Comparison

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal vs WuCai

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

WuCai

Easily highlight, annotate, and save web pages directly on your phone. Sync your notes and ideas with popular knowledge management tools. Capture thoughts and journal entries on the go, keeping your research and learning organized.

Highlights
  • Highlight and annotate web pages
  • Save and organize web content offline
  • Sync with Obsidian, Logseq, and more
  • Capture ideas and journal entries
  • Cross-device functionality
Features
Read full description

WuCai Highlight – Your Web Highlighter and Clipper WuCai lets you highlight, annotate, and save web pages easily. It works perfectly with the WuCai browser extension, so everything you mark online is right here on your phone. ## Key Features • Highlight & Annotate Mark important text, add notes, and make comments directly on any webpage. Perfect for reading, studying, and research. • Save & Organize Web Content Clip pages, keep your highlights, and access them anytime — even offline. Your notes stay clear and organized. • Sync with Knowledge Tools Connect WuCai with Obsidian, Logseq, 思源, or flomo. All your highlights, annotations, and ideas are synced automatically. • Capture Ideas & Journals Write quick thoughts or journal entries on the go. WuCai helps you collect and organize your ideas in one place. • Work Across Devices Start reading and highlighting on your browser, then review and manage everything from the WuCai mobile app. ## Why WuCai WuCai is more than a highlighter — it’s your bridge between web reading and long-term thinking. It’s built for learners, researchers, and anyone who reads to remember. ## Perfect For Students taking online notes Professionals doing research Writers and creators collecting ideas Anyone who loves reading and learning online ## Works With Knowledge Tools: Obsidian, Logseq, 思源, flomo ## Your Data, Your Notes WuCai keeps your notes private. Everything stays in your account — no tracking, no ads. Start highlighting smarter. Turn what you read into what you remember — with WuCai Highlight. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal4 screens
WuCai4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: WuCai at 100% against Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's 77%. WuCai also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 10 days). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 and WuCai sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ships an update every 10 days, WuCai every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal versus WuCai: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBear Markdown Notes & JournalWuCai
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.9K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS1615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size230 MB58 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShiny Frog Ltd.Hefei Xiguoke Technology Co., Ltd.

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%

WuCai

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

WuCai

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
4 purchases

WuCai

One-time4
  • 1 年会员$7.99
  • 2 年会员$14.99
  • 1-Year PRO$16.00
Show 1 more
  • 2-Year PRO$29.00

Questions

Is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal free?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is WuCai free?
WuCai is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or WuCai have ads?
Neither Bear Markdown Notes & Journal nor WuCai shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or WuCai?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ships an update every 10 days, and WuCai every 3 days. Most recently, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal was updated on October 25, 2026 and WuCai on October 24, 2026.

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