# Fantastical Calendar vs Bear

The clearest difference is rating: Bear at 4.7 against Fantastical Calendar's 4.2. Bear also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 47%) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). Fantastical Calendar's advantage is chart position (#155 vs unranked) and ratings volume (24K vs 6.9K). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Fantastical Calendar sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month and Bear sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Bear holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24K and 6.9K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Fantastical Calendar's written reviews are positive against 77% of Bear's.

Fantastical Calendar ships an update every 3 weeks, Bear every 9 days. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Fantastical Calendar | Bear |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.2 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fantastical-calendar/id718043190/reviews) | **[4.7 (6.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bear-markdown-notes/id1016366447/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **24K** | 6.9K |
| Positive reviews | 46.7% of reviews | **76.9% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | **Every 9 days** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | **#155** | — |
| Size | 184 MB | 230 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | **15.6** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Flexibits Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/435003924) | [Shiny Frog Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/527618974) |

## What reviewers say

### Fantastical Calendar

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fantastical-calendar/id718043190)

**Currently charting:** #155 Top Grossing · Productivity (US App Store)

This powerful calendar and task management app offers intuitive natural language input for event creation, multiple calendar views, and robust task integration. It provides weather forecasts and advanced features like meeting polls and video conferencing integration for premium users.

**Highlights:** Natural language event and task creation, Multiple calendar views (day, week, month, year), Integrated task management (Todoist, Google Tasks), Weather forecasts, Meeting scheduling and polls, Video conferencing integration

**Features:** Apple Watch app, iMessage stickers

**In-app purchases (10)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium (2020 Upgrade) | $6.99 | per month |
| Flexibits Premium | $6.99 | per month |
| Premium (2020 Upgrade) | $6.99 | per month |
| Premium for Families | $10.49 | per month |
| Premium Family (2020 Upgrade) | $10.49 | per month |
| Premium (2020 Upgrade) | $56.99 | per year |
| Flexibits Premium | $56.99 | per year |
| Premium (2020 Upgrade) | $56.99 | per year |
| Premium for Families | $89.99 | per year |
| Premium Family (2020 Upgrade) | $89.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Intuitive and easy to use
- 👍 Excellent natural language input
- 💡 Helpful calendar integration features
- 🚀 Smooth syncing across devices
- 👍 Beautiful and clean UI design

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Inconsistent behavior with reminders and event management
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🤖 Overly aggressive upselling of premium features
- 🤔 Concerns about forced account creation
- 🐛 Sync issues between iOS and Mac versions

**Reported bugs**

- Apple Watch sync problems
- Events disappearing or changing unexpectedly
- Freezing and crashing on certain user actions

**Requested features**

- Option to disable predictive input features
- Improved calendar set management
- Enhanced integration with third-party apps and services
- Ability to customize app icons and themes


### Bear

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bear-markdown-notes/id1016366447)

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:** Safari Extension, Siri integration, Apple Watch app, iMessage stickers, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Pro subscription | $2.99 | per month |
| Yearly Pro subscription | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 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

**Reported bugs**

- Sync issues causing note conflicts and data loss
- Cursor jumping and input issues on iPad
- Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting content

**Requested features**

- 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


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Fantastical Calendar free?

Fantastical Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Bear free?

Bear is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Fantastical Calendar or Bear?

Bear is rated higher. Fantastical Calendar averages 4.2 out of 5 from 24K ratings, while Bear averages 4.7 from 6.9K ratings.

### Do Fantastical Calendar or Bear have ads?

Neither Fantastical Calendar nor Bear shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Fantastical Calendar or Bear?

Fantastical Calendar ships an update every 3 weeks, and Bear every 9 days. Most recently, Fantastical Calendar was updated on September 24, 2026 and Bear on September 24, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*