the app will be able to display data instantly. By entering lots of data over time, this app can become your capable personal secretary. [Features] First, let’s enter data. Entering text is a given naturally, but you can also enter digital files such as images, videos, and PDFs. You can enter ID and password information as well. *Your ID and password will be encrypted and saved in Keychain. You can manage recorded data by separating it into groups. Even if a lot of data is accumulated, you can find the data you need instantly with the powerful search function. You can also choose an “AND” or “OR” search to find information. You can also designate attributes such as groups or dates for data. If you use iCloud with recorded data, the data can be shared with all iPhones and iPads in your possession. This app is also compatible with the Apple Watch. You can also display recorded data on the Apple Watch. *There is no data recording function for the Apple Watch. Data will only be displayed on it. [Contact us] https://www.studioks.net/en/contact-us/ [Studio K's] https://www.studioks.net/en/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bear at 77% against Versatile Notes's 0%. Bear also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months). Versatile Notes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). On price and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Bear sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Versatile Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bear ships an update every 9 days, Versatile Notes every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bear | Versatile Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 76.8% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6.9K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 230 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Shiny Frog Ltd. | NAOAKI SEKIGUCHI |
Customer experience
Bear
Versatile Notes
Bugs and requests
Bear
Reported bugs
3 issues- Sync issues causing note conflicts and data loss
- Cursor jumping and input issues on iPad
- Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting content
Requested features
5 requests- 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
Versatile Notes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bear
- Monthly Pro subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly Pro subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Versatile Notes
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bear free?
Is Versatile Notes free?
Do Bear or Versatile Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bear or Versatile Notes?
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