Comparison

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal vs MD Flow

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

Capture, write, and organize your thoughts and ideas with a beautiful and powerful Markdown editor. Create lists, tasks, link notes, and export in various formats. Offers a private and distraction-free writing experience.

Highlights
  • Markdown editor with formatting
  • Note linking and organization with tags
  • Task creation and management
  • Web content clipping
  • Apple Pencil sketching support
  • Export to multiple formats
  • Dictate notes with Apple Watch
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

MD Flow

Instantly preview Markdown files with syntax-highlighted code, tables, and Mermaid diagrams. Browse folders with a fast interface and export documents to PDF. This app works directly with your existing file structure without indexing or setup.

Highlights
  • Browse folders with intuitive interface
  • Instant Markdown preview
  • Syntax-highlighted code blocks
  • Rendered Mermaid diagrams
  • Export documents to PDF
  • Search within current folder
  • Table of contents navigation
Read full description

MD Flow is a native app for browsing folders and instantly previewing Markdown — beautifully rendered, with syntax-highlighted code, tables, and Mermaid diagrams. No indexing, no workspace, no setup. Just open a folder and start reading. What you can do * Browse folders with a fast, intuitive interface * Instantly preview Markdown, with syntax-highlighted code blocks * See Mermaid diagrams rendered inline — flowcharts, sequence, Gantt, and more * Export any document as a polished PDF, then share or save it — MD Flow Pro * Search within the current folder * Reopen recent files quickly * Navigate long documents with a table of contents * Preview HTML, text, CSV, and RTF files * Works directly with your existing folder structure Built for real workflows MD Flow works with the files you already have: * Documentation folders and README-heavy projects * Technical docs with diagrams and code samples * Exported notes and personal archives * AI-generated summaries, research, and drafts * Writing libraries and file-based knowledge systems A simple, focused experience MD Flow is not a note-taking app, a PKM system, or a Markdown editor. It is a file-first app designed to help you browse and read your files faster, without friction. No import. No duplication. No lock-in. Privacy-first by design * No account required * No tracking * Works locally with your files * You stay in control of your data Pricing MD Flow includes a free core experience. MD Flow Pro is a one-time unlock — including PDF export — that works across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Optional tips are available if you want to support ongoing development.

Screenshots

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal4 screens
MD Flow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: MD Flow at free against Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's freemium. MD Flow also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 77%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's advantage is ratings volume (6.9K vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 MD Flow sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MD Flow holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bear Markdown Notes & Journal has 6.9K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's written reviews are positive against 100% of MD Flow's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal versus MD Flow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBear Markdown Notes & JournalMD Flow
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (6.9K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6.9K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS16 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size263 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShiny Frog Ltd.Amilcar Zambrano Guevara

Customer experience

Bear Markdown Notes & Journal

All ratings6,867 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews1,759 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral9.4%
Negative13.7%

MD Flow

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 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

MD Flow

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

MD Flow

One-time4
  • Small Support$1.99
  • Medium Support$3.99
  • Large Support$5.99
Show 1 more
  • .MD Finder Pro$7.99

Questions

Is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal free?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MD Flow free?
MD Flow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or MD Flow?
MD Flow is rated higher. Bear Markdown Notes & Journal averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.9K ratings, while MD Flow averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or MD Flow have ads?
Neither Bear Markdown Notes & Journal nor MD Flow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or MD Flow?
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ships an update every 10 days, and MD Flow every 10 days. Most recently, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal was updated on November 11, 2026 and MD Flow on October 31, 2026.

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