Comparison

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal vs Zotero

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

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
Read full description

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/

About

Zotero

This research tool helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share your academic and professional work. Save articles, books, and webpages, add notes and highlights, and generate bibliographies in thousands of styles. Collaborate with others and sync your library across devices.

Highlights
  • Collect research from various sources
  • Organize with collections and tags
  • Annotate PDFs and webpages
  • Generate citations and bibliographies
  • Collaborate in group libraries
  • Sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use research tool that helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share your work. COLLECT • Save journal articles, newspaper articles, books, webpages, and more via the Share button in Safari and other apps • Automatically download article PDFs to read • Quickly add physical books and articles to your Zotero library by scanning book barcodes or article DOIs with your iPhone or iPad camera ORGANIZE • Use collections and tags to organize your research • View and edit bibliographic information for your research items ANNOTATE • Read PDFs, EPUBs, and webpage snapshots and add highlights and notes, or use an Apple Pencil to make freehand annotations CITE • Instantly generate citations and bibliographies in over 10,000 formats and journal styles including APA, Chicago, IEEE, MLA, Turabian, and Vancouver SHARE • Collaboratively collect sources and mark up PDFs in group libraries with your colleagues • Synchronize your personal and group research libraries to access them via Zotero’s desktop app and the Zotero website • Use the Zotero desktop app to insert your annotations into Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs documents and automatically generate bibliographies from the sources you used Visit zotero.org to learn more about everything you can do with Zotero. Having trouble? Have an idea? Post bug reports and feature requests to the Zotero Forums at forums.zotero.org to talk directly to Zotero developers. ZOTERO AND PRIVACY Since 2006, the Zotero team has been committed to creating the best research software, and we believe that includes putting you in full control of your own work. We’re an independent, nonprofit organization, and we’ll never sell your data.

Screenshots

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal4 screens
Zotero2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Zotero at none against Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's 2. Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's advantage is ratings volume (6.9K vs 434) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Bear Markdown Notes & Journal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Zotero asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Bear Markdown Notes & Journal against 4.6 for Zotero. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bear Markdown Notes & Journal has 6.9K ratings behind it against 434, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's written reviews are positive against 78% of Zotero's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ships an update every 10 days, Zotero every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal versus Zotero: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBear Markdown Notes & JournalZotero
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better4.6 (434 ratings)
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews77.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.9K — better434
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size230 MB237 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShiny Frog Ltd.Zotero

Customer experience

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

All ratings6,870 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews1,754 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral9.5%
Negative13.7%

Zotero

All ratings431 ratings
Positive89.6%
Neutral4.9%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews263 reviews
Positive77.9%
Neutral10.3%
Negative11.8%

User reviews

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

From 6.9K App Store ratings

What we love

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

Room to improve

  • 🔒 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

Zotero

From 434 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and powerful
  • 🚀 Convenient and useful
  • 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices
  • 🚀 Excellent reference management
  • 👍 Great annotation and PDF reading experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes frequently
  • 🐛 Syncing issues with WebDAV
  • 🐛 Metadata not automatically extracted from PDFs
  • 🐛 Annotation tools could be improved
  • 🐛 Limited sorting and filtering options

Bugs and requests

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

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

Zotero

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Unable to unzip PDF snapshots
  • Annotations disappearing or moving unexpectedly
  • Dark mode not working as expected
  • Inability to add citations directly from the app

Requested features

6 requests
  • Eraser tool for annotations
  • More color options for pen and highlighter
  • Ability to open PDFs in external apps
  • Bookmarking and table of contents support
  • Improved search functionality
Show 1 more
  • Offline access to downloaded PDFs

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Pro subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Pro subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
None

Zotero

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal free?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Zotero free?
Zotero is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or Zotero?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is rated higher. Bear Markdown Notes & Journal averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.9K ratings, while Zotero averages 4.6 from 434 ratings.
Do Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or Zotero have ads?
Neither Bear Markdown Notes & Journal nor Zotero shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or Zotero?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ships an update every 10 days, and Zotero every 3 weeks. Most recently, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal was updated on October 24, 2026 and Zotero on October 21, 2026.

Other comparisons