Bear Markdown Notes & Journal vs Sprout
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
Sprout
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Every habit is a little plant. Every week it blooms. Sprout turns your daily habits into a shelf garden. Pick a habit, choose how many days a week you want to do it, and plant a seed. Each time you check in, your plant gets a little sunshine and grows. Reach your weekly goal and it blooms, and its pot moves onto your shelf, where your weeks pile up like a small collection. HOW IT WORKS • Plant a habit and set a weekly goal that fits your life, from once a week to every day. • Check in once a day. It takes a second, and your plant grows. • Earn Sunlight for every check-in and every bloom. Spend it on new seeds, window views and rewards you make yourself. • Check in 66 times and its pot turns to gold. • Missed a day? Nothing dies. Your garden stays calm, not scary. YOUR SHELF Every finished week becomes a pot on your shelf, and older weeks sit on wooden shelves on the wall, month by month. Tap any pot to read that week's little note. PLANTS AND WINDOW VIEWS Collect plants from a cactus and a rose to a bonsai and a glowing moonbloom, and change the view outside your window: golden evening, starry night, cherry blossom, autumn leaves, a snowy morning, a seaside sunset and rain on the glass. REWARDS Make your own treats, like "a long bath" or "movie night", and redeem them with the Sunlight you earned. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No ads. No tracking. Your habits stay on your iPhone. SPROUT PRO (OPTIONAL) Free: three habits, three rewards, the whole daily loop, and a starter set of plants and views. Pro unlocks unlimited habits, more than three rewards of your own, exclusive Shop items (plants and window views only Pro gardeners can buy), a six-month heatmap, and a little plane that flies over your garden with your name on its banner. If Pro ever ends, nothing you grew is deleted. Choose monthly, yearly (with a 3-day free trial for new subscribers) or a one-time lifetime purchase. Some plants, window views and features shown in the screenshots are part of Sprout Pro. Made by one person in India. Questions or ideas? support@anvikshalaya.com Sprout Pro Monthly (1 month) and Sprout Pro Yearly (1 year, with a 3-day free trial for eligible new subscribers) are auto-renewing subscriptions. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase, or after the free trial. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel any time in Settings > Apple Account > Subscriptions. Sprout Pro Lifetime is a one-time purchase. Terms of Use: https://sproutgarden.github.io/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://sproutgarden.github.io/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sprout at daily against Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's every 10 days. Bear Markdown Notes & Journal's advantage is device support (4 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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 Markdown Notes & Journal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Sprout sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal ships an update every 10 days, Sprout daily. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bear Markdown Notes & Journal | Sprout |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 76.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6.9K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 263 MB | 51 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Shiny Frog Ltd. | Hirdyansh Bhalla |
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
Sprout
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bear Markdown Notes & Journal
- Monthly Pro subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly Pro subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Sprout
- Sprout Pro Monthly$1.491 Month
- Sprout Pro Yearly3 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Sprout Pro Lifetime$19.99
Questions
Is Bear Markdown Notes & Journal free?
Is Sprout free?
Do Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or Sprout have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bear Markdown Notes & Journal or Sprout?
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