Comparison

NoteBox vs Bear

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

Head to head
About

NoteBox

This app offers a streamlined note-taking experience with quick input, powerful text editing, and seamless syncing across devices. Easily organize, search, and share your notes with extensive integration options.

Highlights
  • Quick note input from various sources
  • Disturbance-free text editing with advanced formatting
  • Fast iCloud syncing across iOS devices
  • Extensive sharing options to numerous apps
  • In-note text search and Google/Wikipedia integration
  • Support for external keyboards and VoiceOver
Features
Read full description

NoteBox is a superb productivity-boosting tool with compact design, fast input, smooth experience, ease to share, fast syncing, and excellent extensions and widgets with full support for VoiceOver. You will definitely love this note-taking app. Download now! NoteBox can help you: Quick Input - Type immediately after starting the app to jot down your inspirations -Quickly add new notes with handy drop-down feature or universal “+”button - Swiftly save notes from Notification Center or Share Sheet - Long press on “add” button to import text files from all cloud drive storage as notes - Easy input with an external keyboard and shortcut keys Text Editing - Focused and swift note-taking with disturbance-free interface - Swipe side-to-side to move screen cursor when typing - Pinch to zoom and adjust the font size - Convert selected texts into numbered or bulleted lists - Type “-,” “+,”“*,”or numbers and “.” with space key before each line for automatic list creation of the next line - iPhone’s horizontal typing mode available - Scroll down the textbox to display character count Saving, Syncing and Searching - Virtually unlimited storage capacity for text-based notes - Quick syncing with other iOS devices through iCloud - Remember keywords you have searched for notes before - In-note text search - Google or Wikipedia searching with selected note text Easy to Share - Effortless note delivery to dozens of apps or services* - Customizable shortcuts: one touch for note delivery or double-tap for sharing of listed notes - Select multiple notes to bulk process, e.g. changing folders, merging, and exporting to Evernote - Share partially selected texts - Customize the apps of your choice to use for URLs, dates, and addresses in the notes More -Single-handed use, e.g. side-to-side swiping in the tool bar to change the folder - Managing notes with Getting Things Done (GTD) system or to-do list - Automatic switch to night mode in dim environment to reduce eye strain --- Please support indie developers and decide what you want to pay. Pay What You Want Pricing for the first time! We have spent hundreds of hours developing NoteBox, which has become an indispensable tool for many users. We believe you will also find it useful. Instead of asking for the money, we prefer letting you download and use the full version for free (with the only restriction on note-saving capacity). You can decide what you want to pay with your own judgment. --- * Apps and services NoteBox supports: - Tightly integrated with Dropbox, Evernote - Note-taking apps: 1Writer, Bear, ByWord, Day One, Drafts, Simplenote, Ulysses, UpWord, Write ... - To-do list or calendar apps: reminders, Clear, Due, Fantastical, OmniFocus, The Hit List, Things, Todoist -Social media apps: Buffer, Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Tumblr, LINE, Whatsapp, WordPress, SinaWeibo, TencentWeibo More app news and information: http://twitter.com/getnotebox If you like NoteBox, we appreciate your comments and ratings. We also welcome your feedback. Please write to: elaborapp@gmail.com, and follow us on Twitter @getnotebox --- An Elaborated App, Made with Love in Taipei by Elaborapp

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/

Screenshots

NoteBox4 screens
Bear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Bear at 6.9K against NoteBox's 10. Bear also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly). NoteBox's advantage is review sentiment (90% vs 77%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). On price, rating, 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. NoteBox sells 10 one-off in-app purchases 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for NoteBox against 4.7 for Bear. 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: 90% of NoteBox's written reviews are positive against 77% of Bear's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NoteBox ships an update monthly, Bear every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on June 10, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
NoteBox versus Bear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteBoxBear
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (10 ratings)4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.8% of reviews — better76.8% of reviews
Number of ratings106.9K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB230 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperElaborappShiny Frog Ltd.

Customer experience

NoteBox

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews49 reviews
Positive89.8%
Neutral6.1%
Negative4.1%

Bear

All ratings6,864 ratings
Positive91.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews1,753 reviews
Positive76.8%
Neutral9.5%
Negative13.7%

Bugs and requests

NoteBox

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or 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

In-app purchases

10 purchases

NoteBox

One-time10
  • Tip$0.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$1.99
  • Tip$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Unlock note capacity limit$2.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$3.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$4.99
  • Tip$4.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$5.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$6.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$7.99
2 purchases

Bear

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

Questions

Is NoteBox free?
NoteBox 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, NoteBox or Bear?
Bear is rated higher. NoteBox averages 4.6 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Bear averages 4.7 from 6.9K ratings.
Do NoteBox or Bear have ads?
Neither NoteBox nor Bear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NoteBox or Bear?
NoteBox ships an update monthly, and Bear every 9 days. Most recently, NoteBox was updated on June 10, 2026 and Bear on September 28, 2026.

Other comparisons