--- title: "Coffee vs Bear: which Markdown notes app for your Mac?" author: Pedro Thomaz source: https://coffeetext.app/blog/coffee-vs-bear --- # Coffee vs Bear: which Markdown notes app for your Mac? > Checked November 2026 against [Bear's site](https://bear.app/) and [its FAQ](https://bear.app/faq/). I make Coffee, so read this with that in mind. Coffee isn't affiliated with Bear. If you want your notes on a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad, kept in step for you, choose Bear. Choose Coffee if you work only on a Mac and want each note to be an ordinary Markdown file in a folder, where Git, scripts and AI tools can reach it, and where you can check what they changed. The real difference is where a note lives. Bear keeps notes in a database and gives you good ways to get them out. Coffee keeps them as files from the start, and gives up a lot of convenience to do so. ## At a glance | | Bear | Coffee | |---|---|---| | Price | [Free tier. Pro $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year](https://bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro/), varying by country | €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once | | Trial | 7 days of Pro | 14 days, no card or account | | Billing | Through Apple | Direct, through Stripe | | Platforms | [Mac, iPhone, iPad](https://bear.app/), with [Bear Web in public beta](https://bear.app/faq/what-about-bear-for-web-android-windows/) | Mac only, macOS 15 or later | | Your notes | [A SQLite database](https://bear.app/faq/where-are-bears-notes-located/) | One `.md` file per note, in a folder you choose | | Sync | [iCloud, through CloudKit](https://bear.app/faq/syncing-privacy/), with Pro | None of its own. Use iCloud Drive or similar | | Export | [Free: TXT, Markdown, TextBundle, RTF. Pro adds HTML, DOCX, PDF, JPG](https://bear.app/faq/export-your-notes/) | PDF, Word, EPUB, HTML, Markdown, plain text | | Maths and diagrams | [Maths formulas and Mermaid](https://bear.app/faq/how-to-use-markdown-in-bear/) | Maths blocks, and Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams | ## Where Bear is better **Your phone.** This settles it for many people. Bear has apps for iPhone and iPad, and Coffee runs on nothing but a Mac. If you take notes on the move, Coffee can't help. **Sync you don't have to think about.** With Bear Pro, notes stay up to date across your devices through Apple's CloudKit, with no separate account. One subscription covers every device on your Apple Account. Coffee has no sync at all. You put its folder in iCloud Drive or a similar service, and that service does the work. **A free tier.** Bear is usable without paying, with Markdown export included, though without sync. Coffee is free for 14 days, and after that you pay to keep editing. **Finding text inside PDFs.** Pro searches [the text in photos and PDFs](https://bear.app/faq/whats-new-in-bear-2/). Coffee's search reads the words in a note's pictures, but not inside PDFs. **Looks.** Pro has [over two dozen themes](https://bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro/). Coffee has a light and a dark appearance. ## AI tools: both can connect Since version 2.8, Bear includes [a command-line tool, an MCP server and a Claude Connector](https://bear.app/faq/command-line-interface/), all on macOS. AI assistants such as Claude Code or Cursor can search, read, create and append to notes, and tags can limit which notes the server sees. The Claude Connector asks for confirmation before it makes changes. Coffee has an MCP server too, off until you turn it on. The difference is in how a tool gets to your notes. In Bear, it goes through those commands, because the notes are in a database that [Bear advises you not to edit directly](https://bear.app/faq/where-are-bears-notes-located/). In Coffee, a note is a file, so anything that edits a file can work on it with no connection set up. ## Where Coffee is different I'm describing what Coffee has here, and not claiming Bear lacks all of it. **Plain files from the start.** There's nothing to export, because your notes are already in the format you'd export to. Git, a command-line search, Time Machine and any other editor all work on them directly. There's more in [the piece on plain local files](https://coffeetext.app/blog/markdown-editor-mac-plain-local-files), including what Coffee keeps outside your folder. **Reviewing edits from outside.** When Claude, Cursor or anything else edits a file, Coffee shows each change since you last read the note, with Keep and Undo beside it. See [how that works](https://coffeetext.app/blog/review-claude-cursor-markdown-changes). **Sums in your notes.** Write `$30 in EUR` or `Tokyo time` and the answer appears beside the line, without going into the file. [Try it here](https://coffeetext.app/blog/calculator-in-notes-mac). **Propose a change.** In a Git repository, Coffee can send one note to a new branch and open a pull request, for people who'd rather not learn Git. **PDF templates.** Three templates, a title page and page numbers. See [the PDF guide](https://coffeetext.app/blog/markdown-to-pdf-mac). **Books and Word files.** Coffee exports Word and EPUB, and can make one EPUB book from a folder or a tag, a chapter per note. It also imports Word, RTF and ODT files as new notes. **On-device questions.** On macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, Ask answers questions about your notes, with the model running on your Mac. **Comments and version history.** You can comment on selected words without changing the Markdown, and go back through earlier versions of a note. Both are kept on your Mac and don't travel with the file. **A choice about paying.** Coffee has a €79 option, with two years of updates and €29 for each further year if you want them. Bear's [pricing page](https://bear.app/faq/features-and-price-of-bear-pro/) describes monthly and yearly plans. ## Locked notes in each Both lock individual notes, and they make different trade-offs. [Bear Pro encrypts a note](https://bear.app/faq/how-to-encrypt-lock-notes-with-bear/) with a password that Bear can't see or reset, with Face ID or Touch ID where the device has it. Forget the password and those notes are gone. Titles stay readable in the note list. Coffee locks a private note with Touch ID, using a key in your Keychain, and gives you a recovery key. The file on disk is encrypted, and search, Spotlight, Quick Look and AI apps over MCP can't read it. Its limits are worth knowing: the file name is the note's title, so that's visible, and anyone with the recovery key can read everything. If you lose both the key and the recovery key, nobody can open the note, Coffee included. ## Moving between them From Bear, select your notes and use [File > Export notes](https://bear.app/faq/export-your-notes/), choosing Markdown. That's in the free version. Turn on "Keep tags during export" first if you want your tags to survive. Point Coffee at the folder, and try it on a copy. Two things won't carry over cleanly. Coffee only reads tags from a note's front matter, so tags written inside the text stay as text. Footnotes, callouts, `$$` maths blocks and Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and sequence diagrams are drawn in Coffee too. Inline maths is shown in italic but not drawn, and other Mermaid kinds stay as code. Wiki links in `[[double brackets]]` work in both. Going the other way, Bear can [import a Markdown folder](https://bear.app/faq/import-your-notes/) with File > Import From > Markdown Folder, including attachments the files refer to inside that folder. The notes then live in Bear's database. ## Choose Bear if - You need your notes on iPhone or iPad - You want sync handled for you, without choosing a service - You want a free tier - You search the text inside PDFs, or want themes - You don't mind notes living in a database, since you can export them ## Choose Coffee if - You work on a Mac running macOS 15 or later, and that's enough - You want each note to be a file that other tools can open directly - AI tools edit your files, and you want to check each change - You want sums, PDF templates and Git proposals in the app - You'd like the option of paying once ## Questions ### Does Bear keep notes as Markdown files? No. Bear's FAQ says notes are stored in a SQLite database. You can export them as `.md` files at any time, including in the free version, and the notes themselves are written in Markdown. ### Is Bear free? There's a free version with local access to your notes and Markdown export. iCloud sync, encryption and some exports need Bear Pro, at $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, with a 7-day trial. Prices vary by country. ### Is there a Bear app for Windows or Android? No. Bear's FAQ says it has no plans for either. Bear Web runs in a browser and is in public beta, and it isn't meant as a standalone solution. ### Is Coffee on iPhone? No. Coffee runs only on a Mac with macOS 15 or later. If your notes are in iCloud Drive, another app on your iPhone can open the files. ### Can AI tools work with Bear? Yes. Bear 2.8 and later includes a command-line tool, an MCP server and a Claude Connector, all on macOS. None of them can read or change encrypted notes. --- Written by Pedro Thomaz, who makes Coffee, a Markdown editor for the Mac on macOS 15 or later. It's free for 14 days with no card or account, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates. More at https://coffeetext.app/llms-full.txt