Comparison

Bear vs InkSpace

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

Head to head
About

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.

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

InkSpace

This digital notebook app offers complete creative freedom for note-taking, brainstorming, sketching, and journaling. Customize notebooks with various templates, page styles, and colors. Organize and access notes seamlessly across devices, with offline functionality.

Highlights
  • Unlimited custom notebooks
  • Write, draw, and sketch with stylus support
  • Insert custom shapes, text, and media
  • Searchable tags and bookmarks
  • Sync across all devices
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

The all-in-one notebook for handwriting, typing, PDFs, math, diagrams, and more. Built for students who want to learn faster and professionals who want to work smarter. Take handwritten notes, mark up PDFs, solve equations, and record lectures, all in one organized space that keeps your work together and in sync across your devices. Write and draw naturally Capture notes in your own handwriting with smooth, responsive ink. Prefer to type? Switch to the keyboard anytime, with a full font picker and control over size, color, bold, italic, underline, and alignment. Add horizontal and vertical rulers to keep everything precise. Choose the perfect page Start on college ruled, wide ruled, graph, dotted, or blank paper in A4, A5, B5, or custom sizes, portrait or landscape. Personalize everything with custom notebook and page colors, backgrounds, and tints. Templates for every purpose Jump into ready-made template packs for real life: • Planner templates for daily planning and scheduling • Journal templates for reflection and journaling • Fitness templates for workouts and tracking • Teaching templates for lesson planning and classes • Finance and trading templates for money and markets • Handwriting and calendar templates for practice and organization Or build and save your own so your favorite layouts are always one tap away. Study and remember more Turn any subject into a quiz set, a deck of flip cards you can shuffle, grade, and drill yourself with until it sticks. Perfect for exam prep, vocabulary, and quick daily review. Find anything instantly InkSpace reads your handwriting and makes it searchable. Search across every notebook to surface handwritten notes, typed text, sticky notes, code, lists, and tags in seconds. Spotlight finds notes right from the Home Screen, and Siri Shortcuts let you create, open, and search notes hands-free. Work smarter with rich, interactive objects Drop live tools onto your page and move them anywhere: • Math equations with automatic formatting from everyday notation • Calculator with named variables, unit and currency conversion, and financial functions like PMT, FV, and PV • Charts with a built-in data editor and multiple chart types • Function graphs for visualizing equations • Code blocks with syntax highlighting for Swift, Python, JavaScript, Java, C++, and many more • Audio recordings to capture lectures and meetings alongside your notes • Images, maps, and 3D models embedded directly on your pages • Tables and grids with fully editable cells and real formulas • Checklists and lists with bullets, numbers, and checkboxes • Sticky notes and shapes to structure and highlight your thinking Build diagrams and connect ideas Create flowcharts, mind maps, and org-style diagrams by linking shapes, text, and sticky notes with connectors and arrows. Explore without limits using infinite zoom and fractal canvas modes that give you endless room to think. Write papers that are ready to hand in Draft a full essay with proper margins, then let InkSpace build your entire bibliography from your sources in APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Export to PDF or Word, formatted and ready to submit. Organize everything your way Group your notebooks, papers, and quiz sets together into backpacks. Bookmark notebooks and pages, tag pages for fast filtering, connect notes with cross-notebook page links that preview inline, and add hyperlinks to jump anywhere. Import PDFs to reference, attach files, and export pages to share. Sync securely with iCloud Your notebooks stay up to date on every device with iCloud, so your notes are always with you. Perfect for • Students: lecture notes, study guides, math and science homework, searchable revision, recorded classes, quiz sets, and notebooks for every subject • Professionals: meeting notes, project planning, diagrams, referenced PDFs, quick calculations, and reusable templates

Screenshots

Bear4 screens
InkSpace4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Bear at 6.9K against InkSpace's 10. Bear also leads on monetization model (freemium vs paid) and device support (4 vs 2). InkSpace's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 77%). On price, rating, update cadence 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 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and InkSpace sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Bear against 4.6 for InkSpace. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bear has 6.9K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of Bear's written reviews are positive against 100% of InkSpace's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bear ships an update every 2 weeks, InkSpace every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bear versus InkSpace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBearInkSpace
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better4.6 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews76.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.9K — better10
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size230 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShiny Frog Ltd.Tyler Sherman

Customer experience

Bear

All ratings6,871 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews1,753 reviews
Positive76.8%
Neutral9.5%
Negative13.7%

InkSpace

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

InkSpace

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Bear

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Pro subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Pro subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
6 purchases

InkSpace

One-time6
  • Fitness Pack$0.99
  • Finance Pack$0.99
  • Handwriting Pack$0.99
Show 3 more
  • Planner Pack$0.99
  • Teaching Pack$0.99
  • Journal Pack$0.99

Questions

Is Bear free?
Bear is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is InkSpace free?
InkSpace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bear or InkSpace?
Bear is rated higher. Bear averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.9K ratings, while InkSpace averages 4.6 from 10 ratings.
Do Bear or InkSpace have ads?
Neither Bear nor InkSpace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bear or InkSpace?
Bear ships an update every 2 weeks, and InkSpace every 10 days. Most recently, Bear was updated on October 13, 2026 and InkSpace on October 8, 2026.

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